by Lucas Aykroyd

Van Halen News Desk reporter Lucas Aykroyd interviewed Van Halen's lawyer Don Engel by phone on Tuesday, November 9 to get the latest information about Gary Cherone's departure from the band and Van Halen's future plans.

Mr. Engel is a senior partner at the Los Angeles legal firm of Engel and Engel and a longtime friend of Eddie Van Halen. He originally linked up with Van Halen due to his representation of Sammy Hagar at the time Sammy joined the band in 1986. Over the last 25 years, Mr. Engel has represented many other major artists in the music industry, including Cher and the Moody Blues.

VHND: How long ago was it decided that Gary would be leaving?

Don Engel: Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that. When I was consulted within the last two weeks, it was pretty much understood by everybody that they were going to be parting ways. I can't give you dates or times, however.

VHND: Who came forward initially with the suggestion that Gary should leave?

Don Engel: My understanding is that they mutually agreed on this. However, I'm just surmising. They obviously were talking about the next recording, and they just decided to go their own ways.

VHND: Do you have any idea what the main reason they decided to split at this point would be?

Don Engel: I don't really know.

VHND: Will the band consider releasing material with Gary's vocals or not? They reportedly have nine completed tracks at this point.

Don Engel: I didn't know they had nine tracks recorded. I don't have any idea what stage they're in or whether they like the tracks or not. But from everything I know, there'd be no impediment to doing it. Everything was agreeable, and I'm sure that if Gary's happy with the tracks and the band's happy with the tracks, they could use them. Obviously, it's apparent to me that their plans are that they're going to make some decisions within the next couple of months about a lead singer for the future.

VHND: The tracks recorded to date were done with producers Danny Kortchmar and Patrick Leonard. Will they continue to work with those producers, or will they be seeking new production help?

Don Engel: Sorry, I just don't know the answer.

VHND: Is the band actively searching for a replacement singer?

Don Engel: I don't know if they're searching, but they're obviously going to be considering it very carefully in how they go. You introduced to me the idea that they may have some stuff from Gary that they would use, and I just don't see any reason why they couldn't use this stuff. Bear in mind I'm not a creative person in this area. We're technical attorneys. But certainly they could put out some cuts that were Gary's and some by whoever else is going to be singing.

VHND: There are a lot of rumors that the band is planning to reunite with David Lee Roth. Is Dave a candidate to rejoin Van Halen? And how about Sammy Hagar.

Don Engel: I'm not going to give you any inside information, but my view of the history of the band, and the guys, and everybody I know in the industry, is that David Lee Roth is always a candidate. We've heard David Lee say some bad things in the press years ago. But more recently, people who have talked to him tell me he still thinks he's Van Halen. You know what I mean? This is an old relationship. When you say, "Could they release stuff with Gary Cherone?", hey, it wouldn't surprise anybody if they did some stuff with him. On the other hand, I don't think it would be very surprising if they decided they wanted to do some stuff with Sammy. I don't know of any contacts with Sammy or David Lee. I would assume both of them are probably prospects.

VHND: There's also been some talk that the band may seek a fourth singer. Udo Dirkschneider of Accept and David Coverdale are two names that have been bandied about the last couple of days. Any substance to this?

Don Engel: I haven't heard anything about that. Sorry.

VHND: Perhaps you can shed some light on what I'm about to ask, as you deal with the legal and technical side of the music business. Dave recently fired his personal manager and Sammy reportedly has not resigned with his record label. Could this indicate that they are interested in being contractually free to work with Van Halen?

Don Engel: Sounds smart to me, but I don't have any information. Van Halen, as you know, is so historically big and so well thought of. Everybody's getting a little bit older, of course, but they're such a solid band in the community, you have to think that almost any singer who fits in would be thinking in terms of "Gee, maybe I'll do it, if things are right." And I think these things work out in the end. My view of the business is that those types of decisions, if made properly, are made from a creative and personal standpoint, not by attorneys and businessmen.

VHND: Perhaps you could clarify a little more for the fans what type of work you will be doing on behalf of Van Halen in the coming weeks and months?

Don Engel: Let me put it this way. I have a long history with them. I've represented them on and off for years. Engel and Engel represents record labels and artists and so on, and we work in only entertainment areas. We have no expertise in any of those areas, however. We don't know how to pick movies or performers or music, if you see what I mean. It's not what we do. So for Van Halen, now that they've "come back" to me in a sense, I'll be doing more legal work on their behalf. We've always been available to them.

VHND: Talk about what you've done for them from day one.

Don Engel: When Sammy joined the band, I became their attorney. I was still Sammy's attorney. When Sammy left, I participated in the negotiations. And now, obviously, when someone like Gary leaves, somebody's going to have to pick up the pieces. If a new person comes in, someone's going to have to do the contracts and negotiations. And one of the things we basically specialize in is doing more sophisticated, difficult legal work. When a performer, be it Donna Summer or Don Henley, has some problems in their career, they come to us. What we do for them is we negotiate agreements. We try to avoid problems that are easy to get into in this business, situations that may become nasty and difficult. Right now, we're looking at changing a lead singer. There's lots of contracts involved. There's record contracts, touring, merchandising, music. All those things have to be handled properly. And that's where I'll work one-on-one with attorneys and managers.

VHND: On a more personal note, do you know how long Eddie Van Halen's upcoming hip surgery is expected to keep him out of action?

Don Engel: I know quite a lot about it, actually. A very good friend just had that hip surgery with the same surgeon and at the same hospital. Eddie was supposed to go in on the 19th, but he may be going in a few days earlier. The guy who's doing it is very well-known, probably one of the best-known.

VHND: What's the name of the doctor?

Don Engel: I'm not sure. I think it's Morehead. You'd have to check with the hospital about that. I don't have notes on this, and this is a personal matter, anyway. Of course, I'm concerned about any friend of mine, and Eddie is a friend. He's a bit younger than the friend of mine who had the surgery. But he's in pretty good shape. I would think there'll be eight to ten days of real disability, and he'll probably be in the hospital for a good part of that time. I don't know what his doctor is telling him, but from what I recall, for four to eight days, you're really not doing very much. And then for a period of anywhere from four to six weeks more, you're hobbling around. I expect he's going to have a good recovery, and so does everybody else. These operations are becoming pretty much standardized. When my friend went to this doctor, we understood that he and another doctor in the West L.A. area are considered the two best surgeons. I'm glad Eddie has this person. He's in good hands. If Eddie's strong, within two weeks he could be back in his studio doing stuff. That wouldn't be remarkable; I think that would be normal. I think going out, he's going to have crutches. Some people use a walker. But this friend of mine was older than Eddie, and came through in the kind of recovery period I described.

VHND: That's great news for Eddie and for the fans, obviously.

Don Engel: Everything looks great. I'm going to go visit him and so on. Nobody's worrying about the operation.

VHND: How far ahead will the combination of Gary's departure and Eddie's surgery push the release date for the next Van Halen album?

Don Engel: I don't know that there was a release date. I'm not on top of the scheduling.

VHND: In your opinion, how does Gary's departure affect the band's credibility with the record-buying public at this stage?

Don Engel: That's speculation. And it's not an area of my expertise. I've only made a prediction about a record once in my life, and I was right, so I'm 100%. [chuckles] I picked "Amanda" by Boston to go to number one. I said to John Kalodner, "I don't know music at all. I'm an attorney with no musical talent. But if that isn't a number one song, I never heard one." I'm gonna quit making predictions while I'm ahead! Anyway, I have no idea what the public is going to think. I would assume it's not going to be a big deal. It might be if they'd only ever had one singer. For instance, I represent the Moody Blues, and those four guys have been together for 35 years. If somebody leaves that group, that's a big thing to Moody Blues fans. But as we know, the history of Van Halen over the last 15 or 20 years is that they've had three lead singers. So it's not an unexpected thing. The core of this band is Eddie, Alex, and Mike. And they've changed lead singers before.

VHND: Everything you're saying indicates that Van Halen does have a future and will go forward. Correct?

Don Engel: I think the idea of them disbanding would be off the wall. I talk to the guys, and everything they're doing now with me is forward-looking, and everyone's optimistic. I haven't heard any thoughts about stopping, being stopped, losing any fans or anything like that. They want their fans, they want to do their next album and a tour, and they want to be as good as they can be. I would say "as big as ever," but they've been so big in the past, who knows? My personal view, with my experience in the industry, is that it's a mistake to try to reach the peak of one's success all over again. For example, to expect Donna Summer to come back and be the number one diva in the world as she was in the 1970's would not be realistic. I think to even attempt to duplicate that level of success is suicidal. It just happens once in a lifetime.

VHND: And it's not 1984 anymore.

Don Engel: That's right. One of my other clients, Cher, came close to that kind of success with her last album. We initially made her deal overseas because there was some resistance in this country. But then she came back in America and had great success. And she's older than the Van Halen guys. In fact, I should tell them that: "Cher's older than you!" [chuckles] But you know, she wasn't unrealistic. She didn't expect to become the old Cher again. She's delighted that the new Cher has a hit. So when it comes to Van Halen, I see everything positive. There's no thought of quitting. In fact, I don't even see a major revamping. The band is the band, and they just need a compatible lead singer. I expect this is going to be a very smooth transition.

VHND: Mr. Engel, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.

Don Engel: Thank you.

Lucas Aykroyd is the author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book. He has written about Van Halen for THE INSIDE and Wall of Sound, among other outlets.