Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography (36 page)

EVH: Oh, come on, you’re recordin’ this.

DJ: I know, but it would be better to have you live on the air.

EVH: No, no, no—I can’t do that.

DJ: Can’t do that?

EVH: Nah.

DJ: OK. Can you tell us at least if you…

EVH: [At this point, Edward sounds aggravated.] I can’t tell you anything. I don’t know.

DJ: Well, but this, this is a personal question about your job. Can you—can you… are you and Sammy getting along?

EVH: We never did not get along.

DJ: OK. OK. That’s cool.

EVH: You know? He just wanted to pursue a solo career and, so he quit. We never not got along.

DJ: Michael Anthony? He’s still in good graces with you?

EVH: Mike? I don’t know. I haven’t talked to that cat in two years.

DJ: Really?

EVH: Yeah. I don’t know what he’s off doing. I think he’s with Hagar.

DJ: But you don’t have a problem with him. You still get along with him?

EVH: I don’t have a problem with anything.

DJ: Not even us calling at weird hours?

EVH: I don’t know. It doesn’t matter to me.

DJ: We’re actually, we’re actually putting any and all, uh, confirmation of anything behind by chit-chatting, aren’t we?

EVH: Well, I mean… What the hell? You know, God put your eyes in front of you and your ass in the back, you know? So, look forward. I don’t look back.

DJ: God, I love your philosophy, man.

EVH: Well, I mean, you know… The waste comes out the back end and the fresh stuff comes in the front side. [Ed laughs.]

DJ: Are you making time to play golf still?

EVH: Actually, you know, I’ve been grooving, I’ve been writing so much damn music it’s ridiculous. So something’s bound to pop sooner or later.

DJ: Yeah. That’s what we’re all waitin’ for.

EVH: Sooner than later, I guarantee you that.

DJ: “Sooner than later.”

EVH: Oh, yeah.

DJ: OK. We’re chomping at the bit here. Lyrics? Music? Both?

EVH: And singing.

DJ: Oh, well, of course! And that’s where you want…

EVH: A lyric with music without singing is, you know, music with lyrics.

DJ: So when you wake up from a deep sleep…

EVH: Well, what would you, what would add to this: bah bah bah bum [Beethoven’s
Fifth
]. You know, Beethoven. What could you possibly add to that lyrically, counter-melody-wise… what could add to enhance that? Sometimes, simplicity is the best.

DJ: So, it’s gonna be an acoustic album with no singing?

EVH: Nope. No guitars, no amps… we just walk onstage and go, “Hey, how’s it going, people?”

DJ: Have you ever been approached by other musicians to do projects? You know, Steve Vai? Uh, Joe Satriani? Those…

EVH: Now why would I want to do that?

DJ: Well, I don’t know. Because you—

EVH: I make too much damn noise for anyone else to play with me.

DJ: It worked with Michael Jackson.

EVH: Yeah, well I kind of rearranged the song and… I, I, I actually, uh, edited the song and changed it.

DJ: Yeah. Best song he ever put out.

EVH: Huh?

DJ: That was the best song he ever put out.

EVH: Well, I don’t know about that. I mean, songs to me are, CDs, records, whatever you want to call
’
em—I prefer to call them records because they’re still recordings, you know—they’re kind of like kids. They’re all a little different, you gotta love
’
em all.

DJ: Well, to, just to restate what you said, the wait will be sooner rather than later for new Van Halen music.

EVH: Hey, you know? It’s like… I’ve got so much stuff. If I stopped writing right now, I have enough for at least ten records. What do you think I’ve been doing for the last four years? Besides fighting cancer, and ending a relationship, and raising a son, and getting a hip replacement, and this, that, and the other.

DJ: Hey, how was Wolfie’s—

EVH: All I do is make music. That’s all I do.

DJ: How was Wolfie’s—

EVH: Of course, in between
jobs
 
.
 
.
 
.
 No, I’m kidding. [Eddie laughs.]

DJ: What did Wolfie get for Christmas from Santa Claus?

EVH: Oh, man. I gave him my original, umm, striped guitar that was my… I built three of them. Umm, I gave him the backup one from the 1984 tour. The original strings from that tour are still on it. You know, I used duct tape and rolled it up to put picks on… the picks—you couldn’t even pull
’
em off.

DJ: Because they were so stuck on.

EVH: Well, they’d been twenty fucking years!

DJ: And that was the first time you had touched it since that, the end of that tour?

EVH: Yeah. I opened the case, the only thing I, I, I changed was… uh, I got a patent on this, uh, drop to D on the low E-string.

DJ: Yeah?

EVH: I added one of those but I left the same string.

DJ: What was his reaction when he opened it?

EVH: Ah, he cried. He, he, he just freaked.

DJ: It sounds like, man, you guys share a real cool love together, you know?

EVH: Man, I tell ya, this kid… we jammed, wrote a badass tune the other day. He is so creative it is ridiculous. It’s just, he’s just a natural, beyond anyone I’ve ever met. And this is not his dad talkin’, I’m talkin’ as a producer, as a musician, as a, uh… He wanted play double-kick. OK? So I set him up a week and a half ago. Then he wants a cowbell. OK? So I bring over a cowbell.

DJ: Shouldn’t that be uncle Alex’s job?

EVH: Well…

DJ: Sendin’ over all the drum stuff.

EVH: No, well, Al gives me this stuff to give, you know, whatever.

DJ: OK.

EVH: He, uh… anyway, four or five days go by, and he goes, “Dad, let’s jam.” He’s… he’s like he’s been playing double-kick all his damn life! And don’t forget, he only started making music when he was 10! And he’s only 12!

DJ: And again—no lessons, all self-taught.

EVH: He plays bass better than…
a
lot
of people I know.

DJ: Better than anybody that plays on a Jack Daniels bass, let’s just say that.

EVH: Or, no, let’s just say anyone who
drinks
Jack Daniels.

DJ: [Laughter.] Let me ask you this. After he opens—

EVH: This cat is
sexy
—I’m tellin’ you, he’s got a, he’s a, he’s a—I know no one… I mean, I started making music when I was six playing piano. OK? I didn’t start rock and roll or playing guitar until or drums until I was 12. Well, by 14, I was like him. You know? And he doesn’t practice. He just started. He goes, “Daddy, I’ve been practicing.” I go, “Yeah, right.” You know? I gave him four guitar lessons and he plays in front of his whole school flawlessly. And he only practiced for an hour. He’s never played guitar before. Four lessons. OK?

DJ: I think it’s in the genes.

EVH: Now, drums, I tell ya—I just recorded it on one of those little, uh, Radio Shack, uh, microcassette things?

DJ: Yeah.

EVH: I played it for Alex yesterday—’cause Alex and I, we play every day, we jam, you know, and write, whatever. I played it for Alex, he’s going, “My god… I can’t believe it.” He just tripped. He’s going… he’s just born with it, you know? The way I look at that, and I don’t mean to get deep on ya, but, it’s like—everybody is born with a gift. You know? Most people are just hapless and cheap. You know, they don’t even bother to, to feel or to, to… I don’t know. It’s like, have a passion. I don’t care if it’s needlepoint. You know? . . . My point being that I think you are born, everyone’s born with a gift. And when someone says, “Boy, that kid’s talented.” You know, talent is what you do with the gift… . To me. Some people phone it in because they have the gift and think they can, but if you work that gift, then you’re talented. And my son—I don’t even know if he’s my son because the other day, I had to turn around, and I go, “That’s not my son.” He’s blowing my fucking mind. I could not look at him and play.

DJ: What does it feel like to watch him play your guitar?

EVH: What’d you say? I’m talking when he’s on the drums, it’s like jamming with my brother. So I had to turn around, I go, “I can’t look at him… I can’t look at my son because then I can’t play
’
cause I’m watching him and hearing…” (laughs) I don’t know how to explain.

DJ: You’re watching him but you’re hearing your brother’s, uh, level.

EVH: Yes! I’m hearing a peer. He’s a damn peer. I’m telling ya. I’ve cut tracks with him.

DJ: Wow. Well that’s, that’s pretty incredible stuff to hear, Ed.

EVH: I don’t mean to go off on my son, but it’s like, it’s like, they say kids pick their parents, well, you know, I thank God he picked me. I’m blessed—one blessed person.

DJ: What did he get you for Christmas?

EVH: Himself. That’s enough.

DJ: But there wasn’t like something under the tree, though?

EVH: Oh, actually, um, um. Oh, this is too funny. Uh, he picked out, uh, you know, like a necklace thing… . And Valerie and him went shopping and they figured they’d get the family a necklace with a picture of him. And, well… I didn’t get one. And I go, “How come that?” And this is Saturday night before last, Valerie goes, uh, “Well, it’s a, it’s a little too feminine looking.” And, and Wolfie goes, “No, it’s not!” You know? “Daddy’ll wear anything.”

DJ: Well, he did just see you in all your old albums.

EVH: Yeah.

DJ: Well, listen, man, we appreciate you talkin’ to us and we hope you understand our…

[Phone is disconnected; they ring his line again.]

EVH: I think the box cut us off.