2019 Tour

[diamondclaudio]

Some brand good news are ready to surface from the Van Halen camp. Wolfie has finish his album. In eight or nine months there will be a final tour with the original line-up, and Wolfie will be the opener! Managements and companys are scheduling dates of the new album release, because maybe classic Van Halen ( full original line up) will be releasing a final studio album as the lev motiv for their final tour. Stay frosty!

[DavidLeeNatra]

Yawwwwwwn...
Some brand good news are ready to surface from the Van Halen camp. Wolfie has finish his album. In eight or nine months there will be a final tour with the original line-up, and Wolfie will be the opener! Managements and companys are scheduling dates of the new album release, because maybe classic Van Halen ( full original line up) will be releasing a final studio album as the lev motiv for their final tour. Stay frosty!

Gesendet von meinem SM-G955F mit Tapatalk

[ZahZoo]

The Wolfgang solo project part appears to somewhat partially true...

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj_B104hd24/?taken-by=wolfvanhalen


wolfvanhalen: I just tracked the last vocal on my project which means recording is officially complete. It’s a good day. I’m happy. Next stop: Mixing.

Where's all that VH original line-up, new album and 2019 tour info coming from..?

[diamondclaudio]

I should not say it. Berch Rupenian told me that. I hope he doesn t read this forum. Sorry Berch.

[Nitro Express]

Oh boy. Junior Van Halen has taken years to make an album while his dad and bandmates used to knock an album out in a few weeks. You know. Eddie writing the music on the road. In the hotel room. On the bus. Roth would usually write the lyrics while riding in the back of a limo driving around. Doing it that way gives the songs energy. Nothing is worse than music slowly written in a studio environment. It sounds as boring as the process of making it.

[Nickdfresh]

The Wolfgang solo project part appears to somewhat partially true...

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj_B104hd24/?taken-by=wolfvanhalen



Where's all that VH original line-up, new album and 2019 tour info coming from..?

Here?:

https://en.mediamass.net/people/van-halen/new-album.html

Seems like a rather piece of shit rumor site though...

[ZahZoo]

Here?:

https://en.mediamass.net/people/van-halen/new-album.html

Seems like a rather piece of shit rumor site though...

"piece of shit rumor site" seems about right...

See the notation under the 1st paragraph of the article you linked:


UPDATE 16/06/2018 : This story seems to be false.

[ZahZoo]

I should not say it. Berch Rupenian told me that. I hope he doesn t read this forum. Sorry Berch.

That probably sealed his fate... I'm sure when Eddie's people get wind that internal Top Secret™ Van Halen project details are being leaked from a trusted source in Uruguay they'll shut that shit down faster than a Manhattan Ho™ can cross her legs!!

[Nickdfresh]

"piece of shit rumor site" seems about right...

See the notation under the 1st paragraph of the article you linked:

And yet they leave it up to be searched....

[Terry]

Meh.

Speaking for myself (and, from what I've read so far on the thread, perhaps echoing the sentiments of more than a few of the other posters thus far), pretty much ANY rumor about a CVH reunion from ANY website these days elicits a "yeah, whatever, I'll believe it when it actually happens."

It's not circa late 1999 to late 2003 anymore, when the Van Halens were lead singerless and in hunkered down in their hidey hole home studio mode and people still had somewhat of an interest in Roth rejoining because the potential for a somewhat creative future existed: Roth rejoined the band over a decade ago, and we got a few tours, one new studio album 1/2 remade old demos 1/2 new material and a live album of a 2013 performance nobody asked for or particularly wanted.

I have no reason to think the band would have sounded much better or the output would have been more productive had Mike Anthony been with the band all along instead of Wolfgang. Granted, what I always wanted to see WAS the CVH lineup tour again and release new music...that is, it's what I wanted back in, say, 1996.

Getting Anthony back in the band NOW? Mmm...ten years (at least) too late for that to have made much of a real difference substantively: 100% authentic (finally) to be sure. MAYBE the backing vocals live might sound slightly better, but Anthony is no spring chicken anymore, either.

The time for the band to have gone the full-bore CVH reunion route was twenty years ago. By the time the Van Halens finally came around to their senses a decade later and DID get Roth back, the ability in terms of physical/creative juice was already waning on vapors. Getting the CVH lineup together for a tour that won't even take place until next year? Smacks of the final cash grab tactic/option to fill the coffers before retirement.

I think Roth said in his CFTH autobiography something along the lines of when thinking about what Van Halen turned into after he left, he'd rather not ponder it too much because it made him question what the band was when he was a member. The band waiting 2 decades too long to finally reconstitute gives me a similar feeling, in that I'd rather not pay top dollar to see/hear that: I'd just as soon remember them back in the day, when they were at their peak.

[diamondclaudio]

Well, What you`ve said makes sense to me. BUT never UNDERESTIMATE what that band can bring to the table. Maybe their record is strong and if Roth decides to really sing on tour... well, it worth 150 bucks to me!

[Seshmeister]

Oh boy. Junior Van Halen has taken years to make an album while his dad and bandmates used to knock an album out in a few weeks. You know. Eddie writing the music on the road. In the hotel room. On the bus. Roth would usually write the lyrics while riding in the back of a limo driving around. Doing it that way gives the songs energy. Nothing is worse than music slowly written in a studio environment. It sounds as boring as the process of making it.

Probably because he isn't hungry enough. Ironically. :)

[ZahZoo]

Probably because he isn't hungry enough. Ironically. :)

Whole lot of truth in that... Prior to his 1st record, his father had to work his ass off just to make rent and beer money. If he hadn't, his only other option was a real job... Once his career took off he had contractual motivations to fill in order to keep the prospect of a real job off the table. None of those motivational factors exist in Wolfgang's world...

Then there's also inspiration... Roth, Van Halens and Anthony had the clubs and back yard party days with a shit load of competition to beat out and load up their musical creativity. There was a lot of fast paced living packed into a few years there that literally exploded them into the rock scene. Enough to inspire several albums worth of great material...

If I were to suggest a simple analogy that fits this... The original Van Halen band created and rode a tidal wave in the open ocean. Wolfgang is just splashing in the puddles within an up-scale, safe, gated community with this project.

We'll see what comes of it... I've got a feeling it may lack the raw grit his seed sprouted from...

[Nitro Express]

Probably because he isn't hungry enough. Ironically. :)

Yeah I remember James Hetfield saying it was easy to write great Metallica songs when he was pissed off, poor, and angry. It was damn hard to write angry songs when he was sitting by a nice pool behind a huge house with several exotic cars in the garage. I think David Lee Roth understood the music came from what you were living in. When he was a volunteer EMT in New York City he kept a notebook with him and he rode on the fire engine. All the carnage, drama, excitement, and fear he saw he put into lyrical ideas. I think that's why the dude would leave the nice big house and go to places like Haiti. To ground himself. To see misery. The experience the real. Then that ended up in songs like Mean Street and all that. Everything from the Hollywood bullshit to guts falling on the floor at Walter Mitty's inspired Roth. I think Eddie got stale once he stayed on the mountain locked away in a studio.

Also the whole scene is different now. Wolfie isn't playing backyard parties, bars or clubs. He's a talented wanker basically. He's too pampered to be interesting. Rich kids aren't very interesting unless they go criminally insane or have a public breakdown.

[Nitro Express]

Whole lot of truth in that... Prior to his 1st record, his father had to work his ass off just to make rent and beer money. If he hadn't, his only other option was a real job... Once his career took off he had contractual motivations to fill in order to keep the prospect of a real job off the table. None of those motivational factors exist in Wolfgang's world...

Then there's also inspiration... Roth, Van Halens and Anthony had the clubs and back yard party days with a shit load of competition to beat out and load up their musical creativity. There was a lot of fast paced living packed into a few years there that literally exploded them into the rock scene. Enough to inspire several albums worth of great material...

If I were to suggest a simple analogy that fits this... The original Van Halen band created and rode a tidal wave in the open ocean. Wolfgang is just splashing in the puddles within an up-scale, safe, gated community with this project.

We'll see what comes of it... I've got a feeling it may lack the raw grit his seed sprouted from...

Oh it's going to be hey Wolfie plays them drums pretty good and yeah not bad bass playing. It will be studio wankery. There will be no story to be heard in the notes. Nothing to move you. It will be like being fucked with the same stroke.

[Seshmeister]

He's 27 - by that age his dad had done the first 5 Van Halen albums.

For a child prodigy he's not very prodigious.

[private parts]

Oh boy. Nothing is worse than music slowly written in a studio environment. It sounds as boring as the process of making it.

Yeah but He can play video games and post on Instagram while waiting for inspiration. Not as boring as trekking through a jungle or playing a keg party for 1000 people.

[Nitro Express]

He's 27 - by that age his dad had done the first 5 Van Halen albums.

For a child prodigy he's not very prodigious.

He's fat. He has no stage presence. He has no charisma. There are thousands of people who can sing and play instruments just as well if not better. Exactly what are we trying to sell here? Where's the beef? Oh Wolfie ate the beef and all the burgers.

[Nitro Express]

https://youtu.be/l23iS-TSUSY

Haha! Yeah The Wolf ain't hungry for success. Let's hope mommy and daddy have a nice trust for him. Oh he might be hungry for cheese covered nachos and In and Out burgers but he ain't hungry to go anywhere in the entertainment business. He needs an old crabby jew to talk some sense into him.

[Nitro Express]

Wolfie. This is a groupie. She will suck your dick to get close to Dave. You won't be able to see it because of your big belly and she might not be able to find your small dick under all the fat folds but a few of these women and maybe some men are going to try. Make sure you have your ass wiper roadie from Yemen also help you soap and clean yourself so you don't smell like a barn or sewage treatment plant. I'm not suggesting you diet and exercise because I might as well be talking to the wall suggesting those things. Maybe I can start throwing doughnuts and having you chase them for exercise but we need a fast dog to get to them before you do.

[FORD]

He's 27 - by that age his dad had done the first 5 Van Halen albums.

For a child prodigy he's not very prodigious.

Valerie also started in show business at a young age, and had finished a full TV series & a number of cheesy movies by the age of 27, so he's not living up to that side of his family tree either, really.

[Nitro Express]

Valerie also started in show business at a young age, and had finished a full TV series & a number of cheesy movies by the age of 27, so he's not living up to that side of his family tree either, really.

I found two of Valerie's cookbooks in a bargain bin. I probably bought them out of curiosity. She even has some of Eugena Van Halen's recipes in there who was reputed to be an excellent cook herself. It even has Eddie's favorite chicken recipe. To be honest these are good recipe books with lot's of Bertinelli Italian dishes and Asian/Indonesian Van Halen recipes. No wonder Wolfie got fat. Grandma Bertinelli's meatballs are fabulous!

[ZahZoo]

Exactly what are we trying to sell here? Where's the beef?

At the moment... nobody is trying to sell anything. One small exception... the souvenir shop is always open to fill your striped flip-flop and assorted junk needs.

http://images.dailyhive.com/20180618103937/Hot-dog-water-cover.jpg

[Nitro Express]

I never bought any of the striped up shit. I own one EVH speaker cab which is great but I'm driving it with a Marshall Vintage Modern. I gave my Wolfgang away to a friend because I didn't like it. Nothing I play through it says 5150 or has any kind of stripes. I mostly play a Fender Telecaster through a hand wired Fender Champ tweed amp these days. I occasionally grab something with a Floyd and plug into a blazing amp just to scare the dog.

[private parts]

I found two of Valerie's cookbooks in a bargain bin. I probably bought them out of curiosity. She even has some of Eugena Van Halen's recipes in there who was reputed to be an excellent cook herself. It even has Eddie's favorite chicken recipe. To be honest these are good recipe books with lot's of Bertinelli Italian dishes and Asian/Indonesian Van Halen recipes. No wonder Wolfie got fat. Grandma Bertinelli's meatballs are fabulous!

I used to like my Bertinelli with a little parm and garlic bread. Some red wine.

[FORD]

http://www.vanhalenstore.com/shop/graphics/00000002/EV031_1.jpg

I wanted to buy the striped hi-top shoes, but the bastard didn't have them in Size 15. Your loss, Ed. :biggrin:

[private parts]

Do you wear Bigfoot hand-me-downs?

[FORD]

Do you wear Bigfoot hand-me-downs?

Nah, he's a size 22 at least. Shaquille O'Neal gets his hand me downs, last I heard.

[Terry]

Well, What you`ve said makes sense to me. BUT never UNDERESTIMATE what that band can bring to the table. Maybe their record is strong and if Roth decides to really sing on tour... well, it worth 150 bucks to me!

I mean, if what the band are doing now with Dave is worth that much to you, by all means I hope you get good seats to the next show and enjoy it.

Seriously. It'd be cuntish of me to say "blah blah blah I think the band are washed up I wouldn't pay a nickel to see them now and I hope everyone else who does see them witnesses a shitty show."

I'll certainly never underestimate what the band did from 1974 to 1984. That Van Halen lineup, for me, is right up there with the all time great rock bands far as I'm concerned. Even after Dave left, the subsequent albums - even Van Halen III - had some decent musical ideas sprinkled throughout. The problem after Dave left is Ed got very comfortable with his success and largely decided to coast: a lot of filler tracks were also to be found on those post-Roth records, where they come off as something that Ed fobbed off because he could. Passable rather than exceptional.

Of the non-reworked demo stuff on ADKOT, there were also some good ideas. Chinatown was a great track. However, the idea that Ed still has the workings of a great album, or the band still have one great album left in them...I'll believe it when I hear it. Would LOVE to hear it, but won't bet the farm on it actually coming to pass.

About the best the band could hope to bring to the table now is a tour with Anthony. The Van Halens (Ed and Al) on the 2 most recent tours turned in well rehearsed, consistent performances night after night. Dave...I think the guy is just...done. Maybe if he just tries singing in key, the result will be passable if not exceptional, but certainly better than horrible, which is where his live vocals have been for the last two tours.

I dunno. A CVH reunion now, when contrasting it with the CVH era...for me, kind of along the lines of something Michael O'Donoghue once said, in that it has all the allure of looking at a picture of a naked woman after just having had an orgasm.

[Terry]

He's fat. He has no stage presence. He has no charisma. There are thousands of people who can sing and play instruments just as well if not better. Exactly what are we trying to sell here? Where's the beef? Oh Wolfie ate the beef and all the burgers.

I mean, Ed is certainly free to think and say that his kid is a natural, or a prodigy.

Very few prodigies have gone on in adulthood to live up to that early potential, and I'd agree that nothing I've seen or heard from Wolfgang even brings the word prodigy to mind in the first place. The first word is nepotism.

Ed enjoys playing with his kid. His kid was at least smart enough - and this wasn't rocket science to begin with - to realize that the fanbase wanted Van Halen to tour with Dave again. His kid was also capable enough to play Mike Anthony's bass parts. None of that is prodigious: Wolfgang is in the band because of who he is, rather than because of anything he can do particularly well. And all of that is what it is. What it isn't is a precocious display of musical ability.

Without his last name, Wolfgang onstage with any band other than Van Halen certainly wouldn't make a person think he was destined for anything special.

[Nickdfresh]

I mean, if what the band are doing now with Dave is worth that much to you, by all means I hope you get good seats to the next show and enjoy it.

Seriously. It'd be cuntish of me to say "blah blah blah I think the band are washed up I wouldn't pay a nickel to see them now and I hope everyone else who does see them witnesses a shitty show."

I'll certainly never underestimate what the band did from 1974 to 1984. That Van Halen lineup, for me, is right up there with the all time great rock bands far as I'm concerned. Even after Dave left, the subsequent albums - even Van Halen III - had some decent musical ideas sprinkled throughout. The problem after Dave left is Ed got very comfortable with his success and largely decided to coast: a lot of filler tracks were also to be found on those post-Roth records, where they come off as something that Ed fobbed off because he could. Passable rather than exceptional.

I agree with this and it takes me back to a thread I started here a long time ago and was reminded of when reading Monk's book. He basically stated what I thought, that Van Halen was burned out by the constant touring by the end of 1981 and needed a break and some vacations that might temper the constant drug and alcohol use indicative to a young band on the road in their era. But of course "(Oh) Pretty Woman" changed that and Warner pushed for more and yet more constant recording and unbroken touring took place until everything was untenable. Although, perhaps a breakup was inevitable in any case IDK. It does seem that Ed wanted to stand back a bit and slow down but lost any ability to collaborate in this period with the building of 5150 coinciding with Alex Van Halen consolidating his power as the (alcoholic) leader of the band and pushing Roth out...


Of the non-reworked demo stuff on ADKOT, there were also some good ideas. Chinatown was a great track. However, the idea that Ed still has the workings of a great album, or the band still have one great album left in them...I'll believe it when I hear it. Would LOVE to hear it, but won't bet the farm on it actually coming to pass.
.....

The problem is process, as in there isn't any. The six pack featured creative input from nearly everyone and Roth was able to give Eddie much needed feedback on what was good and on what sucked. As Monk stated, despite all his problems with Roth being a "sociopath" narcissist, he "knew what the people wanted" whereas Ed was becoming entranced with less pop and a more artistic approach that brought Fairwarning, perhaps their best (but least commercially successful) album, one that required payola to reach platinum sales. Ed basically turned his back on a winning formula and gradually became the king of his hermit kingdom at 5150. That's why AKOT sort of sucks in my opinion, it was done by phone-in. That's now how real bands work...

[Nickdfresh]

I mean, Ed is certainly free to think and say that his kid is a natural, or a prodigy.

Very few prodigies have gone on in adulthood to live up to that early potential, and I'd agree that nothing I've seen or heard from Wolfgang even brings the word prodigy to mind in the first place. The first word is nepotism.

Ed enjoys playing with his kid. His kid was at least smart enough - and this wasn't rocket science to begin with - to realize that the fanbase wanted Van Halen to tour with Dave again. His kid was also capable enough to play Mike Anthony's bass parts. None of that is prodigious: Wolfgang is in the band because of who he is, rather than because of anything he can do particularly well. And all of that is what it is. What it isn't is a precocious display of musical ability.

Without his last name, Wolfgang onstage with any band other than Van Halen certainly wouldn't make a person think he was destined for anything special.

Airbrush him onto Van Halen I!!!!!!

[Nickdfresh]

I should also mention that perhaps it's a supremely bad idea for any band-member to have an extensive home studio that gives the illusion of control and efficiency as it only seems to remove the pressure to being in a studio for a specified and expensive amount of time...

I'm not sure, but I don't think, say, U2 has its own member-dominate recording studio, IDK. Are there any major bands that only record at a home studio that have lasted?

[Terry]

I agree with this and it takes me back to a thread I started here a long time ago and was reminded of when reading Monk's book. He basically stated what I thought, that Van Halen was burned out by the constant touring by the end of 1981 and needed a break and some vacations that might temper the constant drug and alcohol use indicative to a young band on the road in their era. But of course "(Oh) Pretty Woman" changed that and Warner pushed for more and yet more constant recording and unbroken touring took place until everything was untenable. Although, perhaps a breakup was inevitable in any case IDK. It does seem that Ed wanted to stand back a bit and slow down but lost any ability to collaborate in this period with the building of 5150 coinciding with Alex Van Halen consolidating his power as the (alcoholic) leader of the band and pushing Roth out...



The problem is process, as in there isn't any. The six pack featured creative input from nearly everyone and Roth was able to give Eddie much needed feedback on what was good and on what sucked. As Monk stated, despite all his problems with Roth being a "sociopath" narcissist, he "knew what the people wanted" whereas Ed was becoming entranced with less pop and a more artistic approach that brought Fairwarning, perhaps their best (but least commercially successful) album, one that required payola to reach platinum sales. Ed basically turned his back on a winning formula and gradually became the king of his hermit kingdom at 5150. That's why AKOT sort of sucks in my opinion, it was done by phone-in. That's now how real bands work...


I think even beyond all of that, and it seems simplistic to say (mostly because it is), but Van Halen today are a very different band than they were when those first 6 albums were recorded.

The group just aren't in the same place now that they were back then. They're all basically financially solvent, much older, and the drive to scale the mountain is no longer there. In short, they aren't a band that has to prove anything with each subsequent release to stay on top of the heap. Hell, they don't even have to put out any new music in order to go on tour and sell out arenas.

While being in the position they are in would probably be any aspiring rock musician's dream, it's not always necessarily (in point of fact, rarely) the best position for a band to be from the perspective of a fan who wants to hear the group creating new music that at least smacks of the band actually making a sincere effort vs. phoning it in because they can.

I mean, considering the dreadful state Ed had been in for quite some time and taking into account Roth's last full length solo release (Diamond Dave), I tempered my own expectations for ADKOT. In no small part because when I thought about Van Halen III, the new BOBW tracks and Dave's last solo album, I thought creatively these guys were just...shot.

By those diminished standards/expectations, ADKOT was in spots much better than I thought the band were capable of:

Tattoo - not a fan of this track. Came off as something to be found on one of Roth's lesser solo efforts, and the fact that it was an old reworked demo didn't make it sound any better.

You and Your Blues - not a fan of this track, either: sounded like average fair.

She's The Woman - this should have been the lead off track. lyrics are a bit hokey, but delivered with conviction and the instrumentation sounds much more 'Van Halenish' to me than the first two tracks I mentioned, which sounded a bit generic.

Chinatown - They hit this track right out of the fucking park.

Blood and Fire - interesting reworking of the Ripley instrumental. pointed lyrics celebrating Roth's return. I was a bit bummed that they didn't play this one live.

Bullethead - muscular revamping of an old demo with silly Roth 'zen' lyrics, but at least the attitude reeks of CVH.

As Is - I really enjoyed this new track.

Honeybabysweetiedoll - I liked the main riff and the weirdness/experimental nature of it. Roth's stream of consciousness in the midst of a coke binge lyrics are a bit overbearing (and his attempts to come across as a sex stud circa 1984 in 2011 are more laughable than anything else).

The Trouble With Never - a tune I imagine took the band nearly almost as much time to write as it did to record. Disposable fluff, and I was a bit bummed when they chose to play this track live at the 2012 gig I saw. Literally in one ear and out the other for me as a listener. Also comes across as a non-distinctive tune off of one of Roth's lesser albums.

Outta Space - I like the energy of the performance turned in on this reworked demo. Roth's lyrics here (like on much of the rest of the album) come across like a bunch of pithy bumper sticker slogans he wrote down during his travels and cobbled together, and the lead vocal track sounds like it consisted of 10,000 punched in edits (I can't imagine the band playing the tune live and Roth even attempting to sing it all in one shot).

Stay Frosty - it'd be low hanging fruit to say it is a lesser Ice Cream Man, although disingenuous to not have made the comparison at all. Silly lyrics, and nothing groundbreaking going on, but I kinda like it just the same.

Big River - I quite enjoy what the band did with this old demo here. Dave is belting the tune out with conviction, some of his better lyrics on the album, and great guitar work by Eddie.

Beats Working - Fun reworking of another old demo, although I kind of prefer the lyrics on the old demo version. Enjoyable but not essential.


So, ADKOT has 13 tracks.

4 of them I have little to no use for. So a third of the album is disposable to me.


4 of them I really liked.


5 of them had mixed results.



The thing of it is, though, to have had the band pretty much inactive in the 12 years leading up to it - and Dave was basically just touring during those years as a solo act semi-frequently but not intensively - and let's keep in mind that the band had nearly 4 years between the end of the 2007/2008 tour on the release of ADKOT (PLENTY of time, even with Ed's medical issues)...and add on top of ALL THAT the - what? - probably THOUSANDS of hours of home recordings Ed has made in the last 30 + years...and an uneven album that WASN'T EVEN TOTALLY ALL NEW MATERIAL is the result?

ADKOT, as much as I enjoyed some of it, should have been the tip off that the chances of getting a truly great Van Halen album going forward were slim to none.

[Terry]

I should also mention that perhaps it's a supremely bad idea for any band-member to have an extensive home studio that gives the illusion of control and efficiency as it only seems to remove the pressure to being in a studio for a specified and expensive amount of time...

I'm not sure, but I don't think, say, U2 has its own member-dominate recording studio, IDK. Are there any major bands that only record at a home studio that have lasted?

There's the band having a home recording studio, which facilitates too much wasted time fucking around. Although if I recall correctly ADKOT wasn't recorded totally at 5150, but your point is well taken. It all feeds into the pressure element of it, in that there's no pressure in being in Van Halen anymore. There's no pressure to deliver on a deadline. The band don't even have the pressure of record label expectations anymore. I don't even get the sense that Roth rehearses or spends much time with the band anymore unless there is some specific task at hand.

The conditions that helped create the atmosphere surrounding the recording of the 6 pack are no longer there. These guys are in their mid 60s. The drive is no longer there. They can get away with trotting out the greatest hits every few years and getting paid quite well for doing so. And so they do. At least with ADKOT and the 2012 tour, it felt like the band was attempting to TRY and to MAKE AN EFFORT again. The 2015 tour just felt like a holding pattern taking the path of least resistance. I mean, if it's gonna be an oldies act, get Anthony back and do a well rehearsed oldies set with all the Classic Van Halen members. THAT is what got people excited about the band again in 1996. THAT is what people have been wanting to see and hear.

[ZahZoo]

ADKOT was arranged and demo'ed at 5150 by mostly people with Van Halen as a last name... but the actual album recordings were done at Hensen Studios. If I recall, they chose to use a formal studio as a "neutral ground" in order to get Roth to show up to work, plus Roth had used Hensen before for solo work.

[twonabomber]

Red Schlocker says he has a special announcement Monday morning...maybe he's gonna tell us he has terminal cancer and only weeks to live.

[Terry]

Wouldn't be hard to imagine Hagar's "special announcement" (on a Monday Morning Very Special Episode of Sammy Speaks) being something lame along the same lines of what Ozzy and other similarly aged rock stars have recently announced, where instead of saying "this next tour is absolutely my last tour ever" - a bullshit promo pitch for selling tickets that too many bands have used to dupe too many concertgoers to the point where nobody believes these Last Tour Ever cons anymore - now what dudes like Ozzy say is not that their next tour is their last tour ever, but that after this next tour they're retiring from touring but will still play the odd live shows here and there.

"After this next tour, I'm done with lengthy concert tours, but I'll still play live here and there." Meaning I guess odd gigs at Coachella or other one off music fests where they can get one huge guarantee for one gig.

An equally meaningless con job method to get fans to keep going to shows: hey, man, this is Ozzy's last concert tour ever...he says he won't be touring anymore, just playing a gig here and there after this tour is over! we'd better get tix!!

I mean, how many bands have said they were going out on last/final tours, did said tour, then came back to tour again a few years later? I couldn't say offhand, but I'd tend to guess the number is far greater than those who claimed their next tour was their last and actually retired after it was over. In point of fact, outside of Motley Crue (so far) I can't think of a single act who said "this is the last time" where it actually WAS the last time.

Anyway, Hagar's announcement Monday morning will be something along those lines. Either that, or he's announcing his annual Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash VIP extra special tix package.

[Terry]

ADKOT was arranged and demo'ed at 5150 by mostly people with Van Halen as a last name... but the actual album recordings were done at Hensen Studios. If I recall, they chose to use a formal studio as a "neutral ground" in order to get Roth to show up to work, plus Roth had used Hensen before for solo work.

I think it was also mixed at 5150 if memory serves...I could be wrong, but for some reason I'm remembering when the album came out reading that it was created using both 5150 and an outside studio. That, yes, as you said, much of the actual recording was done at the outside studio (Hensen), but the mixing and finishing touches were done at 5150...or some such shit. Hard to recall now.

Wasn't overly thrilled with how the record sounded strictly from a sonic perspective. When you crank it up (be it on headphones or in a car/home stereo) even after fiddling with the eq levels it all tends to bleed into a mid range slush with little high or low end depth. I was probably a little less impressed with how it was engineered and mixed than the tunes themselves in terms of cranking the thing up. I think Wolfgang was fairly involved in the recording of it as well as choosing which old demos to rework, as well. While I still tend to think that without the kid joining the band Van Halen probably wouldn't have done any of what they did end up doing with Dave, overall the results were average to good at best.

[Nitro Express]

I mean, Ed is certainly free to think and say that his kid is a natural, or a prodigy.

Very few prodigies have gone on in adulthood to live up to that early potential, and I'd agree that nothing I've seen or heard from Wolfgang even brings the word prodigy to mind in the first place. The first word is nepotism.

Ed enjoys playing with his kid. His kid was at least smart enough - and this wasn't rocket science to begin with - to realize that the fanbase wanted Van Halen to tour with Dave again. His kid was also capable enough to play Mike Anthony's bass parts. None of that is prodigious: Wolfgang is in the band because of who he is, rather than because of anything he can do particularly well. And all of that is what it is. What it isn't is a precocious display of musical ability.

Without his last name, Wolfgang onstage with any band other than Van Halen certainly wouldn't make a person think he was destined for anything special.

This is the reality. If you were a classmate of Wolfgang growing up and you went over to his house and he started playing the drums and maybe playing a little guitar you would go cool! Damn. Wolfy is pretty good at that stuff. That's about it. Talent? Sure. In a at home kind of jamming way. He has some musical talent. I'm not denying that but what's there to sell. What's there to WOW! an audience? Nothing. Wolfie is local talent show level and his dad was one of a kind. I hope Valerie and Eddie realize their son is not going to make a living as a music performer. Hopefully they have a decent trust set up for him. Wolfgang has the benefit of being an only child and doesn't have anyone to fight with except maybe his parent's current spouses. Get a good lawyer as insurance Wolf. You dad has lived hard. Chances of him living to an old age aren't very good. I'm amazed he's still alive.

[Nitro Express]

Red Schlocker says he has a special announcement Monday morning...maybe he's gonna tell us he has terminal cancer and only weeks to live.

He's coming out with a new line of liquor. Mezcal with a shot of cum in the bottle. Sammy said he got the idea sucking Mike's dick and then had a shot afterwards and decided they both went together well and why not sell it?

[Terry]

This is the reality. If you were a classmate of Wolfgang growing up and you went over to his house and he started playing the drums and maybe playing a little guitar you would go cool! Damn. Wolfy is pretty good at that stuff. That's about it. Talent? Sure. In a at home kind of jamming way. He has some musical talent. I'm not denying that but what's there to sell. What's there to WOW! an audience? Nothing. Wolfie is local talent show level and his dad was one of a kind. I hope Valerie and Eddie realize their son is not going to make a living as a music performer. Hopefully they have a decent trust set up for him. Wolfgang has the benefit of being an only child and doesn't have anyone to fight with except maybe his parent's current spouses. Get a good lawyer as insurance Wolf. You dad has lived hard. Chances of him living to an old age aren't very good. I'm amazed he's still alive.

Back in the early 1980s, me and three of my classmates all took up guitar at about the same time. Within a couple of years, all four of us had progressed pretty quickly to the point where our other classmates who couldn't play thought we were great. We weren't great, but just average to good in a garage band type of situation, and probably seemed better than we were because comparatively few of our other classmates had taken up the instrument. Like, if you could play the tapping parts of Eruption for your junior high friends in 1982 - which I could - everybody thought you were bitchin'!!

And I thought the lot of us were the shit until I got a little older, went up to The Big City, started going into clubs and seeing kids our age onstage in these clubs just blazing with ability. This was, like, 1987, 1988 and 1989. Some of these club bands were so fucking good, writing great original material, and I was still young enough and gullible enough to think that talent was all it took to "make it, man!" There was this one Big City band...man, I can't remember the name now, but I have clear memories of their lead singer...like, he could out-Tate the real Geoff Tate in terms of his range. Their guitar player came up with great riffs and these flawless solos. Good rhythm section. Memorable original tunes. If you heard them play and saw them play, you'd think there was no way they weren't going to "like, make it BIG, man!" Like every other great Big City Band I saw back then, this band went on to do...nothing.

Wolfgang's level of ability is basically commensurate somewhere between that of my and my buds at the peak of our garage band days and those Big City bands. As you say, he can obviously play the instrument. He has zero stage presence. It's not even an insult to say that he's there because of who his father is: everybody knows it. Ed has said it. He enjoys playing with his kid.

Should Wolfgang form a band of his own and put out his own music (has he already done this? not being sarcastic, just seriously have no idea if there's anything he has done not Van Halen related outside of the Tremonti stuff which wasn't exactly overwhelming), I suppose I'll be interested enough to give it a listen. That type of post-grunge/contemporary hard rock metal style Wolfgang seems to gravitate toward doesn't have much appeal to me even coming from bands who are already doing it, so the idea that Wolfgang will come up with tunes in that mold and be massively successful as a result...are any of the bands that have been doing that stuff for the last several years experiencing massive success?

I mean, even just in terms of his bass playing, nothing I've seen him do would even wow a limited demographic such as other musicians a la a G3 type tour. The kid isn't pushing any boundaries of technical ability on the instrument the way that Billy Sheehan did.

To be fair, there aren't exactly a deluge of new bands formed in the last ten years where one could term them massively successful in commercial terms that I'm aware of, so Wolfgang has an uphill battle in that respect from the get-go considering the genre. In general terms, nobody gives much of a shit about what new rock bands have been doing. Sure, some of these newer rock bands have sizable fanbases, but none of them have broken through to wider audiences the way a Led Zeppelin or Van Halen did. Wolfgang can afford to diddle with side projects like Tremonti or release a solo album that doesn't sell precisely because he has Van Halen money and the Van Halen name: he has a safety net. If his name was Wally Von Hiney and he was forming a new rock band, he'd be starving right alongside the rest of them given the amount of talent and ability he has.

Seems like a nice enough kid considering his upbringing, and people accepted him being added to the lineup at least enough to the point where it doesn't inhibit Van Halen from selling tickets. None of that should be confused with an overabundance of musical talent, though.

[Terry]

He's coming out with a new line of liquor. Mezcal with a shot of cum in the bottle. Sammy said he got the idea sucking Mike's dick and then had a shot afterwards and decided they both went together well and why not sell it?

I can't wait to swill this new blend at Sammy's Fabulous Red Rocker Cabo Birthday Wabo Bash.

I enjoy going to it every year, furiously jacking myself off raw as I gaze into Sammy's eyes while he sings Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy.

I do so because I know that Sammy is singing that song just for me.

[Nitro Express]

I can't wait to swill this new blend at Sammy's Fabulous Red Rocker Cabo Birthday Wabo Bash.

I enjoy going to it every year, furiously jacking myself off raw as I gaze into Sammy's eyes while he sings Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy.

I do so because I know that Sammy is singing that song just for me.

Get a grip on yourself man. Don't get too excited about riding Sammy's hairy ass. :599::bananasex:

[ZahZoo]

I think it was also mixed at 5150 if memory serves...I could be wrong, but for some reason I'm remembering when the album came out reading that it was created using both 5150 and an outside studio. That, yes, as you said, much of the actual recording was done at the outside studio (Hensen), but the mixing and finishing touches were done at 5150...or some such shit. Hard to recall now.

Wasn't overly thrilled with how the record sounded strictly from a sonic perspective. When you crank it up (be it on headphones or in a car/home stereo) even after fiddling with the eq levels it all tends to bleed into a mid range slush with little high or low end depth. I was probably a little less impressed with how it was engineered and mixed than the tunes themselves in terms of cranking the thing up. I think Wolfgang was fairly involved in the recording of it as well as choosing which old demos to rework, as well. While I still tend to think that without the kid joining the band Van Halen probably wouldn't have done any of what they did end up doing with Dave, overall the results were average to good at best.

I agree with not enjoying the record from a sonic perspective... the only mix I enjoy is the vinyl version. It's only helped by the limitations of the vinyl itself. But my ears prefer those limitations because the sonic range breathes much more.

Here's a good article on the mixing of ADKOT... the 3rd to last entry details the technical aspects of what they aimed for in the final mix targeting CD's, MP3's and fucking ear buds. SMH... fucking ear buds!! Translating it down to those mediums fucked up the end result immensely... This is where the great Van Halen sound went to die in my professional assessment...

http://www.vhnd.com/2012/07/15/ross-hogarth-discusses-mixing-van-halens-a-different-kind-of-truth/

[Seshmeister]

This is the reality. If you were a classmate of Wolfgang growing up and you went over to his house and he started playing the drums and maybe playing a little guitar you would go cool! Damn. Wolfy is pretty good at that stuff. That's about it. Talent? Sure. In a at home kind of jamming way. He has some musical talent. I'm not denying that but what's there to sell. What's there to WOW! an audience? Nothing. Wolfie is local talent show level and his dad was one of a kind. I hope Valerie and Eddie realize their son is not going to make a living as a music performer. Hopefully they have a decent trust set up for him. Wolfgang has the benefit of being an only child and doesn't have anyone to fight with except maybe his parent's current spouses. Get a good lawyer as insurance Wolf. You dad has lived hard. Chances of him living to an old age aren't very good. I'm amazed he's still alive.

Without inheriting anything I think Wolf could retire on the money he made from the two tours already. Not private jet retire but comfortable enough.

[Nitro Express]

Without inheriting anything I think Wolf could retire on the money he made from the two tours already. Not private jet retire but comfortable enough.

You never know until you look at the books. Johnny Depp blew a $800 million wad. People assume he's rich. He still has a line of credit because he still has leaches working for him.

[ZahZoo]

Without inheriting anything I think Wolf could retire on the money he made from the two tours already. Not private jet retire but comfortable enough.

If Wolf could get any priceless mentoring from the original Bass Player™ it would be investment advice from Michael Anthony...

Wouldn't hurt either if he learned a bit about MA's clean sound and timing synchronization with Uncle Al too...

[Seshmeister]

You never know until you look at the books. Johnny Depp blew a $800 million wad. People assume he's rich. He still has a line of credit because he still has leaches working for him.

Really?

Boris Becker’s spending has been pretty spectacular too.

Wolfgang really doesn’t strike me as being that interesting though...

[Nitro Express]

Really?

Boris Becker’s spending has been pretty spectacular too.

Wolfgang really doesn’t strike me as being that interesting though...

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck regardless of what income level they are at. Most Americans have little savings. So if mom and dad are spending the money, that leaves little for the children in a trust. There's not the transferable wealth people think there is but people look rich because they have wasted all their money on the stuff that makes them look good. I used to work in the finance industry and saw lot's of examples of it. There is little owner's equity and most the assets are liabilities.

Wolfang is about as interesting as the people who pick up your trash. In fact. Those people might be even more interesting.

[Nitro Express]

If Wolf could get any priceless mentoring from the original Bass Player™ it would be investment advice from Michael Anthony...

Wouldn't hurt either if he learned a bit about MA's clean sound and timing synchronization with Uncle Al too...

Haha! Mike is fuck em all. He downsized to a smaller home closer to the beach. Still has enough fast cars to have lot's of fun until he kicks the bucket. He's slowed down on his Jack Daniel's consumption to last a few more years.

[Terry]

Get a grip on yourself man. Don't get too excited about riding Sammy's hairy ass. :599::bananasex:

Ohboy ohboy ohboy!!!

If he doesn't play Two Sides Of Love, I'll just...die!!!!

Just thinking about it makes me feel like Marcia in that Brady Bunch episode where she tries to get Davey Jones to sing at her school dance.

[Terry]

I agree with not enjoying the record from a sonic perspective... the only mix I enjoy is the vinyl version. It's only helped by the limitations of the vinyl itself. But my ears prefer those limitations because the sonic range breathes much more.

Here's a good article on the mixing of ADKOT... the 3rd to last entry details the technical aspects of what they aimed for in the final mix targeting CD's, MP3's and fucking ear buds. SMH... fucking ear buds!! Translating it down to those mediums fucked up the end result immensely... This is where the great Van Halen sound went to die in my professional assessment...

http://www.vhnd.com/2012/07/15/ross-hogarth-discusses-mixing-van-halens-a-different-kind-of-truth/

That article actually makes the way the product was mixed make more sense to me, as the only time I could really get it to sound halfway decent at a loud volume was to put the CD into my boom box and listen to it with headphones or put the cd into my hard drive and listen to it with headphones: my attempts at playing it loud without headphones always resulted in a mid-range mush just the louder I turned it up.

When the album first came out and I was listening to it frequently, I was always wondering why it was mixed the way it was...as in, why the hell was it mixed that way.

[DavidLeeNatra]

That article actually makes the way the product was mixed make more sense to me, as the only time I could really get it to sound halfway decent at a loud volume was to put the CD into my boom box and listen to it with headphones or put the cd into my hard drive and listen to it with headphones: my attempts at playing it loud without headphones always resulted in a mid-range mush just the louder I turned it up.

When the album first came out and I was listening to it frequently, I was always wondering why it was mixed the way it was...as in, why the hell was it mixed that way.Because fucking everything nowadays is mixed that way. If it's music or movies. If you watch "old" music on proTools it looks like mountains and a forrest. Now it looks like a fucking sausage. Normalized crap for iPhones and shitty headphones.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G955F mit Tapatalk

[Terry]

Because fucking everything nowadays is mixed that way. If it's music or movies. If you watch "old" music on proTools it looks like mountains and a forrest. Now it looks like a fucking sausage. Normalized crap for iPhones and shitty headphones.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G955F mit Tapatalk

Sadly, you are correct.

[chuckjitsu]

A CVH tour with Wolf opening won't happen for the same reason nothing happens with these guys: it makes too much fucking sense. Vh rides off in to the sunset with the original lineup and Ed gets to hang out with his kid while touring. Works for me. New album with Mike? Yeah, the odds of that are even less than a tour with Mike, imo.

If the tour was to happen, I'd hope Dave would see it for what it is and step up his game like he did in 07-08. He coasted through the last couple of tours, with obvious results.

[chuckjitsu]

I agree with this and it takes me back to a thread I started here a long time ago and was reminded of when reading Monk's book. He basically stated what I thought, that Van Halen was burned out by the constant touring by the end of 1981 and needed a break and some vacations that might temper the constant drug and alcohol use indicative to a young band on the road in their era. But of course "(Oh) Pretty Woman" changed that and Warner pushed for more and yet more constant recording and unbroken touring took place until everything was untenable. Although, perhaps a breakup was inevitable in any case IDK. It does seem that Ed wanted to stand back a bit and slow down but lost any ability to collaborate in this period with the building of 5150 coinciding with Alex Van Halen consolidating his power as the (alcoholic) leader of the band and pushing Roth out...



The problem is process, as in there isn't any. The six pack featured creative input from nearly everyone and Roth was able to give Eddie much needed feedback on what was good and on what sucked. As Monk stated, despite all his problems with Roth being a "sociopath" narcissist, he "knew what the people wanted" whereas Ed was becoming entranced with less pop and a more artistic approach that brought Fairwarning, perhaps their best (but least commercially successful) album, one that required payola to reach platinum sales. Ed basically turned his back on a winning formula and gradually became the king of his hermit kingdom at 5150. That's why AKOT sort of sucks in my opinion, it was done by phone-in. That's now how real bands work...

It's ironic to me that band "breaks" were flash points in the departure of both Roth and Hagar. After reading Monk's account (among others) of Roth's departure and Sam interviews about his split, it sure seems like the VH brothers had a different interpretation of what a break was- either literally doing nothing, or something they approved of. In Roth's case, that became him being an asshole who ditched VH at their peak to become a movie star. In Sam's case, he was an asshole who wasn't a team player because he didn't want to leave his pregnant wife to work on the Twister soundtrack, then got manipulated in to doing exactly that.