I just bought a new issue of Guitar One which has a rare interview of Eddie and his thought about "Fair Warning". Hear are some pretty interesting quotes (I'd like to mention that the interviewer notes that the "...frosty beers and mixed drinks flowed nicely." during the interview, so maybe Eddie was really opening up as a result).
Steven Rosen: How would you rate DLR's vocals on "Fair Warning"?
EVH: The truth is, I don't think he sang as good as I played...I won't rag too much on Dave; he pulls his weight. Mike [Anthony] doesn't. He doesn't do anything; he has no input whatsoever. But he has remodeled his whole house and bought himself a [Porche] Turbo Carrera with the money he's made off of us. Whatever.
...
SR: The guitar parts on the album are so structured that it must make it infinitely more difficult to perform them without the support of the bass.
EVH: It doesn't make it harder to play, because -- and I'll tell you the honest - to - God truth -- since day one I never liked Mike's sound, and I could never hear him. I can never even hear him when we're playing. In fact, live, all I have in my monitors is Al, a little bit of Dave's vocals, a little bit of mine, a little bit of Mike's -- and all I hear is myself and my brother. It's the same in the studio.
SR: Tell me about "Hear About It Later." There are tons of guitars on that track.
EVH: Yeah. That was a heavy problem when it came to the mix...I did so much guitar stuff that they didn't know what to use or where to use it. And Dave did so much screaming and yelling over some parts of it that they didn't know what to use of whatever...compared to "Diver Down", "Fair Warning" was a very... I don't know how to say it -- the two records just don't seem to fit together.
SR: You mean there's no continuity between them?
EVH: Right...Diver Down seemed to have more band attitude, more Ted and Donn and the group, whereas with Fair Warning we were more -- what's the word I'm looking for? -- seperated from each other. Put it this way: We weren't really together as a band for that one. To me, personally, it wasn't as much of a band thing as Diver Down.
This was an iterview from '82 right after the release of "Diver Down". I think the remarks are interesting because this was when the band's relationship was "ok". The rest of the interview is interesting as well because it's his thoughts about the Fair Warning album.
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