Billy Sheehan says there was a line you couldn’t cross with David Lee Roth and that line was made of duct tape.
Below is an article on Sheehan’s comments regarding Roth’s 1988 Skyscraper tour. It was contributed to the Van Halen News Desk by Ultimate-Guitar‘s Greg Prato:
One of rock’s great “What ifs?” will forever be, “What if David Lee Roth’s ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile’ band remained together longer and continued in the style of that album?”
It appeared that somehow, Roth had managed to match the firepower of his previous band, Van Halen, with an exceptionally talented solo band which included Steve Vai on guitar, Billy Sheehan on bass, and Gregg Bissonette on drums, with of course, Roth providing vocals and frontman charisma.
For those who may have forgotten, and as recently explained more in depth via an earlier article, the group’s next album, “Skyscraper”, rubbed Sheehan the wrong way due to its more electro-pop-dance direction. And before the tour in support of the album could launch, the bassist had jumped ship, and soon after, reappeared as a co-founding member of Mr. Big.
During an interview with Ryan Roxie, Sheehan was asked if a rumor that there was a “duct tape line” on Roth’s stage that other members could not cross was true or false. He opted to clarify it once and for all (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar).
“Not on my tour. Not on ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile.'”
He then added, “It did exist later. It did exist on the ‘Skyscraper’ tour. One of the reasons I wasn’t there.”
Roxie then explained how supposedly, other members were not allowed to cross the line “at any time” before Sheehan added the following:
“That was what I heard. On ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile,’ Steve and I were running across this stage like maniacs, from top to bottom, all over the place. There were no restrictions at all on ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile.’ Nothing. It was a real band and a real show. And then the ‘Skyscraper’ thing was… I don’t know. I’ve heard from…”
Roxie retorted, “You’ve heard, but has anybody ever seen the duct tape?”
Sheehan ended the topic’s discussion with what seems like a definitive confirmation. “It was there. As a matter of fact, one particular band member stepped over it one night and got in all kinds of trouble for it.”
Watch “David Lee Roth- Just Like Paradise (Live Re-Edit-1988)”