Johnny Lokke wants to be clear on one thing. "When I say I play classic heavy metal, I mean it. I don't rap, I don't growl, I don't do 'unplugged shows' and I don't plan on redoing my songs with an orchestra. I take two guitars, add in some pounding bass, throw down a vocal line that has melody and power, have actual guitar solos, and finally turn Scot (Goacher) loose to throw down a barrage of drums that will blow you away!"
Lokke began playing guitar at the age of 10, and was led to the alter of metal at age 14. "I remember it like it was yesterday...my first concert. It was KISS with all the original members. I was so excited! The concert starts and the lights go down, and a band I had never heard of takes the stage. The guitars are so loud I can't believe it. The bass is crushing my chest, and the drums sound like they are in my head! But then...what do I hear...my god, is that a human scream? It was JUDAS PRIEST onstage, ripping me limb from limb, taking no prisoners. I was hooked. I loved KISS, but I knew that musically, Priest was where it was at for me."
He would play in cover band after cover band, always trying to talk the others into writing and recording originals. "Who wants to hear originals? We've got to play hits to get gigs," the bands would say. Lokke didn't buy it. "In my mind, they (the audience) just wanted good songs," Lokke says. "They didn't care who it was by, as long as it moved them. So I bought a recorder and decided to start writing and recording."
One person Lokke had played in several cover bands with was tired of the cover scene too...Scot Goacher. "Scot and I had been in several bands together, and had become good friends. So when I decided to start recording, I called him, and we did a lot of learning together."
Years passed and Lokke took time off to get married and raise a family. "The music life is a real circus, so I decided that I would lead a normal life for a while and enjoy my marraige and my son growing up. You can't do that if you're on the road trying to be a rock star all the time." Eventually the music bug bit again, though. "Music is something that is inside you," says Lokke. "You can't just turn it off or put it away. It works it's way out eventually."
Lokke first built a music studio in his basement, so he could still remain close to his family, even when working. He then decided to call Goacher and offer him the chance to join in on the recording process. "I wasn't planning on doing a cd, but I did have some material I wanted to record just to see if I still had what it takes," Lokke laughs. "I couldn't imagine anyone else that could make recording as easy as Scot can, so he accepted and I was thrilled. We recorded several songs that turned out so good, we decided to put together a full cd, and 'Early Warning' was born!"
Lokke sent out a few press kits to see what the response would be, but expected the worst. "Real metal was dead. It was all nu-metal and rap-rock. Lo and behold, though, reviews started coming in and the people loved it. Then word started spreading in a real grass-roots way, and next thing you know I'm sending cd's all over the world. It's like it was meant to be!"
Eager to follow up on the heels of his debut success, Lokke and Goacher quickly re-entered the studio and started on cd number two. "'Wrecking Ball' was so gratifying for me," states Lokke. "'Early Warning' was more like a demo...just an experiment really. 'Wrecking Ball' was planned from start to finish, and we took a great deal of time recording, re-recording and mixing and I think it shows. The real test, though, was if the fans stayed with us to prove that all the success we had with 'Warning' wasn't a fluke. Well, they've expanded 10 fold, and things just keep getting better and better. I try and e-mail or meet every single fan, too. Everyone is so cool, every day I pinch myself to make sure it isn't all a dream!"
Since then, Lokke has put out two releases with his side project "The New Breed": "Bound by the Thread" and "Evolution". They are more in the American Metal genre (like Dio and Black Label Society) than Lokke's solo material.
The New Breed was born back in 2004 out of necessity. Scot Goacher, drummer on all the Johnny Lokke solo releases, had an accident and broke his hip in three places. This led to a long time in bed and out of the music business, meaning something had to be done to help cover bills and expenses. Lokke decided to put together a side-project, and donate the profits to Scot and his family in order to help him until he was back on his feet (or leg, in this case) again.
Needing to put something together quickly, Lokke enlisted the help of several musicians he had worked with in the past, including Stefan Leibing of Primal Fear, Allan Atkins ex-Judas Priest, Chris Watson of the NWOBHM band Black Rose, and guitar guru (and Guitar World contributor) Mike Campese. Also joining Lokke were local artists Lon Weaver, Dan Dreher and Jeff Gragg. The group got together and released "Bound by the Thread", which sold well and garnered great reviews throughout the metal community.
With Goacher's injury proving to be more serious than previously thought, rehab time was going to be longer also. While Scot was recovering, Lokke decided to do another cd under "The New Breed". This time he could take more time with the writing, recording and mixing. He also took his time finding the right group of people to join him on this release, which turned out to be Tim White and Solomon DeWitt. Three-fourths of the way through recording, Lokke met a young guitarist from Sweden, Robban Ollson, that blew him away. He talked Ollson into laying down solos for the remaining four songs and magic happened. "Rob is a fantastic player. He reminds me as a cross between John Petrucci and Michael Schenker," says Lokke. "All the guys were great though. They really came in and grabbed a hold of my vision and expanded on it in their own way and took things to the next level. That's where the title came from. This cd is truly an evolution of the "Bound" release."
So what does the future hold? Lokke answers: "Scot and I have picked back up on our fourth release that we started before he got hurt. It's going to be faster and a little more furious, just because we have a lot of pent up energy after not playing together for a while. Then I would like to do another cover cd as a giveaway to my supporters, and then if I can find the right group of people, I would suspect yet another New Breed cd will find it's way into the picure!"