INTERVIEW: Eddie Van Halen Talks 'A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH'

[Jetstream]

The part which screams embellishment or a straight out lie is Sam and his texting with Ed as a 'love fest'... texting is what you do when you do not want to talk to someone

[Rikk]

The part which screams embellishment or a straight out lie is Sam and his texting with Ed as a 'love fest'... texting is what you do when you do not want to talk to someone

Bingo.

"It was a love fest" (Sam talking about texting with Ed). Then Ed stopped texting Eddie back a month before. He also ignored a text a week before.

What did Ed and Dave do? They had a goodbye phone call in the last week or two (or that's the word).

If you have time to have a goodbye phone call, hearing someone's voice, saying the things you need (including "I love you" and all that), then the other person you're just sending a few texts to is a lot further down your list.

The fact that Sam KEEPS talking to the press about these texts is telling. The fact that with every story, they become more significant... Sam must have been ignored a lot as a kid or something. As someone whose job involves much analyzing of people's actions in order to determine reasons for possible anti-social behavior, I can say that while Dave may have his own reasons for being such an over-the-top extrovert, Sam is very obvious when he keeps screaming, "I need to remind everyone how important I am over and over again!"

Ed's dead, Sam. This isn't about you. You're the relief quarterback who fumbled the ball four plays in a row and eventually, they got the regular quarterback in the game again and the team had a few more Superbowl wins when the team had been written off as finished.

[Terry]

Which, regarding the 2004 tour and the half-filled venues, I don't think had as much to do with the ticket prices being high due to the greed of the Van Halen brothers and the cost of attending in and of itself keeping prospective concertgoers away. More to do with that tour being under the microscope from the get-go in terms of personal cell phones shooting footage from the first gig, and Ed's condition being readily visible and audible: who wants to pay premium prices to see Van Hagar perform badly? In addition, those new BOBW tracks were substandard even by Van Hagar's diminished yardstick. The word-of-mouth of how poor the gigs were got out instantly from the first show.

Have no recollection of Hagar making the comments in 2005, but it's no surprise that he did. The weird passive-aggressive stance he took with the Van Halens post-2005 was, even for Hagar, just bizarre. Trashing the 2004 tour as if he had no part in it, trashing the Van Halens...then spending the next decade or so with a steady stream of comments to the press that he'd still be up for another reunion tour.

And, as Jetstream says, a relationship with someone where you're communicating solely by infrequent texting...that isn't even a relationship to me. Certainly not a meaningful one.

[Terry]

I think ADKOT is a fitting ending for Ed and VH.

Its a fucking stellar album back to front.

For me, ADKOT...a bit of a mixed bag.

It's this odd thing in that while I think it was a smart move to re-record the old demos, which by default made the band channel the CVH sound...I dunno. While in theory I would have preferred the band cook up an album of new tracks, most of the new tracks they did cook up didn't work as well for me as the revamped old demos.

You And Your Blues and The Trouble With Never struck me as lesser tunes found on some of Roth's lesser solo albums.

Stay Frosty is okay.

Honeybabysweetiedoll I like.

China Town and As Is hit it out of the park.

I like the revamped demos.

I guess my own personal stumbling block is constantly comparing ADKOT to the 6 pack stuff, rather than putting it within the context of when it was made.

[Fairwrning]

Regret not buying the red vinyl......my cd sounds like shit...I can get better sound asking alexa to play it.

[Seshmeister]

For me, ADKOT...a bit of a mixed bag.

It's this odd thing in that while I think it was a smart move to re-record the old demos, which by default made the band channel the CVH sound...I dunno. While in theory I would have preferred the band cook up an album of new tracks, most of the new tracks they did cook up didn't work as well for me as the revamped old demos.

You And Your Blues and The Trouble With Never struck me as lesser tunes found on some of Roth's lesser solo albums.

Stay Frosty is okay.

Honeybabysweetiedoll I like.

China Town and As Is hit it out of the park.

I like the revamped demos.

I guess my own personal stumbling block is constantly comparing ADKOT to the 6 pack stuff, rather than putting it within the context of when it was made.

Compare it to an average (if you can use that word) CVH album. It might be under 30 minutes long, there are 9 songs but one is an instrumental, 2 are covers and a couple were reworkings of old material.

ADKOT had 13 songs no covers no instrumentals.

To me this lack of content argument has always made no sense whatsoever.

[Baby's On Fire]

Unfortunately, he was in his own delusional brain wonderland. He truly believes Van Hagar sold 60 million records or whatever number he's gotten it up to in his own mind. He still claims that Van Hagar outsold Van Halen...such a freaking lie. The sales of two original band albums actually outsell the entire Van Hagar category. I looked it up. That's a fact.


DLR solo also way outsold Sammy by an even wider gap proportionately than VH outsold Van HAgar.

Counting CFTH, DLR had 4 platinum albums (ALAE went platinum but WB wouldn't certify it). He sold roughly 9 million albums in the US alone.

Sammy had one platinum album.

Where is this rumour Dave and Ed had a goodbye call? I haven't seen that.

[Von Halen]

Terry and Rikk, you should really watch what you're saying about Clichegar (even if it's true). That BIG WET STINKY PUSSY Bertt might try to ban you for life!

[Vinnie Velvet]

The only reason I know Sam did (I didn't remember this and only learned this the other day) was when I went back to the Links one evening a few nights ago and looked at the last time I had posted there, it was 2005. I was posting criticisms of Sam because in 2005, he made a public statement criticizing the Van Halen brothers for charging exorbitant ticket prices on the 2004 "reunion" tour. I believe he made this claim because he was asked about the lackluster sales on that particular tour, with many empty seats in the arenas. The sack of crap was justifying why the dates weren't sold out by calling the brothers greedy for over-charging fans.

He's just such a piece of shit. He sees what kind of shape Ed is in the first day they meet at Ed's house.

It takes three months to record three songs because, as Sam sees, Ed is in no shape to record.

Rehearsals go horribly, with Ed is horrible shape.

The concerts are an embarrassment to the band's history, both because of Ed being a complete drunk (also not cleaning himself for a week at a time and wearing the same clothes) but also because of Sam's extra-obnoxious onstage behavior, fatter than ever and dancing like a drunk redneck with no sense of rhythm, saying really stupid things on stage...just displaying his usual lack of wit or wisdom. He also dressed like a homeless man during a Goodwill store shopping spree.

Then, the tour is done. He attacks the brothers, blames Ed publicly for how badly the concerts went and calls the brothers greedy ('05). He wasted no time getting that out there. Then, he just went into greater detail in his book. Lots of people write honest autobiographies...but his really seemed like it was just designed to dig up as much dirt as possible on different people. He needlessly told an embarrassing story about Stephen Stills trying to score coke on a plane after a weekend vacation in Cabo. And the things he said about the brothers...

...and then when all that died down, he started his usual weekly/yearly rants about wanting to be friends with the brothers again or made comments that the reunion was "inevitable."

Unfortunately, he was in his own delusional brain wonderland. He truly believes Van Hagar sold 60 million records or whatever number he's gotten it up to in his own mind. He still claims that Van Hagar outsold Van Halen...such a freaking lie. The sales of two original band albums actually outsell the entire Van Hagar category. I looked it up. That's a fact.

As Ed himself said, "The public kind of expects Dave to be in the band. He's the Van Halen singer the public wants." He said that a few years ago, making it clear that Dave is going to be the singer in the band from now on.

It's like the Sam vs. Dave was went on for years...then the 80s/90s ended, each line-up tried a reunion, the Sam one was a joke, the '07/'08 tour turned out to literally be the band's biggest tour ever (I'm not just saying that...that WAS the band's most successful tour ever number-wise) and Dave stayed 'til the end. For Christ's sake, Ed died and 9 out of 10 purchased or streamed songs in the week after were Dave songs. The war is OVER. It's done. Dave is the ONLY singer for Van Halen. History will show that. The public has spoken. His records are timeless...the others are unfortunately dated and simply not as good and bogged down by bad lyrics and lame singing. It's done.

The rest of the world knows that. We know that. The only people that don't know that are places like The Links, where posters literally claim that the most exciting thing the band could release now is the unreleased 2nd Gary Cherone album...where posters say the best thing that could come out of the archives now would be a Blu-ray of LWAN...where Norton will yell at you or ban you for saying anything bad about Sam.

This is a DLR forum...but let's face it: it's also a VH forum. And I came here because I want to talk about VH while having the freedom to be allowed to bitch about those years VH unfortunately had another singer who eventually turned out to be the garbage that many of us already knew he was.

In contrast, Dave didn't drag out an addiction-riddled Eddie on tour in 2007 unlike what Sam did in 2004.

The eventual 2007 tour was to begin in February of that year but was postponed because of Ed's issues. He entered rehab and of course the tour didnt begin until the fall of that year.

Early on it was a success, but at times Eddie still wasn't himself. The band took some more time off after shows in November until late January 2008 - by which time a whole new Eddie emerged. Vibrant, nailing every single solo and riff, etc. He was finally in good health.

Just goes to show you that Dave cared about Eddie and the band. Van Halen was Dave's baby as much as Eddies. He wanted to make it work.

For Sammy, Van Halen was just another project to make money. And he still did it with a sick Ed as well.

[Rikk]

Terry and Rikk, you should really watch what you're saying about Clichegar (even if it's true). That BIG WET STINKY PUSSY Bertt might try to ban you for life!

LOL!!!

Upcoming night this week at RIKK's home...

RIKK sits at his desktop computer (yes, I still have a desktop), head in his hands, sobbing...

screaming...

CRYING...

BAWLING...

LOSING HIS FUCKING MIND!!!!!!

His wife walks into the living room. "What's wrong, honey?" Mrs. Rikk asks, looking hugely concerned.

"It's happened," he sighs, breathing heavily. "It's finally happened."

"What?" she cries. "What's finally happened?"

"IT happened!" he snaps.

"WHAT? WHAT???"

Rikk only manages a slow, mournful wail, his face buried in his hands again.

"Please don't tell me they're going to release more Star Wars movies with that awful Kathleen Kennedy woman!" she screams, frightened.

"N...n...no, that's not it," he manages to stammer.

Mrs. Rikk looks thoughtful...then suddenly a look of horror appears on her face. "Did VON, SESH & TWONA find out that you own LIVE WITHOUT A NET on DVD??"

"No," Rikk mumbles. "I think everyone already suspects that. That's not it."

"THEN WHAT??" she wails.

Rikk slaps his hand on his desk and stands up. "Brett saw that I was making awful comments about cheesehead at the Army. He banned me at the Links!! I can never post there again!!!"

Mrs. Rikk starts crying. "No!! PLEASE, NO!!!"

"YES!!! IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED, HONEY!!!"

She marches over to him and slaps him hard across the face. "I WARNED YOU!!" she screeches, her lips trembling. "I FUCKING WARNED YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WARNED YOU THAT IF YOU KEPT SAYING BAD THINGS ABOUT SAMMY HAGAR, YOU WOULD LOSE YOUR MEMBERSHIP AND...BE...BE...B-B-BANNED AT THE LINKS!!!!! BUT DID YOU LISTEN? DID YOU??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Rikk is bewailing in pure, utter sorrow.

Mrs. Rikk continues. "I BEGGED YOU!!!!!!!!! I PLEADED WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!! 'LET IT GO, RIKK,' I IMPLORED YOU. 'BRETT IS SO MIGHTY! HE WILL NOT SIT STILL FOR ONE MINUTE!! HE WILL STAND UP TO YOUR HONESTY AND INTEGRITY AND SIMPLY B-B-BAN YOU FROM THE...THE...LINKS!!!!' BUT YOU JUST HAD TO BE THE BIG MAN! YOU JUST HAD TO SPEAK YOUR MIND, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT THERE'S NOTHING BRETT HATES MORE THAN PEOPLE SPEAKING THEIR MINDS!!! THERE'S NOTHING HE HATES MORE THAN PEOPLE CRITICIZING BAD MUSIC AND MEDIOCRE TEQUILA!!!"

They sit silently, the wind and rain howling outside their home.

"The tequila's actually pretty good," Rikk offers, meekly.

"SHUT UP, RIKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she shrieks.

She throws herself to the floor and then screams at the sky before howling:

"DEAR GOD, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

They are both sobbing, convulsing.

Mrs. Rikk is crying with a deep, emotional pain she never knew possible.

Rikk's eyes are filled with so many tears, his world looks like an apocalyptic flood.

Mrs. Rikk realizes that there are lives will never be the same. She cannot believe it has come to this. Life held so much promise...and then...

Blood is dripping out of Rikk's nose.

They both know there is no hope. It is truly over.

Eventually they sit in a silence broken only by the occasional sniffling or barely-contained choking.

Finally, she speaks: "I'm leaving you. I cannot do this anymore."

"But, honey," he pleads...

"Don't 'but honey' me, you reckless bastard."

Rikk begins to blubber like a baby.

"You knew you were flying this close to the sun," Mrs. Rikk utters, gesturing towards him with her thumb and index-finger pressed against each other. "But you just had to keep riding the whirlwind! YOU HAD TO BE THAT MUCH ON THE EDGE!!!"

"I'm a loner, baby! I'm a rebel!"

She stares at Rikk with utter contempt: "Well now...you truly are a loner."

Rikk begins sniveling like a baby, grabbing his thirty-eighth Kleenex. "I can fix this, baby. I can fix this."

"There is no fixing this," she whispers with an empty, hollow drone.

They are silent. Then she whispers again.

"You knew how much Brett hates freedom." Mrs. Rikk sounds utterly beaten. "Our lives are over."

Rikk thinks he may throw up, but he holds it together. A lightbulb goes off in his head head: "What if I tell Brett that I own LIVE WITHOUT A NET on DVD??"

Mrs. Rikk smiles faintly. "He has been challenged," she says in a tired voice. "He would see through such an empty gesture."

Rikk nods his head, knowing she is right.

They sit silently.

Rikk's daughter is watching from the hallway. They thought she did not hear what they were saying, but she heard every word.

She knows her daddy made a bad mistake, but she cannot help but be proud. Her daddy stood up to the man. Yes, theirs is a family that cannot post at the Links anymore...at least not without an alias and an IP-blocker. But her daddy stood up for freedom.

She is proud. She is proud even when she goes downstairs to the home theater area, opens the media cabinet built into the wall, looks at the hundreds of concerts on the shelf...and sees Rikk's copy of LIVE WITHOUT A NET sitting between MONTREAL '84 and BALTIMORE '08.

[twonabomber]

If Brentt declares himself "Emperor of all Van Halen forums," we are in BIG TROUBLE!

Maybe we are already in DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION!

[twonabomber]

I remember at DDLR someone came in and tried to get us to ban someone for something he said on some indie singer/songwriter's fan forum. And I was just "uh...okay?"

[twonabomber]

AND Kathleen Kennedy needs to GO!

[Rikk]

if brentt declares himself "emperor of all van halen forums," we are in big trouble!

Maybe we are already in double secret probation!

maybe we'll be banned from like the band???

[Rikk]

AND Kathleen Kennedy needs to GO!

A-fucking-men!!!!!