controlled_voltage
Banned
Well-known member
swiped this from the vai forum,it's from a book that is coming out on evh
really cool stuff
The first time I ever really heard Edward was when I was on tour with U.K. back in 1979. We played some festivals together. You know, shows where you have three or four different bands on there. Van Halen was the headliner and we were further down the pipe. That's how I first met him and heard him. He was great. I always thought Edward was great. He's a fantastic guitar player. The thing I always loved about Ed was that he was a really organic player. You know, like, a naturally talented musician. In a way he kind of reminds me of Jan Ullrich, the German cyclist. Jan is one of the most naturally gifted cyclists ever, and I kind of feel that way about Eddie.
I used to spend quite a bit of time with Eddie and I really miss him. I haven't seen him in a bit. The last time I saw him was when Van Halen played San Diego in 1998. He got my daughter and I backstage, and she was really stoked!
Back in 1982, after I split with U.K., I moved to California and started with my own band. We played the Roxy a couple of times and he came down there to watch us play. Ed is a really nice guy, a real sweetheart. He even managed to get us a deal with Warner Brothers. In turn, they brought in Ted Templeman to produce the album. It didn't work out for various reasons, none of which had to do with Ed. All he tried to do was help us. I just kind of had a hard time with it cause I'd been signed to do something like what I had been doing, but it turns out they wanted it to be completely different than what I wanted it to be. So I was banging heads with Ted Templeman the whole way through. In the end, Ted just decided I was just too much of a pain in the butt and he says, "You're off the label!" (laughs)
The funny thing for us was when I got bounced off the label, the contract said they had to allow us to do one more demo before they would get the right of refusal. So we did a demo, which they then refused, and that demo was Metal Fatigue! Yes, Metal Fatigue was the demo for the next Warner Brothers record, and they turned it down. So I took the record and gave it to Enigma, which was owned by Bill Hein back in those days. It was kind of lucky for me because the paid for the recording and then I just gave it to somebody else. It was kind of a drag, really, because it was so much better than Road Games, you know? But like I said before, none of this was Ed's fault in any way shape or form. All Ed did is try to help us. The whole thing was so unfortunate. I ended up having very little input. That's why on the record I put "Produced by circumstance," because I was supposed to produce it as well, but it didn't happen that way. Basically, my hands were tied.
Ed's always been great. He's a terrific songwriter, too. His guitar playing and songwriting are all part of the same thing, in a way. What he does, and the enviroment he puts what he does in, is balanced. Otherwise you would be like Elvis Presley sings Thelonius Monk or something. What he does fits perfectly in the area he's working in. And I know that he can do other things outside of that, too. I like his songs. It's hard to write popular music, you know? It's not easy. I mean, I don't think I could ever write anything that would sell anything. It just doesn't come out like that (laughs). I remember there was one thing I wrote and Ed liked it. But the funny thing is if you had given that same thing to him, he woulda turned it into something that would have probably sold. Whereas when I was finished with it, nobody wanted to hear it (laughs).
I've always liked his music. Although, like many, I think it would be interesting to hear him do a solo record. I think it would be great, actually. Now might be a good time for him to start doing something like that. Who knows, perhaps we could get together and do something? I mean, I'd love to do something with Ed. Absolutely. He could make it sort of like a merging of two overlapping things. I think it would be a lot of fun.
I remember when we got together and jammed at the GIT back in the early 80s. I've actually heard a recording of that jam and it was pretty hilarious (laughs). We were having some fun, for sure. It was just a jam and there was not much regard for the structure of the music, really. If we got together now, we'd obviously have to consider what the structure of the music was and so forth. So, you know, it would be where we could both meet, together. As opposed to putting it either in his world or in my world, it would have to be, like, an overlapping worlds thing. It would be a challenge, and I think it would be really cool. I love Ed and I love what he does. There aren't too many people I've come across that I can relate to, you know, musically speaking. But he is one of them.
really cool stuff
The first time I ever really heard Edward was when I was on tour with U.K. back in 1979. We played some festivals together. You know, shows where you have three or four different bands on there. Van Halen was the headliner and we were further down the pipe. That's how I first met him and heard him. He was great. I always thought Edward was great. He's a fantastic guitar player. The thing I always loved about Ed was that he was a really organic player. You know, like, a naturally talented musician. In a way he kind of reminds me of Jan Ullrich, the German cyclist. Jan is one of the most naturally gifted cyclists ever, and I kind of feel that way about Eddie.
I used to spend quite a bit of time with Eddie and I really miss him. I haven't seen him in a bit. The last time I saw him was when Van Halen played San Diego in 1998. He got my daughter and I backstage, and she was really stoked!
Back in 1982, after I split with U.K., I moved to California and started with my own band. We played the Roxy a couple of times and he came down there to watch us play. Ed is a really nice guy, a real sweetheart. He even managed to get us a deal with Warner Brothers. In turn, they brought in Ted Templeman to produce the album. It didn't work out for various reasons, none of which had to do with Ed. All he tried to do was help us. I just kind of had a hard time with it cause I'd been signed to do something like what I had been doing, but it turns out they wanted it to be completely different than what I wanted it to be. So I was banging heads with Ted Templeman the whole way through. In the end, Ted just decided I was just too much of a pain in the butt and he says, "You're off the label!" (laughs)
The funny thing for us was when I got bounced off the label, the contract said they had to allow us to do one more demo before they would get the right of refusal. So we did a demo, which they then refused, and that demo was Metal Fatigue! Yes, Metal Fatigue was the demo for the next Warner Brothers record, and they turned it down. So I took the record and gave it to Enigma, which was owned by Bill Hein back in those days. It was kind of lucky for me because the paid for the recording and then I just gave it to somebody else. It was kind of a drag, really, because it was so much better than Road Games, you know? But like I said before, none of this was Ed's fault in any way shape or form. All Ed did is try to help us. The whole thing was so unfortunate. I ended up having very little input. That's why on the record I put "Produced by circumstance," because I was supposed to produce it as well, but it didn't happen that way. Basically, my hands were tied.
Ed's always been great. He's a terrific songwriter, too. His guitar playing and songwriting are all part of the same thing, in a way. What he does, and the enviroment he puts what he does in, is balanced. Otherwise you would be like Elvis Presley sings Thelonius Monk or something. What he does fits perfectly in the area he's working in. And I know that he can do other things outside of that, too. I like his songs. It's hard to write popular music, you know? It's not easy. I mean, I don't think I could ever write anything that would sell anything. It just doesn't come out like that (laughs). I remember there was one thing I wrote and Ed liked it. But the funny thing is if you had given that same thing to him, he woulda turned it into something that would have probably sold. Whereas when I was finished with it, nobody wanted to hear it (laughs).
I've always liked his music. Although, like many, I think it would be interesting to hear him do a solo record. I think it would be great, actually. Now might be a good time for him to start doing something like that. Who knows, perhaps we could get together and do something? I mean, I'd love to do something with Ed. Absolutely. He could make it sort of like a merging of two overlapping things. I think it would be a lot of fun.
I remember when we got together and jammed at the GIT back in the early 80s. I've actually heard a recording of that jam and it was pretty hilarious (laughs). We were having some fun, for sure. It was just a jam and there was not much regard for the structure of the music, really. If we got together now, we'd obviously have to consider what the structure of the music was and so forth. So, you know, it would be where we could both meet, together. As opposed to putting it either in his world or in my world, it would have to be, like, an overlapping worlds thing. It would be a challenge, and I think it would be really cool. I love Ed and I love what he does. There aren't too many people I've come across that I can relate to, you know, musically speaking. But he is one of them.
