• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

DOKKEN's JEFF PILSON Gets 'Missing' Bass Back After 23 Years

March 9, 2015

Marty O'Brien, an acclaimed bassist whose touring credits over the years include playing for Lita Ford, Tommy Lee, DISTURBED, STATIC-X, METHODS OF MAYHEM and Gus G., has shared the following story via his Facebook page:

"It's story time… So… as a teenager in Rhode Island, I saved up all my money and finally bought my first 'real' pro bass. A used '85 Spector bass from a store that told me it was previously owned by Jeff Pilson and used on tour with his band DOKKEN. As a kid, I saw DOKKEN, METALLICA and VAN HALEN at Sullivan Stadium in Massachusetts, and Jeff was playing THAT bass.

"This Spector was my holy grail and I used it on ALL my club gigs when I was a kid growing up in Rhode Island… literally every rehearsal, and every show I ever played in my teens and 20s.

"It turns out that Jeff never sold this bass, but rather it just 'disappeared' from his collection some years back. Flash-forward to my adult life; I'm now living in L.A. and have been friends with Jeff for 15 years now. He would sometimes mention this 'missing' Spector bass of his that 'disappeared' many years ago. I never once mentioned to him that his missing bass was sitting in my parents' house in Rhode Island in storage. I always thought that someday the time would be right. So, yesterday morning, I showed up at Jeff's and just gave him the bass. His jaw hit the floor and he says 'That's the bass! Where did you find it!?!?' He was even more in shock when I told him I've owned it since I was a teenager. I'd just been borrowing it. For 23 years."

Pilson is a veteran bassist who has played with DIO, FOREIGNER, DOKKEN and T&N, among others. He is also an acclaimed producer who has worked with KILL DEVIL HILL, ADLER (the band led by former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler) and LAST IN LINE, the new band featuring fellow ex-DIO members Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell.

Find more on Dokken
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).