Alex Van Halen 1st Interview Since Ed’s Death

VH1R2 said:
I've lost two brothers in the past 4 years, I hope Alex can find peace and live out his life without the pain of loss, it sucks for sure.
I'm glad he is telling his story.
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I'm really sorry to hear that bro :(


jabps said:
That's why I disagree with a few on here who think the Roth fronted VH wouldn't have fared well as time went on. The music was always mostly Ed, lyrics were Dave. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if "some" of Summer Nights lyrics were Dave's.

One thing is for sure the difference in Hagar and Roths lyrics are night and day. Roth at that time was the master of lyric innuendo. Further Roth's attire changed with the times as well. From leather to spandex like the rest of the rock world at that time, he certainly would not have been oblivious to the trends.

Now one thing Hagar did allow Ed to do is evolve deeper into commercial corporate style rock. You would have had Dreams, Summer Nights with Roth but more of the cheesy stuff like When It's Love, no. Just no way they would have gone in that direction with Roth.
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Couldn't agree more. They were literally 2 separate Van Halen bands, and therefore, should be viewed, judged, and even appreciated differently. I like each version for different reasons. I like the DLR version better. That was back when they were all clicking and young and hungry. I actually can't stand the guy (DLR) now days - especially after reading what I just read about how he treated Ed's death. Sammy has mostly always been a 'corporate' pop type writer so there should be no surprises with him. Lastly, that is actually the direction Ed wanted to go at the time so it is what it is.
:yes:
 
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SoooRad said:
Sure, after he was sounding good on Skyscraper, and sounded good on A Little Ain't Enough, but the songs weren't really there, and by 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' released in 94 basically the whole thing was toast. Not to say there wasn't decent songs, but it had no legs.

Sammy on the other hand, Balance coming out in 95 sounded great. And his presence was more appropriate for the 90s market.
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Sammy had EVH. Who did Dave have ? Via may be a killer guitarist but he’s not a song writer. DLR was definitely better with Eddie. See the common denominator here ?
 
crwnedblasphemy said:
I dig 5150/OU812 a lot. I was late to those parties though...but now I do. I hate "Right Now" as well. Always have. It was on pepsi commercials all the time. Was annoying. That said there are Dave era albums that do nothing for me....Diver Down and Women and Children First I rarely ever listen to and do not own. I own the rest. Of the Sammy Era, I do not own Balance or F.U.C.K. albums.
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Diver Down is a great record though. I’ll pick it over all the Hagar albums put together.
 
Stradazone said:
Yes SL68, Charvel guitars..btw my guitar coming out of the Suhr IR load box was the only thing in Alex's in-ear monitor, at the first rehearsal he pulled out his ears and said 'it sounds just like the record!'
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Holy Chit that is really cool. Can you give some insight on Al and Dave, did they get along.

Next what songs did you play together.
 
VH1R2 said:
My new best friend jabps, spot on Jabps
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Lol.

Yeah I think people forget with all of Roth's antics and let's face it, which are now are tiring, at the time the split occurred Van Halen was the biggest band in the United States. And had more or less just conquered Europe with massive out door shows. Further the Roth EP was everywhere. Then he delivers the goods with his first solo album and the following tour. Bottom line, both factions were huge and I just don't see the drop off had they stayed together.

Btw/ not trying to ruffle feathers here but there wasn't any comparison between the 5150 tour and Roths tour "for me". My opinion only but Dave blew them in the dust. That Roth show is still one of my top 5 concerts to this day and basically all I can remember from the 5150 tour is that stupid walk across the stage they did. In fact seeing that tour actually turned me off Van Halen until the F.U.C.K tour and album.

Dave's biggest mistake was letting Sheehan get away as the follow up album he just overstepped his bounds. I think if Billy had stayed, Vai would have stayed and the whole project would have just been an extension of the first album. Then again it doesn't surprise me that Dave fell off because he needed Ed and the Van Halen package ultimately. That was his wheelhouse.
 
jabps said:
Lol.

Yeah I think people forget with all of Roth's antics and let's face it, which are now are tiring, at the time the split occurred Van Halen was the biggest band in the United States. And had more or less just conquered Europe with massive out door shows. Further the Roth EP was everywhere. Then he delivers the goods with his first solo album and the following tour. Bottom line, both factions were huge and I just don't see the drop off had they stayed together.

Btw/ not trying to ruffle feathers here but there wasn't any comparison between the 5150 tour and Roths tour "for me". My opinion only but Dave blew them in the dust. That Roth show is still one of my top 5 concerts to this day and basically all I can remember from the 5150 tour is that stupid walk across the stage they did. In fact seeing that tour actually turned me off Van Halen until the F.U.C.K tour and album.

Dave's biggest mistake was letting Sheehan get away as the follow up album he just overstepped his bounds. I think if Billy had stayed, Vai would have stayed and the whole project would have just been an extension of the first album. Then again it doesn't surprise me that Dave fell off because he needed Ed and the Van Halen package ultimately. That was his wheelhouse.
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Billy is such a monster bass player, Vai really hit the jets with Roth, holy smokes Vai was On Fire that tour.

I think the same things Jabps when it comes to Roth/Van Halen
 
shredi knight said:
Frontman? I would swear he took it in the rear (not that there's anything wrong with that). :)
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Poor Gary.

I'll say this for Gary, I'll give him props because he made them dig back into their catalog that Hagar refused to acknowledge. And while that tour with Gary was sparsely attended, it's still the best guitar tone I ever heard live from Ed. And I've seen them a ton.
 
VH1R2 said:
Holy Chit that is really cool. Can you give some insight on Al and Dave, did they get along.

Next what songs did you play together.
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Alex and Dave got along great, was nice to see, never any arguments, actually the opposite lots of joking around and laughs in between songs. We had over 20 songs down, all the expected hits and some cool ones were Drop Dead Legs, Outta Love Again, Mean Street...good times!
 
Stradazone said:
Alex and Dave got along great, was nice to see, never any arguments, actually the opposite lots of joking around and laughs in between songs. We had over 20 songs down, all the expected hits and some cool ones were Drop Dead Legs, Outta Love Again, Mean Street...good times!
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Outta Love Again, awesome! Seriously you should write thread about the experience cover all of it hiw it started and how it ended with everything in-between, very cool so many people would have killed for that opportunity.
 
thegame said:
VH seriously considered Ozzy? Can you imagine Ozzy singing the back catalog? Every word of every song would sound like that one famous fumbled DLR line in Everybody Wants Some!!
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EVH considered everyone for a lead singer. There are so many stories of Ed asking someone if they wanted to take over. At one point Ed asked Patty Smyth to front for them, but she declined.
 
jabps said:
Yeah I think people forget with all of Roth's antics and let's face it, which are now are tiring, at the time the split occurred Van Halen was the biggest band in the United States.
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I think it's worse now because he and everyone else has access to social media. Put it out there and everyone/anyone can see it. More frequent and more annoying. And I think his crayon box has lost a few crayons too
 
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