Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from The Metal Voice recently interviewed guitar legend George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob) who spoke about The End Machine's new album, Phase 2, which was released April 9th. Lynch also spoke about guitarist Randy Rhoads and his time teaching at Musonia, as well as an understanding they had with each other.

Was the new The End Machine album supposed to sound similar to Dokken?

Lynch: "We set out to recreate the chemistry and mentality of the writing process and the compositional chemistry that Jeff (Pilson) and I had. So that is what we tried to recreate; not necessarily tried to plagiarize Dokken's songs or sound but just being in that frame of mind. I think we did a good job on that. We decided on this record to go back and place more importance on the fundamentals, like having the biggest hook as possible and most memorable sing-along hooks, easy to digest, with easy digestible tempos and structures and a tried true Western music formula. We kind of went back to that with some other elements in there. Really what it comes down to is giving the majority of the people what they want and in some sense we are selling a product, and it becomes more challenging for us in later years to recreate that people know and love about what we do or have done in the past. We are constantly hearing complaints from  people saying 'Okay, you are reinventing yourself you do all these other things, what about the core thing that you are known for? How come you don't do that anymore?' So we had to address that and it has been challenging; it's hard to do. The hardest thing for me to do - and I can speak for Jeff as well  - is to recreate something we were 35 years ago. Very difficult to do that I have tried before and not have succeeded where I have had better success reinventing myself."

Is the new album, Phase 2, infused with different influences?

Lynch: ""Sure, it always has. Dokken wasn't a pure thing either, itwas just a bunch of other influences. There was a whole lot of Judas Priest influence in Dokken and others - you name it - just about anything. Late '60s music, '70s and contemporary bands at the time that were influencing us. So we weren't immune from the influences. Dokken is an amalgamation of all our influences and everything we create now is a continuation of that, and Dokken is one of our influences. We have come full circle."

Were you a student of Randy Rhoads or did you teach at Musonia (Rhoads' Music School)? What was your connection to Randy Rhoads?

Lynch: "I taught at Musonia. We played shows together frequently, we rehearsed in the same rehearsal facility and shared the same rooms. We had a lot of opportunities to hang out, share licks, talked occasionally. We weren't like friends or anything, but we were in the same business and ran in the same circles and ran into each other all the time. I know that he appreciated my playing and liked my playing. He would bring people to see me frequently including his mom. We were both up for Ozzy. I was up for Ozzy on three different occasions and one of the times was when Randy got it over me, and then the understanding was that between whichever one of us got it the other one would teach at Musonia. Well, I got the consolation prize.Randy told his mom if anything ever happened with him that he would want me to fill in if possible (teaching) if I would be willing to, so I did."

The End Machine are back with their sophomore album, Phase2, which follows on the heels of their well-received and successful self-titled debut album released in 2018. The album track, "Dark Divide", is available for streaming below.

The End Machine features former classic Dokken lineup members George Lynch and Jeff Pilson, with the awesome singer Robert Mason (Warrant, Lynch Mob) on lead vocals. Classic Dokken drummer Mick Brown handled drums on the first album, but is now retired, so in his place behind the drum kit is none other than his brother Steve Brown.

Phase2 is available on CD/Ltd. Ed. Color LP/Digital. Limited Edition Crystal vinyl is available exclusively from the Frontiers' U.S. and EU webstores. Limited Edition Red vinyl is available exclusively for the U.S. market and will be available through all physical retailers there. Limited Edition White vinyl is available exclusively for the EU market and will be available through all physical retailers there.

Order the album here.

Tracklisting:

"The Rising"
"Blood And Money"
"We Walk Alone"
"Dark Divide"
"Crack The Sky"
"Prison Or Paradise"
"Plastic Heroes"
"Scars"
"Shine Your Light"
"Devil's Playground"
"Born Of Fire"
"Destiny"

"Dark Divide":

"Crack The Sky" video:

"Blood And Money" video:

Lineup:

Robert Mason - lead and background vocals
George Lynch - guitar
Jeff Pilson - bass, keyboards and background vocals
Steve Brown - drums and background vocals