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Van Halen

VAN HALEN Singer DAVID LEE ROTH Returns With New Season Of ‘The Roth Show’

Manos Spanos
Episode 1 of Season 2 of "The Roth Show", the video podcast program hosted by VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth, can be seen below. In this episode, Roth discusses "The New York City Way". In a 2013 interview, Roth explained that "The Roth Show" started off as an experiment. "You can prop something up with your famous name for a day or two," he said. "But does it really hold water? Let's see if a new idea really has a chance. Inside a matter of weeks, it really caught fire." Roth last year said that his house in Pasadena, California is just about his only example of rock 'n' roll excess when it comes to possessions. "I've been here the length of the VAN HALEN career," he explained. "A lot of folks in my position like things and stuff — an Italian sports car with a six-syllable name and an Italian trophy wife with a five-syllable name. This was the one material thing that I bought." He also spoke about his childhood, saying: "I wanted to be things that were in books. I wanted to be a pirate. I wanted to work on an oil rig in Oklahoma and get into fistfights in a beer bar. I wanted to go salmon fishing and almost get killed." VAN HALEN is working on its 13th studio album, according to ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti. Tremonti — whose bass player in his solo band, Wolfgang Van Halen, is also the bassist in VAN HALEN — spilled the news in an interview with VH1 Network, saying, "With Wolfgang in the band now, he does a lot of work with VAN HALEN right now, they're putting together a new album, so it's going to be hard to get everybody's schedules to line up." Tremonti admitted, however, that Wolfgang has not told him much about the next VAN HALEN effort, saying, "You know, he doesn't. He just says, 'Yeah, sounds great, man. Sounds great.'" The question, however, is whether the material will be freshly written or pulled from the band's vaults. Many of the songs on 2012's "A Different Kind Of Truth" originated from demos going back to the group's earliest days, with Wolfgang telling The Pulse Of Radio, "There's plenty of other ideas lying around." Roth said in an interview late last year that VAN HALEN had started work on a new record, revealing, "I write lyrics routinely and the band plays together routinely, at least three times a week up at Ed's [Van Halen] place."
02 min read

VAN HALEN Is Putting Together A New Album, Says MARK TREMONTI

Manos Spanos
It's been pretty quiet on the VAN HALEN front lately but we've now found out why – they're working on a new album. ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti broke the news when he was telling VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner about how new music is coming along with his solo band, TREMONTI, which includes VAN HALEN bassist Wolfgang Van Halen. Said Mark: "With Wolfgang in the band now, he does a lot of work with VAN HALEN right now, they're putting together a new album, so it's going to be hard to get everybody's schedules to line up." When VH1 Radio Network asked Tremonti if Wolfie tells him how the new VAN HALEN music is sounding, Mark said: "You know, he doesn't. He just says, 'Yeah, sounds great, man. Sounds great.'" After singer David Lee Roth said in an interview last summer that VAN HALEN has started work on its 13th studio album, the next question was whether the material will be freshly written or pulled from the band's vaults. Many of the songs on 2012's "A Different Kind Of Truth" originated from demos going back to the group's earliest days, and Wolfgang Van Halen told The Pulse Of Radio that there's more where that came from. "There's plenty of other ideas lying around and some new stuff that we've been working on too," he said. "You never know what'll happen." According to The Pulse Of Radio, Roth told comedian Jim Florentine back in August: "I was up at [guitarist] Edward's [Van Halen] house three days ago, and we're starting to put music together. We're writing; I write lyrics routinely and the band plays together routinely, at least three times a week up at Ed's place." But Roth also cautioned that fans should not expect to hear the finished follow-up to 2012's "A Different Kind Of Truth" for at least 18 months. "A Different Kind Of Truth" was the first new VAN HALEN album in 14 years and the first since 1984 to feature Roth, the band's original singer, on lead vocals. The disc debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart, selling 187,000 copies in its first week of release. The group toured through the spring and early part of the summer of 2012 behind the album, but abruptly pulled off the road that June due to "exhaustion." A severe intestinal disorder later sidelined Eddie Van Halen, restricting the band to only sporadic live show
02 min read

‘South Park’ Uses VAN HALEN To Unite Christians, Jews, And Muslims

Manos Spanos
VAN HALEN helped usher in peace on Earth during the "Ginger Cow" episode of "South Park", which aired last night. In the episode, Jews, Muslims, and Christians finally come together in total harmony, and the only song worthy of such a profound commemoration is is a rocking version of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Check out the clip below. Earlier in the year, VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth gave an interview to Rolling Stone in which he expressed his desire to work on fresh material with Eddie Van Halen and tour outside the U.S., saying, "We have an audience and we have a potential future in many, many places . . . I don't know where the VAN HALEN future lies aside from the States." The band has been touring in support of its February 2012 release, "A Different Kind Of Truth", which was its first album with Roth in 28 years.
01 min read

SAMMY HAGAR On Split With VAN HALEN: ‘I Was Stabbed In The Back And Left For Dead’

Manos Spanos
GRAMMY.com recently conducted an interview with legendary rocker Sammy Hagar (VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT, MONTROSE). You can now watch the chat in eleven parts below. Asked if he misses his friendship with the Van Halen brothers, Hagar replied: "Oh, every part of me — from my hair to my toes — miss my friendship with Eddie and Alex Van Halen. "I think Alex and I are probably still good friends. Eddie and I, we hit a real hard bump in the road. It's kind of like a relationship with a partner and things go so wrong that you just don't feel like you can ever let that go. But we'll see. 'Cause I think I can let anything go. I don't know if Eddie can let anything go; maybe he can. But right now, there's a lot of resentment built up. It's almost like there's so much anger that I don't wanna even run into him." He continued: "I used to always say, 'Oh, if I ran into him somewhere, it'd be, like, 'Oh, Eddie. How are you doing?' Big hugs and kisses. I don't think it'd be like that right now. I think it'd be, like, 'You did this' and 'You did that' [laughs]; we'd get in each other's face. "It got real ugly. "Unfortunately, when I wrote my book, I had to say it all, because in my whole life, what do I do? I go through life and I run into fans. 'Oh, man, I loved you in VAN HALEN. You were the best guy.' Of course they tell me I was the best guy in VAN HALEN and they tell the other guy he was the best guy. But the truth of the matter is, they would say, 'Why can't you andEddie get…? Man, you guys…' And I'm going, 'You don't understand.' So when I wrote my book, I wanted to clarify that; I just wanted to throw that out the window. Don't ever ask me again why I'm not in VAN HALEN. I was thrown out, I was stabbed in the back and left for dead. And you just can't go back and hug and kiss those kind of people that do that to you. So I wrote about it in my book. And now that I really wrote about it in the book, I don't thinkEddie would ever look me in the eye and shake hands and no hugs and kisses. But Alex knows it's all true and he knows it was all… Well, he knows what happened. He was a bystander who stood by his brother, and I love 'em both." He added: "I still love Eddie Van Halen with all of my heart and I wish him nothing but good health and hopefully he gets himself together. But he put me through some miserable stuff that one human being should not do that to another human being. And it's not like I didn't have a choice. I had a choice; I could have split in the middle of that tour, but when I did, I was threatened to be sued for so much money that it was, like… 'I'm gonna stick it out.' And sticking it out through those situations [meant] I had to get my own airplane, [we] couldn't fly on the same plane, he was in this dressing room in the arena, I was in the farthest one over there I could get. And it was, like, every night, sitting there and looking at the clock, it's time to go on, Michael Anthony [then-VAN HALEN bassist] and I, and we'd hear Eddie's guitar. It was, like, 'OK, he made it. Let's go.' We'd walk out on stage every night. [We'd] wait and make sure the guy could make it. "But I love him; I really do love him. My friendship and the songs and the music we made makes up for all of that — if he would be willing to say, 'Hey, let's let it go.' "But I'm not looking to get back [in VAN HALEN]. CHICKENFOOT is my band now." Hagar recently said that Eddie Van Halen isn't as "fluent and versatile" as Sammy'sCHICKENFOOT bandmate Joe Satriani. Hagar, who just released the star-studded collection,"Sammy Hagar & Friends", took a swipe at Van Halen while downplaying his own guitar playing, telling Gibson.com, "In CHICKENFOOT and VAN HALEN, I just put the guitar on and got a big cheer always, and then I'd burn for a little bit and then take it back off before I ran out of chops, y'know? I rate myself as a guy that can play, and I can express myself extremely well but only in one language. I can only play blues-based guitar. And when a guy like Joesteps up there, he can play. Once he finishes with my repertoire, he can go into French, Spanish and Russian on the guitar! He's just so versatile and fluent." Hagar pressed on, comparing Van Halen to Satriani, saying, "Eddie's not as fluent and versatile. Eddie's got a style for himself and he's very much in that pocket, but Joe can play anything. He freaks me out." Hagar told The Pulse Of Radio that the split between him and Eddie Van Halen became apparent during the sessions for the band's 1995 "Balance" album, which was his last full-length set with the band. "Eddie needs somebody to make decisions and a leader, y'know?" he said. "He's not a natural born leader kind of guy. And his brother was always the leader before — or [David Lee] Roth was the leader before — and when Roth left, his brother and him bumped heads so much, when I walked in, it was like, 'Well, what does Sam wanna do?' y'know? So it became kind of like, yeah, I was making all the decisions, so then on 'Balance', all of a sudden he didn't like my decisions, and it was, like, really weird."
07 min read

EDDIE VAN HALEN Sues CONTRACTOR

Manos Spanos
According to TMZ.com, legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen is suing a contractor for allegedly messing up a remodeling project at the musician's Los Angeles home. In the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday (September 30) by Van Halen's family trust, Eddieclaims that he hired the Troy Builders Group five years ago for a remodeling and construction project on his home. But the guitarist says there were several major problems with the work, namely the waterproofing, including poor drainage, a leaky roof and chimney and badly installed gutters. They led to water entering the home, which caused the house to suffer mold damage — including to the elevator shaft in the home — and resulted in Eddie having to spend more than $1 million in repairs. Van Halen is suing the builder for the money he is out plus interest.
01 min read

HAGAR Says EDDIE VAN HALEN Is ‘Not As Fluent And Versatile’ On The Guitar As JOE SATRIANI Is

Manos Spanos
Peter Hodgson of Gibson.com recently conducted an interview with Sammy Hagar(CHICKENFOOT, VAN HALEN). An excerpt from the chat follows below. Gibson.com: I've always wanted to ask you how you rank yourself as a guitarist. It takes balls to stand up there with Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani. I've been lucky to jam withSatriani and Vai, and to a certain point it's intimidating but also at a certain point you've just got to tell yourself "Screw it, this is what I do." Sammy: I'm a little bit intimidated if we go too long, but in CHICKENFOOT and VAN HALEN, I just put the guitar on and got a big cheer always, and then I'd burn for a little bit and then take it back off before I ran out of chops, y'know? I rate myself as a guy that can play, and I can express myself extremely well but only in one language. I can only play blues-based guitar. And when a guy like Joe steps up there, he can play. Once he finishes with my repertoire, he can go into French, Spanish and Russian on the guitar! He's just so versatile and fluent.Eddie's not as fluent and versatile. Eddie's got a style for himself and he's very much in that pocket, but Joe can play anything. He freaks me out. When Joe and I start to write together, he'll show me some chords and I'll start singing, then I'll pick up a guitar just mainly to figure a lick out: "What chord is that? What are you playing?" so I can know what notes I have to choose from to sing. Then he'll go "That was a cool lick, what did you play?" and I'll go "[Expletive], I don't know!" I don't get it. I just play. Gibson.com: There were so many great guitar players to come out of the '80s where you knew they'd kind of fade away, but even early on it was apparent that we'd still be hearing about Joe Satriani in 40, 50 years. Sammy: Oh, Joe's here to stay. I think he's going to have a kind of Jeff Beck career. He's going to have these little windows where he gets a little bump, a little more publicity, a little more recognition, and then he kinda just cruises along, then all of a sudden somebody's gonna say, "Wow, Joe Satriani's the best guitar player in the world" and everybody gets hip again. He ain't going nowhere. The thing that amazes me the most about Joe's guitar playing over any other musician is he knows exactly what he's playing and he can play it twice, three times exactly the same. He works his parts out but he does it really quick. It's not like it takes him forever to come up with a part. He comes up with it, BAM, instantly, and he knows every note he's playing and I don't know how he does it. He's too smart for his own good. But you're a lucky man if you stood up and played next to Joe Satriani. What I do is, I learn. He immediately makes me better because it makes me aware of what I'm playing, because if I see him solo I think, "I don't know what I'm doing." So I start to think a little more, like "Oh I know why that note works." So he just enlightens. He's enlightening to play with. I don't know if that works for you, but that's how it works for me. Read the entire interview at Gibson.com.
03 min read