During a recent podcast appearance, Billy Sheehan talked about the unpredictable yet always interesting songwriting sessions for David Lee Roth’s Eat ‘Em and Smile album.
Below is an excerpt from Greg Prato’s Ultimate Guitar article “10 Examples of Why Eddie Van Halen Was the Master of Rhythm Guitar and Riffs“:
For most readers of Ultimate Guitar, the top attraction of Van Halen’s music is undoubtedly Eddie Van Halen’s one-of-a-kind guitar playing. However, there were other ingredients that made the “David Lee Roth era” of the band so unique: DLR’s entertaining frontman abilities, Michael Anthony’s superb backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen’s exceptional drumming.
During an interview with Marty5150, former David Lee Roth Band bassist Billy Sheehan recounted the songwriting process for the singer’s classic 1986 solo effort, “Eat ‘Em and Smile.” Additionally, he touched upon the singer’s oft-overlooked contribution to Van Halen’s classic material from 1978 to 1984.
Concerning how long a day of songwriting sessions for “Eat ‘Em and Smile” would typically take, Sheehan replied (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar), “There was no length to it. We would either not pick up our instruments at all and just hang out and talk and discuss things and joke and whatever, or we’d just hit it for hours.”
“But the songs came easy and fast, and it was an enjoyable process. Y’know, Steve [Vai] would play a little lick. ‘And what key is that?’ ‘Okay, how about this?’ And, ‘Okay, now a chorus, let’s go to this key.’ And the next thing you know, we got a song.”