Photo courtesy of Jason Becker The upcoming auction of the Edward Van Halen owned Wolfgang model serial numbered 91000069 given to Jason Becker in August of 1996 presented by Guernsey's Auction House 11/12/23 -- An amazing meeting took place on August 31, 1996. That’s when Eddie Van Halen spent the day with a guy who had followed in his footsteps playing alongside … [Read more...]
Eddie Van Halen News
The Origins Of Billy Sheehan’s Two-Handed Tapping
Watching Billy Sheehan two-hand tapping on his bass, it's hard to not think of Eddie Van Halen. It was a different guitarist, however, who inspired Sheehan to adopt this technique. Sheehan (David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, The Winery Dogs) talked about the origins of his two-handed tapping during a recent interview with Matt Pinfield. Below is an excerpt from an Ultimate-Guitar … [Read more...]
Hawkins Recalls Van Halen Set At Wembley With Wolfgang
Justin Hawkins says he and Wolfgang Van Halen had very little time to prepare their mini-Van Halen set before 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London last year during the Taylor Hawkins tribute. Just one run-through and go. Here's an excerpt from an article posted to Ultimate-Guitar by Greg Prato: Of the many performances at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts at … [Read more...]
McDonald’s Releases Christmas Ad Featuring Van Halen’s ‘Jump’
Nothin' like a Big Mac with an extra large order of Van Halen! McDonald's latest Christmas ad titled 'Fancy A McDonald's' features the Van Halen song that's as familiar as the McDonald's arches - "Jump". It features various scenarios including parents at a nativity play, friends at a work Christmas party, and even Santa Claus himself, with people coming together to head to … [Read more...]
Eddie Van Halen Wanted A Guitar Lesson From Glen Campbell
Credit: Darren Balch According to Alice Cooper, Eddie Van Halen wanted a guitar lesson from Glenn Campbell and it almost happened thanks to a round of golf. Cooper told the story during a recent appearance on BBC's "The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker": "One time Eddie Van Halen called me up and said, 'Hey, I wanna come to Arizona and play golf,'" said Cooper. "And … [Read more...]
Triumph’s Rik Emmett: US Festival Wasn’t Van Halen’s Best Moment
Credit: Neil Zlozower Triumph singer/guitarist Rik Emmett says Van Halen may have started the party too early on the day of the 1983 US Festival. During a recent interview with Ultimate-Guitar's Greg Prato, Emmett commented on Triumph's appearance at the US Festival's "Heavy Metal Day" on May 29, 1983, which saw performances from Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy … [Read more...]
Paul Gilbert: ‘Van Halen II’ Was Life-Changing
Mr. Big guitarist Paul Gilbert says Van Halen II is among the ten albums that changed his life. Here's what Gilbert had to say about Van Halen's classic sophomore effort from 1979 during a recent interview with ClassicRockHistory.com's Andrew Daly: All the David Lee Roth-era Van Halen records were monuments of excellence to me. But Van Halen II hit me at just the right … [Read more...]
John 5 On ’07 David Lee Roth Recordings: ‘I’d Love To Do Some Songs ‘Fair Warning’ Style
Guitarist John 5 says he'd like to rework some of the songs he recorded with David Lee Roth in 2007, only this time with an old-school Van Halen edge. "I'd love to do some [of those] songs "Fair Warning" style," John 5 said during a recent interview on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk". "Heavy, distorted guitars, and riffs, and solos, and all that cool stuff but...I … [Read more...]
Roth Keeping ‘A Different Kind Of Truth’ Off Streaming Platforms
Wolfgang Van Halen says David Lee Roth is preventing Van Halen's 2012 album A Different Kind Of Truth from returning to streaming platforms. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Wolfgang was asked if he knew why ADKOT disappeared from all streaming services. "Yes. The contract ran out on putting it up on streaming services," replied … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar Recalls The Work Hard, Play Hard Van Halen Years
Sammy Hagar says the success of his tenure with Van Halen was due to an intense work ethic led by the Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex. But that didn't mean the band didn't find time to play as hard as they worked. During an interview with Fox News Digital, Hagar looked back on all four studio albums he recorded with Van Halen, the last being … [Read more...]
Opera Singer Hears Van Halen’s ‘Right Now’ For First Time
Better late than never to hear Van Halen's "Right Now". For opera singer Elizabeth Zharoff, it was worth the wait. Zharoff has a popular YouTube channel The Charismatic Voice, where she gives first-time listens to several songs from the metal, rock, classic rock, and progressive rock genres. She recently featured Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" . This time, … [Read more...]
The Instant Magic Of Van Halen’s ‘5150’
In a new video to mark the release of The Collection II box set, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony reminisced about the first Sammy-era Van Halen album - 5150. Hagar posted the video (above) along with a few additional comments: "Very rarely do you meet with someone, and something creative and magical happens. This is what happened when Sammy entered 5150 studio and started … [Read more...]