“I don’t walk in the light. But I have an aura like a burning tire. And around it, all dance.”
David Lee Roth gives the Van Halen News Desk an exclusive interview about his upcoming Las Vegas residency.
Interview by Jeff Hausman
VHND: It’s not every day that you announce a tour, or a Vegas residency, and I appreciate you reaching out to the Van Halen News Desk today…
DLR: Hold on, I’m not reaching out. Tireless self promotion is the American way! Cut to the crash, this is Dave. I’m in broadcasting now, too! I’m in the grid. I’m your next door neighbor now. [Laughs]
Who are you taking out to Vegas…
Oh now, I like a surprise. I like a secret. I like the idea of… what we’re bringing is based on the sound. This is not all glamor and tinsel and icing and cupcake broadway horseshit. A lot of hard rock turned into that, and that’s why there wasn’t any on the VMAs. And I fully get it. We take it serious. The same way you take these songs serious. People have gone off to war with the songs. Some people didn’t come back to it. I’ve had people who’ve had children who’ve gone on to become doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs and Navy Seals. And I know one guy who is probably reading this right now who’s requested he be buried to “Hot For Teacher.”
For your shows next year, I’ve heard that you’ll have two, and in some cases even three guitarists for certain songs…
We do not sound like Van Halen live. You have not heard this. Van Halen live is lead guitar, bass, drums, sing. Here, we bring it the way a record brings it. To do that requires 2 or 3 guitars. We have 5 people hollerin.’ It’s BIG ROCK sound. It’s not Just a Gigolo. It’s not brass band. That was a quickie vacation. And this is not a tribute band. I wrote these songs. I structured these songs. And we bring the respect and dignity to what we are doing the same way that the Lincoln Center brings to the Beethoven Festival with the latest Philharmonic. It’s a new orchestra, and a whole new sound.
In order to enhance the audio experience …you double the guitars, you triple, you quadruple. And you make up for the lack of visual, or boom in the room. Anybody who’s been in the middle of any big concerts today rock-wise, or the electronica dance crew… oh my god, I was at the Pink Pop festival, which was primarily guitar bands. And I did a remix of “Jump” with Armin van Buuren. He’s Dutch, a national hero. He was the only act who treated 70,000 people to surround sound. Everybody else in the guitar bands – modern or otherwise- played traditional presentation public address.
And when he came on with “Jump” in 360 degrees… Wooo! Put the Boom in the Room! Make your ass get bumps when the bassman thumps. Now, these are technical terms. I intend to illuminate it when you get to Vegas, Jeffrey. Are you with me? [Laughs]
Your promo material shows most of the setlist, and it looks perfect to me. I think a lot of people are excited to hear your solo material which they haven’t heard in a long time. “Yankee Rose”, “Going Crazy”, “California Girls”, “Just a Gigolo”, “Just Like Paradise”… really fun stuff that would go superbly with a Van Halen set.
They’re excited to hear everything at any given time because I am the voice of a generational prison break. Now let’s start with how many songs. You only need five songs. You MUST have five songs in order to play Las Vegas. It says that in the Bible, or the Torah, or somewhere, we’re pretty sure.
Well, I have TWENTY songs, that if I sing ANY of them… well, I don’t care if you’ve heard it in front of you, screaming out of a flatbed, midnight, Ohio summer, an Indiana summer, New York summer, California summer, Burger King drive-through… how many youth club dances, how many commercials… how many movies… Shit, I’m in the DNA! Like when James Brown, in that documentary says, “I’m in every record out there, brother.” Well, if you listen to guitar rock, there’s a little bit of David Lee there, too.
And in Las Vegas,… I AM Las Vegas. That includes rock ‘n roll. We were gonna have Jason Aldean play with us. He’s modern country. We include that. We include hip-hop. I can’t walk down the driveway for 20 meters without somebody going, “You’re that white boy!” And you bet I am!
The House of Blues… what makes that a special place to play?Because you can see eyebrows. That’s the difference between dogs and cats. Dogs have eyebrows and you can tell what they’re thinking, and they’re expressive. Kitty cats are like strippers. They don’t have eyebrows and you never know what they’re thinking. So you can’t trust them. You can’t trust them. And only a fool thinks that a kitty cat loves you.
Now, in that kind of a venue, you can see faces, you can hear expressions. [Lowers voice] Even when I talk to you in a lower register, you can understand every syllable. You don’t receive that in the bigger arenas, or the stadiums, or wherever. So you have to communicate with your elbows and your knees to express the emotional gamut. Whereas here, you can communicate the way you do in broadcast. Five different registers of volume and tone, and in between the songs becomes every bit as a much a delight as the songs themselves.
My mom says that I am easily more famous for in between the songs than for singing the songs. I said, “Because I’m so illuminating?” She said, “No, because you’re not singing.” But that’s mom! Where my salty sense of humor comes from. You’re paying for that too, Jeff, stop lyin.’
Your mom would always say to you that you’ll go far…. given the right lighting…
She said that. And she also told me, that all the world’s a stage, and you should ask for better lighting. [Laughs]
Make your own lighting.
[Laughs] I don’t walk in the light. But I have an aura like a burning tire. And around it, all dance. [Laughs]
I’m not sexy, but I make you feel young and skinny. How much is that worth? Let’s pronounce in-es-ti-ma-ble… after three bong hits.
About the future… do you see this type of Vegas residency as something you might do for years to come?
Of course! And this is one of those reasons that everybody is moving into these kinds of environments. It’s everybody from Bruno Mars and Gaga to Aero Jones and the Journeys. Alright? And it’s the best place to come and see us of any nature or any bracket or variety – country, folk, hip-hop, does not matter. Because, instead of slamming into the local basketball arena, and hoping you transcend the vulgar and obscene acoustics with the biggest sound system ever… well, everybody [in the band] is tired from traveling for 10 hours. Everybody’s coughing because they’ve got the same cold. Everybody’s worn out from the miles in and out of the hotels, etc. The sound man gets… Jesus… maybe four hours to tune the sound. The front guy gets maybe a couple hours to do his lights, and we all kind a hope it just fuckin’ gels together, like the moon shot!
Or…! I can bring you horses that are well rested, and ready to fuckin’ run. I can bring you a staff of people who are alert and tuned to what they do as artists, and desperate people in search for perfection. I didn’t surround myself with anything but. And there is such a thing as perfection. And when you finally get that sound tuned up, after you’ve done it two, six, nine, 12, 17 times … invite me in and we’ll judge harshly. We’ll be unflinching. And it’ll just be great.
Now, this is what we look for in the Olympics. This is what we hope for when we buy an album. You step through the doors in any jazz club, this is what we hope for. And, you can’t just expect it. You have to lower your expectations when somebody of any age walks through the door and only had six hours to get it all together. So, if it cost a dollar extra, just remember, you can save it on the all-you-can-eat Elvis buffet right around the corner after the show! [Laughs]
There is an attitude to Las Vegas. It’s where we go to celebrate whatever “living life large” of means to you. And it’s the best place… I don’t care if it’s a ballet, or a Broadway show that comes through Vegas. I’m going to go see Bruno. Who else do I see there routinely… UFC. Because we work those environments. And there’s every size room. I think the room I’m playing is 2,500 people? That’s per-fect! You saw the Rolling Stones at Deacon Theater … it’s about the same size room… perfect! And you can control the room with surround sound. You can use your lights. [Lowers voice] And you can start to talk in various tones that are conspiratorial, and, arguably, my most favorite form of humor. ‘Cause ya got to understand, Jeff, and I think you do… most of my best jokes aren’t funny at all.”
And if you try that shit in an arena, some people are going to go, “What he whispering about? I think Dave’s vapor locking.” [Laughs] “Do you have any Marlboros, kid?” [Fake coughing] Really.
And you can communicate on a level that, for example, Broadway – if you saw any part of Springsteen’s One-Man Show… wow! That hits you right in the heart. Hits you right in the humor, hits you right in the sad. Because you are in the same room, as opposed to… oh, where I started, on the 50th yard line, waaayyy up at the top, watching Earth Wind & Fire with Eddie Van Halen. We could barely afford the tickets. All we could afford was Earth Wind. It was two years before we could afford the Fire! Just joking. But not. But yeah. [Laughs].
Have you thought about a Meet ‘n’ Greet experience?
Yes I have. But, I thought I might not be able to recover from that for several days. [Laughs]
Yes! That becomes it’s own experience for me. It’s an environment and an interaction with folks. It’s much like we’re doing right now. It’s part of the interaction. When I say I’m a ToastMaster, I take that seriously! It’s in the same vein as of Mark Twain, or anybody…. Jesus, who would you hire today to do a toast for you? Oh, I would get Joe Rogan. If I was getting married, or there was some sort of dedication, and we needed somebody to propose a toast, that’s kind of who you would call. You need someone with some real wit, who takes that positioning with a respect. It’s not, “Hey bro, here’s to…” It’s speechifying in a people’s kind of terms. And that’s always been my lyrical tone.
And now, the Van Halen question. I know that they’re on their regularly scheduled hiatus…
Four summers have gone by. And for a singer, that’s paralyzing. Like a boxer, or a tap dancer, I am dependent upon my whole rig. My whole body. Perhaps playing a guitar, or piano, for example, with your hands, is a bit more forgiving over the years. If you come watch me now, I’m 65 going on 23. If you saw my X-rays, I’m 65 going on 80. [Laughs]
I’ve paid a price for the time off, frankly. Enough said there. I hope the best for the fellas. But I don’t know what’s coming up with Van Halen. It’s time for me to use whatever talents and skills that I have. I’m bettin’ the rent on it. You’re going to have a ball. This is the smile that launched a thousand hips.
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