The Van Halen News Desk's Eric Senich talked with music journalist Michael Christopher about his new book Van Halen: The Eruption and the Aftershock! Below is the complete interview conducted by Senich for his podcast Booked On Rock. Christopher discusses a wide range of topics related to Van Halen including: The band's early days in Pasadena and original bassist Mark … [Read more...]
LISTEN: Unearthed 1991 Australian Radio Interview With Eddie Van Halen [RARE VIDEO INCLUDED]
A rare 1991 interview featuring Eddie Van Halen on an Australian radio station has surfaced. The interview took place in July of '91 while Van Halen was rehearsing for their upcoming tour to support the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. Van Halen fan Adam Roach not only uploaded the interview (above) but also included some rare video he filmed of Eddie and his bandmates … [Read more...]
How David Lee Roth’s ‘Crazy From The Heat’ Book Led John 5 To Becoming DLR Band Guitarist
Guitarist John 5's David Lee Roth story began where Roth's book ended. Literally. During a recent interview with The Sessions, the former DLR Band guitarist recently recalled how he landed the job as Roth's guitarist in 1998 . He said it all started when he was reading Roth's 1998 autobiography 'Crazy From The Heat'. "I was reading ['Crazy From The Heat']. I was at my … [Read more...]
April 20th, 1998: Van Halen Performs ‘Live From The 10 Spot’ Concert In Australia [VIDEO]
Credit: Neil Zlozower On this night in 1998 Van Halen featuring lead singer Gary Cherone performed in Sydney, Australia. Less than a month later MTV aired portions of the concert for their "Live From The 10 Spot" special. Van Halen had just begun their tour in support of the 'Van Halen III' album, which had been released on March 17th, 1998. The 'III' Tour saw … [Read more...]
New Alex Van Halen Book
Nice to see the GREAT Alex Van Halen get recognized! Modern Drummer has put together a special book that is entirely devoted to Alex Van Halen! Modern Drummer Legends: Alex Van Halen is the second installment in the 'Modern Drummer Legends' series, and is the one and only Alex Van Halen drum book! Includes Alex’s 1983, 1993, and 2008 Modern Drummer cover stories. … [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...]
Visiting Eddie Van Halen’s Home Studio In 1998 [VIDEO]
Plenty of rarely-seen footage of Eddie Van Halen has surfaced over the last week. MTV just uploaded one where Eddie gives us a tour of his home studio. The video posted on October 7th shows Chris Connelly of MTV News visiting Eddie's home studio in 1998 around the release of the 'Van Halen III' album. Eddie discusses building the space, breaking down guitars, and being a dad … [Read more...]
Gary Cherone Talkin’ ‘Bout Van Halen: Hear Complete ‘Trunk Nation’ Interview
Van Halen III was released on this date in 1998 (March 17th) On the anniversary of Van Halen III today, it's a good time to highlight the recent talk former Van Halen singer Gary Cherone had with Sirius/XM’s ‘Trunk Nation’ host, Eddie Trunk. Gary spoke about his time singing for Van Halen, including a small update on his current relationship with the Van Halen … [Read more...]
20 Years Ago: Gary Cherone Leaves Van Halen
The Toughest Job In Rock If anyone ever had it, Gary Cherone sure as hell did - and he handled it with style On November 5th, 1999, Gary Cherone officially parted ways with Van Halen. You could almost picture him, back on familiar Boston turf, breathing a long-overdue sigh of relief. At least that’s what we hope he was doing. After all, nearly three years of constant … [Read more...]
Roundtable: What Went Wrong with ‘Van Halen III’?
Twenty years after the release of Van Halen III - the band's 11th studio album - our friends at Ultimate Classic Rock hosted a roundtable discussion about the album most fans say is their least favorite. Featuring UCR writers and VHND's Jeff Hausman, it focused on five of the biggest questions... answered in no-holds-barred fashion. Take a look... From UCR: After … [Read more...]
Van Halen 3: Was It Really That Bad?
Van Halen III was released 19 years ago today. Here's a new video review of the album, by "The Happy Spaceman." Sure, he gets a couple facts wrong (in his defense, most reviewers do!) and we sure don't agree with everything he says. Nevertheless, his review is fairly entertaining. Was he too hard on the album? Do you agree or disagree with what he says about the three "Eras" … [Read more...]
15 Years On: Eddie Van Halen Interview Revisted
The following is an Eddie Van Halen interview from 15 years ago with new commentary by the interviewer, Doug Fox. "Why?" asked the voice on the other end of the phone. "I'm just a normal schmo like anyone else." Like Michael Jordan was just another dude that laced up Nikes. Like Walt Disney was just your average everyday daydreamer. Like Beethoven was simply another … [Read more...]