Dokken’s ‘Tooth And Nail’ turned 40 this year. Jeff Pilson talked about his first record with the band to KNAC.COM’s George Dionne. Dionne asked about possibly re-releasing the album for its anniversary, and Pilson said:
“I don’t know, because we have very, very little to do with all that now. It’s a complicated business thing, but I don’t know. I know I was disappointed in the box set that came out last year. I just thought it was plain.”
‘The Elektra Album 1983–1987’ box set included four records: ‘Breaking The Chains,’ ‘Tooth And Nail,’ ‘Under Lock and Key,’ and ‘Back For The Attack.’ The bassist explained:
“There’s no extras whatsoever. And, see, that’s corporate people making decisions not based on anything artistic or anything fan-oriented, and that pisses me off, frankly. I mean, I’d love people to buy it because I think they should buy it, but it kind of pisses me off that they put out a product with so little thought behind it.”
They Could’ve Done More, He Says
Pilson had his own ideas for the box set:
“I’ve got s**t lying around that could have been great extra stuff. And I offered, by the way, and nobody listened. And that makes me angry… And they didn’t remaster the vinyl correctly. I would love to see it done correctly, and there are companies that do it, but now they’re not gonna be interested because it just came out. So, I don’t know.”
He went on:
“I don’t think we’re gonna get a good re-release of that, unfortunately, because I think it should happen too. But such is life.”
‘Tooth And Nail’ was a slow seller in 1984. It reached its highest point at No. 49 on the US Billboard 200 chart and took more than ten months to become Gold.
The Bassist Remembers The Record Fondly
Pilson talked well about the album’s making. Dokken recorded it while touring for ‘Breaking The Chains.’ He recalled:
“George and I would set up in hotels and we started writing a bunch of the songs then. And then when we came home, I spent a solid month going down to George’s house every day and night, and we worked our a**es off to start the writing process. And we just built a chemistry that exists to this day.”
The bassist also mentioned Don Dokken’s part in the music:
“And then Don came in and added some really powerful stuff to the record, and it just came out amazing. We were a hungry band that were on fire, and we were very motivated, and we were pretty damn focused.”
Jeff Pilson left Dokken in 2001. He reunited with the other original members fifteen years later in Japan. The band went on performing with its current lineup after that.