David Lee Roth interviews Eddie and Alex Van Halen (peacefully)
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In the most explicit effort so far to convey a sense that Van Halen’s David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen bear no ill feelings toward one another despite the long separation and the verbal tussles over the years, the three sat down together for a conversation in a recently released video clip.
Roth plays the part of interviewer to the brothers -- though he can’t help but talk over them from time to time, being Diamond Dave, after all. They chat about their early years growing up in Holland before migrating to Pasadena, their early experiences with music, and how they came to their respective instruments.
On the video, Eddie recalls his time spent learning the piano as a tyke, then switching to drums, then, finally, to guitar. ‘I think it had a big impact on everything,’ Eddie says of the experiences, ‘because from piano I went to drums, and the percussiveness of piano is very drum-like.’
‘Your playing on the guitar is very drum-like, as well,’ adds Roth. ‘That chunk chunk chunk chunk sound is inherent in the style.’
Drummer Alex -- Eddie’s older brother -- looks the most guarded throughout, his arms crossed tightly, letting Eddie do most of the conversing with Roth. ‘The piano was the foundation of everything,’ Alex aid before acknowledging that he didn’t like playing the instrument.
Van Halen, which performed a ‘friends and family’ show at the Forum on Wednesday night with openers Kool & the Gang, kicks off its North American tour Feb. 18 in Louisville, Ky. The band’s reunion album, ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ was released by Interscope Records on Tuesday, and is expected to bow at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200.
Below, watch Part 1 of what looks to be an ongoing series.
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-- Randall Roberts
Photo (from left): Eddie and Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth. Credit: YouTube screen grab courtesy of Interscope Records.
