Dokken frontman, Don Dokken, recently guested on the The Classic Metal Show. Early in the conversation, Don talked at length about the acoustic tour he did opening for Queensrÿche with Kelly Keeling doing vocals for him. He talked at length about Keeling's mishaps and chasing drug dealers for cocaine. This includes running up thousands of dollars in phone bills calling drug deals to score, Keeling being locked in his bus on the TSO tour because they feared he would go and score, and much more. An excerpt follows...
Don Dokken: "Every night I'd be on the Queensrÿche bus. I'd turn around and go, 'has anybody seen Kelly [Keeling]?' Dude, I'm telling you. He'd be standing right behind me. I'd turn around and... 'where's Kelly?' He's gone. He's gone. He's in the wind. Somebody would walk up to him and go, 'hey man, I've got some blow.' He was like a zombie. 'Cocaine!' And he'd just follow [the drug dealer] around the corner and disappear. One of the worst times, we were playing in Austin. We were getting ready to leave, and it was not my bus. I turned around and said, 'what happened to Kelly.' We waited and waited, but we had to go. He called me two days later. I did two shows without him. He's like, 'Don, I'm at the police station.' [I asked] 'What happened? Did you get arrested?' 'No. I had a room key. I remembered [the hotel] was called The Flamingo. I told the taxi that you were gone. You left me.' But it turned out to be another motel called The Flamingo in a really bad part of town. They dropped him off in a ghetto. He had no wallet. No cellphone. Nothing. So the police department called me and asked me if I could verify that this was Kelly Keeling. So I had to go and stop, scan his license, scan his shit so he could get on an airplane because you have to have ID, and he had no ID. I said, 'Kelly, I love you dearly. You're a great musician, but man, you are a pain in my ass.' It cost me like $700 to fly him for an hour. I said, 'Kelly, Kelly, Kelly. You're so talented.' You know, Baton Rouge and all that. He's a great singer, and he came out and helped me out with the guitar because my left hand was going."
Dokken recently released the infectious new single, "Gypsy", taken from the band’s 13th studio album, Heaven Comes Down, set for release on October 27 via Silver Lining Music.
“While writing the new record, we had written a lot of music, but I sometimes got stuck with the lyrics so I decided to go camping” explains Don Dokken. “I came across a woman wearing a lot of necklaces and jewelry. She was driving an old wagon with one horse and she was stuck in a hole, I asked her if she needed help but she said ‘no the sun will be up soon’. She had a fire going and invited me to have some food that was cooking in an old pot, so I did and we began to talk.”
“She spoke in broken English and looked Navaho” continues Don. “There is a reservation here in New Mexico. The first thing she said to me was ‘you make music’ and I was intrigued by that, so we sat there for several hours and talked, she looked very old yet wise. She told me about her life living on the reservation and I told her about my life. She told me I had lost my way, which I found funny since she seemed to be lost but wasn’t! It was pitch black, she looked up and said ‘the stars guide me’ and started speaking Navaho. I found the experience very surreal!”
Don concludes, “I got my jack out of my truck and lifted up her wagon, we both gathered a lot of rocks and filled the hole so she could get her wagon unstuck, and then she just walked away and started to drive off without saying a word, but then she shouted back to me and said ‘the sun is coming up… you need to go, the coyotes and mount lions will be hunting soon’... very wise advice!”
Watch the video, by Natalia Jonderko Śmiechowicz, below:
Exchange the urban heat of the Sunset Strip for the warm wilderness of New Mexico, as Dokken bring their timeless convertible Ferrari rock’n’roll power to the table with some key modifications along the creative path. Working with engineer Bill Palmer over the course of a year at his studio in Santa Fe, the Dokken flavours remain as potent as ever, yet they’re also sprinkled with some desert seasoning which gives Heaven Comes Down a richness hitherto unseen on a Dokken album.
You want to rock? Sink your teeth into "Fugitive", which rides some shimmering guitar work courtesy of 20+ year member Jon Levin, and if you want ballads, head on over to "I’ll Never Give Up", hanging on that Coliseum chorus, Levin laying down a landmark solo. The pattern of Heaven Comes Down never falters in delivering the goods on both sides of the fence. "Just Like A Rose" brings the Pacific Coast Highway to desert plains with its smooth, effortlessly-driven gears, and "Saving Grace" carries a mystical malevolence. But "Santa Fe" is perhaps the most revealing with Don Dokken opening up with what amounts to a ‘life-moment biography’: a spartan acoustic arrangement allowing the rich yet road-driven vocals to frame what might well prove to be the defining moment of Dokken’s career.
Mixed by Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Joe Bonamassa) and produced by Bill Palmer and Don Dokken, fans will love it, neutrals will be wonderfully surprised by some of the ingredients within Heaven Comes Down.
Heaven Comes Down will be released on CD Digipak, 12” Vinyl Album in Black and colour variants, digital formats and special D2C products and bundles. Pre-order here.
Tracklisting:
"Fugitive"
"Gypsy"
"Is It Me Or You?"
"Just Like A Rose"
"I’ll Never Give Up"
"Saving Grace"
"Over The Mountain"
"I Remember"
"Lost In You"
"Santa Fe"
"Fugitive" video:
- Produced by Bill Palmer & Don Dokken
- Bill Palmer: acoustic guitar on "Santa Fe"
- Mark Boals: special guest (background vocals)
Live dates:
October
21 - The Piazza - Aurora, IL
November
8 - Jergel’s Rhythm Grille - Warrendale, PA
10 - The Robins Theatre - Warren, OH
11 - Piere’s - Fort Wayne IN,
17 - Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV
18 - Whisky A Go Go - West Hollywood, CA
Lineup:
Don Dokken - Vocals
Jon Levin - Guitar
Chris Mccarvill - Bass
Bj Zampa - Drums
