I recently had the opportunity to talk with George Lynch. George is with the band Lynch Mob, which has been around since the early '90s. George is the legendary guitarist from the band Dokken; since then, he has ruled as one of the best axemen around.
Lynch Mob just released their third album, Smoke This. Smoke This is a blend of hard-core, funk, rap, R&B and metal from four musicians who have a dream and are seeing it come true. When I asked George about the new album and all the styles, George stated "As a group, we all enjoy all kinds of music, so this album is a comminution of all the styles we like. Also from this album we are finding what works best for us and the next album will be more focused on one or two of the styles." I had a chance to listen the album. The band does an excellent job mixing all the styles together. Because of all the different styles on the album, it is fun trying to figure out what will be next. In other words, since each song is different, the whole album doesn’t sound like the same song over and over.
The band is made up of a new group of musicians. On vocals is Kirk Harper. Kirk stared out his career as a drummer, until all his equipment was stolen. Having done all the back up vocals for the other bands he has been in, he thought he would give it a try. Kirk got the job as a lead singer for the band Platypus, where he met the drummer Clancy McCarthy. Platypus was a very popular hard rock band in the Phoenix, AZ area where George discovered Clancy and asked him to be in his new project. Clancy was also laying down the vocals, and decided to have George give Kirk a chance at the vocals. After listening to Kirk in the studio, Kirk got the job as lead vocalist. All that was missing was another guitarist and a bass player. George found Mark Simpson to fill the position of guitar, and a 20-year old prodigy bass player that blew everyone away, Gabe Rosales. Gabe brings a lot of the hard-core element to the band.
Now that the band is complete, they recorded the new album Smoke This. Lynch Mob did a very short seven week tour to promote this album. If you get the chance, see them. They really do rock. The first single from the album is "World Slipping Away." It has been getting a lot of airplay around the U.S. If you haven’t purchased this album, it is a great one to have. Finally, an album that has a real lead guitarist, something which seems to be missing from today’s music. Keep your eyes open for the next recording project from George.