Gary Cherone recently talked to Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles about his new band Hurtsmile (which has a record out and available at iTunes, Amazon, Best Buy, etc), Extreme’s future, and Van Halen’s “vaults of music” and what he thought of their last two tours with Sammy and Dave.
The Van Halen segment is below. For the full interview, check out Bravewords.com.
Cherone [in response to the question of if he ever thought of writing a book] : I’m sure everybody has a story to tell, but I’m not ready. My managers asked me to write my Van Halen story (my three years in the band), but I told them that that stuff is going to be taken to the grave.”
Bravewords.com: Speaking of Van Halen. The one thing I begrudge the record company is the unreleased live album. You recorded a show in Pittsburgh in 1998. The release was announced on the one-sheets and before it was due out. It was scuttled. I really wish they’d release it. It drives me crazy knowing that it’s locked away in a vault somewhere.
Cherone: “I’m surprised that it’s not out given the different technologies today.”
Bravewords.com: You can find it out there on the ‘Net if you look, but I want the official properly mastered version. Not some bootleg.
Cherone: “You want it official. You want it remixed, tweaked and EQ-ed. You know it’s funny I completely forgot about that gig. It was a good gig…”
Bravewords.com: And it should have been released.
Cherone: “Let me get on that for you (laughs).”
Bravewords.com: Are you surprised that Van Halen hasn’t released any new music since you left the band?
Cherone: “I’m not surprised. When I was there, there were vaults of music. Eddie is not lying when he says he has a garage full of music. The rumor is that they’re in the studio right now and Eddie is in good shape. Nuno actually bumped into him recently and told me that he sounded great. There will be new music. They did the reunion with Sammy in 2004 and Eddie wasn’t in the greatest shape. They did the 2007 reunion with Roth, which I thought was great. I thought Roth was great and from that they are moving to this. I’m as big a Van Halen fan as anyone else and I’d love to hear new material from them and knowing Eddie – he doesn’t want to live off his catalogue. The fans want to see them tour, but Eddie is an artist and he needs to put out new material. So, I’m looking forward to it.”