GEORGE LYNCH To Guest On AIR SUPPLY Tribute Album: 'It Was One Of The Hardest Tribute Records I'd Ever Done'

In a new interview with Tomasz Michalski of Poland's MetalSide, legendary guitarist George Lynch spoke about why he is still playing shows under the LYNCH MOB banner, more than a year after the completion of the band's "The Final Ride" farewell tour celebrating LYNCH MOB's 35-year legacy. Joining Lynch on stage at all the recent gigs were vocalist Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE),drummer Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE, FOREIGNER, OZZY OSBOURNE) and bassist Jaron Gulino (TANTRIC, HEAVENS EDGE). George said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I'm a really big liar, so that's one of the problems, is I lie a lot. No, I'm kidding. But I do lie about things that are unimportant or not damaging just to entertain people. Sometimes I just make up a lot of shit, but just to be funny. But, yeah, that was not that. So what that was, that was just an impromptu decision, I woke up or had the feeling over a short period of time that, I spoke with my wife and I'm, like, 'Okay, I'm 71. It's the anniversary. It seems like it's time to maybe just put it to bed.' And I sort of decided that that felt right. And that lasted, of course, about 24 hours after I really did it, and then I got some offers in, and they were very good offers. And what happened was when the promoters realized that that was it — there's no Randy Rhoads, there's no Eddie [Van Halen] anymore, there's no this guy, that guy, everybody's dropping like flies; George is one of the last legacy guys who's still out there; he's still playing his ass off; he's whatever, whatever, functional, capable, and everything like that, and willing to play. So the offers came in and they were very good offers."

George continued: "I think what it is, is I was, like most of us, built and raised to work. I have this work ethic that I was taught from my father, and working since I was like eight years old, just whatever, every single job on the planet you can imagine. Physical work. I don't have an education. I have a ninth-grade education. So I'm, like, I'm designed to work and support my family and chase the money. And I love it. I love the game, I love making money, I love playing guitar. Why would I wanna stop doing all the things I love? And then to top it off, all of a sudden when I announce the final ride, I get a flood of offers that are very big offers, much better money than we'd been getting. And I'm, like, 'Okay, so now I'm gonna get everything I asked for and worked for, and I'm gonna walk away from it? No.' So I got right back in the saddle and I've been riding ever since."

Asked about the possibility of new music from LYNCH MOB, following the release of the band's ninth full-length studio album, "Dancing With The Devil", which came out last November via Frontiers Music Srl, George said: "Oh, yeah. So we just finished up the second CASANDRA'S CROSSING record with Casandra Carson [singer of PARALANDRA and THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT]. I wrote all the music. She wrote all the lyrics and melodies. The mix just dropped. So we just finished mixing it, doing all the little fixes and everything. So just putting the bow on the package. So I just got through that experience. And I'm always doing outside projects, recording-wise, for other labels and artists and things like that. So that's a lot of fun for me. I really enjoy it. I just did a tribute to AIR SUPPLY. And I don't really know what AIR SUPPLY is. I mean, I probably heard their songs. And it's yacht rock. So at first I'm, like, 'Nah, I'm not gonna do that.' And then I thought about it. I listened to the music. I go, 'Well, it's really actually very intelligent, interesting music,' and I don't understand it. I don't understand it, 'cause it's not logical changes, like the way I perceive writing, logical chunks and everything. And I couldn't figure out the puzzle, so I was, like, 'Oh, you know what? I wanna do it.' So I did it. It was the hardest tribute record I'd ever done — one of the hardest. It was very strange to find the logic in the song and figure it out, and big boy chords. It was all written on keyboard, so I had to transpose it to guitar and everything. That was really interesting. So I do a lot of that. And so right now I'm kind of in the very beginning stages of slowly trying to write the next LYNCH MOB record, which is really me just kind of coming up with ideas when I'm around or at home, or if we're out on tour, soundchecks or whatever, farting around, cataloging ideas, and then those'll turn into basis of song and build on that."

Tichy was previously a touring member of LYNCH MOB in 2010, 2012–2013, 2015, 2020 and 2025; Gulino was in LYNCH MOB from 2022 to 2025; and Freeman played with LYNCH MOB in 2003, 2010 and 2019.

In July 2025, the same four musicians played their first two shows under the name of what at the time was supposed to be George's new touring entity, GEORGE LYNCH & THE MOB.

Earlier in 2025, George told Talking With Cars that he would put together "another" touring band with "a revolving door of different people." He added that he was "tentatively calling it GEORGE LYNCH & THE MOB, so people can identify with my name and the fact that there's still the LYNCH MOB aspect to that name without the bad connotations."

LYNCH MOB played what, at the time, was being billed as the group's "final" concert on March 22, 2025 at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina, Minnesota.

LYNCH MOB was formed in 1989 after Lynch parted ways with his former band DOKKEN. Their debut release, "Wicked Sensation", was met with critical and fan acclaim and went on to be certified gold in sales by the RIAA. The band would continue on through the years with a cast of talented players joining Lynch throughout their musical journey over the course of six more studio albums.

In August 2020, Lynch announced that he was ending LYNCH MOB due to the racial insensitivity of the moniker, saying he would no longer record or perform under that name. Two years later, George had a change of heart, explaining that he had to "live with the fact that [the name LYNCH MOB] has some negative connotations that I probably have to continue explaining for the rest of my life, and I don't mind doing that. But it is a brand that I built, and I'm just gonna stick with it. As far as a marketing thing and a brand thing and a business thing and a working thing, and it keeps my band guys working and it keeps the fans happy, it makes sense."

As was the case with LYNCH MOB's eighth studio album, 2023's "Babylon", "Dancing With The Devil" features Lynch alongside Colón, Gulino and D'Anda.