The Tapes Archive

Alex Van Halen:  Hello, may I speak to Steve, please?

Steve Newton: Yeah, that’s me.

Alex Van Halen:  Steve, this is Alex.

Steve Newton: Hey Alex, how you doing?

Alex Van Halen:  Good, how you doing?

Steve Newton: I’m pretty good. Where are you calling from?

Alex Van Halen:  I’m calling from Boston.

Steve Newton: Oh, you playing there tonight?

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah.

Steve Newton: Excellent.

Alex Van Halen:  Played here last night and figured we’d do two.

Steve Newton: Alright. Yeah, I’ve been a fan band since day one, so it’s nice to be able to finally have an interview.

Alex Van Halen:  Uh huh, great.

Steve Newton: I’d like to start a little bit in the early days, Alex, and work up to the present day and the new album. First off, I was wondering what are your earliest memories of playing with your brother, Eddie? Were you guys really young when you started jamming?

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah, you know, I think music is one of those things that it’s in your blood. I think even before we played an instrument we were drawn to the marches that my dadAlex Van Halen:  My dad was in the Air Force band. He would bring the records home. Part of the reason he was in the Air Force band is because he was a jazz player and he couldn’t find work in Holland. You know, we lived in Holland and there was no place to find work. You know, the big band era was over, and small jazz bands just couldn’t make a living to support a family of four. He went into the Air Force and joined the Air Force Band to bring home those records. And Ed and I would sit there and march around the table just for hours on end, you know, and we kinda realized that music can be hypnotic. It can do all kinds of things to you, you know. It can change your perspective on time and all that. That’s how Ed and I, I think, I mean that’s what I can remember. We started playing piano when we were six years old and the idea was, I think my mom had this crazy idea, that we should be concert pianists. So we did that for about 10 years. And of course in between, by the time I was about 11, I picked up the guitar and Ed had a drum set. And after about a week or two we decided to change. I didn’t care for the guitar and Ed didn’t care for the drums. So that was that.

Steve Newton: Yeah. After the military, what sort of bands did you guys first try to emulate?

Alex Van Halen:  The first one was bands like the Ventures. Anything that you could play with guitar and drums. We didn’t have a bass player at the time. We’d kind of be a novelty act. My dad was, he would play clubs and we would just be kinda like a half an hour intermission, you know, it was great.

Steve Newton: Who were your personal drum gods back then?

Alex Van Halen:  I really latched onto Ginger Baker and of course, well, I got someAlex Van Halen:  I think I’m having a brain fart here. John Bonham, Keith Moon. I was really into stylistic people. People who had a unique style that you could hear no matter what they did, is you could instantly recognize the way they played. Of course, you know, technique was always important, but I preferred Louie Bellson to Buddy Rich. That was my personal preference. I preferred Philly Joe Jones to some of the other people. But, you know, I think I always had an open mind. I mean, my dad used to tell me, you should listen to everybody, ’cause you can always learn something. But my first, the one I reallyAlex Van Halen:  Whose style and the feel and how he fit in with the band, who I liked, was Ginger Baker. He made music on his drums. You know, up until then, I think drums were more or less just there to keep time.

Steve Newton: Yeah.

Alex Van Halen:  And it didn’t really matter who the hell was back there.

Steve Newton: Did you take any drum lessons yourself? Or did you just start banging away?

Alex Van Halen:  I took a couple lessons here and there, but I think for me it was just important to be in the middle of the energy, of playing music in front of people. And by the time I was 13, I was playing full –  time with my dad’s jazz band in clubs around the LA area. And it taught me firsthand, you know, the power of music. You see people coming in, in a certain state of mind, you know, and by the time the evening’s over everything’s changed. You know, I’m sure that the alcohol has something to do with it as well, but nonetheless, you know, there’s the whole atmosphere of being in a room and the energy level changing from one to another. It was very fascinating and that to me is what music was all about. It’s not just the hit songs and the production and all that stuff. You know, it’s really the the essence of what music is about. It’s really a one one thing, you know, because when you’re playing for whether it’s 10 people or whether you’re playing for a million people, you’re only playing for one person at a time. You know, and I learned that early on.

Steve Newton: Was Eddie part of your dad’s jazz band?

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah, he came in from time to time, he played bass. ‘Cause the core changes were too different from rock and roll. And Ed was just, he was more into the rock and roll thing, but, you know to make a few bucks, come on, Ed, play bass.

Steve Newton: When did you first figure out that Eddie had the makings of a guitar legend?

Alex Van Halen:  It wasn’t difficult. You know, I had taken the flamenco lessons and all that and I could play, I could read and all that, but there was no connection between me and the instrument. To me, it was just a piece of wood with metal strings and if you put your fingers on it this way it makes this kind of sound. And if you put ’em this way it makes this kind of a chord. But when Ed picked it up, just instantly, I mean he just connected with it. It was as if it was meant to be there all along, you know, not only was he articulate and there was feeling. You know, it’s something you have to sense when you’re there, but trying my best to describe it in words. But, you know, a blind man could see it.

Steve Newton: I still remember the first time I heard Van Halen, when the first album came out, I was a child of the seventies. Did you guys expect to make such a huge impression on the rock and roll masses?

Alex Van Halen:  I don’t know, it’s difficult to say, because while we were playing, the two gauges that you have to go by, on whether what you do is any good, is the fact, number one, do you like it? Do you like it? Are you proud of what you did? And number two, of course, it’s easy, is do the people who you’re playing this for, like it? You know, it doesn’t take a genius either in that aspect. And, you know, we played seven nights a week all over the LA club scene. And LA is, you know, it’s a very spread out area. Los Angeles is not just the beach, it’s not the California that people think it is. There are a lot of industrial areas, there are a lot of Hispanic areas. There’s just all kinds of different places to play. And we would go within about a hundred mile radius of LA, play that area, that covers a lot of ground. So there was never a problem of finding a place to play. And we just found that no matter where we went, you know, there were people who liked what we did. So we got to the point where we decided we should just promote our own shows. We would rent a building that would fit about 5,000 people and, you know, out of our pocket we’d get some PA, and some lighting, and we’d pack the place. And you know, this was in lieu of trying to approach record companies and forcing a tape down their throat. Because, you know, rarely does that work. You know, I’ve seen how many tapes these people receive and it doesn’t work.

Steve Newton: Yeah.

Alex Van Halen:  You’re better off trying to win the lottery, you know, and also at that time, punk rock was huge. And record companies didn’t want to have anything to do with the kinda music that we were making. We figured, well, you know, if we just raise a stink our own way and they can’t help but notice. We’re very lucky, you know, Ted Templeman and Mo Ostin from Warner Brothers came in and they saw us one night. We were playing somewhere in Hollywood. The name of the club was The Starwood. It’s not there anymore. We were playing there on the 99 cent beer night. It was a rainy Tuesday evening and you know, you can get in and all the beer you can drink for 99 cents. And still there were only like 15 people in the joint. Yeah, Hollywood was not our niche, but nonetheless you know, a musician, you play, it doesn’t matter, you go for it. It happened to be that Mo Austin and Ted Templeman were there. From there on, as they say, the rest was history.

Steve Newton: I was wondering what your favorite album of the David Lee Roth period was, if you had one from then?

Alex Van Halen:  I think all of them, I can tell you the least favorite one really was Diver Down. And that’s only because there started to be a lot of conflict within the band. Roth had one idea, he wanted to do cover songs, because he wanted a hit single. And we wanted to play our music. I mean, Ed had so many songs that were just, you know, they’re incredible. And, you know, I guess out of what you would call mutual respect, we decided, well, if that’s really what you wanna do, then we’ll do that. But, you know, you can’t undo the past. It doesn’t really matter. All I know is that we did what we felt was the right thing to do. We put in 110%. Ed wrote, you know, Ed has always written the music. I don’t dissect it into the Roth era and then the Sammy eraAlex Van Halen:

Steve Newton: Yeah.

Alex Van Halen:  I really don’t.

Steve Newton: Uh huh.

Alex Van Halen:  Because the essence and the core and the heart of this band is still the same. And I think when Sammy joined it, it finally became complete, as opposed to being Roth and a band, or that’s how he saw it anyway. But I think when Sammy, it finally became complete. So, it just, I can’t describe what kind of energy there is, when you have four people making music, even though everybody has a different way of doing things, when it all comes together, that everybody’s happy with it. Anybody who’s in the band knows that feeling. That’s part of the reason why we do these things. You know?

Steve Newton: Were you aware of Sammy Hagar ever since the debut Montrose album?

Alex Van Halen:  Oh yeah. We used to play his stuff in the clubs.

Steve Newton: Oh really?

Alex Van Halen:  Oh yeah, yeah. Rock Candy, what was the other one? Make It Last. Oh yeah

Steve Newton: It’s a classic album, that one. And did you follow his solo career after he left?

Alex Van Halen:  No, no. We ran into him a couple times, you know, when you do those summer stadium things. They have like 150 bands on, you know. Yeah, we met in the stadiums once in a while. You know, it’s funny was before we went in the studio to record our first record, the powers that be, if you will, the people behind the scenes really wanted to have Sammy come in and sing with the band. But it didn’t work out because Sammy already was established, and there is a business side to record companies. And I guess they felt let’s not take a shot on this thing because this Van Halen band hasn’t been proven and let’s not fuck with it.

Steve Newton: I didn’t know that.

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah, well…

Steve Newton: That’s interesting.

Alex Van Halen:  So I’m giving you a little dirt.

Steve Newton: Thanks, man. How would say the band evolved musically since Sammy joined since 5150?

Alex Van Halen:  I don’t think it’s a conscious thing. I think the idea as a musician is you always, you hope to grow because if you don’t, if you’re always looking back and trying to repeat what you did, it just kind of becomes like a smaller and smaller circle, you know, a smaller and smaller spiral. Before you know it, there’s nothing left. I think, again, fortunately there are four different people in the band and we all have different tastes, and different personas, you know, and it shows through our instrument. And that always keeps it fresh. I mean, music is in part is the way that we as a band interpret what’s going on around us. You know whether it’s musically and or lyrically. So the idea, let’s face it, there is no nothing new under the sun, really. If you wanna stop and think about it, you’re not gonna reinvent an E chord. We’re still using the same basic tools that everybody else does, which is 12 notes in the scale, that’s counting all of ’em, you know. So I’ve heard people say there’s eight, well, there’s 12. One for each sign of the Zodiac. Something like that.

Steve Newton: A lot Vancouverites are probably wondering how you came to work with Vancouver’s, Bruce Fairbairn, Alex?

Alex Van Halen:  After we came back, let’s see, well after “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” because we’re one of the few bands I think that actually do read fan mail.

Steve Newton: Mm hm.

Alex Van Halen:  So many people have been asking for a live record. It took us a while to put a live record together and to just make a long story short, it was about a two and a half year tour from the release of “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” until we came back in the studio. And we didn’t want to make “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” part two. You know, we were very concerned that if Andy was involved that we would have that again. And besides that, Andy was busy. So, you know, we don’t wanna produce ourselves. We were involved with it, but to take the actual helm, it’s a big mistake. You know, you need a fifth member of the band in that term, in that respect. Because otherwise it would take forever. There’s gonna be nobody to really, to make decisions in certain areas, because most of ’em are creative decisions. And in creativity there’s no right and wrong. There’s just opinion. Well, I have an opinion, and if you want my opinion, I’ll give it to you. You know. You know what I mean? I mean, the four of us are like that. I mean, you got four people sitting there beating the shit out of each other. And I’m kind of over, you know, over expressing it. So we talked to about five or six different, quote unquote, producers. I think it’s important to keep in mind, the term producer is kind of a vagueAlex Van Halen:  Can mean anywhere from a babysitter, to a coAlex Van Halen: writer, to a guy who plays almost all the instruments, to psychiatrist. You know, it’s so vague, like I said.

Steve Newton: How’d you pick Bruce?

Alex Van Halen:  Well, after talking to about five or six different people, Bruce, you know, when he first walked in the room, we didn’t really discuss much of anything. One of the first things he asked is, well, let’s see the music. And he said, shit, what a novel idea. You know, all these other people who came in had given us a list of their credits, and da da da and how they thought of the old records. And, oh yeah, I love this song. You know, again, that’s, in concept, you keep hammering on the old stuff all you’re gonna do is repeat it. We don’t wanna repeat it, you know, at least not on purpose, you know, at least not consciously. So anyway, so yeah, after Bruce said that, we said, well, shit, let’s go. As it turned out, for a second, you know the bottom line is you really have to go by instinct. You have to go by your heart. When people come to talk to you about wanting to produce the record, you know, the reality of it is, it is part a sales pitch. But there’s something about Bruce, he’s just a very warm human being. And of course, later on we found out, he is, he’s an incredible human being. You know, way beyond just his musical and production capability.

Steve Newton: Mm hm.

Alex Van Halen:  He’s an incredible guy.

Steve Newton: Just about three more questions for you, Alex. I was wondering how much input you have personally in the writing of the tunes?

Alex Van Halen:  Well, that depends. Some songs are just little spurts of ideas that Ed just will throw out. See, we spend a lot of time, just dicking around in the studio. And some of the best times are when Ed isn’t even thinking and he’s just noodling around with it. And if I throw some kind of a drum thing to it, it just starts a fire, so to speak. It kind of spreads, but I don’t actually consciously sit down with a guitar and say, okay, here check this out, do this, do that. Because I don’t play guitar. The only song I ever did haveAlex Van Halen:  It was a keyboard tune called “Feels So Good.” I just had that little piece on the keyboard. But no, you know, it’s again, it’s a chemistry and electricity that happens. One thing just fires up something else. There’s a reason why certain people work well together and others don’t. It’s not, for us, it’s not a business. The reason you go in the studio is not to make a record. The reason is to go make music, and then while you’re making it, it’s gonna be recorded. Hey, and then at the end, okay, then it’s gonna be put together in a record.

Steve Newton: Mm hm.

Alex Van Halen:  You know, this may sound strange, but philosophically it’s a very different way of looking at it. That way you’re not sitting there going, well we have 15 more days, we need two tunes and then we have our record. You know, that to me is ridiculous.

Steve Newton: Of course.

Alex Van Halen:  Sometimes it can turn on you because “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” took a year to record. But that’s just the way it was.

Steve Newton:  It’s been almost two decades now for the band. And I was wondering how much longer do you expect Van Halen to continue rocking?

Alex Van Halen:  Well, like I said, I ain’t gonna look back. So the two decades really doesn’t mean much of anything.

Steve Newton: Yeah, right.

Alex Van Halen:  I know today we’re gonna play, and with today we’re gonna play really good, because last night we played great. So we better play better than that tonight.

Steve Newton: How old are you now, Alex?

Alex Van Halen:  Somewhere between 30 and 150. Let’s put it this way, I’m a hell of a lot younger than Mick.

Steve Newton: Just to finish off, Alex, I’m just wondering what’s the best thing about being in Van Halen?

Alex Van Halen:  I think the people we play for, I really do. We’ve said before, that we’re playing for 10,000 of our closest friends and all that, you know. But I think it’s come to the point where it really is like that. We’ve done this thing with USA Harvest, where we collect food, we ask the audience to bring some food. Our kudos go out to the audience because they’re the ones who are doing it. We’re just the catalyst. But so far we’ve collected over 850,000 pounds of food. But it just goes right back into the individual city. I think Ray mightAlex Van Halen:  do you know Ray?

Steve Newton: No

Alex Van Halen:  Our manager?

Steve Newton: No, I don’t, no.

Alex Van Halen:  Oh, fellow Canadian.

Steve Newton: Oh really?

Alex Van Halen:  He manages Rush.

Steve Newton: Oh, Rush? Right, okay.

Alex Van Halen:  I think he’s trying to do something, I don’t know if the Harvest thing is in Canada, but anyway, it’s one of those periphery things, you know, that had we not been in this position we would’ve never been able to be part of it. And you know, there is no, who did this, who did that. The fact is, all the volunteers and all these people who make this project work are feeding people. We’ve fed over about a million and a half people so far. Yeah.

Steve Newton: That’s great. Well, I’m looking forward to seeing you guys when you come up to Vancouver here on September 13th.

Alex Van Halen:  I’m looking forward to being there.

Steve Newton: Yeah

Alex Van Halen:  I hope it’s sunny.

Steve Newton: I think it will be.

Alex Van Halen:  Well call the man upstairs, say, excuse me, but can you spare a sunny day on theAlex Van Halen:

Steve Newton: Yeah. I’ll see what I can do, Alex.

Alex Van Halen:  Okay.

Steve Newton: I really appreciate you giving me a really good interview.

Alex Van Halen:  All right, Steve, did youAlex Van Halen:  I forgot, I should have asked you was this on tape or you just jotting this down?

Steve Newton: No, I’m taping.

Alex Van Halen:  Oh.

Steve Newton:  I guess I should have let you know first, eh?

Alex Van Halen:  Well, I justAlex Van Halen:

Steve Newton: Sneaky guy.

Alex Van Halen:  I mean, I’m just fucking yakking away here, and then just before you know, you’ve just got two notes.

Steve Newton:  Well I appreciate it, man. It’s gonna be a good story. Thanks a lot, Alex.

Alex Van Halen:  Remember the name Scotty Ross, you know, and if you’re gonna come to the gate, just holler.

Steve Newton:  I’ll be there for sure. I’m doing the review.

Alex Van Halen:  Okay, well, he’ll set you up with whatever you need.

Steve Newton:  Scotty Ross, eh?

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah.

Steve Newton: How do I get ahold of him?

Alex Van Halen:  How?

Steve Newton:  Yeah.

Alex Van Halen:  Through production, to the building.

Steve Newton: Oh, okay, all righty.

Alex Van Halen:  You know, whatever, justAlex Van Halen:  If you happen to walk down the street anywhere near the facility and say, where’s Scotty Ross? They’ll help you.

Steve Newton: Oh, thanks Alex.

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah, he’s the everything.

Steve Newton:  Sounds good, maybe get back and have a beer with you or something?

Alex Van Halen:  Yeah, okay.

Steve Newton: Thanks Alex.

Alex Van Halen:  Alright.

Steve Newton:  Have a good gig tonight and see you later.

Alex Van Halen:  Okay, thanks.

Steve Newton: Okay, bye.

Alex Van Halen:  Bye.