Q&A: David Lee Roth Vents About Van Halen's Future

PT5150:
I hear you Rob.
We all want VH to be healthy get along make new music and play live.

Just hope Dave has not said the wrong things.

I hear you bro. Hope all goes well. I would hope that these guys are old enough and grown up enough after all these years of heavy drama that they would look at things from different perspectives. But then again we are talking about the mighty VH. Ha ha
Rob

guitard: Is the glass half full or half empty? I’m gonna say half full because Dave talks with Al on a daily basis and Al is also really interested in keeping it going.I suspect that Wolf is gonna be the key. Sooner or later he’ll give his a Pops a kick in the shorts and get things rolling. But I also think Wolf doesn’t see his future in Van Halen as we know it. And maybe that’s how Mike gets back in.All speculation on my part. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Here’s hopin you’re right Randy…I certainly agree that Wolfie is important in all this and probably the only person that can get thru to Ed….but I have to say my gut feeling about this all is bad. It’s obviously make or break time from Dave’s perspective. I think I have to resign myself to the likelihood of me ever seeing VH live again now is pretty slim.

Well, I see one of 2 scenarios with the state of Van Halen. 1. Ed is all but done with touring especially outside the US. He seems happy at home with his dog and Janie and his EVH brand. 2. Ed is waiting for Wolfe to be finished with Tremonti and doesn’t want to pull him away from something he clearly enjoys and until Wolfe is ready to come back to Van Halen, the guys sit and wait. I think this piece with Roth is his way of saying through the media, Hey Ed, shit or get off the pot. We aren’t getting any younger so either make up your mind or I’m gonna start doing what I want to do as a solo artist.

Now I don’t know what has kept Roth so quiet since rejoining the band in 2006. If you look back aside from the tour in 07/08 Roth was pretty much off the radar and never did interviews regarding Van Halen. 2009,2010 and 2011 go by and still not a peep from him. Something was keeping him from speaking up. It could have just been that he knew if he did there was no chance of another album and successful tour with VH or he had some sort of gag order in a contract. Really, who knows but I think now he feels he’s been quiet long enough. If indeed Van Halen’s future rides on what Wolfgang wants to do than that has to in some way piss him off and that is probably where the talk about wanting to bring back Mike for a reunion comes from.

As a fan I am torn on the state of my favorite band. On the one hand after reading this interview it seems Ed just doesn’t really want to work with Roth and that all those videos of Ed, Al and Dave doing interviews was just for show. On the other hand they reunited with Roth, put out one last Kick Ass Album and Tour and went out on a high note.

Gilligan:
So are there set Tokyo dates?That’s the part that surprised me.

Fri 06/21/13 – Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Dome
Mon 06/24/13 – Osaka, Japan – Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium
Wed 06/26/13 – Osaka, Japan – Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium
http://udo.jp/Artists/VanHalen/index.html

Gilligan:
Wow!That’s news to me.

Those are the make-up dates for the postponed 2012 Japan shows. Those replacement dates were announced back in mid-November, a couple of weeks before the original Japan shows were to take place.

ron: Fri 06/21/13 – Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo DomeMon 06/24/13 – Osaka, Japan – Osaka Municipal Central GymnasiumWed 06/26/13 – Osaka, Japan – Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasiumhttp://udo.jp/Artists/VanHalen/index.html

My bet is that the Japan dates get canx. I can’t see them playing 3 make up dates….I predict they will stay in hibernation. Not even comfortable saying that there will be festival dates.

It’s fun to have something to talk about again!

I have to agree with this guy at links

Yeah, I like DLR too, very much. But I would not say that was a brilliant interview at all.

He talks about being part of a team, but then referances the brilliant vocals of Micheal Anthony, who is a star of the old team. Which infers that the new team lineup falls short. Any way you slice it, there is an obvious yearning for the old team, which sort of puts down the new bass player, Wolfie. Who of course is the boss’s son. I just don’t see how that could be seen as a smart brilliant move on Dave’s part right now.

What the fuck he is talking about Hawaii for I have no idea. Isn’t that where Sammy lives.

I speculate they may of possibly had a contract that may need to be renewed or something. Perhaps Eddie is taking his time thinking about what he wants to do before commiting to anything.

I speculate the only involvement Alex had with the new Jump remix was in regards to approving copyright permission. Why would a drummer want to have his music used in a style that emphasises drum machines is beyond me.

Dave was right about there being a lot of Shakesphere going on. I sense there is something rotten in Denmark.

Anyhow, they will most certainly have to rehearse again before the 3 shows in Japan.