EDDIE VAN HALEN On DAVID LEE ROTH – “The Press Made A Bigger To-Do Out Of Our Relationship Being Sour Than We Did”

Speaking with Keith Valcourt for The Washington Times, Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen discusses the band’s upcoming tour, this time to support their first live album with singer David Lee Roth, Tokyo Dome In Concert. He also speaks about how family and music saved him, reuniting with Roth, and his recent Smithsonian honours as part of the What It Means To Be American series. An excerpt from the interview follows:

Q: Are you excited to get back on the road?

A: “Yeah! We are going out in July. We just did Jimmy Kimmel and the Ellen show. All of a sudden, [David Lee Roth] wants to do the live stuff. We said, “OK, great!” He never wanted to do it before.”

Q: You just released Van Halen’s first live record with Dave, Tokyo Dome In Concert.

A: “We were trying to figure out what to do since we didn’t have time to put a studio record together. [My son Wolfgang] is working on his own project. Dave is off doing his thing. What I originally wanted to do was remix the original 25 song demos. That would have been really cool. But the tapes are lost. They are gone. So that was out the window. Then we started digging through bootlegs from the club days. We tried our best to make those sound good, but ultimately it wasn’t good enough to put out. The quality of the recording was so bad that we tried to enhance them and make them better. Once we made them better, you lost that fly-on-the-wall aspect of it. It just didn’t jive. So we decided, “How about a live record?”

Q: What was special about that night that made for such a great CD?

A: “In the old days, to make a live record, you had to have a mobile truck following you everywhere and all the BS that comes along with it. Not to mention the money it costs. Nowadays, we’ve got a Pro Tools rig out by the console, and we just let it run every night. We have a couple hundred shows archived. When it came to doing a live record, none of us wanted to sit there and listen to 200 shows to pick the best one. So we left it up to Dave. [Drummer] Alex [Van Halen], [bassist] Wolfgang [Van Halen] and I were pretty consistent every night, [but] for a singer it’s more difficult. Because if the bus ride is too long, or you slept with the air conditioner on or the heater on and your throat is [messed] up, [it can change his voice]. Dave said, “How about Tokyo Dome?” We said fine. The bonus of that show was we didn’t have an opening act. So we played much longer. It’s about a 2-hour show. We got Bob Clearmountain to mix it. We were pretty involved with the mixing. Once we got the instruments sounding the way we wanted, we just let him go. He would send us mixes, and we would say, “Yeah, it sounds great. As long as you hear all the instruments and the vocals, that’s all you need”.”

Q: Last time you toured, Wolfgang assembled the set list. Did he do it this time, and are you playing any songs this time out you didn’t play during the last tour?

A: “That is yet to be seen. I’m hoping to play some other songs, but a lot of times that comes down to what Dave will sing and what he won’t. Wolf and I talk all the time and say, “Let’s throw this in. Let’s throw that in.” Ultimately, if Dave doesn’t want to sing them, then we can’t do them. I would love to throw in “Drop Dead Legs” and “Light Up The Sky.” All kinds of stuff. I think it would be a treat for the audience. Maybe we can convince him this time around.”

Q: How are things between you and David Lee Roth these days?

A: “He is always off doing his own thing. Getting tattoos in Japan. He’s got an apartment over there. He’s got an apartment in New York. The relationship has always been the same, really. Just because he quit back in 1985 to pursue a solo career, the press I think made a bigger to-do out of our relationship being sour than we did, you know what I mean? When [my son] Wolfgang joined the band, he was actually responsible for calling Dave and getting him back in the band.”

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In celebration of their upcoming North American Tour, Van Halen performed a special concert for Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 30th on Hollywood Boulevard. Featuring some of the band’s essential rock and roll classics, the concert was broadcast over two nights (March 30th and March 31st) on the late night talk show and marks Van Halen’s first US television performance with original lead singer David Lee Roth.

Check out footage from the performance below:

Van Halen were guests on The Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday, Thursday, April 2nd. Check out performances of “Jump” and “Dance The Night Away” below:

Van Halen Performs ‘Jump’

Exclusive! Bonus Van Halen Performance

Van Halen is touring North America beginning July 5th in Seattle, Washington at the White River Amphitheatre, with concerts scheduled through October 2nd in Los Angeles, California at the legendary Hollywood Bowl. Special guest Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band will support all dates along the tour. Tickets for the Live Nation-promoted tour go on sale beginning April 4th with special pre-sale information being announced locally. A complete list of tour dates can be found at Van-halen.com.

The special Hollywood Boulevard concert was a hit-heavy set of songs featured on Tokyo Dome Live In Concert, the first-ever live album to feature original singer David Lee Roth. Recorded on June 21, 2013 in Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo Dome Live In Concert includes 23 songs spanning all seven of the band’s albums with Roth. It is being released as a double CD, four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl and digitally beginning today, March 31st.

Also being released today are remastered versions of Van Halen and 1984, with remastered versions of Diver Down, Women and Children First, Van Halen II and Fair Warning due out later this spring. Each album has been cut straight from the quarter-inch tapes for CD, 180-gram vinyl and for the digital version by mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums for Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Go to Van-halen.com for all dates and more information.