Wolfy Talks Vaults

[ZahZoo]

It seems a lot of people assume Ed left everything to Wolfgang... which beyond taking care of his wife, Janie, I would say seems a reasonable assumption for Ed's personal property and the EVH product line.

But for Ed's share of the Van Halen music business... I have to assume the controlling business interests shift to Alex who has been part of the core since day 1... going back over 45 years. Most likely Wolfgang may inherit a part of his father's interest in the business, but I believe Alex now holds a more predominant role in Van Halen business ownership.

There's no indication of what Alex's health is today... but he also has two sons and a wife, plus 2 ex's, that stand to inherit Alex's part of the VH empire. Should Alex pass any time soon... that leaves the second generation of Van Halen boys sitting on a musical gold mine.

Anyone have any idea how close Wolfgang and his cousins Aric and Malcolm are? This scenario could get interesting...

[Terry]

How many slides, home movies or photos do you have laying around that you said you would organize or transform to a digital format? Some people love to organize stuff like that and share it. Others never get to it. Those people tend to be the types that like to scrapbook or keep journals. I doubt we will see any of it.

I'd tend to think if we were going to have seen/heard any of that stuff we would have by now, and Ed's passing seemingly hasn't become anything by way of an accelerant to prod the Van Halens into issuing a vault release.

I mean, there was a five year gap between Van Halen's last tour and Ed's passing. One would have thought that would have been an opportunity to put something together if that was something Eddie wanted to do, keeping in mind that the Van Halens were strategizing scenarios for a 2019 CVH tour - or had at the very least been thinking about a 2019 CVH tour - well into 2018. So one assumes that Ed circa late 2018 still felt well enough to tour at that point.

I just plain get the feeling Ed never really had a strong desire to put out a vault-based retro release, for whatever reasons.

[ZahZoo]

I don't believe Ed had any desire or motivation to put out any of the 5150 vault material... his personal mental position and whatever he deemed quality worthy of sharing was jaded, clouded and steeped in angst towards the fans and his critics...

But no one knows where Alex sits on all this... a good portion of material in 5150, Alex had a hand in creating. It wasn't all just Ed fucking o around in that studio.

Now Warner Brother has legal rights to a lot of vault materials from studio recordings to live performance film and audio recordings. They have both the capability and the business means to release that material sooner rather than later... like 4 albums worth that has already been prepped and prepared for release. I'm sure they would want to have a Van Halen family blessing on that stuff... but they also understand market dynamics aren't that favorable sitting on this stuff 5-10 years...

[Nickdfresh]

If there were a vault release just now does that mean that it could only happen over Ed's dead body?

It's like the Prince thing, great he's dead so now we get that music he didn't want to release?

I often wonder if Ed was just a relentless perfectionist and never wanted to release live recordings when he didn't have absolute control over the set up or processes or direction. I also wonder how copyright plays into any live recordings like Oakland 1981 or US Fest...

[Nitro Express]

It seems a lot of people assume Ed left everything to Wolfgang... which beyond taking care of his wife, Janie, I would say seems a reasonable assumption for Ed's personal property and the EVH product line.

But for Ed's share of the Van Halen music business... I have to assume the controlling business interests shift to Alex who has been part of the core since day 1... going back over 45 years. Most likely Wolfgang may inherit a part of his father's interest in the business, but I believe Alex now holds a more predominant role in Van Halen business ownership.

There's no indication of what Alex's health is today... but he also has two sons and a wife, plus 2 ex's, that stand to inherit Alex's part of the VH empire. Should Alex pass any time soon... that leaves the second generation of Van Halen boys sitting on a musical gold mine.

Anyone have any idea how close Wolfgang and his cousins Aric and Malcolm are? This scenario could get interesting...

I’m just going off of what Wolfgang said. He got his dad’s guitars and him and Matt Bruck are co-managers of EVH Gear. Alex has nothing to do with Ed’s personal property. Business interests are different if Alex is a partner or a share holder. Usually if there are a lot of assets involved you have a prenuptial agreement on marriages. People with big estates have estate planners with specialized lawyers. Very good ones in LA and Ed could afford their services.

[ZahZoo]

There's no reason to believe Alex was anything less than a full partner or share holder in Van Halen Inc than Edward...

[Terry]

I don't believe Ed had any desire or motivation to put out any of the 5150 vault material... his personal mental position and whatever he deemed quality worthy of sharing was jaded, clouded and steeped in angst towards the fans and his critics...

But no one knows where Alex sits on all this... a good portion of material in 5150, Alex had a hand in creating. It wasn't all just Ed fucking o around in that studio.

Now Warner Brother has legal rights to a lot of vault materials from studio recordings to live performance film and audio recordings. They have both the capability and the business means to release that material sooner rather than later... like 4 albums worth that has already been prepped and prepared for release. I'm sure they would want to have a Van Halen family blessing on that stuff... but they also understand market dynamics aren't that favorable sitting on this stuff 5-10 years...

Even when I think of, say, just the concerts filmed by the band - as opposed to the concerts filmed by production companies a la the US Festival - during 1978-1984 for private use/viewing...

1. Because those concerts contain the band performing songs they recorded while under contract at Warner Brothers, does Warners own the audio portion of those concerts?

2. Does 'Van Halen' even own their back catalog? Does Warners, or Warner/Chappell music, as administrators of Van Halen's catalog, have the unilateral ability legally to put out 'vault' stuff...referring to the vault stuff which is live renditions of the Van Halen back catalog of studio albums? I dunno...the Tokyo Dome album was released by Warner Brothers, but that was something the band had spearheaded anyway, right?

3. Was a show like the 1982 Largo concert, which was pro-shot from multiple angles, something that Warner Brothers paid to be filmed at the time, or did Van Halen's management company pay to have it filmed? Who would retain the rights to both the footage and the audio these days? Does Van Halen own the film and only the film and Warners own the audio/music and only the audio/music?

Seems useless to even sit here pondering this shit...only because it is.

One would think somebody at Warners would realize in terms of saleability, this stuff isn't gonna retain as high a value as the fan base gets older. One would also tend to think that even if something were to come out in even the next two years, it would probably be something one purchased via downloading as opposed to a tangible, physical dvd or cd.

Whatever. I got the 6 pack, ADKOT, got the Zero demos and got most of the CVH live footage that has been circulating out there. If nothing else ends up coming out, what I got will do.

[ZahZoo]

I believe Warner/Chappell Music owns the master recordings along with all of the live video and audio recordings stored at Pacific Titles archive... includes Oakland 81, Donnington and a ton of other promotional and live recordings. Plus any leftovers, B sides and killing floor materials that went into the whole Van Halen master recording catalog with the exception of ADKOT.

No idea what contractual release restrictions Warner and Van Halen have worked out as far as what can be released with or without band approval.

[Nickdfresh]

I believe Warner/Chappell Music owns the master recordings along with all of the live video and audio recordings stored at Pacific Titles archive... includes Oakland 81, Donnington and a ton of other promotional and live recordings. Plus any leftovers, B sides and killing floor materials that went into the whole Van Halen master recording catalog with the exception of ADKOT.

No idea what contractual release restrictions Warner and Van Halen have worked out as far as what can be released with or without band approval.

Basing what I read in Monk's book, my guess is that is pretty stringent in Van Halen's favor and they can approve or prevent releases. Just a guess...

[wolfsbane]

Noone is better at throwing a wet towel on current events than the VH camp.

I have a feeling that there are no more releases coming from VH for awhile.

Although, After 5-10 years, without any announcement, they will release half-ass vault release. It will go mostly unnoticed and will be a footnote of the VH catalog.

[Von Halen]

Noone is better at throwing a wet towel on current events than the VH camp.

I have a feeling that there are no more releases coming from VH for awhile.

Although, After 5-10 years, without any announcement, they will release half-ass vault release. It will go mostly unnoticed and will be a footnote of the VH catalog.

Couldn't agree more. This is the WORST band to be a super fan of. They just do not get it. It looks like Wolfgang will continue that tradition. This is just about the only major band out there that doesn't have an official DVD release of a live show, from their glory days. It will be a travesty for Wolf, Al, Janie, WB, or anyone else making the decisions, to not release material for another 5-10 years. Like I said in another thread, VH fan isn't getting any younger. Ed was 65, not 27 like Hendrix was. I don't understand the mentality of not providing for the fans. Making money off the stuff is just a bonus. Not to mention, if Wolf wants to keep that EVH brand going, releasing material will go a long way to adding to EVH merchandise sales too.

Wolf really should give Gene Simmons a call. He'd tell him to release everything. Give the fans that fucking made this band as famous as they are, the ability to choose what they want to buy and what they don't.

[Seshmeister]

Simmons would have been selling commemorative replica urns for weeks.

[Von Halen]

Simmons would have been selling commemorative replica urns for weeks.

Fuck yeah! Red, black and white striped ones!

[ZahZoo]

Posted on Facebook today by Wolf Van Halen... Filming something Mammoth-y today

This is in 5150... Here's hoping the vault stuff calls out to him.

[silverfish]

Wolfgang Van Halen On His Concern About Unreleased Van Halen Songs

When the rocker was asked whether he had any plans to go into Van Halen archives and pull out
tracks for new releases, he replied:

“No, not at all—no. I think what was released is what was released. And even in my dad’s own words,
when he talked about it, he’s like, ‘I released all the good stuff.’ The stuff that’s there is the stuff that
fell by the wayside, which, sure, people would probably find worth in it. But without dad here, it feels
unfair to make that assumption that anything should be… like that’s a decision that can’t be taken lightly.”

Wolf shared that if he had to decide to put out a song it would be tough call by adding:

“I think that’s up to Al at this point? If it ever came down to me, yeah, that would be a tough decision
to make. Because in dad’s own words, you know, he released what he thought was worthy.

Full story at:

https://bravewords.com/features/wolfgang-van-halen-being-in-the-same-space-as-professionals-doing-things