I N T E R V I E W

Interview George Lynch (by mail)

This is a special interview because it is not only about music but also about "Shadowtrain: Under the Crooked Sky", the film you made with Mark Mclaughlin, and the band you made with other politically engaged musicians. First of all, congratulations for all your work! Can you tell us how it began, and if it was something you knew you would do one day?

I met Mark on a plane and discussed some of the ideas that are now a part of the film. As I was getting off the plane he revealed that he was a documentary film maker and we agreed to stay in touch, which we actually did! Mark and I have been tied at the hip ever since. By the way, we still have six months of work to do on Shadowtrain.

So, "Shadowtrain: Under the Crooked Sky" is a movie about the Native American community, I read that you are half Apache, is that true? Have you always been interested in the Native American culture and is it because of your origins?

No, but I am 100% mutt! Lol! The film is really more of an exploration of human nature through the lens of the Native American experience. And ultimately it deals with the root causes of economic and social injustice, which are products of our nature, and the fact that we are evolved complex creatures but we don't seem to be capable of evolving ethically or spiritually in any meaningful way.

You said that this movie could be about any indigenous people, anywhere in the world, so we can say that through this project you tried to speak on behalf of the oppressed people and show how badly the «conquerors» usually treat the indigenous people?

Well, if indigenous people had the manpower and advanced technology to overcome their oppressors, who's to say they wouldn't find a way to rationalize treating others in the same way they were treated; deception, genocide, etc. Greed is coded into every animal DNA because it helps us survive and hopefully (at least from the genes viewpoint) proliferate.

You visited a lot of different reservations and met a lot of different Native American tribes: the Apache, Navajo Hopi, Zuni, Tewa, Shoshone, Utes, Dakota... What an impressive journey and work! It must have been a very enriching and beneficial experience.

And the journey continues! We'll be trucking up to South Dakota this summer to visit Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee and other historically significant places in Sioux country. We'll also be traveling to Alcatraz on the 50th anniversary of the closing of the penitentiary, and the start of the Native nations occupation.

Are you involved in other projects to help the Native American Community?

We have partnered up with "Music is Medicine" and donated musical equipment to kids on the Rez, hold clinics and we're trying to open a recording studio on the Laguna Rez in New Mexico. We're also donating important books that tell the true history of this country to schools on reservations (Howard Zinn's "Young people's History of the United States"). We're friends with the folks at Sacred Power, a native owned solar company in Albuquerque, and we're documenting the installation of hundreds of 1k portable solar systems throughout rural parts of reservations in the southwest.

And now let's talk about the band and your work with Vincent Nicastro, Gabe Rosales, Donnie Dickman and Gregg Analla, what can you tell us about your musical style and inspirations?

The band started out as just Vinny and myself. We'd go out to beautiful remote places like the Alabama hills under Mount Whitney and set up and jam in these natural amphitheaters using generator power. Eventually Gabe, Donny and Gregg joined us and we got together at a studio in the Tehachapi mountains, wrote and recorded a record. We lived at the studio and we wrote all the songs and tracked the basics in five days. I'm pretty proud of that. The record features a few guests on it and we cover a wide variety of styles on the record. It's very interesting.

Will you still work together as a band after the movie?

We are doing some shows in June and we're thinking about touring with the movie next year. So folks would come to an old theatre, watch the film and then the screen would go up and the band would perform the soundtrack and then maybe sit and talk to the audience about the film and answer questions.

Your career now spans almost 35 years, that is quite a long career! How do you consider it now?

I'm very grateful that I have a job as a musician, that has allowed me not only to create and perform music but also support my family for all these years.

Are you working on a new solo album?

I'm working on a record with Ray Luzier from Korn and Doug Pinnick from King's X. The band is called KXM. All songs have been written and tracked. Four of the songs are completely finished. The music is very hard to describe but it definitely doesn't suck. Doug could sing the phone book and it would be awesome! Lol.

You released an excellent album with T&N with several members from Dokken. What's the plan for this band?

T&N has begun work on our follow up to "Slave To The Empire". We've tracked the Dokken covers half of the record and will start working on the new original music soon. This time around, the band will just be Mick, Jeff and myself with the addition of guest vocalists on the Dokken songs, just like the last record.

What is going to happen to the band name Dokken now, do you know?

No idea. Don uses it for his world's greatest Dokken tribute band, I think.

Any plans from the Lynch Mob project?

We just released an acoustic EP called "Live from SugarHill". There's a video for that as well. The SugarHill studio in Houston Texas has a phenomenal history so it was an honor to perform and record there.

Will we have a chance to see you in Europe, especially in France?

I'll be in France around the middle of April playing clinics. They'll be listed at georgelynch.com

Is there any other news or project you want to talk about?

I'm doing a record with a band called "The Infidels". It's Poncho and Sal, the rhythm section from WAR and myself. The music is heavy funk rock and has a huge jam component to it. We'll be releasing one song a month on iTunes/amazon for a year. At the end of the year we may release the entire record.

Do you have something to say to the people who download your music illegally?

How would you like it if I came to your your house and steal your shit?

And finally, do you want to say something special to our readers?

Maybe I'll do a Lynchtopia tour and come to France... here's the line up: Dokken, Lynch mob, T&N, KXM, Shadowtrain, The Infidels and Souls of We.

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