Photographer Neil Zlozower has shot as many classic Van Halen photos as Van Halen has recorded classic songs. That's a lot, which means he has just as many stories to tell. Zlozower sat down for a lengthy interview at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California to share the stories of his time "hangin', gettin' into trouble together and workin' together" with David Lee … [Read more...]
Wolfgang Van Halen On Including Van Halen’s ‘Sunday Afternoon In The Park’ Synth On Mammoth WVH Song ‘Mr. Ed’
Wolfgang Van Halen says he was just waiting for the right moment to insert his dad Eddie's synthesizer into a Mammoth WVH song. That moment arrived with the track "Mr. Ed". Just in case you haven't picked up on it yet, Wolfgang used the original Electro-Harmonix Micro-Synthesizer Eddie used on Van Halen's "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" from Van Halen's 1981 album Fair … [Read more...]
40 Years Ago Tonight: Van Halen Headlines New York City’s Madison Square Garden For The First Time [AUDIO]
New York City...Make it there and you can make it anywhere. On this night forty years ago Van Halen had officially made it... On July 17th, 1981 the mighty foursome of David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony headlined the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first time. Van Halen was on tour in support of its fourth studio album Fair … [Read more...]
Photographer Darren Balch Recalls Career Inspiring Van Halen Concert 40 Years Later
From Aerosmith to ZZ Top and just about every classic rock band in between, photographer Darren Balch has seen and shot them all. It's a stellar career that all began forty years ago watching Van Halen at the Spokane Coliseum in Spokane, Washington - Section 19, three rows down the aisle to be exact. Balch recalled his personal "eureka moment" Van Halen story in a post to … [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...]
40th Anniversary Of Van Halen’s 1981 Oakland Shows
From June 11-13th, 1981, Van Halen performed three shows in front of sold out crowds of 11,300 people each night at California's Oakland Coliseum. The Oakland '81 shows have become legendary, thanks to the band deciding to preserve some of their performance to film. The footage was edited into three videos which aired on MTV as promos for the Fair … [Read more...]
Unearthed: Lost Van Halen ‘Dinosaur’ Video Surfaces After 40 Years!
The story of the mysterious "lost" Van Halen "dinosaur" video begins back in 1995, one year before The Van Halen News Desk launched. At that time, Jeff Hausman (who would go on to run the VHND) got ahold of some strange photos of Van Halen playing their instruments outdoors, among life-size sculptures of dinosaurs(!). Knowing these photos were never published or seen … [Read more...]
40th Anniversary Of Van Halen’s ‘Fair Warning’
Track listing: 1. Mean Street2. "Dirty Movies"3. Sinner's Swing!4. Hear About It Later5. Unchained6. Push Comes To Shove7. So This Is Love?8. Sunday Afternoon In The Park9. One Foot Out The Door “And someone said 'Fair Warning!'Lord, strike that poor boy down.”– Van Halen, 1981 Release Date:April 29, 1981Recorded:Early March - Early April 1981Length:30:58Producer:Ted … [Read more...]
‘The Van Halen Story – The Early Years’ Now Available on DVD
The Van Halen Story - The Early Years has been released again on DVD! This DVD documentary chronicles the rise of four young musicians from their formative years to their transformation into a worldwide phenomenon. Witness the group's gripping tale told by the people who were there when it began - the childhood friends, fellow musicians, roadies, bodyguards, producers, and … [Read more...]
Dave Navarro On His Favorite VH Album, Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein Approach To Songwriting
Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro called Van Halen's 'Fair Warning' album his favorite while citing the track "Mean Street" as being the epitome of Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstein approach to songwriting. "You can't have a show about great guitar players without mentioning, without playing, without paying homage to Mr. Edward Van Halen - huge, massive influence on me," … [Read more...]
‘Fair Warning’ Among Top 10 Iconic Heavy Albums Released In 1981
Van Halen's 'Fair Warning' is among the ten most iconic heavy albums released in 1981, according to Ultimate Guitar. Ultimate Guitar's The Phoenician wrote, "All in all, 1981 seemed relatively tame at the time, but in reality, some of the albums released that year would go on to define the main players of the following decade and establish a couple of very exciting metal … [Read more...]
‘Everything’s Alright’ With This Van Halen/Stevie Wonder Mashup
Mash-up maestro Bill McClintock has added yet another popular mashup to his catalog, this time a Van Halen/Stevie Wonder track titled "Chained Uptight." McClintock seamlessly mixed Van Halen's 1981 classic "Unchained" with Wonder's "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" from 1965. It's already amassed over 99,000 views on YouTube since it was uploaded less than a week … [Read more...]