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...]
Van Halen News
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...]
David Lee Roth’s Temporary Sex Office
Credit: Neil Zlozower Don Dokken came a knockin' but David Lee was too busy knockin' boots. During a recent appearance on The Hook Rocks! podcast, Dokken revealed Netflix is currently "making a movie about Dokken from the '80s" akin to Mötley Crüe's 2019 Netflix biopic The Dirt. One story to make the film, according to Dokken, has to do with David Lee Roth getting … [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...]
Sammy & Eddie Get Candid In Part 2 Of ’87 Guitar Player Interview
Jas Obrecht dropped part two of his in-depth interview with Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen from 1987! This is the second part of my July 14, 1987, joint interview with Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar. This interview took place on the patio of Sammy’s spacious home in Mill Valley, California. As mentioned in the intro to Part 1, at the time of this interview Sammy had … [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...]
David Lee Roth Drops New Tune ‘The S— That Killed Elvis’ In Both Acoustic & Electric Flavors
David Lee Roth released a new song today called "The Shit That Killed Elvis" in both electric and acoustic versions. The song comes from Roth's 2007 recordings dubbed "The California Sessions" by guitarist John 5, who also teamed up with Roth for the songs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill", "Low-Rez Sunset", "Giddy-Up!", "Alligator Pants", "Pointing at the Moon", … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar Shares A Few Rounds Of Birthday Bash Recaps
Sammy Hagar has shared some highlights from his recent Birthday Bash shows in Cabo San Lucas. Sammy performed at the Cabo Wabo Cantina on October 9th, 11th and 13th. Below are recaps of the first two nights. We'll post the third once Sammy shares! Night 1 (10/9/23)Sammy: "…and that shit really happened! Night 2 will be the return of Los Tres Gusanos featuring me, Michael … [Read more...]