MICK BROWN On Classic DOKKEN Reunion: 'If You Throw Enough Money On A Wound, It Will Heal'

DOKKEN drummer Mick Brown says that he wouldn't be surprised if reunion of the band's classic lineup included the recording of some new material.

Brown, singer Don Dokken, bassist Jeff Pilson and guitarist George Lynch will reunite for a series of DOKKEN concerts in Japan, with no plans to take the reunion to the rest of the world.

The six shows will take place this October, and will include an appearance at the Loud Park festival, which last year celebrated its tenth anniversary.

Asked about Pilson's recent revelation that DOKKEN is working on one new song, to be released in time for the band's Japanese tour, Brown told "Rockin' Metal Revival" (hear audio below): "I really haven't heard that, but it wouldn't surprise me. And Jeff's got a recording studio, so it makes it easy to do, and George lives close to Jeff... Jeff loves to record; I mean, that's his passion, you know. And nothing suits him better than being home for a few days and recording some music. So I'm sure something might happen there."

Brown also talked about how the classic DOKKEN reunion affects the bands's current version — which includes longtime guitarist Jon Levin and bassist Chris McCarvil.

"Jon wasn't too keen on it, and I can understand that," Mick said. "But we said, 'Listen, the money…' I mean, he understands… I hate to talk about money, but there's a lot of money involved here. And you can't be a fool in life and pass up these opportunities. And Don and I both told him, 'Listen, it's only these six shows, from what we know.' And Jeff's gotta go back to work with FOREIGNER."

He continued: "We've been sort of talking about this for a few years, and Jeff just said, 'Listen, FOREIGNER's just not gonna give me the time off. We play all the time — four days a week.' So he has about a ten- or twelve-day window to do this DOKKEN thing. And we're doing it. And I think he flies from Tokyo right back into a FOREIGNER show, wherever that's gonna be, and I think it'll be business as usual."

Brown added: "Listen, if there's success with this, and it all works right, and we do it without strangling each other — which, by the way, in the past, we've been known to do that [laughs — so if we can make it through [those shows], you might see some of it [in other parts of the world]. But I don't know… Jeff's pretty locked into the FOREIGNER thing. And so we told Jon, 'Listen, we're doing it in Japan. It's not in America.' But we told Jon, as soon as the shows are over, we're back to business as usual. I'm sure he's a little angry. But we'll see what happens."

The drummer says that he "never thought" the classic DOKKEN lineup would reunite but is under no delusion about why it is finally coming together. "I guess if you throw enough money on a wound, it will heal," he said. "And I hate to say that, but, I mean, listen, it would take that to get some things together."

Serious discussions about a reunion of DOKKEN's classic lineup have been held, on and off, for at least the past half decade. Back in may 2010, Dokken and Lynch appeared on VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show" together in hopes that a reunion would follow. Despite their efforts, it never happened and Don went forward with DOKKEN's current lineup.

All the members of DOKKEN's classic 1980s lineup reunited on stage for the first time in more than a decade on November 29, 2009 during an encore at a DOKKEN show at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California.