Intersting Take on the Billboard Interview

jroundy: because I have always liked Mike, and feel he doesn’t deserve to be treated this way.

Grandpa Mikey!

http://www.facebook.com/madanthonyscafe/photos/886788584689899/

jroundy: he doesn’t deserve to be treated this way.

Why? Aren’t all public figures open to scrutiny? Would you feel better if it was someone from Rolling Stone magazine or a guitar magazine or Billboard (for that matter) that said it? Is Mike beyond reproach because you’ve heard that he’s a nice guy? Do you know him personally? Were you there when all the band interactions were going down over the past 40 years? Or is it just because Ed said these things?
My thought is that none of us who weren’t there and know the guys and the band interactions personally would be more qualified to talk about these things than Ed, like it or not. Does it come across as bitter? Yes. Does that mean he’s wrong or not entitled to say such things? Absolutely not. Honestly, I don’t remember an uproar when Sammy said basically the same things in his book. I guess he’s entitled to say them but Ed’s not???? Ok….

All they had to do was renegotiate and agree upon a different percentage of the split back in ’79 or ’80…….let’s say…..Alex & Mike get 15% instead of 25%……wouldn’t that be a more fair representation of their input…….thus eliminating any resentment from EVH who undoubtedly contributed the most…..without him there’d be no VH in the first place. He’s the one who created the riffs, melodies, and solos…..then Dave surfed the waves indelibly stamping the signature of VH into the ” Brand ” we fans enjoy as Van Halen….

Then Ed & Dave rightfully get a bigger slice of the pie…..

No idea why anyone even them back then would think and agree to a four way split…..
Its like saying Alex & Mike are equally as important as EVH & DLR……
No idea why they simply didn’t sit down and hold a band meeting with management and say ” Hey Look- EVH is the golden cow here…..why the fuck does his brother and this Mike guy get an equal share….” ……..

Stupid fuckers…… They should’ve dealt with this unequalness in publishing way back then avoided any long term resentment. Things could’ve been fair. I’m guessing Eddie didn’t speak up and kept his feelings on the matter to himself. Which ( IMO) is a bad idea…..if you’ve got something on your mind thinking a business arrangement is unfair and feel you should get more money…..then you have to be a man and fucking well speak up and make it known then rectify the situation……my guess is Eddie say anything because he’s a shy introvert and didn’t want to cause waves or whatever……then left this aggravating grevience simmer underneath for ages because he simply didn’t want to deal with it.

guitard: Alex Van Halen is a founding member of the band and was never in a million years going to be relegated to being a salaried sideman.It just doesn’t work that way.

Eddie is the band and therefore, his brother will also always be part of the band. The band will always be Ed and Al. They have replaced the bass player with Ed’s own DNA. The singers have been interchangeable and the band remains Van Halen with Ed and Al at its core.

Kind of off topic, but when Van Halen III failed, I was soooo hoping Eddie would put out a solo album. I always thought Van Halen III should have been released as “Edward Van Halen” and not as the band, since the music was so far removed from what people considered ‘Van Halen’ music to be. The reason I’m mentioning this is because of Ed’s admitted dedication and bond with Al, I’ve always wondered what an Edward Van Halen album would sound like, just instrumental, without Al’s drums and without the cliche’ electronic drum machine stuff he did in the 80s. There were several tracks on III that had drum samples if I recall, but I don’t think any song was completely “Alex free”. This hope of an Ed solo album with him playing all of the instruments was really fed after I heard “Crossing Over” and they had mixed Ed’s drum demo drum track in one channel and Al’s in the other. Ed has a different take on the song rhythmically, but the two tracks work well off each other. I have a feeling that Ed will never, ever release anything without Al on drums. Once Wolf’s solo album comes out, I think there will be a long hiatus in between Van Halen albums or tours, if there are any at all.

Mark: Isn’t Eddie supposed to have tapes and tapes of unrecorded music in his studio?There’s his solo album that never was…

Tapes of unrecorded music would be blank tapes?! I know you mean unreleased music. Yeah, he supposedly has tons of ideas, but from what the band members have said they’re just ideas, guitar parts, melodies, riffs, but nothing that is arranged, recorded and mastered as actual songs. At least, that’s the way I understood it. Other tapes like the ones that have been leaked, are Ed and Al and at he time, Mike, just jamming ideas and working up songs. During the porn years, I wonder how many pieces of music Ed wrote and recorded himself for that? They only released two, but I wonder if there many others. His playing wasn’t really up to snuff then anyway, so I’m glad they didn’t release much more. He was just in love with that sustainer for far too long.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/showbiz/brat-halen

Brat Halen
Jason Johnson
Friday, Jun 26, 2015

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen.

The greatest party band of all time may now be senior citizens, but they still fight like little kids.

The most childish of all is of course Eddie Van Halen, the bratty 60-year-old guitar virtuoso who also displays considerable skill as a smack talker.

In an interview last Friday with Billboard magazine, he had some unkind things to say about former bassist Michael Anthony, who split from the US rock group in 2006.

Eddie recounted: “Every note Mike ever played, I had to show him how to play. Before we’d go on tour, he’d come over with a video camera and I’d have to show him how to play all the parts.”

The mild-mannered Anthony responded to Eddie’s accusations with class, saying he’d rather not get caught up in the “never-ending mudslinging”.

Fortunately, Sammy Hagar is okay with mudslinging.

Hagar, who had his own acrimonious split from Van Halen in 1996, came to Anthony’s defence in a YouTube video.

Hagar said: “Mikey didn’t do anything, ever, to Van Halen. Mikey was the most loyal guy in the band, he was the first guy there at rehearsal, the last guy to leave.”

Sigh. The really sad thing is that Eddie is doing so well now in both his career and his personal life, and yet he can’t just be cool.

The former alcoholic has been sober since 2008. He’s been married to a beautiful former stuntwoman, Janie Liszewski, since 2009.

Van Halen, with original singer David Lee Roth as the frontman, is embarking on a massive US tour next month.

Why can’t Eddie just keep his mouth shut?

I think it’s probably because he’s a genius, and geniuses are nuts.

When you can do something better than everyone else in the world, it’s because your brain works differently.

BORING

I frankly miss the days when musicians were eccentrics and cranks.

These days, everyone is so polished and polite and boring. For a variety of reasons, there’s an awful lot of average-type people making music as dull as they are.

US rapper Kanye West is perhaps the exception that proves the rule – it’s almost like no one can even believe that a pop star would act like an idiot child.

There was a time when ALL of them acted like idiot children.

In that same Billboard interview where he dissed Anthony, Eddie also complained about how his longtime frenemy Roth refuses to act his age, saying: “Roth’s perception of himself is different than who he is in reality. We’re not in our 20s anymore. We’re in our 60s. Act like you’re 60.”

That’s the thing, Eddie.

You’re not acting like you’re 60.

You’re the same spoilt, super-talented rascal you’ve always been.

That’s why I love you.

jroundy: So I guess you just don’t like Mike….. and you think it’s cool of Ed to be a dick?

I don’t want Ed to be a dick…. who wants their hero to be an asshole?It seems he is holding a grudge against Mike for getting paid too much.But I doubt that’s Mike’s fault.

Ed could have just said Mike was a good band mate, but he just wanted to play with his son.Even, Mike said he could understand Ed wanting Wolfgang in the band.

You’re missing the point. Sammy said the same thing in print and it was ok with you and all of the other Mike defenders. Should I use your logic and say that you must not like Ed? Could it possibly have been the way it was presented?

But I get it. You like Mike. You probably don’t know him or any of the band members, so you believe everything you’ve read and heard about the band interactions – much of which has come from Sammy since he can never say enough. This is what the writer was banking on. Oh well. I tried… Mike never did anything to VH. Ed must be a dick…. carry on.