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'Devil's' advocate
David Lee Roth launches his post-radio career with 'Strummin' With the Devil,' a bluegrass-themed Van Halen tribute CD
BY RAFER GUZMÁN
Newsday Staff Writer
June 25, 2006
In the time-is-money world of celebrity journalism, an interviewer is lucky to get 20 minutes of talk-time with a given star. Often it's 15 minutes, sometimes 10.
As for David Lee Roth? Nearly an entire hour. And afterward, when star and interviewer emerge, still gabbing, from a quiet room in the MTV building in Manhattan, Roth's publicist looks up in surprise: "Done already?"
You might think the former Van Halen singer doesn't have much to do - after all, he was recently ousted from his short-lived stint as Howard Stern's replacement on morning radio - but Roth these days is a busy man. He's waging a media blitz, performing on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show," chatting with the ladies of "The View" and preparing for a U.S. tour. It's all in support of his latest album, "Strummin' With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen" (released 6/6/06 on CMH Records), a collection of Van Halen covers from various bluegrass bands. (Roth sings on two tracks, "Jump" and "Jamie's Cryin'"). He's been lobbing public invitations to Eddie Van Halen to reform the band and is trying to pitch his own reality show to VH1.
But wait - bluegrass? The onetime heavy-metal singer seems to think it's perfectly normal. In fact, he shows up for his interview on a recent Thursday morning armed with a small, ukelele-style guitar, and within minutes he's unzipped it from its foam-padded case.
"Born in Bloomington, Ind. Student housing. Pop had just started college on the G.I. bill coming out of the Air Force," Roth explains. "This is the only music that you hear" - and he begins flat-picking a minor-key riff. He's pretty good: The sound is authentically dusty, even a little spooky. "I know that music," he says when finished. "I know how to judge the quality of the musicianship. I know when the verse rings through and when it's got that American sound."
And then Roth comes up with one of his oddball one-liners: "Reggae? Well, I know the haircut and the joint."
Over the course of this interview, the 50-year-old Roth touches on a variety of subjects, from the relevant (rock music, the radio industry) to the random (Shakespeare's "King Henry V," Japanese calligraphy). He often pauses to say, "You follow?" He's animated, with fidgety fingers that flicker as if trying to shake off a piece of tape. He smacks audibly on a piece of gum, leans in when delivering a joke and is usually the first to laugh. With his graying temples, sports sunglasses atop his head and a pair of well-worn jeans, Roth looks like your incorrigible uncle, still freewheeling regardless of the year on his birth certificate.
No photos, please
He isn't sensitive about his age. (Though he may be about his looks: He wouldn't allow himself to be photographed). Age is one of the first things he mentions when talking about his radio gig, which he likens to his other late-life vocations, such as helicopter pilot. "I'm the aberration: A 50-year-old who still commits to dangerous and new pursuits," he says. "Very few guys in my age group, or my pay grade, are willing to go, 'Great, I don't mind being a beginner again.'"
"Beginner" would be a generous way of describing Roth when he joined Free FM (92.3/WFNY FM) in January to replace the legendary Stern, who had defected to Sirius Satellite Radio. To hear Roth tell it, he was hanging out at his apartment on the Lower East Side, enjoying his second calling as a paramedic and playing the occasional gig in Atlantic City when Stern called with a possible job offer.
"He did tell me that because of the odd hours, I was going to walk around like a zombie all day," Roth recalls. "And he was right. Five in the morning is usually when I'm making cab fare for the stripper."
Roth's show was - how to put it? - different. It was almost completely devoid of guests (celebrity or otherwise), and his co-hosts sat mostly silent. As a result, Roth delivered four-hour monologues peppered with his own eclectic musical selections, which ranged from old Lou Rawls nuggets to experimental indie rock. (Ironically, Roth now admits, he discovered much of the music while listening to satellite radio.)
Battles with CBS execs
It didn't fly. Ratings plummeted. The station began pressing for changes to the show, such as more sports talk and news items, which Roth resisted. On-air, Roth began referring to his employers as "social retards" and "beige baby-food sissies." After three months, he was unceremoniously dumped and later replaced by veteran shock-jocks Opie and Anthony.
For his part, Roth blames the "executards" at Free FM and its corporate parent, CBS Radio. The station foiled his efforts to bring guests on the air, Roth claims. He also says he wanted to travel around the country and broadcast from different cities, a dream that never materialized. (He did host a show from Miami, but was promptly suspended for two days.)
"I said, 'Guys, do you really think you're going to take me off the road and out of the hotels of the earth, and put me in Howard Stern's little rabbit hutch?'" Roth says. "What are you going to have in three months, besides clinical depression?"
CBS Radio declined to comment on Roth's version of events, which leaves a question: Since Roth did a weeklong trial run in Boston before the show officially started, didn't the higher-ups know what they were getting? "I told them in the beginning, 'I'm not coming with a Howard Stern tribute band,'" Roth says. "I don't think they were paying attention to anything I had explained to them."
Perversely, Roth remains quite proud of the whole debacle. "Look what I bombed!" he says, happily. "A reviewer, a critic, says to me, 'So, you got fired from radio.' I said, 'No. I got fired from the hottest seat in international radio. What did you ever get fired from? Wal-Mart?'"
As the conversation wraps up, Roth's visitor mentions that the two had actually met and spoken once before. "Did I get better? Did I age well? Outstanding!" Roth says. "You don't want to get off the bus 10 years later the same guy who got on."
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
David Lee Roth launches his post-radio career with 'Strummin' With the Devil,' a bluegrass-themed Van Halen tribute CD
BY RAFER GUZMÁN
Newsday Staff Writer
June 25, 2006
In the time-is-money world of celebrity journalism, an interviewer is lucky to get 20 minutes of talk-time with a given star. Often it's 15 minutes, sometimes 10.
As for David Lee Roth? Nearly an entire hour. And afterward, when star and interviewer emerge, still gabbing, from a quiet room in the MTV building in Manhattan, Roth's publicist looks up in surprise: "Done already?"
You might think the former Van Halen singer doesn't have much to do - after all, he was recently ousted from his short-lived stint as Howard Stern's replacement on morning radio - but Roth these days is a busy man. He's waging a media blitz, performing on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show," chatting with the ladies of "The View" and preparing for a U.S. tour. It's all in support of his latest album, "Strummin' With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen" (released 6/6/06 on CMH Records), a collection of Van Halen covers from various bluegrass bands. (Roth sings on two tracks, "Jump" and "Jamie's Cryin'"). He's been lobbing public invitations to Eddie Van Halen to reform the band and is trying to pitch his own reality show to VH1.
But wait - bluegrass? The onetime heavy-metal singer seems to think it's perfectly normal. In fact, he shows up for his interview on a recent Thursday morning armed with a small, ukelele-style guitar, and within minutes he's unzipped it from its foam-padded case.
"Born in Bloomington, Ind. Student housing. Pop had just started college on the G.I. bill coming out of the Air Force," Roth explains. "This is the only music that you hear" - and he begins flat-picking a minor-key riff. He's pretty good: The sound is authentically dusty, even a little spooky. "I know that music," he says when finished. "I know how to judge the quality of the musicianship. I know when the verse rings through and when it's got that American sound."
And then Roth comes up with one of his oddball one-liners: "Reggae? Well, I know the haircut and the joint."
Over the course of this interview, the 50-year-old Roth touches on a variety of subjects, from the relevant (rock music, the radio industry) to the random (Shakespeare's "King Henry V," Japanese calligraphy). He often pauses to say, "You follow?" He's animated, with fidgety fingers that flicker as if trying to shake off a piece of tape. He smacks audibly on a piece of gum, leans in when delivering a joke and is usually the first to laugh. With his graying temples, sports sunglasses atop his head and a pair of well-worn jeans, Roth looks like your incorrigible uncle, still freewheeling regardless of the year on his birth certificate.
No photos, please
He isn't sensitive about his age. (Though he may be about his looks: He wouldn't allow himself to be photographed). Age is one of the first things he mentions when talking about his radio gig, which he likens to his other late-life vocations, such as helicopter pilot. "I'm the aberration: A 50-year-old who still commits to dangerous and new pursuits," he says. "Very few guys in my age group, or my pay grade, are willing to go, 'Great, I don't mind being a beginner again.'"
"Beginner" would be a generous way of describing Roth when he joined Free FM (92.3/WFNY FM) in January to replace the legendary Stern, who had defected to Sirius Satellite Radio. To hear Roth tell it, he was hanging out at his apartment on the Lower East Side, enjoying his second calling as a paramedic and playing the occasional gig in Atlantic City when Stern called with a possible job offer.
"He did tell me that because of the odd hours, I was going to walk around like a zombie all day," Roth recalls. "And he was right. Five in the morning is usually when I'm making cab fare for the stripper."
Roth's show was - how to put it? - different. It was almost completely devoid of guests (celebrity or otherwise), and his co-hosts sat mostly silent. As a result, Roth delivered four-hour monologues peppered with his own eclectic musical selections, which ranged from old Lou Rawls nuggets to experimental indie rock. (Ironically, Roth now admits, he discovered much of the music while listening to satellite radio.)
Battles with CBS execs
It didn't fly. Ratings plummeted. The station began pressing for changes to the show, such as more sports talk and news items, which Roth resisted. On-air, Roth began referring to his employers as "social retards" and "beige baby-food sissies." After three months, he was unceremoniously dumped and later replaced by veteran shock-jocks Opie and Anthony.
For his part, Roth blames the "executards" at Free FM and its corporate parent, CBS Radio. The station foiled his efforts to bring guests on the air, Roth claims. He also says he wanted to travel around the country and broadcast from different cities, a dream that never materialized. (He did host a show from Miami, but was promptly suspended for two days.)
"I said, 'Guys, do you really think you're going to take me off the road and out of the hotels of the earth, and put me in Howard Stern's little rabbit hutch?'" Roth says. "What are you going to have in three months, besides clinical depression?"
CBS Radio declined to comment on Roth's version of events, which leaves a question: Since Roth did a weeklong trial run in Boston before the show officially started, didn't the higher-ups know what they were getting? "I told them in the beginning, 'I'm not coming with a Howard Stern tribute band,'" Roth says. "I don't think they were paying attention to anything I had explained to them."
Perversely, Roth remains quite proud of the whole debacle. "Look what I bombed!" he says, happily. "A reviewer, a critic, says to me, 'So, you got fired from radio.' I said, 'No. I got fired from the hottest seat in international radio. What did you ever get fired from? Wal-Mart?'"
As the conversation wraps up, Roth's visitor mentions that the two had actually met and spoken once before. "Did I get better? Did I age well? Outstanding!" Roth says. "You don't want to get off the bus 10 years later the same guy who got on."
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
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