Billy Sheehan: any question

[Nickdfresh]

It's always possible that Eddie and/or Alex might have called Dave first to attempt to work things out with him. Van Hagar was certainly commercially successful at the time, but at what cost? Maybe they really hated writing cheese ballads after all. Or it might have been their manager Ed Leffler, who was Hagar's manager before he joined the band, came in with him, and no doubt took his side if there were any disputes within the band. From what I remember, Leffler managed to get the band a higher royalty rate from Warner Brothers in the late 80s. Maybe he did that to stay on the brothers' good side? He must have done something right because Van Hagar didn't really start falling apart until after he died in 1993.

Possible, Ed strikes me as a guy that always managed to be miserable about something in those days...

[big fatty]

So...we learn that Dave is working with the brothers right now and look at all the excitement here! I've never seen that place going that nuts about =VH= news! Wow...

Yeah- You'd think that'd be something someone would comment about.

Diamond Claudio meets Billy Sheehan has a nice meeting pics with his lovely daughter. Takes the time to graciously share his encounter mentioning answers to questions asked......

But yeah- Jeez Skyscraper pops out as whats focused upon.

Bummer no Eat Em & Smile reunion anytime soon until 2019 at least since Dave's currently busy with VH.

Fuck that sucks. Shit.

If only Dave wasn't currently busy working with VH then maybe wouldn't have to wait until 2019 for a Billy Sheehan reunion.

Ah well.

[slimdon]

Thanks Claudio! Ya made my Sunday.

[78/84 guy]

About Roth getting back together with Van Halen in 1988, now there's one I'd never heard before.

I guess that might really explain the Eat Em' band split. I mentioned it might be money that Vai & Billy split. Seems like there was some truth to that. But yeah never heard Dave expected to go back to V.H.around this period from anyone. It's a shame it didn't happen. Just like 96. I'm finding it kind of hard to believe honestly. Van Hagar was flying high with 2 number one albums at the time. I know Ed & Dave talked when the brothers pop's passed away in 88. I wonder if they had a conversation about getting back together ? Another missed reunion that should have happened. What was that Cher song ? If I Could Turn Back Time ? It is what it is....... Bring back Mike, record an album for release late this year and go out on a 40th anniversary tour. The thrill is almost gone..........

[78/84 guy]

Good comparison to the Tattoo You-style revamping of old recordings re: ADKOT.

About the only thing left that Van Halen COULD do to really get me psyched would be Anthony returning to the fold and a proper, full-length CVH album of new material. It's really what the band SHOULD do at this point.

That being the case, naturally it won't happen. Much like with Roth back in the fold, what the band SHOULD have done was release a CVH live audio/video box set. What we got for our troubles was (shudder) Live At The Tokyo Dome...

It would have been so easy for the band to have gotten it right at any point in the last 21 years, because the solution was THAT simple:

CVH lineup, new album, tour

Van Halen being what it became post-1985, naturally the group took the long way around the barn, found itself short on definitive members, wasted more time futzing around and eventually came up with a 75% solution that couldn't deliver the goods:

It's 2007. Mike is gone, Wolf looks out of place, Ed's fucked up, Dave is on point

It's 2012. New album of reworked demos, Wolf is fitting in better, Ed's sober and playing well, Dave's off point.

It's 2015. Here's a live album nobody asked for, all three Van Halens are playing well, Dave is trending downhill.

It's like, can you guys just unfuck yourselves, get Mike back, record a new album and give us one final CVH tour? Sooner rather than later? Like, say, in 2018? A 40th Anniversary tour. Take the next 6 months, write and record a new record, then take the following 4 months and rehearse while the venues are being booked. Then do a 3 month summer tour. Then, call it a day. Bring it all back home and go out how you started.

The book on the last few decades of Van Halen would be called Could Have, Should Have, Didn't.......Ed & Dave on stage just never were on the same page all three tours, other than around 08. Baltimore is a killer show, but yeah too far and few between. And no Mike has sucked in general.

[Terry]

The book on the last few decades of Van Halen would be called Could Have, Should Have, Didn't.......Ed & Dave on stage just never were on the same page all three tours, other than around 08. Baltimore is a killer show, but yeah too far and few between. And no Mike has sucked in general.

Mike has sucked in general, or did you mean to say Wolf has sucked in general?

[Terry]

I guess that might really explain the Eat Em' band split. I mentioned it might be money that Vai & Billy split. Seems like there was some truth to that. But yeah never heard Dave expected to go back to V.H.around this period from anyone. It's a shame it didn't happen. Just like 96. I'm finding it kind of hard to believe honestly. Van Hagar was flying high with 2 number one albums at the time. I know Ed & Dave talked when the brothers pop's passed away in 88. I wonder if they had a conversation about getting back together ? Another missed reunion that should have happened. What was that Cher song ? If I Could Turn Back Time ? It is what it is....... Bring back Mike, record an album for release late this year and go out on a 40th anniversary tour. The thrill is almost gone..........

I mean, maybe Roth told Billy in early 1988 that [Roth] would return to Van Halen in the next couple years, and maybe Roth actually believed in his own mind back in 1988 that would actually come to pass by the time 1990 rolled around. It wouldn't have surprised me to find out Dave and Ed had spoken shortly after Jan Van Halen's passing in late 1987. Who knows? Maybe Roth extrapolated something from that encounter that was far beyond anything Eddie Van Halen was thinking at the time.

I mean, I just can't imagine by the time early 1988 rolled around that Eddie Van Halen, after wanting to quit the band from the period when they were making Fair Warning through the 1984 tour, and having hooked up with Hagar who he was getting along great with, and having put out the first Van Halen - 5150 - to reach #1 on the album charts, and having a highly successful tour with Hagar, and having went through 2 years of trading insults with Roth in the press starting in 1985...that in late 1987/early 1988 Eddie would suddenly want to have Roth rejoin the band. The time frame of that, considering all the other stuff I mentioned, is nonsensical.

[78/84 guy]

Mike has sucked in general, or did you mean to say Wolf has sucked in general?

I don't dislike Wolf. He plays fine. But I meant Mike's not being in the band, that sucks, he should be there. Well when they do something. Might be too late at this point .......Ed seems more interested in golf than a guitar.

[78/84 guy]

I mean, maybe Roth told Billy in early 1988 that [Roth] would return to Van Halen in the next couple years, and maybe Roth actually believed in his own mind back in 1988 that would actually come to pass by the time 1990 rolled around. It wouldn't have surprised me to find out Dave and Ed had spoken shortly after Jan Van Halen's passing in late 1987. Who knows? Maybe Roth extrapolated something from that encounter that was far beyond anything Eddie Van Halen was thinking at the time.

I mean, I just can't imagine by the time early 1988 rolled around that Eddie Van Halen, after wanting to quit the band from the period when they were making Fair Warning through the 1984 tour, and having hooked up with Hagar who he was getting along great with, and having put out the first Van Halen - 5150 - to reach #1 on the album charts, and having a highly successful tour with Hagar, and having went through 2 years of trading insults with Roth in the press starting in 1985...that in late 1987/early 1988 Eddie would suddenly want to have Roth rejoin the band. The time frame of that, considering all the other stuff I mentioned, is nonsensical.

I agree. But I don't think Dave was just throwing darts if he indeed told Billy that. He must have has some reason for saying it. I don't think he thought he was gonna dial up Ed and just say hey I'M BACK ! You never know what goes on behind closed doors. Maybe Ed & Al listened to Hags lyrics finally.

[Terry]

I don't dislike Wolf. He plays fine. But I meant Mike's not being in the band, that sucks, he should be there. Well when they do something. Might be too late at this point .......Ed seems more interested in golf than a guitar.

Got it. I just wasn't clear what you meant.

I mean, the whole Mike Anthony thing is just a case of what CVH fans want apparently doesn't line up with how Eddie has valued Mike's contribution to the band going back a long way. Even as far back as 1982 in an off-the-record interview where Eddie said that at least Roth pulls his own weight within the band, unlike Anthony. It took decades for the audio of that interview to be released, but when it finally was it made a lot of sense when put into context of Ed's more recent public comments regarding Mike's bass playing (where Eddie claims he had to literally show Mike what to play - a bullshit claim which nobody outside of Eddie actually believes) and Mike's background vocals (where Eddie claims that in fact Eddie's background voice was more responsible for the signature CVH background vocal sound than Mike's had been - another bullshit claim which nobody with a pair of functioning ears actually believes). Combine that with Eddie making sure Mike's royalty percentage on the publishing was adjusted downward over the years (in conjunction with the claim that Mike didn't provide much in the way of actually writing any of the Van Halen music, which I'd tend to think is more than a bit plausible) down the line to not even wanting Anthony on the 2004 tour, nor wanting Anthony to play on the Van Halen III album or the BOBW tracks...and all sorts of rumors of Eddie playing bass on various Van Halen albums going back as far as Fair Warning...the upshot of all of it being that Eddie Van Halen doesn't think much of Mike Anthony. Not even close to as much as the fans who want to see Anthony back in the band do.

I think it's also safe to surmise that had Wolfgang not joined the band in 2006, it's just as likely than not that what the band has managed to do with Roth in the last ten years may well not have happened. I mean, Ed was a fucking wreck for a good chunk of the early and mid 2000s. He looked like he had given up any semblance of cleaning up, getting sober and getting his act together. Even as recently as late 2006, his NAMM appearance displayed him in a semi-coherent condition, not really able to play up to par. From appearances, he got a buff-and-shine rehab detox treatment in early 2007 (which I tend to think was conditional on the part of promoters before they agreed to even book another Van Halen tour - Roth or not - after what happened in 2004: even the word of Azoff alone wasn't going to be enough to convince moneyed promoters Ed would be in a condition to play: Eddie had to SHOW the public he was sober before any guarantees for live appearances would be given). The 2007 leg of the Roth reunion tour started off strong. Lest we forget, Eddie relapsed on that tour after a few months. The explanations of "diverticulitis" and "arthritis" were provided for his condition. Perhaps both of these were true. However, when I saw them in Tampa in 2008, I could practically smell the booze and see it sweating off of his pores on the Jumbotron. He passably held it together for the first 6 tunes. Slowly but steadily, Eddie unraveled at that gig. The two most telling moments for me were the ending of Little Guitars, where Eddie is performing his fingerpicked outro: Roth was standing next to him onstage, and Eddie meekly fumbles through the outro, then rests his head on Roth's shoulder while Roth looks at the audience with an expression that was as much an admission of Eddie's condition as it was an apology for the audience who had paid not unsubstantial ticket prices to see it. The other was Ed's solo spot near the end of the show, where you could literally see in 30 foot tall digital clarity that Ed couldn't coordinate his picking and his fretting and the whole spot dissolved into this whammy bar feedback wanking that literally left the audience silently asking themselves: what is going on with Eddie Van Halen? Keeping in mind that by the time the Tampa 2008 show took place the band had been on the road for 6 months (so this wasn't a case of early tour jitters) and this wasn't an isolated incident.

Eventually, Eddie got his act together. And I think one of the prime motivating reasons for it was the love he has for playing music with his son. I honestly get the feeling that Eddie is fairly indifferent to performing with Mike Anthony because there's no respect or love there on Eddie's part. Eddie has treated Anthony like a worthless employee who brought virtually nothing to the band, piggybacked to fame and fortune on the coattails of what Eddie did, then stabbed Eddie in the back for preserving a friendship with Sammy Hagar and not attending Eddie's mother's funeral. Anthony's touring percentage was whittled down, his image at one point was erased from an online representation of Van Halen's first album...I mean, Anthony publicly has taken the high road about all of this. All I can figure is that by the time the 2004 was over, Anthony finally reached the point where he had enough of dealing with Eddie Van Halen, and going forward from that Anthony sees no upside in trashing Eddie publicly: Anthony is financially solvent, he plays with people who appreciate him being onstage with them, and Anthony isn't looking to go back to a diminished percentage role with the Van Halens and be treated like a parasitic subordinate by Eddie Van Halen.

And, really, why the fuck SHOULD Anthony go back to Van Halen at this point? Beyond the mere reason that fans would like to see it? I mean, nobody in Van Halen has Mike Anthony's back. Not Roth, not Alex and definitely not Eddie. Mike has had no relationship with Roth to speak of (and admittedly that relationship was never all that close even when they were both in Van Halen) for decades. Alex does what his brother wants, and his brother has no use for Mike. Were I Mike, if the Van Halens approached me for performing on a one-time reunion tour, I'd say "Okay. I get 25% of the split, non-negotiable": if you're going to be onstage with three other people who are at best apathetic to your presence and participation, but your participation is part and parcel of the value of whatever a CVH Reunion/Farewell tour would be at this point, you may as well get paid what you are worth.

For Anthony to agree to anything less than that makes him nothing more than the doormat the Van Halens have treated him like for decades now. I mean, if Anthony would want to agree to anything less than that and continue to be Eddie's bitch, I suppose it is hard to break free of relationship roles. I also think Anthony honestly would be willing to take a pay cut out of genuine concern "for the fans"...but I hope he doesn't. I hope if such a scenario comes to pass Anthony displays a set of balls...

I mean, it's all moot and academic anyway at this point. Even with Anthony aboard, Van Halen are too old to cut the mustard - or even lick the knife - regardless of who is singing with them or playing bass for them. The idea that if only somehow the planets harmonically converge, all the fruit in the slot machine lines up and we actually GET the CVH reunion we have wanted and that will somehow make the band sound substantially better than they have over the last ten years...nope.

[Heater]

If Mike came back there would be less made of how bad Ol' Dave sounds, and Roth knows that. And he is doing what he can to make it so.

[Nickdfresh]

They would also ascend themselves amongst the legion of 80's bands that have replaced original members with sound-a-likes and are effectively touring as corporate logos...

That being said, Mike ain't going to sound like circa-1988 either...

And next tour, assuming there is one, Dave may well sound more like 2007-08 Dave than 2012-2013 Dave...

[cadaverdog]

On a scale of 1-tom cruise how weird is dave ?

That's a good question. If he's playing the Diamond Dave part I'm sure he appears quite strange at times but I bet he's a totally different person around his real friends even though I doubt he has too many. I bet if you ran into him and nobody was around for him to put a show on for he'd be a totally different person than his stage persona would have you think he is.

[FORD]

Dave showed everybody a different side of himself when he posted the herding dog videos. Not exactly a typical rock star hobby there. How many people talked to him at those dog shows without even realizing who he was?

[Heater]

Dave showed everybody a different side of himself when he posted the herding dog videos. Not exactly a typical rock star hobby there. How many people talked to him at those dog shows without even realizing who he was?

I have to agree with this. True story: I know several people who attended a tactical EMS training course with Roth. They went to lunch with him one of the days, nobody in the place recognized him and the conversation at the table had nothing to do with rockstardom except for one "Eddie Van Heineken" quip he made.