George Lynch Talks ‘Wicked Sensation’ and the Final Chapter of Lynch Mob
Story by Anne Erickson, photo by Alex Ruffini
George Lynch speaks with Anne Erickson about Lynch Mob’s upcoming 30th anniversary “Wicked Sensation (Reimagined)” and why it will mark the final release for the band
George Lynch and Lynch Mob are coming up on the 30th anniversary of their seminal debut album, “Wicked Sensation,” and in honor, they’re releasing a special, “reimagined” version of the collection.
“Wicked Sensation (Reimagined),” out Aug. 28 via Rat Pack Records, features re-worked and re-recorded versions of their 1990 classic. Lynch also tells Audio Ink Radio that it marks the band’s final release.
Lynch spoke with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink about the new “Wicked Sensation” collection, what he remembers most from that era and why he’s closing the chapter on Lynch Mob. Read the interview below, and listen to the full chat via the Audio Ink podcast on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.
Anne Erickson: You have the 30th anniversary edition of “Wicked Sensation” coming out, “Wicked Sensation (Reimagined).” What was your vision for the reimagined versions of the “Wicked Sensation” songs?
We wanted it to be stripped-down. That was partly out of necessity, but partly out of..just the feeling that, I just want to be really honest with this record and expose ourselves with all our flaws and let the real us just shine through as much as possible, without piling on a bunch of superfluous production and so forth, like the first record. And I didn’t want to compete with the first record. I didn’t want to say what I already said on the first record. So, reinterpret it, and have fun with it. Even the more overriding concept was just to have fun, which we did.
What do you most remember about the “Wicked Sensation” era?
George Lynch: The decadence. The sort of sense of entitlement. (Laughs) We worked hard, but we were pretty spoiled, and we had the luxury of spending a lot of time and wasting a lot of money on what ended up being a really wonderful, historically significant record, I think, in some small way. But, just the wastefulness of it, which was maybe necessary to achieve what we achieved. But, it makes me feel sad, in a way, that it was such a waste of resources and time, because we spent almost two years making that record and spent a half a million dollars! (Laughs) I think anybody could make a great record with that kind of time and money.
For these new tracks, what did new players Robbie Crane (Black Star Riders) on Brian Tichy bring to those classic songs on the new recordings?
Brian, it was very surprising. He really filled the shoes of a producer on, probably I would say about half the record, if I recall correctly. He and I were very involved in the pre-production, where we sat together and kind of worked through what the songs were going to be and what the vibe was going to be and what the tempo was going to be and the approach and laid that out together. Then when we initially started tracking with guitars and bass, he was right there, even engineering the sessions at one point and really coming up with wonderful ideas and guiding. He was the captain of the ship, in a lot of ways, for a lot of this record– more of a producer than probably just about any producer I’ve ever worked with. He was like a professional producer that was getting paid to produce, and he wasn’t. He was the drummer, but just a constant musician with just a whole tool belt of ideas and such a student of classic rock. And he’s such a great musician, multi-instrumentalist engineer, singer, songwriter, guitar player, drummer, bass player and other things. So, he’s phenomenal.We have to give him a lot of credit for that.
Then, Robbie really shocked me as far as what he laid down, because they worked here in my studio, so I was here, and it was intense. Especially being in the room while it was all happening– I mean every little nuance and every little part is all thought out. He spent two or three days and went deep– really, really deep. It wasn’t just laying down some bass. He was doing counter point stuff and creating this whole other world that is interesting completely on its own as a standalone piece of work and was really phenomenal.
What’s the status of a new Lynch Mob record? Are you think of recording new music?
No, we are not, actually. We had an opportunity to, but with everything going on right now in the world, it was really sort of an epiphany moment. I just kind of woke up and said, I think with this record, this is our swan song. I think this would be a good place to exit the stage, that we’ve created this book end– an answer to the first record. The name itself, of course, has always been problematic, and now it’s inexcusable to keep the name. So, things have just sort of all conspired. A lot of different events triangulated to this point where it just makes sense on every single level to let it go and wrap it up with an nice neat bow with this record and move on.
Oh, wow. So, this is your final Lynch Mob release, but not your final release as an artist.
Yeah, not me– just Lynch Mob. I’m not going to tour anymore with that name or put out any more records with that name. I’ll probably still play with some of the same people. We’ll just call it something else. I’m just finishing up my fourth album for this year, so I’ve got plenty of projects that I can do. I’m starting a fourth KXM record later this summer, and I’ve got an instrumental record coming out, and another project I did with Jeff Pilson with Heavy Hitters. It’s really interesting. It’s two songs from the last five decades that we re-interpreted and re-imagined, and had a lot of fun with, so we have everything from Little Richard to Madonna to Timbaland to Duran Duran, just all kinds of different music that we had fun with, so there may be a series of those records. So, I have a lot of projects that keep me busy.
What are your thoughts on the state of rock music? Do you think that rock is in a good place?
I think creatively, absolutely. I think that people always find a way to be human and express themselves. I think one of the great catalysts or creativity is the angst of existence. Things get tough, and the creative juices start flowing… I tend to be a hopeful person and tend to look at things like that. So, just every day that we can wake up, I think we appreciate what we have a lot more, and that’s one of the good things that’s come of this. This sense of appreciation for each other and the fact that we are who we are and have options and opportunities. We have to get creative, not just in the musical sense, but in every area of our lives, we have to get creative, as far as continuing to function and remaining healthy and earning a living and staying safe and all those things.
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