Dokken, 'Broken Bones': Exclusive Interview, Track-By-Track Breakdown (VIDEO)

Posted on Sep 10th 2012 11:00AM by Carlos Ramirez Comments

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On Sept. 25, Dokken will be issuing their 11th studio album, Broken Bones. Although the band's previous album, 2008's Lightning Strikes Again, revisited their classic '80s sound, the new album finds the group honing in on their heavier side of their attack.

A veteran of the bloated recording budgets of the '80s, vocalist Don Dokken tells Noisecreep he went the DIY route this time out: "Jon [Levin, Dokken guitarist] lives 5 minutes from me. We both live on Sunset Boulevard. I live up in the mountains and have no neighbors. It's great because I don't have to bother anyone that way. I have a guest house that we turned into our recording studio. Broken Bones is the first album ever recorded there," says the singer.

But don't pick up Broken Bones expecting some stripped down affair. The album sounds just as big – if not bigger – as Dokken's most celebrated records. "I've heard a lot of albums in the past few years where I can immediately tell they were made on Pro-Tools. This new record definitely doesn't feel like that. You just have to have ears. I also kept some analog stuff for my home studio. I totally believe in the old analog equipment.

"We actually recorded the drums at Tommy Lee's home studio since Mötley Crüe was out doing some shows. He's got a beautiful setup there. Jon even tracked some of his guitars in his own house, in his bedroom. Back in the '80s, if you would have told the record company that you were recording guitars in someone's bedroom, they would have thought you were crazy."

Noisecreep got its hands on an exclusive track-by-track breakdown of Broken Bones which you can watch below.

Broken Bones Album Breakdown

Don then tells Noisecreep a story about the making of their 1984 hard rock gem, Tooth and Nail: "When we were making that album, George would change his amp 10 times a week. 'What if I try this amplifier?' 'What if I try this speaker?' He would do that over and over again. He was just wasting a ton of money. It made me really crazy. I would have it planned that George would do his guitars on Monday and I would come in Friday to do my vocals. But I would get there on Friday and Michael [Wagner, producer] would tell me that George was still not happy with his guitar parts. It just became a joke, because by the time he did find something that he liked, it was the first setup he had tried."

Dokken's Broken Bones will hit stores on Sept. 25 via Frontiers Records. Pre-order the album from Amazon today!

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