MICHAEL SWEET Reveals Possible Name For Project With GEORGE LYNCH, JAMES LOMENZO, BRIAN TICHY

Guitarist/vocalist Michael Sweet of Christian hard rockers STRYPER spoke to Guitar International about his recently announced project with legendary guitarist George Lynch (T&N, DOKKEN, LYNCH MOB), bassist James Lomenzo (MEGADETH, WHITE LION, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and Brian Tichy (S.U.N., WHITESNAKE).

“It looks like we are going to go with the name SWEET LYNCH,” he said. “We were debating that for a while and the label was pushing it for it. It was the brainchild of Serafino Perugino at Frontiers Records. He asked me to basically sing on this record and then I suggested producing it. I co-wrote the songs with George. I called Brian Tichy and James Lomenzo to put the band together. You’ll start to hear about it in September with the first single and video. It’s an incredible combination of classic ’70s and ’80s. You will hear some flavors of JOURNEY, BAD COMPANY, DOKKEN, VAN HALEN and STRYPER.”

He added: “I love this CD. I’m super excited for people to hear this CD. I’m so proud of it.

“James and Brian are amazing musicians. They tore it up. The drums and bass are just as impressive as the guitars. Everybody really delivered… The musicianship level on this is top notch. It sounds as if we were all in the stuff playing together and we were not. Basically, George wrote some riffs about a minute to a minute and a half long. I wrote lyrics and melodies then arranged them. I cut and pasted them together in the studio. Then Brian and James came out and tracked the drums and bass, as well as some rhythm stuff. We then sent it to George to add the guitars.”

Asked if there will be any live dates in support of the album, Sweet said: “We are one million percent sure there will be a tour.”

Sweet in 2012 revealed that he would hit the road with T&N (formerly TOOTH AND NAIL), the project featuring current and former members of DOKKEN (George Lynch, Jeff Pilson and Mick Brown), in support of that band’s debut album, “Slave To The Empire”, and upcoming follow-up effort. He wrote in an online posting: “It should be a blast and a lot of fun singing those classic DOKKEN tunes.”

He added: “And to ease your mind, I WILL NOT be leaving STRYPER, just having some side fun with George, Jeff and Mick when this actually takes place.”