Former DOKKEN Bassist: My Most Memorable Tours

July 8, 2003

Former DOKKEN bassist Jeff Pilson recently spoke to Suite101.com about his most memorable tours.

"The two best tours DOKKEN ever did were the DIO tour in '84-'85 and the AEROSMITH tour in '87 and '88," he said. "Those were definitely both peaks in different ways. DIO was a great band, and we were learning. We were up-and-coming, but we had a lot to learn, and we did learn. That tour toughened us up a lot. That was at a point when DIO commanded a very loyal, hardcore crowd. It toughened us up, made us a stronger live band, a better unit overall. Plus both bands and crews got along famously. To this day all the guys in the original DIO band are good friends of mine. That was a great period. It was a real magical moment in our career and they were a really great band to be on the road with. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

"With AEROSMITH, they were just so cool to us. It was the peak of our success, and a period when we were drawing a lot. We would have a full crowd when we would go on at the beginning of the night. It almost felt like we were a co-headliner. AEROSMITH was great to us. They were really supportive, the camaraderie with everybody was great. They were real pros and they are not uptight. So many bands tended to be really uptight. They would try to do things to your sound and not let you have lights. AEROSMITH was the opposite. They said, 'You guys do whatever you want. We want your show to be great.' They weren't threatened by us. It was really a pleasant, eye-opening experience because their professionalism and positiveness was really powerful.

"It was actually the peak for DOKKEN. It was also the period in which we were getting along the best. That was kind of ironic because [singer] Don [Dokken] announced he was leaving the band during that tour, which seemed so out of nowhere. I could not figure it out. It had me stumped." Read more.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).