Author Greg Renoff sat down for an in-depth discussion on Eddie Van Halen and Van Halen history during a recent appearance on the Making Waves with Tom Prather podcast.
Prather covered a wide range of Van Halen-related topics while also learning some Greg Renoff history. Long before writing his critically acclaimed books Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal and Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music, Renoff earned a Ph.D. in American History and was a history professor for over a decade.
Here are some of the highlights from Prather’s interview with Renoff, which you can watch above:
- Greg’s background in US History & VH history
- Why and how Greg decided to write a book on Van Halen
- Have the members of the band read his books?
- Van Halen as a verb
- What does Eddie Van Halen mean to Greg?
- The Sammy Hagar years
- Tom’s time working with the band and David Lee Roth
- Breaking down the return of David Lee Roth years (2007-2015)
- How will history look back at Van Halen as a band?
- On Wolfgang And The Van Halen Legacy
- Saying goodbye to Eddie
- On Sunset Sound Studios
- On Van Halen engineer Donn Landee
- Remembering the genuine and giving Eddie
- Will there be another Van Halen book in the future?
“As a twelve-year-old kid, hearing 5150 changed my life forever,” Prather told VHND. “Ed and the entire Van Halen catalog have been such a colossal influence professionally and personally. For that reason, it was very important for me to have what I felt was the quintessential Van Halen conversation. Including topics that sometimes are unnecessarily disruptive in the Van Halen universe but need to be addressed fairly. I could not have thought of a better person than Greg to have that conversation with. His knowledge, insight, and maybe most importantly, impartiality is second to none. As an avid reader of The Inside magazine, it’s an honor for our conversation to be featured on VHND.”
About Tom Prather: Prather is an award-winning TV/Film director, editor and photographer. He got his start in the industry photographing Van Halen on the Balance and Van Halen III tours. He later worked with Sammy Hagar and Cabo Wabo Tequila on an independent film and subsequent film festival. Prather is the owner of The Blue Wave Video Production Agency and host of Making Waves Podcast.
Follow Tom Prather on Instagram.