Greg Prato, reporting for Ultimate-Guitar.com:
Plenty of guitar virtuosos went through Ozzy Osbourne's band lineup, continuing Randy Rhoads' legacy. At the same time, plenty were either considered, auditioned, or just stayed for a brief period. However, none of them have a story like George Lynch's, who didn't get the best treatment.
While promoting his new project, Casandra's Crossing, George sat down with us to chat about his work and career. Before making it big with Dokken and his solo career, he got the chance to spend some time with Ozzy as a potential new candidate, as Brad Gillis was still playing in the singer's backing band. Eventually, Ozzy and his wife and manager Sharon sacked Lynch in favour of Jake E. Lee. During our interview, we asked him what the most successful couple in metal music was like.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: Is it safe to say that the public perception of Sharon and Ozzy is different than who they actually are away from the spotlight?
George Lynch: "I couldn't really make a call on that. I just say, from my own personal experience, I felt it would have been nice to let me down a little easier.
"From where my life was at the time, we didn't have any money. My wife and I — we had two kids and we're living in an apartment. And I had to quit my job to go do this. And I had a union job as a truck driver for a liquor distributor. And I liked that job, and it paid the bills and kept our family, secure and everything like that. And I had to quit that job, which is really troubling for me, that when they told me they weren't going to use me, they didn't ask me about my situation, they didn't pay me anything. I didn't get a nickel for a month at that time. I didn't make any money.
"So, I came back, and my wife and I drove home in our '73 Pinto Station Wagon that was falling apart, with the muffler scraping on the ground and a busted windshield and rag for a gas cap. And we get to our apartment, we picked up the kids at her mom's house and went into our apartment, and we had an eviction notification. We couldn't pay our rent, so we had to move in with her parents.
"It created some hard times for us. And I thought, 'They were throwing money around like it was nothing.' Sharon traveled with bags of money. It was crazy. We'd go to dinners that were $10,000… and we couldn't even afford to eat or pay our rent, you know? So I thought that was pretty insensitive. But whatever. They live in a different world, and I get that. I took a chance and it didn't pay off."
Read more at Ultimate-Guitar.com.
Casandra's Crossing, the new musical alliance between Lynch and powerhouse singer Casandra Carson, will released their new album, Garden Of Earthly Delights, on October 25 via Frontiers Music Srl.
The musical chemistry between these two talented artists has created a magnificent modern hard rock album that showcases Lynch's trademark riffage driven by the outstanding voice of Casandra Carson, who is set to be the next rock singing sensation.
About Garden Of Earthly Delights, Casandra says: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever meet, let alone collaborate with such a legend as George Lynch! It was an absolute honor and pleasure to work with him on this record. George’s tracks were so cool and inspiring, it was probably some of the most fun I’ve ever had writing lyrics and melodies. I truly couldn’t be more proud of this album, and I’m so excited to finally share it with the rest of the world.”
George Lynch emerged from the '80s hard rock scene with the L.A.-based group Dokken and went on to become a world-renowned guitarist. Aside from Dokken, he has also enjoyed great success with Lynch Mob, the group he founded after leaving Dokken.
Lynch has gone on to become a prolific music creator, continuing with Lynch Mob, releasing solo albums, and a wealth of collaborative efforts over the decades. Those include but are not limited to, KXM with Doug Pinnick (King's X) and Ray Luzier (Korn), The End Machine with Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, ex-Dokken), Mick Brown (ex-Dokken), and Girish Pradhan (Girish & The Chronicles), Sweet & Lynch with Michael Sweet (Stryper), Ultraphonix with Corey Glover (Living Colour), and The Banishment with Joe Haze.
Casandra Carson is best known for her work fronting the Midwestern hard rock band Paralandra. Founded in 2013 with a strong DIY ethic, Paralandra found themselves on radio charts and festival stages in no time and by 2018 had a record deal, national tours supporting the likes of Saliva, Tantric, and Dokken, and even found themselves performing aboard the KISS Kruise. The band remains active and their most recent studio album, produced by the legendary Michael "Elvis" Beskette, came out in April of this year.
Pre-order Garden Of Earthly Delights here.
Tracklisting:
"Stranger"
"Impatient"
"Closer To Heaven"
"Ring Me Around"
"Devastatiing Times"
"Waltzing Nites"
"Just Business"
"Mind Eraser"
"Run For Your Life"
"Wicked Woman"
"Kneel Before You"
"Impatient" visualizer:
"Stranger" visualizer:
