Brand new Dave interview!

[ToraToraTora]

This months Classic Rock magazine has a fantastic new interview with Dave, a fantastic article on VH from 79-82 and a review of ADKOT. Questions to Dave include, "Will you take this album round the World, or are you just concentrating on the US?"....Answer..."I can fully see Europe, Japan and Australia on future horizons". "You've got a young kid on bass now.Does Wolfgang bring some fresh air into this ensemble?" ... Answer...."No! The kind of music that we play is about the brothers and myself"
And lots more besides. Beg steal or borrow this issue, this is a fuckin GREAT interview!

Classic Dave quote from this, " My voice sounds like four flat tyres on a muddy road "

[VHscraps]

This months Classic Rock magazine has a fantastic new interview with Dave, a fantastic article on VH from 79-82 and a review of ADKOT. Questions to Dave include, "Will you take this album round the World, or are you just concentrating on the US?"....Answer..."I can fully see Europe, Japan and Australia on future horizons". "You've got a young kid on bass now.Does Wolfgang bring some fresh air into this ensemble?" ... Answer...."No! The kind of music that we play is about the brothers and myself"
And lots more besides. Beg steal or borrow this issue, this is a fuckin GREAT interview!

Classic Dave quote from this, " My voice sounds like four flat tyres on a muddy road "

Thanks for the heads-up Tora - you must be a subscriber ... Haven't seen it in the shops, but you ge it early, I guess?

Is it a full-on interview with Dave ... or just a handful of questions and answers accompanying the 79-82 piece?

And ... who wrote the 79-82 piece?

[guwapo_rocker]

"I can fully see Europe, Japan and Australia on future horizons".

This is going to get expensive. :D

[DLR Bridge]

Classic Dave quote from this, " My voice sounds like four flat tyres on a muddy road "

Also said that in his book many moons ago.

[ToraToraTora]

Thanks for the heads-up Tora - you must be a subscriber ... Haven't seen it in the shops, but you ge it early, I guess?

Is it a full-on interview with Dave ... or just a handful of questions and answers accompanying the 79-82 piece?

And ... who wrote the 79-82 piece?

It's a full on interview, covering the recording of the album, the recording process, the plans for the future, will Dave ever consider running for President etc. Done by Marcel Anders.
The 79-82 piece was done by Johnny Black. And yes i'm a subscriber, get it early, and also this month, 3 more pages of the Dave interview that you wont see in the magazine on sale in the shops (subscriber only bonus). Album review wasn't done by Malcolm Dome, but by Dave Everley, and mr Everley gets it (unlike chrome Dome)

[VHscraps]

Yay. Sounds great - apart from the subscriber-only extra pages ! Thought momentarily about getting a subscription, but it would start at next issue. Bah.

[chi-town324]

can't wait to read it...cool

[SunisinuS]

It's a full on interview, covering the recording of the album, the recording process, the plans for the future, will Dave ever consider running for President etc. Done by Marcel Anders.
The 79-82 piece was done by Johnny Black. And yes i'm a subscriber, get it early, and also this month, 3 more pages of the Dave interview that you wont see in the magazine on sale in the shops (subscriber only bonus). Album review wasn't done by Malcolm Dome, but by Dave Everley, and mr Everley gets it (unlike chrome Dome)

Any way that you can post the 3 plus pages after without getting in Butt Hurt land? Hope they let us hear the ramble-in-chief do his shimmy...

[rafa]

For the german and french fans:

Marcel Anders also works with the german mag Metal Hammer and the french version of Rolling Stone, so the article is in the March issue of those mags.


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[DavidLeeNatra]

Metal Hammer is for 14 year old mosh heads drawing pentagrams on their school bag...thanks, but no thanks...

[Cato]

"I can fully see Europe, Japan and Australia on future horizons".
didn't he say the same thing 5~6 years ago?

[ZahZoo]

"You've got a young kid on bass now.Does Wolfgang bring some fresh air into this ensemble?" ... Answer...."No! The kind of music that we play is about the brothers and myself"

While the statement is mostly true... That sounds a bit harsh and somewhat risky to go minimizing Ed's kid.

[Mr Walker]

While the statement is mostly true... That sounds a bit harsh and somewhat risky to go minimizing Ed's kid.

Yeah... I didn't like that. Hopefully it was pulled out of context... especially after seeing the big hug Dave gave him after 'Jump' at the Chicago show.

[DLR Bridge]

While the statement is mostly true... That sounds a bit harsh and somewhat risky to go minimizing Ed's kid.

True indeed. A far cry from how he sold the kid at the '07 tour press conference. I'm curious to see the rest of that piece.

[private parts]

While the statement is mostly true... That sounds a bit harsh and somewhat risky to go minimizing Ed's kid.

No shit Zah. I'm holding my breath that Ed doesn't try to kick Dave in the nuts for saying that.

[atomicpnk47]

He better be wearing a cup.

[Seshmeister]

And yes i'm a subscriber, get it early, and also this month, 3 more pages of the Dave interview that you wont see in the magazine on sale in the shops (subscriber only bonus). Album review wasn't done by Malcolm Dome, but by Dave Everley, and mr Everley gets it (unlike chrome Dome)

Could you scan those extra pages and put them up here at some point?

I was going to boycott the magazine if Dome had done the review of the album but I'll buy it now. :)

[DLR Bridge]

Then again, those interview clips are of only Dave and the brothers. Must be mutually understood thing.

[binnie]

Classic Rock is an excellent magazine - so excellent, in fact, that I can almost forgive them the Chickenshit fan pack album edition.

[Seshmeister]

Anyone know what date it comes out for non subscribers?

[MUSICMANN]

While the statement is mostly true... That sounds a bit harsh and somewhat risky to go minimizing Ed's kid.

It seems to me to be just a quote. A snippet so to speak. It could go on after that to say hey, Wolf is a very good bass player and such.

[ELVIS]

Could you scan those extra pages and put them up here at some point?

I was going to boycott the magazine if Dome had done the review of the album but I'll buy it now. :)

I just found a couple iphone apps that scan and save as text...

If I come across the magazine I will try it...


:elvis:

[ZahZoo]

No shit Zah. I'm holding my breath that Ed doesn't try to kick Dave in the nuts for saying that.

Hopefully it's just a partial quote without context.

Judging by how tight the music has been... then add the historical providence of the Van Halen name... I'd figure the quickest path to derailing this train would be for Dave to "dis" Wolf. Knowing how vindictive Ed can get when he decides he don't like someone... Dave could find himself sharing the dog bowl with his boys in the blink of an eye...

[DavidLeeNatra]

guys...relax...these songs were made long before wolfgang was born...I see dave referring to this...

Dave has a lot of interaction with "kiddo" onstage and there are smiles, hugs and there is joking going on between them...

stop being paranoid about dave pissing the sisters off...he does it anyway...this will last as long as it lasts...keep this in mind when they say goodbye, we can't get this stuff no more...let's celebrate it...

[ZahZoo]

I wouldn't call it being paranoid... more like legitimate concerns to protect the fan's investments.

The scratch tracks were developed before Wolfgang was born... but that's irrelevant. The songs were all recorded last year with Wolfgang and he has writing and publishing credits for all of them. It may be Dave and the Brother's legacy... but this is Wolfgang's meal ticket and future lively hood.

Seriously... now wouldn't be a good time for Dave to get all cocky about it. There may be contract glue holding things together but blood is thicker than water and a Dutch Prick™ could bitch slap this to the gutter in the blink of an eye...

[DavidLeeNatra]

...and a Dutch Prick™ could bitch slap this to the gutter in the blink of an eye...

Jero?

[VHscraps]

I think what he said depends on the context, the editing that went into the article (it sounds like it might have been written originally in German / Dutch ?).

In an interview with news.com.au on 8th Feb, Dave was pretty complimentary about Wolf, while still maintaining that the magic in the band has been there since the 70s. Remember that Dave in interview mode is never entirely serious. He said:


Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang is on bass now. What's it like being in a band with a 20-year-old?

I'm starting to be impressed by the kid. I didn't want to be. He can play the s--- out of that thing. He's bringing it. We never changed. We're a '70s hard rock band. We enjoyed our fame in the '80s but all our roots are pre-'80s. That's Van Halen.


Read more HERE (http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/inteview-with-van-halens-david-lee-roth/story-e6frfn09-1226266040365)

[ToraToraTora]

It was a partial quote taken out of context, but i'll put the full answer in here now.

You've got a young kid on bass now. Does Wolfgang bring some fresh air into this ensemble?
Dave: No! Trying to be able to keep up with Van Halen is a task that's going to take somebody years and years to do, okay? The kind of music that we play is about the brothers and myself. We went to school together for theory and orchestration. We went to the college of musical knowledge and played for 5 years in the clubs and the saloons and the backyard parties together. And we wrote every song that we used to pay the rent together. In terms of outside input, theres not much room. And that reaches also for the front office, production, mixing.....We are a one trick pony. It's a helluva trick, but there's only one(laughs).

If anyone wants to see it maybe you could pm me your email addy and i'll fire off a scanned copy to you. Not scanning it into here, just in case! (that goes for the 3 extra pages too)

(just checked the mag again, its only 2 extra pages oops)

[ZahZoo]

I don't know... in context, the statement is still on the edge.

Frankly I don't agree with Dave's assessment in relation to the new recordings/music. Some of it was written/created before Wolfgang was born and that plays to Dave's perspective of the roots of the music. But... on both the record and the live productions there is some noticeable "fresh air" in the bass composition and placement in the mix departments. May not just be the kid's cuntribution... but a combination of what he and his father compose as a team... and that is clearly fresh and new dimension that didn't exist with MA...

[VHscraps]

Yeah, there's a Dave interview - but they have the Van Hagar VH symbol emblazoned across the front ... Pretty much the same Zloz pics you've all probably seen.

[VHscraps]

Some interesting nuggets and new quotes. Robert Fleischman, who opened for VH in 79, recounts in the new Classic Rock: "there was a song called 'Ace in the Hole' on my debut album ... It wasn't written with any double meaning, but Mile Anthony told me he liked banging chicks on the tour bus while it was playing ..."

[VHscraps]

So here I am working my way thru this edition of the rag, and lo - there is a review of Chickensh*t in London that ends:

"the odds remain against Van Halen surpassing this"

Next to a pic of the Crimson Clown cheerleading wirh his gut hanging over his waistband.

Are these non-entities and their "supergroup" forever gonna be brought up in the same breath as VH?

What i recon is that there are a lot of lazy journos employed by music mags out there.

Author of those wise words - Dave Ling. Chickensh*t is the yardstick. LMAO.

[rafa]

BY MARCEL ANDERS


It's late one Thursday night in January, and Classic Rock has tracked down David Lee Roth to his house in Pasadena. Among many other things, there's a new Van Halen album to discuss.



How was working on a new Van Halen album for the first time in 28 years?

Nothing has changed. It's like mixing fuel for a race car. Ultimately, you'll find the right recipe for what compels you artistically and spiritually, individually, and what compels the group ensemble. That can be something as simple as now that we've all had a lot of different jobs away from each other – and a couple of medical near misses – how much do you appeciate this one? The answer is generally a whole fucking lot more than I used to. Individually, what compels you might change – the things you used to hate you may now grow to love. I used to hate going into the studio because I perceived it as a test in school. A microscope that would reveal imperfection. Today I am most revered for my imperfections. I'm like you're favourite pair of jeans or your favourite leather jacket – it's not brand new. And the more worn in it is, the more prized it becomes in our culture. My voice sounds like your four flat tyres on a muddy road. Sounds like every inch of distance I've been spiritually. You can't purchase that. You actually have to go live it, minute by minute, in real time. All the people I've met on that journey are in my voice and my lyrics. It's the same for the Van Halens in their playing. Consequently, there's more depth. The smiles are pirate smiles. We've confronted our mortality and have returned with album in hand [laughs].



The new album sounds like Van Halen used to. How did you manage that?

What we did was full circle. In theater, there is a term called «off book». It means simply that you no longer have to read the script. You have internalised it, it is you and you simply infuse it with emotional content. Whatever that means. I visited Edward's studio 42 times in order to rehearse and become off book with the band, to the degree where the lyrics are finished and everybody knows the choruses, everybody knows the song from start to finish as you would come to see us in a club as a new band. We train and rehearse for hundreds of hours until it is Shakespeare – whole lotta Shakespeare going on. You can't think of what is next if you're going to do Shakespeare. Can you really play the song from start to finish without the enhancement of Pro Tools or the machines of production? Can you actually sing what it is that you're singing or is that a fabrication? And to do that as a whole band in the studio is something most bands leave behind. So for us it was a full cicle. What you're hearing is very much live in the studio. And that is consequently what you'll hear on the road.



A different kind of thruth does have the spirit of the early Van Halen records – it's about girls, cars, tattoos, having fun and getting yourself in danger, instead of drinking milk, driving Nissans and being in relationships.

Well, it's not a cartoon. The lyrics are deep, not cartoon-ish, even if they appear to be. The music is deceptively simple: you can't even play it if you are adept at your instrument, particularly in an ensemble as a band. And lyrically, even though we're singing about tattoos, for example, we explore some of the different neighbourhoods that that's involved with – beyond bikers and beyond the grand party. For example, I know some fellows who live in the rural Appalachia coal country and they have their union number tattoed on their shoulder, just as their grandfathers did. In the United States, easily 75 per cent of all tattoo customers are women. Swap meets Sally gets a simple tattoo and she turns from a mousewife into a momshell, as a play on words. She's not a mouse anymore, she turns into a bombshell. Simply because of that mark. What is the psychology of that? Perhaps, for the first time, she's telling the truth instead of a false virtue – and we explore that in another verse as well. Alternatively, there are times when you don't want to pay attention to lyrics at all. I'm going to say 50 per cent of the time, I don't [laughs].



There are parts where you are just having fun, though. Like in the line: If you want to be a monk, you got to cook a lot of rice.

Well, it means hard work. You want to be a monk, it means you got to get used to a very austere hard work. Particularly young artists who are reading this now: if you want to be the great philosopher, it means a lot more than journeying to the top of the mountain. You want to play like Eddie Van Halen? It is endless, mind-numbing pratice. We have been rehearsing three days a week for four months in preparation for this tour. Most performers in our bracket would rehearse for six weeks. We're cooking a lot of rice.



What's the idea behind the album title, A different kind of truth?

Van Halen was always an island – while you were on your way from one place to another culturally or musically. When we were flavour of the week first time, the world was on a wild ride from Studio 54 and Saturday Night Fever and steaming hot across the channel towards the world of the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Not a bad final destination. Everything that you encountered on our island had virtually nothing to do with anything else that was popular. We were never cool. We're not cool today. We weren't cool in the 90s when it smelled like teen spirit. Nevertheless it is such a signature sound. I don't know that anybody else sounds like it, or vice versa, to any degree. Even if you attempt to imitate it, the best you'll do will be... well, we have bastard sons. Think of it this way: there are many American bands who have sold more records, who have perhaps better singers, better words, etc. But there is no American act in the history of the sport more imitated. Not in terms of rock'n'roll bands. There are four or five bands out there right now making a very fine living off virtually that. And why is that? Because we represent a lot of different neighbourhoods. Our music is a composite of different neighboorhoods and the enthusiasm that comes from that. We attempted to be part of what's happening now. But even when I'm trying to sound like the fella in the Rolling Stones it just sounds like me. I could point to you in songs and go: Right there, we're imitating Johnny Cash and right there Deep Purple, and there's James Brown, and that's Led Zeppelin. And you would go: Nah, it just sounds like you.



But it sounds surpisingly fresh after 28 years.

Yes, there's a lot of new influences. There's been a fair amount of rewriting going into this. There's been a lot of living since the last album. You can only get worse in attempting to remain specifically young and specifically looking in one way. Ah... there' s been a lot of life here. And I think it's in the performance and in the sound itself, the care in terms of the sonic – how does that drum sound? Not: what is he playing? How does it sound? That's a choice Alex made. We self-produce in that respect. The sound on my voice is not a choice a producer made, I made it. And that comes with as much iconic history and attention to what's happening today. You listen to the beginning of Tattoo. In the very first chorus at the top of the song, it's completely Jason Derulo, it's Rihanna. It's been auto-tuned and backward-echoed to death 'cause I love that stuff. Ultimately the Van Halens bring as much salt and pepper to proceedings in the same way. Ah... but the overall is a signature sound that's undeniable. Even if we try to sound like somebody else, it won't.



You've got a young kid on bass now. Does Wolfgang bring some fresh air into his ensemble?

No! Trying to be able to keep up with Van Halen is a task that's going to take somebody years and years to do, okay? The kind of music that we play is about the brothers and myself. We went to school together for theory and orchestration. We went to the college of musical knowledge and played for five years in the clubs and the saloons and the backyard parties together. And we wrote every song that we used to pay the rent together. In terms of outside input, there's not much room. And that reaches also for the front office, production, mixing... We are a one-trick pony. It's a hell of a trick, but there's only one [laughs].



You've tried to rejoin Van Halen at least twice – in 1996 and 2000 – but it didn't work. Is this third time lucky, or is this meant to last?

I like the impermanent. I like tension. Whenever things get too comfortable, it becomes something othe than compelling. It becomes something that is equivalent to comfort food. I like something that is an encounter. All the great jazz artisits worked with this. Hip-hop works with this. There's routinely a remixing of individual talents. If you simply state: yes, this forever, you're going to get a different quality of work from if you tell everybody: you're all going to die in three years. So as far as 'yeah, this is one big happy family', that doesn't sound like Van Halen to me. I like contact. I like encounter. And I like the threat of the clock. This is a band that's lived hard – and a band that has worked even harder. My back doctor says I should have thrown in the shoes years ago. And Van Halen is a competitive value, in every respect. We're not here for an exhibition, there's no ironic wink of the eye, nudge of the elbow or remembering how it is.



Will you take this album around the world or are you just concentrating on the US?

There's been a lot of changes, even a lot of updates in the band. Who thought we would go play the Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village, a place that small, that far downtown, and encounter the press from 20 feet away without a production? Of course! If we have gone there, we can go anywhere. The band is red hot, we've been rehearsing for months. And we are club-ready. Seriously, that's what makes the best arena show. I can fully see Europe, Japan and Australia on future horizons.



Does performing still hurt?

Only when I'm awake [laughs]. There was never a time when it didn't hurt. I remember 20 years ago asking one of my kung fu instructors if it would stop hurting and he told me no. Perhaps that's part of what makes it look compelling. When it dosen't hurt, you don't fight quite as hard. Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon had terrible back problems, pulled muscles or whatever and was in pain throughout the filming of that picture. JFK in the 60s during his presidency had horrible back pains. You see these histories throughout. Perhaps it forces one to focus that much more. I'm pretty focused. There's my medical answer [laughs].



You once said: The perfect woman has an IQ of 150, wants to make love until four in the morning and then turns into a pizza. Is that still valid?

I think it's leftovers from the 80s. When I was a child I thought as a child, you know. I think her IQ would be up around 162 now. Um... pizza. Let's be heart-smart – I would go with thai food! I mean, I can do this all night. Do you want me to continue? [laughs] I'm a little more demanding.



But it's till a topic to have fun with?

Oh certainly. For example, you always muse about who is listening to your music or who you're writing your words for. For most hard rock fans, or most heavy metal artists, they're thinking of audiences that are mostly guys. Do you think I ever wore yellow anything for fellas? Do you think any of those moves are aimed at you? Let's be serious: no! For me, if anybody, if it's not a simple philosophical moment as musing out loud for all to hear, if it's aimed at somebody, it's almost uniquely towards women. All of my lyrics always have been. It's not an explainable issue, it just happens. When you're singing about 'winged assassins' for example, clearly that's for fellas. 'I can't wait to feel your love tonight'? C'mon! The video writes itself. And no, that'll never change. I don't think it does for any artist. Who you do think of when you are recording and composing and rehearsing is not something you choose.

[Nitro Express]

Oh certainly. For example, you always muse about who is listening to your music or who you're writing your words for. For most hard rock fans, or most heavy metal artists, they're thinking of audiences that are mostly guys. Do you think I ever wore yellow anything for fellas? Do you think any of those moves are aimed at you? Let's be serious: no! For me, if anybody, if it's not a simple philosophical moment as musing out loud for all to hear, if it's aimed at somebody, it's almost uniquely towards women. All of my lyrics always have been. It's not an explainable issue, it just happens. When you're singing about 'winged assassins' for example, clearly that's for fellas. 'I can't wait to feel your love tonight'? C'mon! The video writes itself. And no, that'll never change. I don't think it does for any artist. Who you do think of when you are recording and composing and rehearsing is not something you choose.

Dave probably reveals some of his method to the madness. He wore those chaps and showed his bare ass to the ladies to get them all worked up. Then when he allowed the lucky one or ones into his inner sanctum they were even more horny because they scored the goods Dave was flaunting. I mean there is nothing like a super horny woman knowing she scored the big prize. You are talking about the guy who numbered his barricade so he could find the prime pussy and give it a pass to the temple. It was all about the women thinking about it.

[IceCreamBlondie]

Hopefully it's just a partial quote without context.

Judging by how tight the music has been... then add the historical providence of the Van Halen name... I'd figure the quickest path to derailing this train would be for Dave to "dis" Wolf. Knowing how vindictive Ed can get when he decides he don't like someone... Dave could find himself sharing the dog bowl with his boys in the blink of an eye...

Well stated, Zah.

[vaijuju]

For the german and french fans:

Marcel Anders also works with the german mag Metal Hammer and the french version of Rolling Stone, so the article is in the March issue of those mags.


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French mag march issue