What Was Old Is New Again

My love affair with Van Halen dates back many years.  I would like to say I have been a fan since their first album came out in 1978, but I was only 6 years old at the time and my parents’ favorite song was Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, so it’s not like they would’ve picked up a copy for themselves.

The first release that I think I was aware of was 1984, which came out when I was in 6th grade. I think I knew who Eddie Van Halen was, but only because he was married to Valerie Bertinelli. Even after 1984 came out, I was only a casual fan. I didn’t care about the back catalog.

That all changed when David Lee Roth quit and, later, when Sammy Hagar was named the lead singer.  Van Halen was big news and I knew Sammy Hagar from “I Can’t Drive 55” and I was officially hooked. I became obsessed and I’m pretty sure I bought 5150 on the day it was released. It was in 9th grade when I finally got around to completing my Van Halen catalog. In 9th grade, there was a new kid that started at our school and we sat together in Biology class. I think he heard me mention Diver Down and he said that he had that album. We bonded over Van Halen and are still great friends today.

Van Halen means a lot to me. I love all types of music, but there’s something different for me about hearing Van Halen music. I can feel my mood change and a wave of joy washes over me. I’m not sure what it is about the music that affects me that way. While I enjoy the David Lee Roth era better, I get the same feeling for Sammy Hagar era Van Halen, too. I’ll have to listen to Van Halen 3 again to see if Gary Cherone gives me the same feeling, but probably not. (Sorry Gary, however, I am a HUGE Extreme fan.)

In the early to mid-nineties, I was part of a Van Halen internet mailing list that Valerie Bertinelli lurked, and occasionally chimed in, on. I remember one day, Valerie Bertinelli posted this (or something very similar) to the mailing list: “You guys are not going to believe what’s going on here.” Shortly after, news broke of DLR’s return. When David Lee Roth recorded the two tracks for the Greatest Hits album in 1996, I was thrilled. I think the two songs, “Me Wise Magic” and “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” are awesome and I don’t know why most fans aren’t that crazy about them. While I was sad that Sammy Hagar was gone, getting DLR back was a major coup and I couldn’t wait for a new album and tour, since I had never seen Van Halen with David Lee Roth.

But, as we know, David Lee Roth got screwed over (or there was just a pretty severe misunderstanding) and Gary Cherone came in as the new lead singer. I wanted to see them in concert with Gary because I knew they were playing a lot of old stuff (i.e., deep cuts) live. I had seen VH with Sammy about 4 times and, to be honest, I got kind of bored with seeing them because they always played the same DLR-era songs and they didn’t really mix up the set list much with Sammy-era songs (i.e., stuck to the hits).

When David Lee Roth got back together with the band in 2007, I was a bit skeptical. I didn’t think it would last. I did buy tickets to see them, but the date was changed 2 times due to Eddie’s health and I just ended up selling the tickets. Also, while I was bummed that Michael Anthony wasn’t asked back, I was encouraged that, because of his age, Wolfgang would be able to infuse a new energy into the band. Based on the song selection for the tour — reportedly picked by Wolfgang — I was right. After the tour ended in 2008, not much Van Halen news came out. They kind of disappeared off the map.

Honestly, I don’t really care to see Van Halen live. I’ve listened to all of those songs a million times and the thrill of seeing them played in front of me is not as appealing to me as it once was. I just desperately wanted new music. I craved it. When Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony formed Chickenfoot, I thought it was closest thing to new Van Halen music that I was ever going to get. It was good and I liked it and it provided a similar mood altering effect on me, but it wasn’t Van Halen.

In 2011, news reports started circulating of Van Halen recording a new album with David Lee Roth. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I didn’t know whether to be wary or excited. I chose to remain a bit guarded, so that I wouldn’t be disappointed if it didn’t pan out. The album was completed last fall, but there was no release date in sight. Then, they signed to Interscope and I was ready for the marketing onslaught. (What are the chances of David Lee Roth being a mentor on American Idol this year? I think pretty high and I wonder if that’s one of the reasons they signed to Interscope.)

I heard reports that a lot of the material was based on demos they did prior to their first album. That really got me interested because I have a lot of those demos and there are some really amazing songs on there that have never seen the light of day.

In January, they finally released the first single, “Tattoo”. Did I like the song? Yes. Was it what I was expecting? Not even close.

Tattoo wasn’t very heavy and had kind of a pop feel to it. I literally (and I do mean “literally” in the truest sense) listened to the song over 100 times that week. I didn’t really ever get sick of the song, so that was a good sign. None of my friends (and I mean none of my friends liked it). While I enjoyed the song, if the rest of the album sounded like this, I would be disappointed. I wanted tunes that hit you over the head with Eddie’s guitar and had the typical David Lee Roth swagger.

In the weeks leading up to the release of the new album (A Different Kind of Truth — great album title), Van Halen started releasing 90 second previews of each song. With the sample of China Town, I finally heard what I was hoping for. Following China Town, almost all of the new songs previewed had a hard and heavy feel. Some riffs I recognized immediately from the old demos. For other riffs, I had to read through the comments on the Van Halen News Desk for someone to fill me in.

When I first heard about them using old demos as the basis for these songs, I was worried that Eddie lost his creativity and ability to write new songs. However, there are plenty of songs on A Different Kind of Truth that are brand new (to me, at least) that are fantastic.

I am not going to give a track-by-track review of the album, although I will say that I think Tattoo is the outlier and probably should’ve been left off the album. Everything else is stellar. There are two songs that I didn’t like when I heard the previews, but enjoy much more now that I have heard the whole album:  “Blood and Fire” and “Stay Frosty”.

Rather than do a track-by-track review, I will list the songs that are based on old demos and provide links to versions of the originals on YouTube. You can also listen to previews of the new songs on iTunes.

New Song	Original Version
Tattoo	Down In Flames
She’s The Woman	She’s The Woman
You and Your Blues	N/A
China Town	N/A
Blood and Fire	Ripley Instrumental from the movie The Wild Life
Bullethead	Bullethead
As Is	Two Burritos and a Root Beer Float from Eddie’s appearance on Two and a Half Men
Honeybabysweetiedoll	N/A
The Trouble With Never	N/A
Outta Space	Let’s Get Rockin’
Stay Frosty	N/A
Big River	Big Trouble
Beats Workin’	Put Out The Lights

I’m kind of hoping that they release a box set or something, so that clean versions of the old demos are released. As good as the songs on the new album are, a couple of the original songs are better than the new incarnations.

Because they have new matieral to play in concert, I did decide to go see them live and I’m looking forward to it. Especially because Eddie seems healthier than he’s been in years (or even decades?). I’m looking forward to an amazing show. Since they are playing in Atlantic City on a Saturday night, my wife and I are going to make a weekend out of it. Maybe I’ll run into David Lee Roth roaming around the Borgata.

Truly, I am just ecstatic that Van Halen is back in full force. It’d be great if they could put out a new album every year like they did from Van Halen I through 1984, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore. I just hope that A Different Kind of Truth is just the beginning and not their swan song. Stay Frosty.

Some Central American Country

The other day, we were all in the car and Panama comes on the radio. My daughter, who prefers music of the top 40 variety (or lack thereof), asked me to change the station. I said, “Umm…this is Van Halen, I am not changing it.”

Before the singing starts, my wife says, “This is, ‘Top of the World’, right?”

In mock horror (because she should know the difference between Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth by now), I reply, “No!”

“Oh right…I know what this is”, she says and she starts humming the song to herself and then she sings what she thinks the name of the song is (I swear I am not making this up): “GUATAMALA”

She quickly corrected herself, but I was in tears I was laughing so hard.

My Kind of Music

If I were to describe my favorite kind of music, I would always say that Van Halen is my favorite kind of music. But, aren’t they a band that plays music? Are they a kind of music? For me, Van Halen is and they are a genre unto themselves.

While I am a fan of the entire VH catalog, I do prefer Van Halen with David Lee Roth over Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Sammy Hagar because I’ve really enjoyed his solo material — certainly better than David Lee Roth’s solo material.

Enter Chickenfoot. This band is made up of 2 parts Van Halen, 1 part Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 1 part legendary guitarist.  They’ve recently released two songs from their upcoming album (Soap on a Rope and Down the Drain) on Facebook. This is what VH with Sammy should’ve sounded like. This music is like a revelation to me. No current rock band sounds like this. I am really looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.

Chickenfoot is my kind of music.

From a Recent Interview with EVH

As a long-suffering Van Halen fan, I’ve often expressed that I’d rather hear new music than see them in concert playing the same ol’, same ol’. When they reunited with David Lee Roth, they basically said that they are not just getting together for the tour and they expect to put out new material. Based on this excerpt from a recent Rolling Stone Interview with Eddie Van Halen, I’m not convinced we’ll hear new music anytime soon. I’ve highlighted the statements that give me cause for concern.

Q: You’ve been writing new music for a while?
A: Yeah, I haven’t written much lately because we’ve been on tour. I got
thousands of tapes laying around, but one of these years I’ve got to go
through ‘em, see what lurks. I think a lot of them will surprise you,
everything from mellow stuff to kind of weird shit. I’m always
experimenting with sounds.

Q: Are you going to record?
A: Yeah. We’ll cross that bridge when this tour is over.

Q: How would you imagine the next few years for Van Halen?
A: I don’t really make plans. I don’t know. This tour takes us to June
2nd. We’ll probably take a little break and then sit down and discuss what
we want to do. But it’s always based around music.

They may be able to tour together in peace, but I’m not convinced Eddie and DLR can coexist in the studio. I feel like Roth is more of an impatient, “let’s get it done” kind of guy, while Eddie is a perfectionist/control freak. Who knows? With Eddie’s new found sobriety and DLR’s new found maturity (I think I just saw a flying pig), maybe it will happen sooner than later.

And the Cradle Will Rock…

So, I sold my Van Halen tickets and opted to play poker instead. I’m glad I did because I won! It was a smaller than normal game with only 10 people and I walked away with about $130 profit. I don’t think I’ve cashed in a home tourney in about 6 months, so I was really happy to take it down. When we were three-handed, I was short stacked and was able to suck out on two hands (J7 vs. AK and A9 vs. KK) against the same guy. I was chip leader when it got down to heads up. I played pretty aggressively heads up and won.

My wife and I were out talking to a neighbor on Saturday night. It turns out she took her 18 year old son and his friend to the Van Halen concert. Her son is a big classic rock fan. The sad thing is that I don’t consider any of his favorite bands classic rock. David Lee Roth was out of Van Halen for 5 years before this kid was even born! My neighbor couldn’t stop raving about the concert. My wife kept jokingly telling her to say bad things about the show so I wouldn’t feel so bad. It didn’t work.

Winning at poker made me feel better about missing Van Halen, but hearing about my neighbor’s experience made me jealous. Hmm…maybe if Van Halen comes back around, I’ll go with my neighbor’s son.

My Back's Against the Record Machine

Can’t you see what I mean?

The re-rescheduled Van Halen concert is this Thursday. When it was cancelled the 2nd time, I kind of figured that the whole tour would get canceled and I completely forgot about the show…until last week.

I remember when the concert was originally announced. I was so excited. I regretted not going when they came to Washington, DC and was thrilled that they’d be in Baltimore because:

1. Baltimore is much easier to get to than DC.
2. A neighbor of my in-laws works at the venue and can get me good seats (not free).

The original plan was for me to go with my wife. I didn’t even bother trying to buy tickets from Ticketmaster because I was sure that my in-laws’ neighbor would come through, which he did. When he told me how much I owed him, I was floored. For two tickets, the total was $280 ($125 + taxes and fees per ticket). I was in a state of shock and I instantly had buyer’s remorse.

My wife decided that she wouldn’t go because of the cost. I found a buddy to go with me. He was free for the original date. He was free for the first rescheduled date. He is NOT free for the re-rescheduled date. So, I started the task of finding another friend to go with me. Fifteen to twenty years ago, this would have been no problem at all. In 2008, however, it’s a big problem. I couldn’t find anyone who could go or wanted to spend the money.

I’m actually very conflicted. There’s a part of me that really wants to go and then there is the rest of me — the guy that can’t believe he spent so much money on Van Halen tickets. I put the tickets on craigslist this morning. I offered face value, so I’m already out $30.

I got a response a couple of hours later. The guy wanted $200 for them. I had a nibble and I didn’t want to scare him off, but $200 is too low. I explained to him that I was already out $30 and the seats were great. I counter-offered for $220. He accepted. I hope he wouldn’t have paid full price.

It is almost inevitable that there will be a live album and/or DVD, so I’ll have to be content with that. I think this is going to cause me to lose sleep at night. I’ve seen VH 5 times, but never with David Lee Roth. The reunion with Roth (even though Michael Anthony was excluded) is practically a Van Halen fan’s dream come true. I hope I don’t regret this.

The silver lining: Since I’m not going to the Van Halen concert, I’ll be able to play poker at a co-worker’s house. I hope I can win some money to make up for my loss.

Van Halen Postponed Again

Van Halen decided to take a week off because of Eddie’s mystery illness and now they’ve decided to sit for a month. As of now, the tour will resume on April 19th. Originally, I was supposed to see them on March 9th. That was rescheduled for April 15th. Now, I have no idea when the concert will take place.

Here’s the story on E! Online.

Van Halen: Rescheduled

I did get tickets to see Van Halen in Baltimore for Sunday, March 9th. On my way to work yesterday, I heard a report on the radio that there was a rumor that the remainder of the tour was going to be cancelled. The unnamed sources cited internal band conflicts, which can only mean DLR vs. Eddie, and alluded to Eddie falling off the wagon. So far, this rumor seems to be false.

What is happening? Unfortunately, the Baltimore show (along with 3 other dates) was rescheduled from March 9th to April 15th. There does seem to be a problem with Eddie. According to Van Halen’s official website:

According to Eddie Van Halen’s physician, he is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures.

Sounds kind of ominous. Eddie has had his share of medical problems over the years, including drug addiction, hip problems, and tongue cancer.

There’s a part of me that wishes that the rest of the tour is cancelled. For one, I’ll save a lot of money. I bought the tickets without really considering how much they cost. I’m paying about 40% more than I would have liked. Also, if there is something wrong with Eddie, I don’t want to see a show where he’s not at his best.

My preference would be for the rest of the tour to be canceled, have Eddie rest up and get better, and have a new Van Halen album released spring 2009 with an accompanying summer tour. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I just want to hear new material. I don’t want to think of the Van Halen catalog as complete.

Push Come to Shove

It looks like Van Halen is coming back to the area, so I’ll have another chance to see them. They are coming to the 1st Mariner Arena (formerly known as the Baltimore Arena) on March 9th. This is good news for two reasons:

1. The venue is relatively small and there are really no bad seats. I wonder if they’ll be able to use their full stage, since it looked huge in the pictures I have seen.
2. I know a guy who can get tickets. At least I assume he can. He was able to get us good seats for other events there. (“other events” = The Wiggles. I don’t quite feel so cool right now).

Here’s a great article about the experience of seeing Van Halen at the Staples Center in LA.

And The Verizon Center Will Rock…Without Me

Tonight is the Van Halen concert at the Verizon Center in DC and I’m not going. I’m feeling a bit depressed about it. I couldn’t even be impulsive and go if I wanted because it’s sold out. I think a buddy of mine is going. I hope he is so he can tell me all about it.