Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography (29 page)

Hoping to get this scene wrapped up, Ed stepped up and said simply, “And the winner is…” Dave jumped in with the envelope and said, “The winner is—ladies and gentlemen, a big blast of noisy, screaming, non-stop summit or plummet New York City-style applause for B-B-B-
Beck
!!!” Beck came up and was greeted by the band. Ed tried to pull Dave over to stand collectively with the band of to the left of the podium, but Dave drifted back to the right, directly into camera view behind Beck as he was giving his award thanks. Dave continued to dance to a few overexcited segments of the crowd, and clearly was a distraction during what should’ve been Beck’s moment, not Dave’s. Beck actually did thank Van Halen for presenting the award during his speech.

Ed stomped off stage and then they headed for the press tents. Dave was hesitant, “Guys, this is very, very dangerous. This is a minefield.” As per Dave, Ed replied, “Well, we just say baby steps, we take it step by step and see how it goes.” Dave came back, “By the way, I’m not real good with baby steps. My specialty is ass-kicking. Does that sound unreasonable?” With that, Dave said the brothers were furious.

Their first stop was with a friendly Kurt Loder. But the first real press tent was a semi-hostile environment. A question about Howard Stern came up, with whom Eddie reportedly had a bit of a feud. Dave jumped in and gave a classic word-packed response claiming Stern was the “spiritual glue of the entire United States.” Follow up to Edward: “You like Howard, Eddie?” Ed shrugged off the question and said, “I got no problem with the guy.” Dave said he was forcibly moved away from the mic and said that at one point one of them even put their hand over his mouth. The press hounded Edward about whether or not they were looking for another lead singer to which he said that was just rumor and gossip. Dave said the press corps shouted “Bullshit! Bullshit! It came from your manager and he’s standing right there.” Ray ducked out. “Now the Van Halens realize they are no longer in control,” said Dave.

When asked about Sammy, Edward said, “Sammy wanted to pursue a solo career.” When asked about Dave, a clearly frustrated Eddie said, “I asked him if he’d be interested in doing a couple of tunes for the greatest hits. And that’s what we’ve done. And the next step is video. When we’re done with that, we’ll see.”

Asked again, Ed, close to fuming, said, “We’ll do a couple of videos. Beyond that—if we do tour, we have to write and record a new album. So, we’re taking it, we’re taking it–” Ed was interrupted by the press corps and snapped back, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! We’re taking it step by step, because, you know—
twelve
years
. We’re gettin’ to know each other again.
Okay?!
” Ed added another hurdle to a reunion when he began telling the press that he was also scheduled to have hip replacement surgery that would take four to six months to recover from. According to Dave, the vibrating press room just went dead. Dave called it Ed’s “‘my tragic life’ routine.” Then again, Dave wasn’t living with excruciating pain.

Dave said that between press tents, he stopped Edward and said, “Now is not the time to start addressing a whole lot of personal issues. We created a scenario, we have invited a whole lot of people to celebrate and now is not the time to bring everybody down and start talking about your hip. It’s selfish.” Dave said Edward replied, “Hey, man, this is my fucking life. I’ll say whatever I want, all right? It’s my fucking hip, I need fucking hip surgery.” Dave retorted, “Fuck that, it’s bad manners. You’re also talking about things that I have no idea about. Don’t put me up in front of the international press and start talking about plans I have no idea even existed.” Edward said that Dave got up close and said, flat out, “Tonight is about
ME
!” Apparently, Dave’s emphasis on the “M” in “me” caused moisture—either spit or sweat—to fly into Ed’s face. Thus Eddie’s later claim that Dave spit in his face.

Dave said Ed lit into him: “Nobody ever fucking talks to me like that. You ever fucking talk to me like that, I’m going to kick you in your fucking balls. You fucking hear me?” At this same moment, pain from Al’s ruptured disk—and possibly the stress of the situation—caused him to collapse to the ground in the fetal position. Dave went over to check on Al only to be stopped by security. Al recovered after fifteen minutes or so.

In the limo on the way back to the hotel, Dave said, “Everyone’s pissed, silent.” Dave said Ed asked, “Say, Dave? Got one of those Cuban cigars?” Dave said they were in the other car, but went over and got one and handed it to Edward. Dave turned briefly and before he could turn back around, Eddie was already halfway to the hotel door, cigar in hand.

Dave went on to spend the evening at Alanis Morissette’s party via producer Glen Ballard, and even after everything that had transpired, Dave suggested they call Ed and invite him to the party. When Dave returned to his room, there was a message from Ed. “Hey, man, we’ve got to fucking talk. This is bullshit, man… . If you ever fucking talk to me like that again I’m going to kick your fucking balls. I run into you, you better be wearing a cup. I’m going to fucking kick you in your nuts.”

Two Open Letters

After all of this, three weeks later Warner Brothers approached Dave with a video treatment that he said had him performing on large screens while the three band members performed together in front of the screens. Dave said, “At that point, I said no, just no.” And that was it.

Dave penned an open letter to the media, but Ray tried to talk him out of it. “Don’t get excited, Dave, no need to go to the press,” Ray said. “Ed’s a little upset, but, hey, he hasn’t made any decisions. So don’t go to the press.”

On October 2, 1996, two competing press releases went out. From David Lee Roth:

To whom this may concern,

You’ve probably heard rumors that Van Halen and I will not be consummating our highly publicized reunion. And since neither Edward, Alex, nor Michael have corroborated or denied the gossip, I would like to go on record with the following: Eddie did it.

It’s no secret, nor am I ashamed of my unabashed rapture at the prospect of resurrecting the original Van Halen. A “couple of songs” was all I knew for sure when Edward and I got together three months ago to write them. At that time, the band tip-toed around me sprinkling sentiments like, “this isn’t sure thing, Dave; this doesn’t mean anything long term, Dave; we’re still auditioning other singers, Dave.” I was cool. I was happy. I was in the moment.

The next thing I knew, the four of us are doing surprise walk-on at the MTV Awards. I told Edward at that time that I didn’t think it was a good idea for the band to go to New York half-cocked; and that I didn’t want to imply by our presence that we were “back” if in fact it was just a quickie for old time’s sake.

Well ain’t hind sight always 20/20… Had I asked for something in writing, this wouldn’t have happened. Had I acknowledged the occasional icy grip in my stomach, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But I didn’t. Like I said—rapture. And, I love these guys. Do I trust them? That question never entered my mind.

Then, a series of events last week led me to discover at about the same time the press did, that the band, along with their manager, had already hired another lead singer, possibly as long as three months ago. I wonder how he felt the night of the MTV Awards. It certainly explains why on that night Edward looked as uncomfortable as a man who just signed a deal with The Devil. I can’t think of a reason Edward would lie to me about being considered for the lead singer when he had already hired someone, and then let me appear on MTV under the impression that there was great likelihood that Van Halen and I were reuniting. As I said, I told him in no uncertain terms that I didn’t want to do the MTV gig as a band unless we were in fact, a band.

And so I apologize to my fans and my supporters, and to MTV. I was an unwitting participant in this deception. It sickens me that the “reunion” as seen on MTV was nothing more than a publicity stunt. If I am guilty of anything, I’m guilty of denial. I wanted to believe it just as much as anyone else. Those who know me know that trickery was never my style.

Right back from camp Ed, Al, and Mike (and Ray) came the following:

We parted company with David Lee Roth 11 years ago for many reasons. In his open letter of October 2nd, we were reminded of some of them. The intention all along was to do two new songs with Dave for the Best Of Volume 1 package. He was never lead to believe anything but that. When the four of us were asked by MTV and Warner Bros. to present an award at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, the four of us agreed.

Dave was never an “unwitting participant”. We appeared in public just as we do before releasing any other Van Halen record. For the last two weeks we have been working with someone who we hope will be part of the future of Van Halen, although no final decision can be announced until contractual considerations have been resolved.

Van Halen will go forward and create the best possible music that we can.

Edward, Alex, Michael

Later that month, Ed and Al opened up on a radio interview with Tommy Nast. Edward admitted that he was extremely depressed about the situation with Dave because in his heart he truly wanted to believe that Dave had changed and could be related to as an adult. Eddie said: Some excerpts follow:

EVH: I’m gonna be 42 in January, I’m not a drunk 23-year-old who’s easy to manipulate. I can read through everyone’s BS now that I’m clean, you know? And I
really
wanted to believe that he had changed. And he had me fooled pretty good for a while, until MTV, when he basically spit in my face. And that was it as friends. And I was still willing to go on professionally and shoot a video with him,
’
cause Warner Brothers wanted it. But two minutes of public adulation at the MTV awards and boom! Right back to old pure D.R.

Alex noted that Dave had simply declined to do a video, even though the video treatment offered to Dave was essentially unacceptable. Alex also claimed that the memory of and legacy of the original Van Halen with David Lee Roth had been romanticized and had gotten to the point where the perceived history no longer matched reality. And Van Halen fans were about to get a healthy dose of reality—no Dave, no Sammy… the boat was headed into uncharted waters.

Just two days later, Eddie and Alex went on the Mark & Brian radio show on KLOS out of L.A. on October 4. Eddie stated, “Gary Cherone, yes, 99.999% he will be in—there are some contractual things that need to be ironed out. And if those things happen, then he’s in. But, contrary to any rumors or belief, I’d not even met Gary till after the MTV awards.” Ed also said that his hip replacement surgery was scheduled for December 16, 1996, but he would put it off.

On September 4, mine and my best friend Mike’s band had played a Saturday night show in Austin, and we missed the MTV broadcast. However, I had taped it and the whole band plus our friends raced back to my house after our gig to watch the footage. We feverishly fast-forwarded until we saw it. Upon the very first viewing, we were all exactly like the people in the audience. We were beyond floored. We were so adrenalized that we didn’t even notice the obvious discomfort. We just saw Ed and Dave together, saw them hug, loved Dave’s over-the-top comments. Then we started re-watching it repeatedly. Someone soon said, “Man, Eddie does
not
look like he wants to be there at all.” Then someone else suggested, “I don’t think Dave should’ve been doing that during Beck’s acceptance speech.” Then we watched the press tent interview segments they showed and were dismayed. I bought the greatest hits package the day it came out. I listened to the two new Roth songs about a hundred times in a row. It was bittersweet.

CHAPTER 31 

Third Time’s a Charm?

It didn’t make national press, but the
Boston
Herald
printed a rumor of Gary’s audition on August 26, 1996. That was at least three weeks prior the MTV awards show (in Dave’s open letter, he may very well have meant three “weeks” rather than three “months”). The short column also suggested that Gary was even staying at Ed’s house for the duration of the supposed audition. Gary was already in close company—Ray Danniels’ partner managed Extreme. With Extreme on hiatus, the leap to bring Gary in was not a very far one at all. The timing does indeed suggest that everyone either had Gary in mind already, or Gary was in place as a back-up plan should things not pan out with Roth. In 1998, Edward admitted outright, “The idea was not for [Roth] to be in the band again, but to try and help him get out of the Vegas trip he was in. Let him establish himself as a rock and roll singer again so he could put together a new band and do his own thing.”

There are no major, big-time organizations, corporations, or what-have-you that goes into any huge venture without contingency plans. Van Halen was a big organization; Ray Danniels is a calculating human being—he didn’t successfully manage Rush for more than two decades by winging it. As far as Ed’s claim about never meeting Gary until after the MTV awards, the truth is that the
Boston
Herald
story did not get national attention and was not noticed by hardly anyone at all. In doing research fifteen years after the fact, all one needs to do is line up the dates, or put Eddie’s word against the
Boston
Herald
. Or you can believe that the departure of Dave and the confirmation of Gary all within the course of a month was merely happenstance and that the fact that Ray co-managed Extreme was pure coincidence.

A full-blown interview with Ed appeared in the
L.A.
Times
on October 26 and was conducted by Chuck Crisafulli. The first quote from Edward in the article is two words: “Utter lunacy.” That’s how he simply described the previous month’s events. Exemplifying his depression, he said, “I’ve just been feeling sick about all this… . I thought we were taking the high road by not commenting on anything, but it got crazy.” Eddie said that Sammy had straight up told him he wanted to be a solo artist again after Edward had begged him to be a more of a team player. “If he had wanted to be in this band, he’d still be here,” Ed said. He threw out his personal diagnosis of both Sammy and Dave—that they each suffered from what he termed L.S.D., lead singer’s disease. “But truthfully, it doesn’t feel good to say bad things about Sammy or Dave,” Edward said, adding, “They’re both talented, we made a lot of good music together, and we had a lot of fun together. I still respect them both, but it’s going to be hard to ever be friends again.” Looking back and contemplating the future simultaneously, Eddie said:

And despite everything we’ve been through recently, when I shut the studio door and start making music, I’m as pumped up about it as when I was a little kid. We’ve got 11 albums behind us, a greatest hits coming out, but frankly, I don’t feel like I’ve done anything yet. I’m sober, I’m writing music every day, and I’m in a great band—I feel like I m just getting started.

On Halloween, while Valerie was on location shooting a movie, Ed took Wolfie trick-or-treating, bad hip and all. Valerie said he sounded “worn out from daddy duty.” The very next day,
Van
Halen
Best
Of
Volume
1
with the two new songs with Dave hit the charts at #1—proof of the enduring interest in the band known as Van Halen. It was effectively the first DLR-related VH album to go to #1. Three days later, Sammy rush-released an internet-only single. On November 1, Ed and Al went on CNN to do more damage control over Roth’s in-and-out departure.

Still Playing Incredible Music

On November 17, Ed performed at a benefit for Dave’s one-time guitarist Jason Becker who suffers from ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Ed played the ALS benefit show in Chicago along with his long-time friend Steve Lukather, drummer Pat Torpey, as well as one-time Roth bassist Billy Sheehan.

That night Edward was somehow able to put everything that had been going on aside for one glorious evening. When asked how he became involved the day before the benefit show, Edward said, “We’re in a position where we can help and raise some awareness and some money for [Becker’s] family and… God, if it happened to one of us, I hope somebody would do the same. It’s like he’s very much alive. You look in his eyes, ya know, but he can’t eat, he can’t talk, he can’t move, and there’s no cure for it. It’s like he’s a prisoner in his own body.” Eddie also added, “It’s going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. I think we go on last. It’s for a great cause and we’ve got a few surprises for ya.”

The one-night supergroup was dubbed by Edward as The Lou Brutus Experience—named for a Chicago DJ—and it was magic. Captured video shows the tunes they covered were done in masterful fashion. Edward’s playing on their ten-minute version of The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is simply unbelievable—he played with such amazing precision… and
taste
. His adjustments to the many chord changes in the tunes were dead on. After he handed off the solo to Steve, Ed went and had an on-stage conversation with Sheehan during which Billy giggled as Steve soloed on. Eddie even contributed harmony vocals during the tune.

Other tunes they knocked out included “Wipeout,” “Fire” and “Little Wing” (Jimi Hendrix), “Good Times/Bad Times” (Led Zeppelin), and “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love.” For the Zeppelin tune—Ed performed a masterful mix of note-for-note Page licks as well as adding his own flavor all over it with tapping and bends to the heavens. When Ed launched into “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love”—the crowd burst into outrageous applause (Sheehan more than capably handled the lead vocals mimicking Dave’s every inflection from the original recording). Steve and Eddie played the solo section in tandem to great effect and the crowd response after the tune was overwhelming. During “Fire,” Steve said, “Oh, move over, Rover / And let Mr. Van Halen take over!” Again, Ed’s perfect combo of note-for-note Jimi licks with his own trademark licks thrown in showed a man a top of his game musically. “Fire” went on forever and Ed wailed over every bit of it. The exact same can be said of their version of “Little Wing”—a far more delicate tune though, not a jam tune at all. Ed’s contributions were beyond tasteful and beautiful. One could argue it was one of his finest live moments in years.

Dealing with Peavey and Taking Care of Eugenia

In late 1996, production began on a new line of Edward Van Halen custom guitars which he named after his son. The Peavey Wolfgang was clearly similar to the Music Man, but was tweaked a bit. Eddie said: “I held the guitar back a year—they showed it at a NAMM show, and I said, ‘Hey, it ain’t ready… ’ So a lot of people got ticked off, you know, dudes that they put in their orders, and they didn’t get the guitar till a year later. But, Hartley Peavey’s a man of his word, you know, and I told him, hey, this guitar’s not going out until I say it’s ready, and he kept his word.”

One of Edward’s many patents and inventions was a device called a D-Tuna—a special lever for automatically dropping the low E string to the D note in quite an ingenious manner. “It’s called a D-Tuna, and I’ve got a patent on it,” Eddie said. “I’ve used it for quite a while; I just haven’t marketed it until now. It’s basically a cylinder that can be fined tuned and fits over the screw on the bridge. You just pull it out, and it automatically drops the low E down to a D—you don’t even have to unclamp the nut. Push it back in and the D goes right back up to an E.”

For Thanksgiving, Ed and Wolfgang traveled from Los Angeles to Park City, Utah along with Valerie’s parents to join her for the holiday where she was filming on location. The family enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together and spent the weekend skiing and playing in the snow. When Valerie’s movie wrapped, she returned home hoping to ignite a spark in their marriage, but it failed to bring much fire. To make their domestic situation even more complicated, on Christmas Eve, Eddie’s mother Eugenia fell and broke her pelvic bone and was hospitalized for several weeks. In early 1997, Edward and Valerie took care of Eugenia at their home. For several months, they were her 24-hour nurses. Valerie recalled how she found it especially odd that they could rise to the occasion so well in the face of some never-before encountered situations. They each would take the responsibility of taking off her clothes and bathing her delicate, damaged body by hand. Ed and Val also took care of her meals every single day.

Eugenia was feisty as ever, even at 82 years old. According to Valerie, one of her friends politely asked her how she was feeling and she responded by saying, “How the hell do you think I’m feeling? I broke a bone.” Val said that Mrs. Van Halen complained vociferously about the price of groceries, and also had no filter when it came to Valerie’s weight issues. Edward’s mother was finally able to heal well enough to live independently again. Ed and Al bought her a brand new home in The Summit neighborhood near Beverly Hills. The house was barely 3,000 square feet, modest but plenty of room for Eugenia to stretch out. She was only two minutes or so away from Ed’s house.

Recording
Van
Halen
III

Upon Mrs. Van Halen’s departure, the backyard started buzzing all over again. Recording of the Van Halen Mach III album started at 5150 in April 1997 and lasted until September. Gary’s presence brought a completely new vibe to the camp in every sense. Gary was not “Look at me!” like Dave, and not Everyman like Sammy. Gary was a quiet but fairly intense fellow. He was a true metrosexual. Valerie said Gary played baseball with Wolfie while waiting for Ed to arise from a nap and that she enjoyed have deep conversations with him about the Bible (Gary had actually played the lead in a production of
Jesus
Christ
Superstar
). His band Extreme was temporarily disbanded, as they say. Originally a progressive, funk-rock band, Extreme became best known for two songs that were the only two that were, ironically, out of their comfort zone. Their best known hit was a simple acoustic guitar and vocal duet between Nuno Bettencourt and Gary called “More Than Words.” The song was a #1 smash in the early 1991 and was an MTV staple. It was a pure love song ballad. There wasn’t a prom in the nation that didn’t play that song that year. Nuno was originally well known for his incredible shredding abilities, and then it turned out Extreme’s biggest hit was a simple acoustic guitar ballad.

Eddie praised Gary’s talent and personality. He said his presence with the band was magic, and said that Gary added “another flavor to the soup.” With regard to their creative process, Edward told writer George A. Fletcher that it was important for a band and a producer to have the common goal of simply making a song the best it can be, no matter what it is. “Gary’s that kind of player,” said Ed. “He’s into being part of that process, being part of the team. As oppose to, ‘I want it my way, I’m gonna take my baseball bat and go home.’” Edward called him a brother and said, “He’s a normal guy like Alex, Mike, and me.”

As far as Gary being a “team player,” at this point, the meaning of “team player” had changed. By 1997, Edward was the head coach with Alex as his loyal assistant coach with everyone else as the players. It turns out the brothers had been playing with a host of other players for a while. In April 1997, Sammy Hagar told David Huff, “I’ve just heard some pretty strong rumors that Michael Anthony is no longer in Van Halen.” According to Sammy, the brothers were rehearsing with British female singer Sass Jordan as early as February 1996. She lived just doors down from 5150 and confronted Ray Danniels one day, telling him she thought they were seriously considering her becoming the band’s new singer. He responded, “Of course, they were! Why the hell else do you think you were up there?” Also, singer Mitch Malloy had an up-and-down with the band. They had reportedly told him he had secured the position in early summer 1996, only to witness the MTV debacle and quietly back out of the deal. Whatever was going on with Michael Anthony during 1997 was not elaborated upon.

In March of 1997, Edward and Alex made an appearance in the famous “Got Milk?” print advertising campaign. Edward had a milk mustache and milk dribbling from his chin, and Alex had poured the entire glass over his head and milk was streaming down his shirtless body. The caption was written in Edward’s voice: “Of all the lead singers we’ve had, most never got enough calcium. Typical. But not for Alex and me. Because every time we change singers, we have an extra glass of milk. That way we’re sure to get more than the recommended three glasses a day. As you can see, sometimes all at once.” It was an effective way of poking fun at themselves but reinforced that brothers-against-the-world mentality, with Edward doing the talking and the bigger Alex standing behind him with his arms folded.

The album that became
Van
Halen
III
was a collection of diverse material, although what is diversity to one is incongruity to another. At the outset of the project, Edward told Steven Rosen that he wasn’t worried about what the fans would think about Gary. He said: