A YouTuber has given Van Halen fans the chance to get an up close look at the childhood home of Eddie and Alex Van Halen along with some graffiti the brothers left behind! The host of SCOTT ON TAPE took a trip to Las Lunas Street in Pasadena, California to get a good view of the home and neighborhood Ed and Al hung out at. He also managed to get a shot of the shed in back … [Read more...]
Archives for 2021
Wolfgang Van Halen On Being Chosen By GNR For Summer Tour, What He Misses Most About Dad Eddie
For Wolfgang Van Halen, being able to finally take his band Mammoth WVH out on tour is exciting enough. To be chosen as the supporting act for Guns N' Roses? That's taking excitement to a whole new level. "It’s insane," said Wolfgang during a recent interview with Audio Ink Radio. "I can’t believe- it’s the highest honor that they thought of us and want to take us out. I … [Read more...]
Van Halen Author Greg Renoff Interview At Sunset Sound Recorders
Author/Van Halen historian Greg Renoff sat down for in-depth interview at the site of Van Halen's classic early recordings - Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood. Renoff, the author of Van Halen Rising: How A Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal and Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life in Music, had plenty of stories to tell regarding Van Halen's … [Read more...]
Early Van Halen Backstage Stories From Custom Guitar Builder Karl Sandoval
Van Halen on stage. There was no show like it before or since. Turns out, Van Halen back stage was every bit the show for those lucky enough to witness it. Karl Sandoval is one of those lucky guys and he recently shared that experience with fans. Sandoval is a custom guitar builder, best known for making a polka-dot finished guitar for Randy Rhoads in the style of a Gibson … [Read more...]
Mammoth WVH Prepares For Tour, Wolfgang Van Halen Reaches Out To Fans For Setlist Requests
As the debut Mammoth WVH tour nears, Wolfgang Van Halen is reaching out to fans for setlist ideas. "Working on Mammoth WVH setlists," Wolfgang wrote in a post to his Twittter page. "What songs do you need to hear?" Working on @MammothWVH setlists. What songs do you NEED to hear??— Wolf Van Halen (@WolfVanHalen) July 6, 2021 Many responded with requests for … [Read more...]
SPIN Revisits 1986 Interview With David Lee Roth
The summer of 1986 was quite an interesting time for Van Halen fans wasn't it? It was hard not to come across something on the TV, radio or on a local newsstand with something related to either the band's new lineup with Sammy Hagar or the now solo David Lee Roth. This week SPIN magazine revisited an April 1986 cover story with Roth in honor of the 35th anniversary of his … [Read more...]
Mick Jones On ‘Intense But Very Special’ Experience Producing ‘5150’
Mick Jones said producing Van Halen's 1986 album 5150 may have been an exhausting experience but it was also equally as rewarding. "I was completely exhausted at the end of it,” Jones recently told Guitar World. "We were running a bit late -- and the band had a tour booked. So there was pressure…It was a pretty intense experience but we achieved something very … [Read more...]
Car Engineer Claudio Zampolli, The Man Who Led Sammy Hagar To Van Halen in ’85, Has Died
Italian car engineer Claudio Zampolli, the man who facilitated the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen, died yesterday (July 7th) at the age of 82. No cause of death has been given. Zampoli is best known to car fans as the creator of the Cizeta V16T Supercar, but Van Halen fans will remember him as the man who gave Eddie Van Halen Hagar's phone number back in 1985. At the time, … [Read more...]
David Lee Roth’s ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile’ Turns 35
And so the adventure continues...! Thirty five years ago today David Lee Roth released his debut full-length studio album Eat ‘Em and Smile. Released on July 7th, 1986, the album peaked at #4 on the US Billboard 200 while eventually achieving platinum status for a million sales. For his first full-length release, Roth worked with long-time Van Halen producer Ted … [Read more...]
Better Or Worse? YouTuber Dr. Bob Puts David Lee Roth On The Vocal Tuning Operating Table
Somebody get me Dr. Bob! Bobby Huff is a producer/songwriter who has a series of videos titled "Music Surgery with Dr. Bob". They all include the good doctor "cutting into" rock songs in pursuit of musical perfection. In his latest episode he decided to operate on David Lee Roth's vocals from Van Halen's "Dance The Night Away". "So we've all heard the argument that Sammy … [Read more...]
Billy Gibbons On First Van Halen Concert: ‘That Blew My Mind’
ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons said seeing Van Halen perform for the first time lived up to all of the hype and then some. Gibbons was a guest on Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM show Trunk Nation recently. At one point in the interview the conversation steered towards Eddie Van Halen. Gibbons said he had heard all about Eddie's talents, even had Van Halen's 1978 debut album, but didn't get a … [Read more...]
Van Halen On ‘The Today Show’ – July 1986
It's time to revisit another moment in Van Halen history. We go back 35 summers for the band's July 1986 appearance on The Today Show. At the time of the interview, Van Halen had just kicked off the second leg of its North America tour to support the 5150 album. They were about to perform a show at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado on July 12th of '86. As expected, the … [Read more...]