The ’80s were crazy, so Don Dokken says he keeps it clean nowadays. Alex Ruffini | courtesy

Don Dokken has always been that melodic metal voice you could crank up in your car or back in the day on MTV when hits such as “In My Dreams,” “Breaking the Chains” and “It’s Not Love” came on. The band that bears his name was a driving force in the 1980s metal scene until the tenuous relationship he shared with guitarist George Lynch cracked, resulting in the band’s breakup in 1988. The original four members — Dokken, Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer Mick Brown — reunited in 1995-97, but while Dokken and Brown remain, the band has played with three other guitarists. Dokken is touring in support of “Lightning Strikes Again,” a CD of all-new songs released in May. They’ll hit the stage at 8:15 p.m. on Friday, July 11, during the first night of South Texas Rockfest, which features nothing but good ol’ ’80s metal bands, at Javelina Harley Davidson. Don Dokken recently phoned 210SA from his home in Los Angeles to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly regarding Dokken and the music scene.

Whenever you go through the long, arduous process of making a new record, and no matter how good it might be, do you sometimes feel you’re a victim of your ’80s success because of those fans who only want to hear the early stuff live?

I think every artist goes through that. I went and saw Ted Nugent last night, and when he did “Cat Scratch Fever,” the place went nuts. But we’re artists. That stuff worked in the ’50s and ’60s. Look at The Beatles. They wrote “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” then they went into “Sgt. Pepper.”

It’s been 20 years since Dokken did the Monsters of Rock tour with Van Halen, Metallica, Scorpions and Kingdom Come, which helped pave the way for some of the festivals out there today, such as the South Texas Rockfest. Any special memories or stories that stand out from that time?

It was crazy. A lot of drugs flowing around, which I didn’t indulge in personally. What I realized was there were too many women. Everywhere, backstage — Playboy models, Hustler models, runway models. Twenty women backstage every show, dressed the whole nine yards. When you’re in a relationship, it’s hard. But that time was a lot of fun. Actually, the most fun was after the shows. All five bands would stay in the same hotel, like The Four Seasons, and we’d go down to the lounge, and there’d be a band playing. And we’d get up there, all of us, and switch instruments around and have these great jam sessions with all four of the other bands.

Every fan has a dream set list from their favorite band. If you were going to the South Texas Rockfest as a fan, what are some rare songs off the top of your head you’d want Dokken to play?

I’d want to hear stuff from the new record (such as) “Oasis,” “Heart of Stone.” I’d want to hear stuff from “Erase the Slate.” I’d want to hear a couple songs from every record. I love the song “Erase the Slate.” “The Maddest Hatter” off “Erase the Slate” is a great song. I’d want to hear “Lightning Strikes Again” and “When Heaven Comes Down.”

What kind of sacrifices do you have to make nowadays in preparing your body and vocal chords?

The thing I gave up the most was my Jack Daniels. I had to. Everyone’s clean now. My friends. Ted Nugent. If you want to have a career, you can’t do that stuff anymore. You won’t survive.

I’ve heard that you want the next record to be the heaviest thing you’ve ever done, even if people hate it. Is that an itch you’ve been wanting to scratch for a long time, and what type of heaviness are you envisioning for that record?

Throughout the three-year period of making (“Lightning Strikes Again”), when I started writing for it, I had some heavy, dark, deep lyrics. It’s kind of like Tool meets Chevelle meets System of a Down. You know, I can’t just live through my past. ..... (“Lightning Strikes Again”) is my ‘thank you’ record for the fans sticking with me all these years. But I’m gonna write a record that has no rules. I’ve got to. If people hate it, that’s fine. But I’ve gotta get it out of my system.

What modern-day metal bands do you listen to?

I really like Chevelle. System of a Down. Linkin Park has some killer songs. That Buckcherry song (“Crazy Bitch”) was cool.

I met Mick and George back in 1990 after they came out with the first Lynch Mob record and you had your solo record “Up from the Ashes.” Mick was really cool, but I got a little taste of how standoff-ish George could be. Why was it so hard for you two to get along?

George didn’t like me since the day he met me. I don’t know. “Breaking the Chains” was done. It was a solo record called, “Don Dokken: Breaking the Chains.” And then the record company put the band together. George wanted to do his own thing. I thought if we got more famous, it would get better. “Let’s have fun and enjoy this.” But Jeff and George were doing so much coke. Those guys were out of their mind, and I never did drugs. It was just something I didn’t do. But instead of getting better, it got worse. George could be, as you say, standoff-ish.

“Lightning Strikes Again” has a nice mix of quality songs. What was the mindset during the recording process regarding how you wanted this record to sound?

(Guitarist) Jon (Levin) deserves the credit for this record. He was a fan of George in high school. He wanted that sound.

Why isn’t Mick touring?

It’s a bummer. And he’s really bummin’ too. The idea was to put the record out, and I was going to do promotional stuff all summer. Then we’d tour in September. Mick didn’t want to stay home all summer, and Ted Nugent called and said Mick could join him. Ted’s a friend, so I said ‘Sure.’ Then a week later, the Poison tour got dropped in my lap. And it wouldn’t have been right for Mick to back out from Ted. But we’re both bumming. Mick bleeds Dokken. But he’ll be back in September when we’re headlining.

 Who’s replacing him for the South Texas Rockfest?

Jeff Martin. He was the drummer in Badlands and the singer in Racer-X. And you know, Mick’s the one who said, ‘You gotta do it. You gotta go out.’ There are so many markets in Texas that we’re not hitting this time around — we’re not hitting Dallas, we’re not hitting Corpus Christi — that we’re going to hit in September while headlining.

 Why do you think Dokken rarely received its headlining just due in the States like you did many times in Japan and other places?

We got offered headlining shows many times. Management wanted to wait till we were so huge that we would sell out world tours. We headlined sporadically in ’88. Then we did “Monsters of Rock” and were going to headline after that — but then we broke up.

I grew up in Chicago, and back in the ’80s, the metal radio station there played a weekly program called ‘One off the B-sides.” That’s where I first heard the song ‘Back for the Attack,’ which I believe was a B-side to ‘Dream Warriors.’ Why wasn’t that song on the “Back for the Attack” album or any subsequent album, and do you have any idea how a diehard fan could get a hold of that song these days?

It was quite simple as to why it didn’t end up on the record. Back in those days, before CDs came out, you could only put a certain amount of minutes of music per side. We didn’t have room for it. It was available in Japan. That was a good song.

The “Live from Conception: 1981” record you put out last year is a great look into what you guys sounded like in the beginning. What do you remember the most from that first recorded concert?

I fell on those tapes by accident in my storage locker. What I remember is we all wanted to make it. We had nothing to lose. I was really hoping we could do this for a living.

There are many good songs on “Dysfunctional,” “Erase the Slate,” and “Long Way Home,” in addition to the early material .....

There are a lot of good songs. It was in the middle of the grunge period. We got that stigma that ‘Dokken’s not cool anymore.’ But good music is good music. I love the “Dysfunctional” record. That record sold 400,000. Jeff, Mick and I wrote it all. Then the record company said we should get George back. If you watch the (unplugged DVD) for “One Live Night,” the three of us are playing, and George is just kinda looking off in the corner.

Earlier today, I took part in a teleconference with Nikki Sixx. He was talking about how European festivals are crazy and that Cruefest is going to be an annual festival because he didn’t see anything in the U.S. that represented the kind of bands he’s taking on the road with Motley Crue. If he ever asked you to do a future Cruefest, would you?

Oh, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I just did Europe. But at Rocklahoma last year, there were 45,000 fans when we were on stage, and that was just ’80s bands. That made a big statement. We played with Motley in ’82 at The Roxy before Motley Crue was even signed. (Crue guitarist) Mick (Mars) and I go way back. I knew Mick before he was even in Motley Crue. We’re all friends. Nikki’s a great songwriter and a smart businessman.

From “Alone Again” to “Walk Away” to “Goodbye My Friend,” “When Love Finds a Fool” to “I Remember” off the new album, where do you get your knack for writing great ballads?

You don’t have to be miserable to write a sad song. A lot of those ballads, people think are about me and a girl. But it’s easy to be screwed up. I’ve watched my friends go through it. Jeff’s (Pilson) first marriage was completely destroyed. We’re all walking wounded. You. Me. Every one of us.

 Jay Nanda | 210SA contributor