“We believe big time in publicizing the shit out of ‘we ain’t talkin’.’ First we make goddamn sure that everybody knows we ain’t saying anything…”
— David Lee Roth, 1997
We at the Van Halen News Desk feel that the majority of fans and even music news websites have misinterpreted Janie Van Halen’s recent statement. Many people are reacting as if Janie simply said that Van Halen is NOT making an album.
Janie gave a vague, two sentence statement to Rolling Stone: “What is going around is exactly that, rumors. I don’t have any updates at this time.” She did not deny the rumors. She didn’t confirm them, either.
The rock community is so hungry for new music from Van Halen that it believed what it wanted to hear. The rumor spread like wildfire. The fact that this was simply a rumor got lost in the excitement, and, in a matter of days, websites and countless radio stations were reporting the rumor as fact. Janie wanted to clarify that the news that was going around about a “new Van Halen album coming out next year” was only rumors and that it was not actual news that was put out by the band, and therefore not anything that people should count on.
If Van Halen is currently writing music for an album, you can bet that she would not admit it now. Van Halen is not the type of band that frequently gives their fans updates on what they are doing. That’s because they don’t want to say anything until their plans are 100% solid and everything is in place. If the band really is working on new music for an album, you wouldn’t hear it from them until the album is finished. They would not want to announce any plans that might not come to fruition.
For those who say that Van Halen must not care about the fans because they do not give them frequent updates… just the fact that Janie clarified that the “news” was just rumors proves that the band does care and doesn’t want misinformation spread. They don’t want want the fans to count on something happening that they didn’t say would happen.
Some loyal VHND readers have been asking us why we don’t simply contact Janie and ask her if anything is going on. Suffice to say, we do have a rapport with Janie, and if there was anything she wanted us to know at this time, she would let us know.
So, will we see a new Van Halen album and/or tour next year? The facts are, two guitarists who are friends with Eddie – Dweezil Zappa and John 5 – have both recently admitted to hearing new Van Halen material and that it was killer. That’s good sign. Time will tell.