Van Halen
#2
Posted 11 February 2009 - 04:22 PM
#6
Posted 11 February 2009 - 07:49 PM
#9
Posted 11 February 2009 - 10:48 PM
What does his age and money have to do with the fact that Van Halen acted like a prick? And yeah, get rid of the kid, and re-hire the one remaining original member that is not now in the band.
I CAN'T FUCKING STAND NEPOTISM!!! Hollywood is full of that shit, and there is a reason that it is illegal in government. Do you think that kid would stand a snowballs chance in hell of being hired if not for his daddy?
Settle down, it just sounded funny that he should apologize and then fire his son. Anyway, MA will never be in VH again - EVH has been trying to get rid of him since Fair Warning, he's not coming back. I wish he was, but I think Van Halen only exists from this point on with Wolfie in the band because it gives paranoid Eddie a 3-1 home advantage over whoever the singer is. I'm with SLC, it's lame but I missed EVH/DLR the first time round and I'll take it this time as long as it's there.
#11
Posted 21 March 2009 - 02:08 PM
March 16, 2009
When Eddie Van Halen talks about guitars, people listen. It's like LeBron James waxing poetic on the art of the assist, or Kate Winslet on getting acting awards. Van Halen is that highly regarded in the guitar world. In fact, in a recent article in USA Today, he was referred to as "the Jimi Hendrix of his generation."
High praise indeed. What does Eddie think of accolades like that? "I say it's a hell of a compliment, but at the same time I'm really nothing like Jimi Hendrix," he says, quickly adding that he doesn't mean any disrespect. "I'm just saying I'm very different than Hendrix because I create stuff. He used so many effects and stuff that I was the complete opposite. I wanted the guitar to do things, but nobody built the guitar that I wanted. Hendrix didn't do things like that. He was an amazing player, but if you ever heard any live bootlegs of him, even some of the Woodstock stuff, it's hard for him to keep that thing even tuned."
Growing up in Southern California, Van Halen got turned on to the six-string by surf music. "The first song I ever learned was 'Pipeline,' by the Surfaris, and 'Wipeout.' Then I hear this song on the radio -- it was the 'Blues Theme' on the soundtrack to 'Easy Rider,'" he says. "It was the first time I heard a distorted guitar, and I'm going, 'God, what is that?' I didn't really have an amp then. I went to Dow Radio in Pasadena, and I jerry-rigged this plug to plug into the stereo. I just turned the damn thing all the way up, and it distorted. So every amp I've ever used, I just turn it all the way up."
All of Van Halen's guitars, starting with his famous first model, Frankenstein, have been custom-made. And now he's taken his 35 years of experience and put it into the Wolfgang, his new Fender guitar, named for his son. "One more shot working with a major company to give people what I use," he says.
The guitar went through two years of vigorous testing, according to Van Halen. "I'm pretty hard on Fender, and I make sure that they keep an eye on the people that make the parts that go into my guitars and my amps. I'm not a tyrant -- it's just that my name and my son's name are on it, and I don't just endorse, I build it."
Of course, today's technology makes everything so easy, which Van Halen doesn't see as a good thing. "I think it stops people from being creative, because they don't have to," he says. "But also, to me, it lowers the standards. I don't know who exactly is in charge of the MP3 player, the iPod business, who decided that is gonna be the standard sampling rate, because it's nothing compared to a good mastered LP, nothing at all."
Isn't that thinking a bit antiquated, back to the way of the dinosaurs? "Yeah, maybe, but dinosaurs ruled this planet a lot longer than people have," he says, laughing.
www.spinner.com
#15
Posted 24 March 2009 - 11:48 PM
NOVEMBER 26--While Van Halen no longer demands the provision of strippers and controlled substances backstage, the band's most recent concert rider still contains a few gems. The document, excerpted below, covers Van Halen's 2008 U.S. tour, which concluded about five months ago. For probably the first time in rock history, the Van Halen rider specified that a "study room" be set up backstage for a musician and his tutor (in this case, bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, who was 16 when the tour launched). Each band member got his own dressing room, according to the rider, which notes that lead singer David Lee Roth's abode had to be free of any floor covering since, "Mr. Roth practices martial arts in his dressing room, and in order to do this there can be no rugs or carpeting of any sort." Additionally, Diamond Dave's dwelling "SHOULD BE AS FAR AWAY FROM" dressing rooms occupied by bandmates Wolfgang, Alex, and Eddie Van Halen. The rider does not explain why Roth needed the separation, but considering his rocky history with the band, space is likely a good thing. While no alcohol is stocked in the individual dressing rooms (it's all Red Bull, Gatorade, fresh fruit, and Japanese Apple Pears), Eddie's onstage cooler contained "mini bottles" of "Gallo Twin Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (red & white label, red cap)." A four-pack of the low-rent Gallo libation retails for $4.99. The band's 2007-2008 tour was delayed when the guitarist reportedly entered rehab in March 2007 for treatment of alcohol abuse. Though it carries a December 2007 date, the rider below was provided to a venue where Van Halen performed in May 2008. (7 pages)
http://www.thesmokin...2vanhalen2.html
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