DOKKEN's Classic Lineup To Release 'Return To The East Live (2016)' In April; Cover Artwork Unveiled

The reunited classic lineup of DOKKEN — guitarist George Lynch, vocalist Don Dokken, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer "Wild" Mick Brown — will release a new CD, DVD and Blu-ray, "Return To The East Live (2016)", on April 20 via Frontiers Music Srl. The set will contain footage of the band's October 2016 performance at Japan's Loud Park festival, as well as a brand new studio track, titled "It's Just Another Day".

Lynch, Dokken, Pilson and Brown played one U.S. concert in September 2016 before embarking on a six-show Japanese run dubbed "Unleashed In The East". The trek marked the first time in 21 years DOKKEN's classic lineup had hit the road.

Don recently told the "The Classic Metal Show" that he didn't know "why it took a freaking year" to complete the DVD. He said: "We had almost two hours of just backstage, goofing around, on the train, going to Osaka, Nagoya, on the train, having fun backstage, screwing around. That took forever to edit. So on the new live DVD, there's gonna a lot of bonus footage — a lot of just candid, messing around, having fun. 'Cause, you know, George and Jeff hadn't been in DOKKEN for over 20 years."

As for the musical direction of the new song, Don said that it is "very DOKKEN-sounding" and "very classic '80s" with "big harmonies. It's just like 'Paris Is Burning' meets 'In My Dreams'," he said. The track is the first new song to be recorded by the classic DOKKEN lineup since the 1997 "Shadowlife" album.

Don also talked about his current relationship with George and Jeff, both of whom he had previously traded verbal barbs with in the press. "I would say that I had some trepidation [about playing with them again], obviously," Dokken said. "We've been getting offers for years and years and years to do a reunion, quote-unquote, tour, and I said, 'Guys, I'm not interested. DOKKEN, to me, is Chris McCarvill, 'Wild' Mick Brown and Jon Levin, who's been in the band for 22 years. That's DOKKEN.' I don't see why I need to go back in time and do this. What's the point? If it's just for money, they know how I feel about that. And there's more to life than money. You can live in a mansion and drive a Ferrari and be miserable. And I said, 'I'm not interested.' So I had some trepidation. We only rehearsed with Jeff and George for three days when we did the South Dakota one show only in America, where we filmed. But they showed up, we rehearsed, went to Japan, we filmed the show, we did these huge arenas, sold out. And it was great. George and I shot the shit for hours and hours every day over sake and beer on the bullet trains and we talked about everything from politics to spirituality and it was all good. And Jeff is such an addict, he's almost maybe worse than me when it comes to music. I mean, every day, Jeff's on the bullet train looking at the footage from the night before and he's looking at this, he's looking at that. 'Check this out. How about that? This is a good shot.' He's mixing the songs, he's trying to figure out what's the best takes. So it was a band effort. That was nice."

In January, DOKKEN filmed a video for "It's Just Another Day" with director Jamie Brown, who has previously worked with LYNCH MOB and KXM.