Dave on WTF

[Seshmeister]

Dave is on the latest Marc Maron WTF Podcast, one of the biggest podcasts in the world, everyone from Paul McCartney, the Stones to Obama has been on it.

It's a really good interview, new stories about the old days and Maron manages to just about stop Dave going into total full stream of consciousness ramble mode. He talks about some stuff he usually ducks about the relationship with the Van Halen brothers which is just as bad as we all thought.

http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1034-david-lee-roth

You only need to hear David Lee Roth talk for a few seconds to understand why he is the consummate rock and roll frontman. Diamond Dave takes Marc on a stream of consciousness ride through his past, present, future and whatever else he’s thinking about in the moment. They talk about David’s love of Big Band music, jazz guitar, his Uncle Manny, working as an EMT in the Bronx, and his serendipitous pairing with the Van Halen brothers that created musical perfection and nonstop personal animosity. This episode is sponsored by Present Company with Krista Smith, SimpliSafe, and Stamps.com.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Dave is on the latest Marc Maron WTF Podcast, one of the biggest podcasts in the world, everyone from Paul McCartney, the Stones to Obama has been on it.

It's a really good interview, new stories about the old days and Maron manages to just about stop Dave going into total full stream of consciousness ramble mode. He talks about some stuff he usually ducks about the relationship with the Van Halen brothers which is just as bad as we all thought.


http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episod...david-lee-roth

Yeah, some nuggets in the usual schtick!

Gesendet von meinem SM-G955F mit Tapatalk

[Nickdfresh]

Van Halen In Concert - Chula Vista, CA
Van Halen front man David Lee Roth says his relationship with the band's two namesakes, Alex and Eddie Van Halen, has never been smooth.

Roth says, despite their similar upbringings, he and the Van Halens have always fought when they were together. For some reason, the friction didn't stop them from forming a band, playing hundreds of shows and releasing six hit albums.

Diamond Dave tells WTF with Marc Maron that his fit in Van Halen, musically speaking, has always been a perfect one. But he's not about to take anyone named Van Halen out to dinner. Maron asked him specifically.

"Can you sit down with the fellas and have dinner and stuff?" Maron queried.

"Nope. Nope. Not even close," Roth replied. "This is not a golf club. This is a little closer to The Wild Bunch, right? There is a fury and an antagonism and what comes out of that, when it's good, oh man, that's retina-bursting. That'll change your f---ing haircut."


Van Halen hasn't toured since 2015, and while Roth says his last run with the band amounted to some of the "best shows" they had ever done together, the arguments backstage were never-ending.

"We were at each other all throughout the tour," Roth explained. "You've got to be mature enough to understand."

The most common refrain during intra-Van Halen fighting is "What the f--k are you thinking?" Roth adds. "And it's constant. And then you assign yourself to the producer who will either take Eddie's side or my side; you're either a Dave guy or an Eddie guy. You're all mature enough to understand that we're all pirates here. Of course you're gonna betray me."

Roth doesn't seem to take the arguments with him when he's not in Van Halen land; he says it's just part of being in a rock band.

While he didn't address why Van Halen isn't on tour this summer, he confirmed that there were plans for him to meet with the band in the weeks following the interview.

LINK

[Vinnie Velvet]

double post

[Vinnie Velvet]

Not that this is big news - we've always known Dave and the Van Halens never got along. The arrangement since 2006 has been purely business - as it should be. You think Keith likes Mick now after all these years? No he doesn't. But that doesn't mean they don't stop performing as the Stones.

The only thing I've found interesting is that every other musician that has worked with Dave since the original CVH breakup are still good friends with him - like Vai, Sheehan, Bissonette, John 5, etc.

Which boils down to this - and another thing we've always known - Ed and Al are assholes. LOL

[Grit]

Diamond Dave is CLASSIC always!

Damn, just listened to the entire Podcast. That was a great interview. One of the best with Dave I've ever heard. The man is so intelligent, those are always the ones that are misunderstood the most!

[Terry]

Not that this is big news - we've always known Dave and the Van Halens never got along. The arrangement since 2006 has been purely business

Which one has basically suspected since 2006. Particularly in light of comments from both Ed and Dave in post-2007 interviews ("Dave doesn't want to be my friend" and other asides indicating they don't spend any time together if they're not working and spend as little time offstage together when they are touring as possible). Doubtless tying into the longstanding fact that they never really got along well, personality-wise.

Ed and Al have certainly made a lot of asshole moves, particularly over the last 25 years. To be fair, though, Roth comes across as more than a bit bizarre: there's only so much I can take watching the latest round of recent interviews he gave, so I can't imagine what it'd be like to be in a band with the guy or being around him day in and day out. My sense is that the novelty of that would wear off quicker than one would think, and perhaps that was true even 40+ years ago.

[Seshmeister]

The only thing I've found interesting is that every other musician that has worked with Dave since the original CVH breakup are still good friends with him - like Vai, Sheehan, Bissonette, John 5, etc.

Which boils down to this - and another thing we've always known - Ed and Al are assholes. LOL

Maybe but it's only with the Van Halens that he has to work as an equal.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Maybe but it's only with the Van Halens that he has to work as an equal.

Yes, that's true.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Which one has basically suspected since 2006. Particularly in light of comments from both Ed and Dave in post-2007 interviews ("Dave doesn't want to be my friend" and other asides indicating they don't spend any time together if they're not working and spend as little time offstage together when they are touring as possible). Doubtless tying into the longstanding fact that they never really got along well, personality-wise.

Ed and Al have certainly made a lot of asshole moves, particularly over the last 25 years. To be fair, though, Roth comes across as more than a bit bizarre: there's only so much I can take watching the latest round of recent interviews he gave, so I can't imagine what it'd be like to be in a band with the guy or being around him day in and day out. My sense is that the novelty of that would wear off quicker than one would think, and perhaps that was true even 40+ years ago.

I agree.

Which brings me to Azoff. I give him full credit for keeping these dysfunctional fucks together as long as they have - even coming out with a full length album as well.

Which is what CVH needed desperately in 1985. I think if they had a strong, influential top notch manager they could have been held together longer. Monk did what he could but I don't think he was the right manager to keep these personalities together.

There are many other bands over time that were on the verge of breaking up but didn't cause they had strong management that kept them focused on the common goal, etc.

[Terry]

I agree.

Which brings me to Azoff. I give him full credit for keeping these dysfunctional fucks together as long as they have - even coming out with a full length album as well.

Which is what CVH needed desperately in 1985. I think if they had a strong, influential top notch manager they could have been held together longer. Monk did what he could but I don't think he was the right manager to keep these personalities together.

There are many other bands over time that were on the verge of breaking up but didn't cause they had strong management that kept them focused on the common goal, etc.

By the time 2006 rolled around, perhaps a combination of Wolfgang pushing for a Roth reunion, the Van Halens realizing that if they wanted to tour again the only realistic choice was Roth (rather than a 4th singer) and Azoff being tuned into the reality that in 2007 promoters weren't going to shell out big guarantees like they did in 2004 unless Ed was demonstrably sober. I wouldn't give Azoff too much credit, recalling the Azoff-helmed 2003/2004 Van Hagar disaster, but at least Azoff seemed to learn from that.

I think, far as 1985 goes, that Van Halen needed a break. Clearly, this is all said with the benefit of hindsight, but I think Roth and the Van Halens were just plain burnt on dealing with each other. Far back as Fair Warning, Ed was beginning to tire of dealing with Roth, and was becoming more and more unhappy with each subsequent album and tour.

And even a break might not have done much more than postpone the split, especially when considering that Roth and Ed were starting to fray in terms of the musical direction by the time Diver Down came about: it was one thing not getting along when they all had unity of purpose musically. Once THAT common denominator was starting to fray, doubtless the personality clashes just became that much more pronounced. Ed was probably like "fuck, I don't even like Roth, and now I gotta do cover tunes like Dancing In The Streets?" Roth was probably like "shit, what is all this synthesizer nonsense, and why the fuck are we recording in Eddie's home studio?" That combination of musical and lifestyle differences - along with the ego explosions of their massive success - wasn't something any manager was going to be able to paper over once Roth and Eddie could no longer stand the sight of each other and weren't even enjoying making music together...like, by the time 1984 rolled around, just the act of making an album and touring it and having to be in the same room or on the same stage together was just too difficult for both Roth and Eddie. Throw in all the booze and coke on top of that, CVH was just done.

Honestly, and I've said this more than once, it wasn't so much a shock that CVH split in 1985 as it was that they managed to stay together THAT long to begin with.

[ZahZoo]

Maybe but it's only with the Van Halens that he has to work as an equal.

That kinda goes both ways... the Van Halens he "has" to work with... today.

The friendly relationships with Vai, Sheehan, Bissonette, John 5, etc. may be more a reflection of the fact they "don't" have to work with Roth... today.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Getting ready for a tour doesn't take the same efforts for Dave as it does for Ed and Al. Given what he (Dave) delivered in 2015, vocally, compared with how they played...
Just a thought.

[Nickdfresh]

...

I think, far as 1985 goes, that Van Halen needed a break. Clearly, this is all said with the benefit of hindsight, but I think Roth and the Van Halens were just plain burnt on dealing with each other. Far back as Fair Warning, Ed was beginning to tire of dealing with Roth, and was becoming more and more unhappy with each subsequent album and tour.
...

This is true and I've said it before. But remember, Diver Down was an unplanned pregnancy. The band and their management never meant to make a record and wanted to go on an extended vacation/break from each other after four grueling album tours and the preceding constant playing on their rise to get noticed. The "(Oh) Pretty Woman" cover was meant to be a one-off place holder single to keep the public attention until they reconvened some months later after the Fair Warning Tour.

But out of Warner Bros.' (and probably their) greed, they were marched back into the studio as the song became a hit and pushed to do another album and subsequent tour instead of some time off. I think this pressure cooker environment and everyone's basic greed to capitalize on everything now had as much to do with the band's downfall as anything. At the very least it exacerbated the conflicts and the addictions that spiraled into bad decision-making...

[Terry]

Thing of it is...for me, yes, to be sure Dave always gave witty interviews. Spectacular frontman in terms of the onstage karate moves and being "the toastmaster of the immoral majority" and a colorful personality.

Ultimately, though, while all of those aspects mentioned above were part of the package, the essence of it for me as a fan has always been the music.

And the last twenty years haven't seen much by way of actual music from Dave. What have we got since 1999? Bar-B-Que, which had some odd images, also had some good musical stuff on it. Diamond Dave CD...mmm, not so much on it that I connected with (really only one or two tracks to be honest). Van Strumming? Pass. ADKOT was fair to good. Tokyo Dome isn't something I'm ever going to want to hear again.

This is probably why the recent tattoo wax interview series just isn't much of interest to me: let's hear some music from Dave. Even if it's just old unreleased solo material.