Eddie Van Halen to speak at Smithsonian Instituion on February 12.

[vandeleur]

If am honest I wouldn't really attack ed for half the shIT he has said, he was off his tits for most of the last dozen years prior to 2007.
I bet he can't remember half the shit he said and is probably trying to forget the other half.No pun intended.

[VHscraps]

He said that he tells their singers what to sing?

Really? Dave didn't write the vocal melodies on good Van Halen? Sounds pretty fucking unlikely to anyone that has heard any Van Halen record he didn't sing on.

'How many say I' is what you get when Ed does vocal melodies...

He was trying to get a laugh, and right after said it was a joke. Although maybe a Freudian would say that therein resides his deepest wishes - that he might be able to tell his singers what to do.

I always thought the songwriting was probably a lot more collaborative, and that - up to 1984 - Dave did a little more than write the words and melodies. A bit of arranging - you know, 'he Ed, what if we move that part here, or leave this part out?'.

Sure VH always sounds like VH because of Ed's guitar and Al's snare - but their songs as a whole also sound like whoever their singer is. It's why Van Hagar sounds very little like Van Halen.

Dave's melodies in a lot of classic VH are not really of the hard rock template. Listen to something like 'Bottoms Up' - that vocal line is very jazz / swing to my ears. Take away the music, sing along to the words and melody .... that there is a song in itself! I'd be surprised if Dave didn't have an influence on song structure, dynamics and chord changes.

I think he has always been seriously underrated as a vocal stylist and songwriter (writer of melodies).

[Whorehey]

EVH is aging like a President...

[Seshmeister]

Writing a good vocal melody over music without being able to change the music is really difficult.
When Ed claims he did all the work by delivering the music completed he misses the point entirely. Most guitarists could sit there coming up with riffs all day the genius is turning them into songs.
The perfect recent demonstration of this is Blood and Fire.

[fraroc]

Funny you should mention it. If I recall correctly, Ed had said the music to VH3 was composed entirely after he had read Gary's book of poetry and lyrics. So, his "the music always comes first" was a bit off.

I almost fell out of my chair when Ed brought up Mark Stone. I'll bet Mark did, too.

I think the with the way he mentions his son having new music coming out, he could be referring to Tremonti.

The Q & A at the end was pretty disappointing. Except for the little kid's question. That was cute, and not something he's asked every day.

Well, that's percisely why I consider VH3 to be the Eddie Van Halen solo album.

[DLR Bridge]

Well, that's percisely why I consider VH3 to be the Eddie Van Halen solo album.

So, if you were to make a solo album, would you write music around someone else's words? I don't think 3 was a solo album, but it wasn't a Van Halen album either, of course. As much of a control freak as Ed was (is), he still collaborated with someone.

[Von Halen]

Why don't you fags just call Dave and ask him if you can suck his dick?

Ed was fucking JOKING when he said he just tells the singers what to sing.

There is no doubt what is brought to the table when Ed and Dave collaborate. It's chemistry. It's magic. They know this. I think you fuckers spend more time trying to give one more credit over the other, than they do. It's rather obvious their production without each other, is subpar.

Dave is a fucking snake oil salesman, and you motherfuckers are buying every bit of his inventory. Dave should win an academy award for his act. FACT!!

[DLR Bridge]

It's obvious he was joking. He also has a history of down playing anyone's contribution to the band's sound, aside from his brother.

[ZahZoo]

When Rolling Stone asks Van Halen after the show about the band's current plans, the guitarist is ambivalent, noting that the group has no immediate plans to record or tour. "I’d love to make a studio record," he says. "Depends on everybody’s timing. I don’t know what Dave [Lee Roth] is up to now. I don’t know if he’s living in New York or Japan or wherever he is."


Yeah, that's a bit odd, considering all of the times Dave mentioned a "special project with Van Halen" was in the works, plus his constant phone contact with Alex. For Ed to not even know where Dave is seems strange. Par for the course, I guess you could say.

It seemed things were heading towards VH the band getting active... Dave making the FF appearance. But I'm inclined to believe Ed's statement of not knowing where or what Dave's doing is probably mostly true. Does make you wonder if Ed even knows Roth performed with the FF...

I've seen a couple of mentions that Dave is in frequent contact with Alex... But can anyone provide a direct quote, video, whatever from Dave or Alex having uttered those words in the last year or two? I doubt that's the case...

There's still something fishy with the Live in Tokyo announcement in that other than that one Canadian radio station leaking it, plus the VHND getting a green light to run it... but still nothing from any other industry media, radio, but more importantly nothing from WB or the band's official sites.

Ed stating they are "waiting on a release date" makes you wonder... Is there a hold-up internally?

The Van Halen Clan™ is out and about, healthy looking, publicly talking and seem ready/willing to do something... if something positive doesn't come out of the Roth Cave real soon, is Dave is the hold-up..?

2015 was supposed to be the year they planned on doing something. Who's MIA, gone dark in their basement? As the bumper tune on the Roth Shows™ used to say... Where is David Lee Roth..?

[DLR Bridge]

As I sit here, Mel Brooks is on my TV singing "hope for the best, expect the worst". No truer words, especially in the case of all of these nut bars.

[DONNIEP]

Why don't you fags just call Dave and ask him if you can suck his dick?

Is that the big project Dave was blabbering on about? Dial-a-suck?

"Hey rock music and roller coaster fans - Diamond Dave at your service! Wanna prove to everybody that you're the biggest Classic Van Halen or DLR fan?? Then call 1-800-SUCK-DLR! My trusty assistant Thunder Balls will film the whole thing and upload it to the world wide web for you to show all those other guys that YOU are my biggest fan. Well, after me of course, cause we all I know I'm my biggest fan. But I can't suck myself so get on those phones!

And if you're one of those message board super fly biggest fan tactical ninja walking DLR/Van Halen encyclopenises, make sure you ask about the DLR I'm Gonna Fuck Your Girlfriend special offer!! That's right, for just a few bucks more Thunder Balls will video me banging your fat old lady while you stare through my bedroom window! I'll even put on a cool wig and it'll be just like 1984 all over again! Bozdey bozdey bop - no fat chicks on top!

But you better act fast cause me and VH are about to start up our megapalooza world wide whores and boozuh super flash mega tour! That's right - we're gonna do 3,000 shows in just 7 months and we're gonna visit all 9,000 countries on the planet! So call now!!!"

[kwame k]

I think you guys are reading way too much into Dave's media blackout!

Probably a simple case of shutting it down to redesign everything or the people who run it were fired or quit!

Dave's said numerous times he doesn't use social media and is pretty computer illiterate!

Most fan pages are ran by someone other than the artist, afterall!

[ZahZoo]

Dick sucking and black ops speculation aside... this is a cool picture!

[DONNIEP]

I think you guys are reading way too much into Dave's media blackout!

Probably a simple case of shutting it down to redesign everything or the people who run it were fired or quit!

Dave's said numerous times he doesn't use social media and is pretty computer illiterate!

Most fan pages are ran by someone other than the artist, afterall!

You, sir, are incorrect! I've been in close personal and top secret 7th level scientology contact with Dave for months now. And he told me he was quitting the bidness because some guy named kwama or karma or kwame said he wouldn't buy the next VH record! He even went so far in one of his rants as to tell me that he was gonna shave his fuckin head if this so-called "kwame" character didn't retract his statements. I tried to talk him out of it but, well, you all know how Dave is and the next thing I hear on the phone is Dave pulling an Ed and the sound of clippers and tears...

[kwame k]

I'm still gonna bootleg the fuck outta that album!

Tell Dave to suck it up, buttercup! No one gets out alive

[DONNIEP]

I'm still gonna bootleg the fuck outta that album!

I gots my CD/DVD burner all dusted off after 3 years of sitting dormant here in the Roth Army Recording Studios...ready to crank out the copies as fast as my limited attention span will allow me to. But I will NOT check each and every copy this time. A man can only sit through that solo so many times in his lifetime and honestly I get really bored really fast.

[DLR Bridge]

Dick sucking and black ops speculation aside... this is a cool picture!

Same guy, the original guitar, different wood panel background some 37 years earlier.

[kwame k]

I gots my CD/DVD burner all dusted off after 3 years of sitting dormant here in the Roth Army Recording Studios...ready to crank out the copies as fast as my limited attention span will allow me to. But I will NOT check each and every copy this time. A man can only sit through that solo so many times in his lifetime and honestly I get really bored really fast.

Actually I'm too lazy to even bootleg it! I'll wait ( ) until someone syncs it up with the multi-cam HD footage already out there and probably just watch it once!

That's the extent of my caring about a live album!

[TitanTopper]

I thought Ed was great!! He sounded humble, healthy and in a good place. Is it just me or does "this" photo look like a Madame Trousseau exhibit? Now, we just need Dave back with the boyz creating and releasing NEW music!!
ROCK ON!!

[TitanTopper]

image.jpg


Sorry...This photo.

[mh5150]

GET READY...

[78/84 guy]

Looks like Eddie has gone into Van Liar mode again. It's along the line of his other famous sayings:

If Gary's in, he's in for life.

Baby steps

I need a hip replacement this year. (Which he said in 1996, but didn't do until 5+ years later)

We can't tour without a new album. (Which he did TWICE!)



Jesus fuckin' H Christ I could go on forever with this.

Exactly why I won't click on the interview. I wouldn't believe 3/4's of anything this guy say's at this point.

[DLR Bridge]

Exactly why I won't click on the interview. I wouldn't believe 3/4's of anything this guy say's at this point.

I'd say it was 3/4 believable, 1/4 revisionist. Not as bad a ratio one might expect.

[ZahZoo]

Exactly why I won't click on the interview. I wouldn't believe 3/4's of anything this guy say's at this point.

You're missing a great opportunity to see Ed being Ed... and just talking about his life's journey. There's no band hype and bullshit...

You should watch the video... it's worth an hour's time wasted.

[DLR Bridge]

Good point Zah. His family and school stories are from the heart.

They had enough prep time for this thing. That would have been cool if there was a big screen behind him showing images that pertained to the stories. That shot of the family on the boat ride over is sensational.

[chuckjitsu]

Writing a good vocal melody over music without being able to change the music is really difficult.
When Ed claims he did all the work by delivering the music completed he misses the point entirely. Most guitarists could sit there coming up with riffs all day the genius is turning them into songs.
The perfect recent demonstration of this is Blood and Fire.

I remember reading an interview with Ed where he said he could basically give Dave anything music wise and Dave would always be able to come up with lyrics and vocal melodies for whatever Ed gave him. That's not always easy to do. I also remember reading an interview with Sam where he said one of the songs on Balance ended up being an instrumental because he couldn't figure what to do with the music. I think Dave's work with VH has been underrated to a degree in terms of what he contributes to the songwriting process relative to lyrics/vocal melodies.

[DLR Bridge]

I remember that interview Chuck. Was in this mag...image.jpg

[clarathecarrot]

You know in 9 short years or long depending on how it rolled ED has made me feel so good despite the awesome music and the tours that entertained me something I thought would happen but never knew, when it might (DLR back and so forth).

Where this site was, where ED was, what we were watching as ED lost it for years, wondering if one day Ed would be under the 12th street bridge more concerned with the cup than where he was.

Idol worship has never figured into my listening pleasures, there must be some of it involved in moments in time frozen yet living on a disc of music. I have more often than not embraced some kind of brotherhood thru who I listened to and thus have always looked upon rock stars as a brother.

Ed has really done a 180 degree turn around..

2006 to 2015 Ed, Nice Job.


Thanks VA great Vid Post

[Seshmeister]

From 6 time Grammy nominated producer John Shanks who has written and/or produced over 100 top 5 singles.

http://www.guitarworld.com/interview...ent-kind-truth

As a musician, producer and songwriter, can you share some observations about their writing and recording processes?

I’ll use “Hot For Teacher” as an example of why Dave is great, because until people really get to know the new album, it’s hard to explain his magic. Think about “Hot For Teacher.” You have the big hammer-on intro, then you have the guitar part, then down to the John Lee Hooker kind of guitar part. Now, I’m guessing here that when Eddie came up with that, he probably assumed that’s where the verse would start. Most singers, when they hear that, would have started singing right there. Not Dave. What Dave does is, “What do you think the teacher’s going to look like this year,” and then it goes into another section and he starts the vocal. Again, most writers would have written that as the B section. Dave sees that as the verse. Dave goes over barre lines and looks at things completely originally, more than most songwriters.

The way I correlate Dave — there’s a similarity almost to the way Stevie Nicks writes. Stevie writes over barre lines and her verses continue over where you think they would go to this section, but they don’t. She’s like a poet. Stevie writes poems, and Dave writes in a very similar way, where he’s going over sections of songs so it’s not cookie-cutter. Analytically, when you break it down as a songwriter, the way Dave writes sometimes is outside the box, or as he says, it’s “off book.” He has these parameters, and he bends and morphs them to accommodate his ideas, not only melodically but lyrically as well. That’s hard to do, especially in a context of the material he’s working off of. It’s more beat poetry or jazz; it’s more that kind of thing. It’s more R&B.

Dave thinks outside of the box. To see that process was to see what he goes through to create that. He goes through his process trying to find melodies and counterpoints. What I came away with was the brilliance of Dave, which is like the brilliance of Eddie, but in a completely different way, but they complement each other.

[DaveTheScott]

A few good moments during this thing - hell, just glad to see Ed out and about. There's two takeaways I care about here...

(1) Pretty much confirms there ain't any upcoming tour being planned...
(2) Pretty much confirms Dave is not in regular contact with the band and he damn sure hasn't been visiting Howdy Doody Mountain to work on a new album.

[ZahZoo]

I wouldn't go so far as to say no tour "planned"... something was or is in the planning phase. Just no ink to paper has been committed, yet.

Regular contact between Dave and the VH Clan™... When rehearsals, recordings or formal business meetings with management etc. occur, yeah, Dave is in the loop. In between those times when there's nothing on the table... I doubt Dave and someone with the last name Van Halen talk more than periodically and can go a few months without touching base.

I would be really surprised if Dave has been up to Howdy Doody Mountain™ even a half dozen times since their 2006 reconciliation...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I wouldn't go so far as to say no tour "planned"... something was or is in the planning phase. Just no ink to paper has been committed, yet.

This.

I've lost exact count, but I believe it's up to seven or eight venues around North America that are reportedly in discussions about booking Van Halen in the summer/fall timeframe.

And, as I mentioned previously, it's important to remember that these negotiations between the band's management and the venue are commenced via notification from the band, and not vice versa.

Now, could something have changed recently in that regard? Sure, especially since those venue reports are at least a month old but the "DDE Media" (as Shelly put it) only went dark about a week ago.

So while I would definitely say that there is no new VH album in our future any time soon, unless something changed in that regard, there is/was definitely a summer/fall tour in the planning stages.....

[Never was]

To me it smells like a contract a dispute/negotiation behind the scenes rather than some great rift in the band or drama. Plain and simple till contracts are done and ink dry not a lot of incentive to hype future endeavors till then. Result is still consistent with my view the next 2 years are either the most productive in decades or implosion.

That being said in regard to the band, it is great to see Eddie removed from his self induced fog. His pride and joy of Wolf is pretty cool to see.