Eddie Van Halen’s had it up to his bad hip bone in having to talk about Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth. As dead an issue as the bone itself, he explains, Sammy was half-assing his job within the band and David Lee Roth, back on the scene as a result of his concern over how his era was to be represented on the new Van Halen “Best Of - Volume 1” package, lucked into doing a couple of tracks with his former bandmates. Where Sammy had to be cajoled into leaving his new digs and family in Hawaii just to do a couple of tracks, Dave wouldn’t go away, and was more or less alluding to the press that a tour was in the works. According to Eddie, Alex and Michael, all VH was trying to do was come up with new material to give the fans a little something extra.

Both situations, although separate from one another, proved equally frustrating to the remaining members. The following is the closest you’re likely to get to the truth regarding the Sammy’s out — Dave’s in — Dave’s out saga. Add to that the fact that as of this writing, former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone is pretty much a done deal to replace both Roth and Hagar. According to the guitarist, “I’m sick and tired of talking about it. (Laughs). But, basically, Sammy quit. I mean, not basically. He did quit. I don’t know if it was the age difference or whatever but he wasn’t into it anymore. He just started phoning it in, so to speak. I called him up and said, ‘Hey, Sam, in order for this to continue you have to be a team player because that’s just no way to work.’ Basically, he just took his baseball bat and his glove and he went home and refused to play the way the rest of the team wanted to play. Then a week later he gets pissed off and starts slamming us for it, saying we kicked him out! Which is not true at all!”

To hear Sammy’s version, Eddie, Alex and Michael went behind his back and brought David back into the picture before he ditched. Dave says he was duped into appearing on MTV, misled into thinking he was back in the band. Sammy claimed on the October 25th MTV Week In Rock broadcast, that Eddie is not quite the sober choir boy that the public has been led to believe. In fact, Sammy claims that on the last show of the most recent Van Halen tour of Japan, Eddie got smashed, performing “embarrassingly bad”. (ED NOTE: R&N publisher George Fletcher has spent time backstage at various venues with the members of Van Halen on several occasions during the last two tours. Fletcher’s recollections of the goings on are contrary to Sammy’s assertions. Where Fletcher observed nothing more potent than O’Douls non-alcoholic beer and Marlboros in Eddie's dressing room, Hagar openly inquired in Fletcher’s presence, though perhaps to no one in particular, as to ‘Who’s got a joint?’).

Rhythm & News: Is it possible to just ignore the b.s., and carry on?
Edward Van Halen: We’re forced to respond to bullshit. I was really hoping not to respond at all but when fans start saying, “Wait a minute. How can both Dave and Sammy be wrong?” Well, I’m telling you, they’re both full of shit. They’re both lying! All I know is the truth. You can ask anybody that’s been around. I don’t know where these guys come up with this stuff.

R&N: So, when did Sam start showing signs of having lost interest. Is there some sort of chronological order to things?
EVH: It’s hard for me to be objective about that because I used to drink. But when I stopped drinking, I started noticing things like, let’s say on the “Twister” project, the movie. Sammy was told by the director and by Alex and I, “Don’t write about tornadoes.” What does he write? (rhythmically singing) “The sky’s turning black, knuckles turning white, headed for the hot zone”, which is all technical jargon for tornado chasers. He was told by the director, “Do not write about tornadoes!”
Alex Van Halen: So then we asked Sam if he was interested in doing a couple of new songs for the “Best Of” and he said, yeah. So he comes up and he spends a couple of hours and the songs were just not completed, and we felt the music was too good to be wasted with half-assed vocals on them.

R&N: At about the same time, David Lee Roth started sniffing around?
AVH: He called up and wants to know how he is being represented on the “Best Of” record, which is only fair. He was involved in that, too. So he and Ed talked for a bit and before you know it Ed asked, “Are you interested in doing a song?” Dave said, “Yeah!” He jumped at the chance, then all of a sudden, Dave is sitting there, either through the back door, through the press or whatever, planning a tour… doing this and that and we kept telling him, “Dave! We’re doing two songs. Baby steps!” But he, somehow in his head, felt that we were going to be touring and doing this and doing that and the reality of it was there was so much money being thrown around that I think it gave him a partial cerebral quartex disconnection. So things got kind of loopy.
EVH: Let me back up a little bit. The last time I played golf, it was back in January or February - something like that because I need a hip replacement. Not that I’m that good or anything. (Laughs). I was playing with a friend of mind, his name is Rudy Leiren, he guitar techs for me when Matt Bruck can’t, and also works for Roth. We’re playing golf and he says, “Roth wants you to call him.” I said, “Hey, he has my number tell him to fucking call me if he wants to talk to me.” Cause the way it was put to me was like the same old Dave: (adopts an authoritative tone) “Dave wants you to call him.” It’s like, “Hey - Dave has my number, have him call me.” So a couple of weeks go by and I walked in the door and I checked my message box and Dave had left two messages.

R&N: What went through your mind?
EVH: I’m standing there debating with my wife (actress Valerie Bertinelli) saying, “Should I call him back or not?” She says, “Go ahead. Call him back. What the hell?” It was a Sunday night and we had just come in from the beach and Valerie talked me into it. So I call him back and the reason he called was because he was informed by Warner Bros. that we were putting out a greatest hits, a best of package and he wanted to know how it was being packaged, meaning two CDs, one CD, what songs, photos, what the package was going to be.

R&N: What was the conversation like after all this time, with all the animosity between the two of you?
EVH: We apologized to each other for any childish behavior or mud-slinging that we had done in the press over the years, but that was not the reason he called. Had the “Best Of” record not been an issue he never would have called just out-of-the-blue to apologize. But it was a good time to apologize to each other and talk about the “Best Of” thing. On the phone, he seemed like a different person. No more LSD, lead singer disease. So mid-week, I decided to just stop by his house. It was just the same place where we used to rehearse and write, in his basement. It used to be his dad’s house and he bought it from him. And we sat out in his backyard for about three hours and just b.s.’d and had a great time and started becoming friends. We never really were friends. Our only common bond was the band. Anyway, we started becoming friends. Now at that time I told Dave that I didn’t know enough about what the deal was because Sammy had been fighting this “Best Of” thing tooth and nail since its conception a year ago, or whenever we decided to actually pursue this.

R&N: Why is that?
EVH: I really don’t know. Personally, I had been pretty vocal about the fact that I felt bands put out “Best Of” things when they were over and done with, but with the internet now, you’re in direct contact with the fans. When you have fans that their first exposure to the band is the “Balance” record and they don’t even realize that you have ten other records out and when they do find out they go, “Which one should I buy?” People were basically saying, “Put out a ‘Best Of’. People were asking for it. To me, it was not the end of anything. Besides that, Warner Bros. has the contractual power to put that out whenever they want anyway, so why not do it right and do it the way you want. The point I’m getting at is all we wanted to do was put a couple extra songs in there to fill up the additional time that was available on the CD as opposed to putting some bullshit fucking old film footage or some video or some crap on that enhanced CD. It was that simple — nothing more, nothing less.

R&N: A quality control issue?
EVH: Yeah. Why not work together instead of when the band breaks up they have the right to put out whatever they want. So I think part of Sam’s fear was that originally Warner Bros. wanted one CD of all Roth-era and one CD of all Sammy-era and that I know he didn’t like for the fear of the old out-selling the new. Now, to me, that’s absolutely insane. It doesn’t matter. It’s a whole different thing. That’s like being a produce guy and saying, “I’m not going to sell oranges because they might outsell the apples.” (Laughs).

R&N: Did Sammy have a problem with performing the Roth era material?
EVH: I think one of Sammy’s biggest problems, looking back, was that he refused to sing more old stuff on-stage. A variety. I don’t mean more songs within the set, I just mean he would never change. He would only sing those particular songs and that was it. “Panama”, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”, “Jump”. What I’m saying is, it was always the same songs he would do. He wouldn’t ever attempt to do any other ones. Actually, in the beginning he refused to do any of them.

R&N: How was Dave in the studio after all these years?
EVH: Oh, he was a trooper because he really wanted a piece of it. He wanted back in but the thing is we kept telling him, “You’re putting the cart in front of a horse that doesn’t exist.” He was preparing for a tour that didn’t exist. I mean, yes — as Alex says, the amount of money that was being thrown at us to tour was probably more than the gross national product of East and West Germany put together. We’re talking millions of dollars and I couldn’t even relate. It’s not about that. I’m not about to go out on stage with this guy and do oldies but goodies.

R&N: So is it a done deal with Gary Cherone?
AVH: Yes, it is happening.
EVH: A&M has been very supportive and very helpful, which is a great thing. But we’re definitely writing. We haven’t made an official announcement yet because the ink is not dry but it’s being worked out. We’re getting ready to lay down some demos.

R&N: How does he fit in the fold? What are the positives?
AVH: First of all, a lot of people have asked, “What will it be like for Gary to fill the shoes of Sam or to fill the shoes of Dave?” Well, Gary doesn’t have to fill anybody’s shoes. Gary is Gary and when we get together and make music it’s just fucking great. That’s all I can say.

R&N: Like it was great with Sam back in ’85?
AVH: It’s the same way it was in 1985 when Sammy joined. Everybody wanted to know what the fuck was going on. The record company was concerned, the publicists, all the people surrounding (us) and we just told them: Wait until you hear the record. The music is what it’s all about. If it was easy just by using words and being clever, if that’s how you can manipulate an audience and people into doing things, then I would say: Stop killing each other. (Laughs). It’s not like that. The record will speak for itself and the audience is not an idiot. Some people think that the audience has no mentality. There’s absolutely no respect.

R&N: Was the search for a new singer a long and drawn out process?
AVH: We had different people come in in the past five or six months, because of what happened with Sammy not being interested and basically wanting to live in Hawaii. Ed and I and Mike were making music because none of the three of us are not real great lead singers, just to stimulate the process. Sometimes we’d have a female vocalist come in.
EVH: There’s no double-edged sword here with Gary. There’s no hidden agenda or ulterior motive it’s just about the music. He’s a great guy. We hit it off as soulmates or whatever you want to call it before we ever played anything, just as a person, he’s very grounded. There’s not hint of LSD, lead singer disease. No hint of that at all and I think he’s incapable of that because he’s just a normal guy like Alex, Mike and I who enjoys making music.

R&N: Can you describe the creative process working with Gary?
EVH: Gary’s much more open in every way. He’s a team player. Being in a band is all about collaborating and bouncing ideas off each other and having the chemistry between four people — or five people, actually, when you have a producer — and getting the ball rolling and getting excited about it and everybody being in tune with each other for that common goal, which is whatever it takes to make the song as good as it can possibly be. Gary’s that kind of player. He’s into being part of that process, being part of the team. As opposed to, I want it my way and if it doesn’t go my way, I’m gonna take my baseball bat and go home. That’s not working together. Bruce Fairbairn asked me, ‘Hey, you’ve got an old 335 around, you want to try a jazz solo? Or would you try a 6-string bass solo?’ Sure, I’ll try anything. I’ve already tried what I wanted. We already have that on tape. If we can make it better, sure! I’ll try anything but if someone refuses to do that then it’s not taking things to its fullest. It’s very frustrating, put it that way.

R&N: Rock and roll by its very nature is supposed to be fun...
EVH: The way Alex says it, “Hey, this isn’t international espionage. We’re a rock and roll band.” (Laughs). People try to read things into something. Hey, we’re just a rock band and all it is is about four people and a producer trying to make good music. That’s all it is.

R&N: Do you still have fun with this?
EVH: We’re having a gas with Gary. We had a gas with Dave and Sammy but somewhere along the line, these guys changed and I just don’t think Gary is capable of that. Musically - yes. But not as a person.

R&N: How has the sound changed with Gary?
EVH: That is just so hard to explain because we never really think about it. Every time we start out with a new project or a new record, it’s the same anxiety, the same excitement, same experimentation, the same everything. It’s just a natural thing. We just knocked a wall out in the studio to make the drum room bigger so that’s gonna effect the way the drums sound. It’s just a constant search for that elusive whatever-it-is-we’re chasing and I hope we never catch it because once you do, you’re done. Music is a very subjective thing. People asked me, “What have you learned after all that you’ve done.” Actually, I’ve really learned nothing.

R&N: The core of VH has an unusual resolve for a rock band. A strong survival instinct?
AVH: My father played until the day he died. This is what we do. Whatever you want to call it: A gift from upstairs or a talent, but there’s a balance to that and that is to have the discipline to work it, too. It’s not as easy as some people think. It does take a commitment and, let’s face it, I don’t think there’s a person on this planet who wouldn’t enjoy doing nothing for a year or so, living in the sunshine and looking at beautiful blue water. But that’s not real life. The reason why Ed and I and Mike were kind of blindsided (by Hagar’s exit), if you will, was the fact that he was just not up front about it and finally he copped to it and said, “I’d rather be a solo artist”.

R&N: Does the drama of it all make you want to just throw it all down and look for a quieter line of work?
EVH: The music is first and foremost. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it will always be. Because without the music, what is there? Nothing. There’s nothing without the music. You can’t even cop an attitude without the music (laughs).


© 1996, Rhythm & News Magazine.