DOKKEN: New Album Due In July, Tour To Kick Off Next Month

DOKKEN will kick off yet another world tour June 17 to promote their new CD, "Hell to Pay", due on July 13 through Sanctuary Records. After 20 years the group continues to have a major recording contract as well as a loyal fan base allowing them to "still follow their bliss and make a living at it" as singer and founder of the group Don Dokken puts it.

"I used to think if you had talent that's all you needed to survive the music business. After all these years I've come to realize you need an equal amount of luck!" says Don.

The 12 songs on "Hell to Pay" (view cover here) include:

01. The Last Goodbye
02. Don't Bring Me Down
03. Escape
04. Haunted
05. Prozac Nation
06. Care for You
07. Better Off Before
08. Still I'm Sad
09. I Surrender
10. Letter to Home
11. Can You See
12. Care for You (Unplugged Version)

Audio clips of the tracks "The Last Goodbye", "Escape" and "Prozac Nation" can be downloaded at this location.

"We've always taken our music very seriously. But I think it's healthy when you can be self-deprecating," says Don, commenting about a recent show. "We were headlining a concert last summer with a lot of other '80s bands. When we arrived in town we heard a radio commercial that the show was being promoted as a hair ball fest. We bought a can of extra-hold Aqua Net and put our hair as high as we could get it. When we hit the stage we were laughing so hard at each other we barely made it through the first song. We've never considered ourselves a pop band, we've had commercial hits but we've always prided ourselves for our heavy edge."

In the last year between recording their new CD DOKKEN has performed with a crop of new groups such as SEVENDUST, TRAPT, EVE 6 and STAIND.

"It's really a trip when a new generation of fans knows all the words to your songs even though some of them were written 15 years ago or more. It puts a big smile on your face and reminds us that good songs can stand the test of time," says DOKKEN bassist Barry Sparks on performing with STAIND to a sold-out audience of 10,000.

DOKKEN tour dates, according to Pollstar:

Jun. 17 - Burlington, IA @ Steamboat Days
Jun. 18 - West Fargo, ND @ Red River Valley Fair
Jun. 20 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave / Eagles Club
Jun. 24 - Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
Jun. 25 - Cincinnati, OH @ Annie's
Jun. 26 - Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
Jul. 01 - Bottineau, ND @ Wild Rose Ridge Amphitheatre
Jul. 03 - Crown Point, IN @ Lake County Fairgrounds