Mr Grimsdale
02-26-2004, 10:24 AM
Mr Roth had this to say in todays free London newspaper...
http://www.metro.co.uk/metro/interviews/interview.html?in_page_id=8&in_interview_id=777
David Lee Roth
by Tim Ingham, February 26th, 2003
Forget Tommy Lee and Axl Rose - 'Diamond' David Lee Roth was the 1980's crotch-rocking hell-raiser. Van Halen's first vocalist was notorious for his skin-tight jumpsuits and on-stage antics. He left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Roth formed his own band and is credited as saying: 'I used to have a drug problem. Now I make enough money.'
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: Have I caught you at a good time?
Absolutely. I haven't been to sleep since the late-Eighties. But there's always a margin for terror.
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: You've just got back from Japan. How was it?
I've always had a fascination with Japan, starting off with martial arts when I was 12. I've found over the seasons that most pop music, whether it's rock or hip hop, is very dependent on the community it came from, and a certain age group within that. In Japan, you can't depend on that. Do you think that Slash [Guns'N'Roses guitarist] would sound the same if he didn't look like he does? That's a community-dependant musician - he looks like his audience. In Japan you can't do that.
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: Are today's heavy rockers pussycats compared with you in your Van Halen days?
I still think they are. Let's not use the past tense. I study Spanish, and I've told my tutor I have no use for it. Whether it's the way Busta Rhymes shoots his video or the way the fella in The Darkness launches himself, you better believe I'm in there. It's very possible to continue right through time and still be RFN - Right F***in' Now.
Do a lot of your fans look like you?
A lot of my fans are what I call Harleys and Ferraris. The average age is about 30. I just got back from Japan. There it was between 15 and 30. And about 40 per cent of those were girls.
That must've put a smile on your face.
It certainly makes it a lot easier than the Steve Vai [former guitarist in Roth's band] era - that was mostly young boys. A sea of blue, I called it, because of the denim. When I was the boss in Van Halen I determined early on the band would appeal to everybody. Our colleagues at the time, like Black Sabbath, didn't. I personally fit neatly somewhere between Groucho Marx and Akira Kurosawa. I think they were both mined from the same granite.
Theatric hard rock is back in vogue. You must be pleased.
It's superb. An old Jamaican sailor once said to me: 'Tide goes out, tide comes back in.' You have no idea how much I paid to get to that shore to hear him say that, so I like to make a lot out of it. But it's true. There are only two things on Earth that look exactly the same from the day they're born to the day they die. The first is a sea anemone. The other is Neil Young. We have a nation of Neil Youngs here. The last six summers have been dedicated to looking like a coal miner from Harlem County, in approximately 1938. That's OK, but that tide's gonna come back in. Consequently, you have Le Darkness, as they say in parts of France.
You're a fan?
The Darkness have musical capacity: not that it's necessary for us to discuss it here, as frequently it's more fun to discuss bands without musical capacity. The Darkness have all the ingredients, and they're just getting started in the rhythm kitchen. As far as attitude, ambition and the direction they're going in? Spectacular. Which would you rather be, if you had to be one - deaf or blind? Answer me quick.
Erm...
Yep, me too. That tells you how important your eyes are.
On your website, there is a picture of models made up to look as smoking, pregnant undesirables. Is there a message behind this?
[Shouts] Pregnant, white, chain-smoking trash can be heroes too. You don't have to be white to be trash, of course, but it helps. They symbolise a large portion of my audience. Are you familiar with Anna Nicole Smith? I've just had a terrible, nay great, thought. She's kind of the female Sammy Hagar. But if Anna Nicole got on stage and sang Why Can't This Be Anna? [spoof of Why Can't This Be Love, a song written after Roth's departure], I'd buy that stuff.
Do you like the fact that you attract that type of fan?
I play the music that is true to whatever vision it is. My vision is usually three verses and a chorus and an 'Ow!' before the solo. That's what I was raised with. I don't think I've ever told anybody this, but when I was growing up, I was abused... musically.
Don't do that. 60 seconds doesn't do Oprah.
Sorry, sorry. There are two good reasons why there will always be live venue entertainment. Do you know what they are? Parents. You have to leave the house. I left the house around 11 into an all-black, Spanish-speaking neighbourhood. I could speak enough Spanish to really get us in and out of trouble. My first girlfriend was a Mexican girl from around the corner. I still have a 1951 Mercury Lowrider in the garage. The first record I ever bought was Major Lance going: 'Mmm mmm mmm mmm.' It was R&B, you know? Sorry, what was the original question?
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: Is Bon Jovi a watered-down version of you?
There are many of them. My fascination in music is across the board: When I move, you move [taken from Ludacris's Stand Up]; my band can play the important part of the Beyoncé single - her ass part; I've just ordered Chuck Brown's [Godfather of Go Go] Greatest Hits, Bustin' Loose. I called the two fellas who wrote the book Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, The History Of The Disc Jockey. They listed all the disc jockeys, starting with the Wigan Casino in the early 1960s, and listed all the songs. I called them and ordered 200 of them. My fascination with hard rock? Well, it's what I do for a living, but I don't really play ball in terms of the Deep Purple, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin country club. I grew up in an integrated community, right from grade school. The whitest thing we ever heard at the youth club was Sly And The Family Stone. It's pretty evident Bon Jovi only listened to the one type of music.
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: How do you rate Van Halen on a scale of all-time rock acts?
Probably top seven. I base that on two things - songwriting that transcends the ages, communities, haircuts and shoe styles, and a connection to the culture. There has to be some social resonance well beyond the music, whether it's personality or attitude. I have maintained editorial bias on anything I've done. That right there makes me different from my colourful colleagues. David Lee Roth plays Glasgow (Feb 25), Manchester (Feb 27). London (Feb 28) and Wolverhampton (Mar 1). Tickets are £26. Call 0870 400 0688 or visit www.cclive.co.uk.
MR GRIMSDALE!
http://www.metro.co.uk/metro/interviews/interview.html?in_page_id=8&in_interview_id=777
David Lee Roth
by Tim Ingham, February 26th, 2003
Forget Tommy Lee and Axl Rose - 'Diamond' David Lee Roth was the 1980's crotch-rocking hell-raiser. Van Halen's first vocalist was notorious for his skin-tight jumpsuits and on-stage antics. He left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Roth formed his own band and is credited as saying: 'I used to have a drug problem. Now I make enough money.'
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: Have I caught you at a good time?
Absolutely. I haven't been to sleep since the late-Eighties. But there's always a margin for terror.
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: You've just got back from Japan. How was it?
I've always had a fascination with Japan, starting off with martial arts when I was 12. I've found over the seasons that most pop music, whether it's rock or hip hop, is very dependent on the community it came from, and a certain age group within that. In Japan, you can't depend on that. Do you think that Slash [Guns'N'Roses guitarist] would sound the same if he didn't look like he does? That's a community-dependant musician - he looks like his audience. In Japan you can't do that.
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: Are today's heavy rockers pussycats compared with you in your Van Halen days?
I still think they are. Let's not use the past tense. I study Spanish, and I've told my tutor I have no use for it. Whether it's the way Busta Rhymes shoots his video or the way the fella in The Darkness launches himself, you better believe I'm in there. It's very possible to continue right through time and still be RFN - Right F***in' Now.
Do a lot of your fans look like you?
A lot of my fans are what I call Harleys and Ferraris. The average age is about 30. I just got back from Japan. There it was between 15 and 30. And about 40 per cent of those were girls.
That must've put a smile on your face.
It certainly makes it a lot easier than the Steve Vai [former guitarist in Roth's band] era - that was mostly young boys. A sea of blue, I called it, because of the denim. When I was the boss in Van Halen I determined early on the band would appeal to everybody. Our colleagues at the time, like Black Sabbath, didn't. I personally fit neatly somewhere between Groucho Marx and Akira Kurosawa. I think they were both mined from the same granite.
Theatric hard rock is back in vogue. You must be pleased.
It's superb. An old Jamaican sailor once said to me: 'Tide goes out, tide comes back in.' You have no idea how much I paid to get to that shore to hear him say that, so I like to make a lot out of it. But it's true. There are only two things on Earth that look exactly the same from the day they're born to the day they die. The first is a sea anemone. The other is Neil Young. We have a nation of Neil Youngs here. The last six summers have been dedicated to looking like a coal miner from Harlem County, in approximately 1938. That's OK, but that tide's gonna come back in. Consequently, you have Le Darkness, as they say in parts of France.
You're a fan?
The Darkness have musical capacity: not that it's necessary for us to discuss it here, as frequently it's more fun to discuss bands without musical capacity. The Darkness have all the ingredients, and they're just getting started in the rhythm kitchen. As far as attitude, ambition and the direction they're going in? Spectacular. Which would you rather be, if you had to be one - deaf or blind? Answer me quick.
Erm...
Yep, me too. That tells you how important your eyes are.
On your website, there is a picture of models made up to look as smoking, pregnant undesirables. Is there a message behind this?
[Shouts] Pregnant, white, chain-smoking trash can be heroes too. You don't have to be white to be trash, of course, but it helps. They symbolise a large portion of my audience. Are you familiar with Anna Nicole Smith? I've just had a terrible, nay great, thought. She's kind of the female Sammy Hagar. But if Anna Nicole got on stage and sang Why Can't This Be Anna? [spoof of Why Can't This Be Love, a song written after Roth's departure], I'd buy that stuff.
Do you like the fact that you attract that type of fan?
I play the music that is true to whatever vision it is. My vision is usually three verses and a chorus and an 'Ow!' before the solo. That's what I was raised with. I don't think I've ever told anybody this, but when I was growing up, I was abused... musically.
Don't do that. 60 seconds doesn't do Oprah.
Sorry, sorry. There are two good reasons why there will always be live venue entertainment. Do you know what they are? Parents. You have to leave the house. I left the house around 11 into an all-black, Spanish-speaking neighbourhood. I could speak enough Spanish to really get us in and out of trouble. My first girlfriend was a Mexican girl from around the corner. I still have a 1951 Mercury Lowrider in the garage. The first record I ever bought was Major Lance going: 'Mmm mmm mmm mmm.' It was R&B, you know? Sorry, what was the original question?
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: Is Bon Jovi a watered-down version of you?
There are many of them. My fascination in music is across the board: When I move, you move [taken from Ludacris's Stand Up]; my band can play the important part of the Beyoncé single - her ass part; I've just ordered Chuck Brown's [Godfather of Go Go] Greatest Hits, Bustin' Loose. I called the two fellas who wrote the book Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, The History Of The Disc Jockey. They listed all the disc jockeys, starting with the Wigan Casino in the early 1960s, and listed all the songs. I called them and ordered 200 of them. My fascination with hard rock? Well, it's what I do for a living, but I don't really play ball in terms of the Deep Purple, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin country club. I grew up in an integrated community, right from grade school. The whitest thing we ever heard at the youth club was Sly And The Family Stone. It's pretty evident Bon Jovi only listened to the one type of music.
METRO CAFÉ EXTRA: How do you rate Van Halen on a scale of all-time rock acts?
Probably top seven. I base that on two things - songwriting that transcends the ages, communities, haircuts and shoe styles, and a connection to the culture. There has to be some social resonance well beyond the music, whether it's personality or attitude. I have maintained editorial bias on anything I've done. That right there makes me different from my colourful colleagues. David Lee Roth plays Glasgow (Feb 25), Manchester (Feb 27). London (Feb 28) and Wolverhampton (Mar 1). Tickets are £26. Call 0870 400 0688 or visit www.cclive.co.uk.
MR GRIMSDALE!