Guitar_Player__January_2018

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United Front
MICHAEL SWEET AND GEORGE LYNCH
RETURN TO BLOW YOUR MIND
BY MICHAEL MOLENDA
WHEN MICHAEL SWEET AND GEORGE LYNCH
released their first collaboration, Only to Rise, in 2015,
the conceptual pull of their ’80s bands—Stryper and
Dokken, respectively—was quite thrilling for those
who had been waiting for some melodic shred by
two icons of the genre. The album delivered on its
promise with great songs, and, of course, kick-ass
guitars. It also zoomed up into the top 10 of the Billboard
charts—which meant that those who waited for
such a musical mash-up were legion.
Well, the hordes should be prepared to be exhilarated
again, as the collaborators—under the band
name Sweet & Lynch—have launched stage two,
Unified [Frontiers]. Musically, he new album follows
the same general path as Only to Rise, but with two
notable exceptions. Lynch was more involved in the
arrangement of the songs this time out—for Rise, he
sent a ton of parts, but left it to Sweet to piece things
together—and the nature of the world today informed
Sweet’s melodies and lyrics. What this means to listeners
is that Unified still has all of the memorable
songwriting and ferocious guitars, but it also sends
a deeper message. Prepare to be inspired.
It’s so great that Only to Rise wasn’t a one-time
project. What keeps you two collaborating?
Sweet: I think George and I work well together
because we’re both melodic minds and melodic musicians.
Melody is the foundation of everything, and
you’ve got to have something that really attaches itself
to people—beautiful melodies that people can remember
and sing along to. When he sends me stuff, it’s
almost laid out for a singer already. I can hear the
vocal melodies in his guitar parts.
Lynch: In my own mind, I’m the world’s greatest
singer, but I can’t sing. But I hear what I would like
to hear there, and I’m always imagining the melodies
the vocals are singing. When Michael puts down his
vocals—obviously he’s on the other side of the country,
and we’re not communicating directly regarding
vocal ideas or anything like that—it’s usually not what
I envisioned, but it’s still great.
There may be a teachable moment, here. Michael,
what do some guitarists do that makes it
difficult for a vocalist to write melodies, or even
sing over the tracks?
Sweet: Well, with a lot of guitarists, it’s just constant
soloing and jamming in the verses and prechoruses.
How can you find any room for the vocal
melodies? You’re done. But George is so amazing at
knowing the right time and place to throw that stuff
in, and the right time to hold back.
Michael has stated that one of the production
concepts for Unified was to make a record influenced
by the best music of the ’70s and ’80s.
Lynch: I was a little afraid of that concept, to be
frank. I don’t even know what the ’80s thing means
anymore. I was once hired by a record company in
Japan to do something very ’80s specific, and it was
one of the few times in my musical life that I was not
able to pull something out and make it work. I failed.
I literally walked out of that studio after a full day,
and I wasn’t able to recreate what they wanted—a
very ’80s guitar sound on a ’80s-style song. Perhaps
that aspect of my creativity was lost in the 30 years
since I was that person.
So how does a creative team in 2017 produce a
record with, say, ’80s overtones that still speaks to
a modern audience?
Sweet: Musically, I don’t think the goal was ever
changed. It’s important to write songs that melodically
grab people. You want them to sing along. The
opportunity today, however, is to seek different and
original chord progressions. We shouldn’t always
be writing the same old standard rock songs with
three chord changes. Even if you have a set melody
already, there may be different chords that will work
with it. For example, instead of going from a D to a
G, try going to a Gm. You should change things up
and explore other creative areas. I don’t always write
the melody around the chords. Sometimes, I write
the chords around the melody.
Then, there’s the importance of lyrics, and how
they can speak to the times. I think it’s important
that we write words that inspire people. We live in
a world that is not just uninspired, but oppressed.
There’s a lot of crap in this world, and we all have
to deal with a lot of ridiculous stuff that is done and
said. So it’s important for me to write lyrics that are
going to make people smile—make them feel good,
lift them up, encourage them, and inspire them,
32 GUITARPLAYER.COM/JANUARY2018