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...]
‘The Van Halen Story – The Early Years’ Now Available on DVD
Back 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, … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s ‘Diver Down’ Released 39 Years Ago Today
‘It’s not heavy metal and it’s not The Temptations, but it’s something in between.’—David Lee Roth Thirty nine years ago today (April 14th, 1982) Van Halen released their most unique, odd, and light-hearted album. Enjoy our tribute to Diver Down! Diver Down, Temperature Up By John Scanlan Before the making of Fair Warning, Roth had moved to an apartment … [Read more...]
Dweezil Zappa: The ‘Diver Down’ Game Changer Tune Is ‘The Full Bug’
Dweezil Zappa calls Van Halen's "The Full Bug" the "Game Changer" tune from the band's 1982 album 'Diver Down'. In the latest sampling of his podcast Runnin' With The Dweezil, Zappa talked to guitarist Mark Tremonti (Creed, Alter Bridge, Tremonti) about the standout moments from 'Diver Down', one of them being "The Full Bug". "If you didn't think you were gonna rock hard … [Read more...]
Loudersound Ranks Van Halen’s Greatest Cover Songs
The music detectives at Loudersound have just returned from what we can assume was a very entertaining undercover mission: To come up with the ten greatest Van Halen cover songs of all time. As fans know it was Van Halen's 1978 cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" that helped launch the band's career. But there are plenty more masterful Van Halen-ized cover songs the band … [Read more...]
Watch Fan Halen Guitarist Play Every Riff From Van Halen 1 In 10 Minutes
Guitarist Derek Fuller has performed Eddie Van Halen's classic riffs more times than he can remember but this is one performance he'll likely never forget. The guitarist for the Van Halen tribute band Fan Halen stopped by Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood to perform every classic riff from Van Halen's 1978 debut album in just 10 minutes. "This is truly a bucket list for … [Read more...]
Documentarian Sam Dunn: ‘The Definitive Van Halen Story Is Yet To Be Told’
Credit: Neil Zlozower Canadian documentarian Sam Dunn says a Van Halen documentary remains the "Holy Grail" of stories yet to be told. Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Super Duper Alice Cooper) was asked by Death Angel's Ted Aguilar during an "Alive & Streaming" YouTube interview if he had a bucket list of documentary … [Read more...]
Loudersound Picks Out The Best Of Van Halen Album Catalogue
The staff at Loudersound has gone through their Van Halen album collection to highlight the ones they say are most worthy of a needle drop. "Van Halen albums have it all: One of the most innovative guitarists of all time, your choice of rock star frontmen, and some great tunes," writes Paul Elliott. "If ever a back catalogue epitomized the American Dream, it's the albums of … [Read more...]
Hear Never Before Heard Outtakes/Alternate Endings Of Early Van Halen Tracks [VIDEO]
Credit: Sunset Sound Recorders YouTube channel Sunset Sound continued its Van Halen November series with parts 2 and 2.5 of their interview with engineer Brian Kehew. This time Kehew takes us into the studio to hear never before heard outtakes and alternate endings of classic Van Halen tracks. Kehew was hired by Warner Bros. around 2005 as an independent contractor to … [Read more...]
Anthrax’s Scott Ian Calls Eddie Van Halen ‘The John Lennon And Paul McCartney Of Hard Rock’
Credit: Scott Ian's Instagram page Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has paid Eddie Van Halen the ultimate tribute by saying his musical skills were those of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney combined. Ian talked about Eddie's legacy during a recent appearance on Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast. "There's not a bad song from 'Van Halen I' to '1984' -- for me, … [Read more...]
Engineer Brian Kehew Talks Unreleased Van Halen Songs With The Van Halen News Desk
Credit: Neil Zlozower Ah, wow, man. Wait a second, man. Waddaya think “Hot For Teacher” is gonna sound like this time? It’s hard to imagine hearing Van Halen’s classic “Hot For Teacher” and not being able to recite every lyric word for word. Even harder to imagine is hearing the song with an entirely different set of lyrics but that's exactly what engineer Brian Kehew … [Read more...]
Tawny Kitaen On Touring With ‘Greatest Rock Band In The World’
Tawny Kitaen was doing cartwheels for Van Halen long before Whitesnake. In fact, she still is. "I'd like to see somebody tell me that Van Halen isn't the greatest rock band in the world," said Kitaen during her recent appearance on rock journalist Mitch Lafon's podcast "Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon". Kitaen said she toured with Van Halen's original lineup for three years … [Read more...]