George Lynch: I would have been a "good fit" in Ratt

George Lynch
(Image credit: Freeman Promotions)

Back in 2018, Ratt parted ways with their longtime guitar-slinger, the legendary Warren DeMartini.

Though DeMartini's shoes would go on to be filled by Jordan Ziff, there was certainly more than one candidate for the job at the time. As it turns out, another candidate for the electric guitar role was none other than George Lynch, who recently opened up about his discussions with Ratt in an interview with Jason Green.

"We were talking about it," Lynch said on the Waste Some Time with Jason Green YouTube series (via Blabbermouth). "But they wanted a hired-gun guy that was working for a not-great salary. And I'm not that guy. 

"I've never been a hired-gun guy. If you want me, I'll be part of the band and I will write songs and I will be an integral part – one of the big cogs in the wheel – but if you want a hired gun, I'm sure you can get somebody to do that. But that's not me. And that's where it fell apart. 

"The guy they got is unbelievable," Lynch continued, most likely referencing Ziff. "I've played gigs with this guy. He's fucking amazing."

Despite the differences that led to Lynch pursuing other opportunities, the guitarist maintained that he would have been a good replacement for DeMartini, who himself briefly replaced Lynch in Dokken. 

"It would have worked, I think – outside of personalities and politics of being in that band, 'cause they're probably worse than Dokken [when it comes to internal] issues," Lynch said. "So that's something I probably wouldn't have enjoyed and wanted to get involved in. But if it was a clean situation where it didn't have a bunch of drama – musically, I'm very confident I would have been a good fit. 

"[Warren and I] have similar styles, obviously, and kind of come from the same place. I get what he's doing. We go for kind of the same tone. I think it would have worked in a way. It would have been a little different, but it would have been a decent fit, I think."

Despite the potential Ratt gig falling through in 2018, Lynch has kept plenty busy in recent years, forming and releasing new music with The End Machine and KXM, touring with Dokken, releasing signature virtual cab sims and tube modules, and putting together his first-ever all-instrumental solo album, Seamless.

Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.