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The world according to Diamond Dave delivered in an over-the-top, sensational, technicolor display of words and world wisdom that transcends just mere understanding but is a way of life.
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Rock and roll needs a hero - not a red
rocked tampon! Ladies and gentleman, freaks with flippers and
tissue box double dippers - I give you the mighty Diamond David
Lee Roth Army. Join our lubricated leper colony for a sloppy
dose of music, entertainment and pop culture madness Roth style.
Sign up, log in and cream your flaps daily -because you can't
get this stuff anywhere but here! And put down that sheep...Sam
may need it later. |
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Diamond Dave's wit
rips competitors
By Dave Clark Life Staff Writer
(Roth Army Webmaster)
A rock star's rock
star, talking music with singer David Lee Roth can only be
summed up in one word.
Outrageous.
"In the next couple of weeks I'm
going to be playing about 80 cities," said roth via phone
from his Minneapolis hotel room. "That's just under a year
of touring when we wrap in Christmas. It's here today, gone
later today.
"I just wish there was more time
in the day. I want to keep going and going. It's one too many
stamps in the passport for Dave Roth...." he laughed.
A notorious motormouth, playing word association with Diamond
Dave is a bit like getting the opportunity to play a game of
one-on-one with Michael Jordan or chugging banana splits with
Elvis.
Rock fans still consider him the
definitive singer for Van Halen, some eight years after he
submitted his resignation via the "Wizard of Oz" of
music videos, "Just a Gigolo," and began his solo
career.
After a few seasons off, Roth is back with his most diverse
effort yet, Your Filthy Little Mouth.
His
summer tour, a mix of solo hits and Van Halen favorites, tap
dances its way to Pine Knob Wednesday.
For those experiencing back to school
blues or just need one more fix of summer before leaves begin to
turn, Roth said he has the goods.
"The summertime has played an
important time in my career and in my lifestyle. When my pop
moved the family out to the West Coast it was in the middle of a
special time in pop culture, The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles,
" he said.
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"The Beach and the summertime are a part of the music and a
part of my soul. It’s a lifestyle, not just shorts and a tank
top. The summertime is a perspective, it’s an attitude, it’s
spiritual and it never stops for me—not even when there’s
snow on the ground, " Roth added.
At 39, the mane of blond and the
Spandex pants are gone, but the in-your-face-attitude and
sardonic wit remain unchanged.
"I have a renewed enthusiasm for
the whole thing. And the best part is I’m having a great time:
that shows in the music as well as up on the big stage, "
he said.
Fans may notice a little something
extra in his trademark blues-rock yelp.
That’s no studio gadgetry: Roth said
he’s discovered a new octave.
" You know the part in ‘Stairway
to Heaven’ live that leads up to the big finish? The part
where everybody in the audience is going ‘Is he going to do
it, can he hit it" And Robert (Plant) just never could.
Now, I can."
It’s a vocal toy he plays with frequently.
"It’s like discovering six new
keys on your sax. I’m having a great time with it. I sing in
the shower, I sing along with Aretha (Franklin, Queen of Soul)
in the car. I sing between commercials, I sing at the TV and
when I’m in the park I ….sing at small animals, " he
says, punctuating the end of the thought with one of his
trademark belly laughs.
Your Filthy Little Mouth is what
Roth calls "a little Henry Miller with your Huckleberry
Finn."
On it he explores reggae, blues, Motown
and country, styles not usually associated with the standard
hard rock fare.
"Song and the styles that they are
written in, especially lyrics, tend to be autobiographical. I
have been around the block a few more times than, say, the
singer from the Stone Temple Pilots. My music should sound
different, more diverse," he said.
"Who wants to get off the bus (as)
the same guy that got on 20 years ago? We live in a ready made
culture that eats breakfast burritos. I’d rather grab
me an art project than just grab one off the rack," he
said.
A student of anthropology from the tour bus window, Roth says
like musical barriers, cultural boundaries are disappearing.
"There was a time 10 years ago
that when you were in Texas, you knew you were in Texas.
In 1994, the geographical boundaries have disappeared. Kids in
Texas and Michigan are all wearing the same baggy pants and the
same backwards Raiders baseball hats," he chuckled.
"We have become one nation under
cable, and when you travel as much as I do it’s easy to see
geological boundaries evaporate. The only difference in
Bradford, which has a large Pakistani population. ‘Yo, dude’
loses something in the translation," Roth laughed.
One of the biggest surprises on Roth’s new release is a duet
with Travis Tritt on "Cheatin’ Heart Café."
" We got along great, but we also
have more in common than most people realize. Musically we
graduated from the same school, ‘Tell the truth an tell it
well’ ".
Though one couldn’t tell Roth has
been a country fan for years.
For a child of the Midwest, country
music was the only thing going on.
"The heart and soul of rock is the
same as country music; all you have to do is get past the shoes
and the haircut. Look at the music videos on the country
channel. They look a lot like the videos on MTV seven years
ago," he said.
With the release of their newest work
only weeks away, Van Halen, particularly guitarist Eddie Van
Halen and Roth’s replacement as the groups vocalist, Sammy
Hagar, are again taking shots at Roth in the media.
"Eddie Van Halen is an idiot
savant, but a spectacular guitar player, and at the end of the
day maybe that’s all you need to be," he said. "This
morbid hostility keeps coming out of the Van Halen camp. Instead
of talking about their new music, they want to take shots at me.
"Maybe if the Van Halens would
have taken a little bit more time looking for a better singer
than Sam they would feel more confident about their music,"
Roth said.
Roth said a reunion is never out of the question and harbors
only respect for what "the old team" accomplished
during their nine-year run.
"For years I’ve tried to be a
gentleman about this and it’s very frustrating," he said.
"Thats part of the reason I left. I think it’s obvious
now that what Sam has brought to the band is only….. mediocre
at best.
"I’ve never met Sam, but I almost feel sorry for the guy.
If the old team got back together to do a Farm Aid or AIDS
benefit, that 45 minutes would totally eclipse what he has done
in his entire career. And Sam would be forgotten," Roth
said, adding , "I wonder how he sleeps at night….."
Contrary to the buddy image Van Halen
portrayed in "Hot For Teacher" or "Panama,"
the good old days were never really that good.
"We always fought, but we used that
anger to write some really spectacular, stellar music. Music
that has yet to be topped to this day. There was a special
chemistry on the stage, but nobody ever saw the arguments or the
fistfights before the show. That last tour was pure Spinal Tap,
" he said.
Roth believes his influence was obvious
to fans, painfully obvious when Hagar joined.
"The videos, the brown
M&M’s, the stage, the parties,--it was all me. I had to go
as far as editing the guitar solo and choreographing the bass
solo Mike Anthony has been doing for the past 10 years. And what
are they doing.. right now?" he laughed, tweaking his
former groups Pepsi commercial/single.
As for Roth once again taking the
drivers seat in VH, don’t hold your breath.
"Even with latitude for
temperament. I wouldn’t want to return to that situation long
term," he said. "Maybe do a record with them every six
years. Life is short, but there’s always time. People are
going to have to put up with me for another 40 years."
After a break, Roth heads back into the
studio to plot his next move.
A certified tour bus ninja, Roth has
expressed concern and disappointment with the monstrous
productions that some big names---some his own heroes---have
tried to hide behind because of uninspired musicianship.
Diamond Dave encouraged those in search of a good time to
unbuckle themselves from the couch, turn off the TV and check
out his stripped down show.
"Aren’t you tired of watching a
230-pound whale of a singer trying to hide behind miles of video
screens and monitors because he’s so ashamed of the way that
he looks? U2 anyone?"
"And aren’t you sick of watching
a band squeeze into the same clothed they’ve worn for 25
years---the striped outfits and the Converse All Stars---but
playing music that only echoes their past? Aerosmith?"
Diamond Dave has said that he has came
to the rescue.
"Wouldn’t you rather come for
the music and skip the distractions? Get the pure uncut stuff
that’s just F—in’ electric, and from the guy who can do it
better than anybody, in just a pair of jeans, under one white
light?" he asked.
"Here I
am."
David Lee Roth will be performing at Pine Knob in Clarkston
Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Pavilion seats are $20, lawn 12.50.
Tickets are available at TicketMaster locations. |
Central Michigan Life August 29, 1994
Donated by author and staff writer
Dave Clark
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