Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography (38 page)

Early on in the tour, Ed began to wear his hair like a samurai—a ponytail on the top of his head. “Whenever he came out with no shirt on and his hair tied up samurai-style, he seemed fucked up,” said Sammy. “That was his little signal. I don’t know what it was. He would come out first with his hair down, go back to change guitars, or after Alex’s drum solo, and come back with his hair up. I’d look at Mike and we’d roll our eyes—here we go again.” At one spot on the tour—they addressed the hair directly. Ed was clearly drunk out of his mind—his teeth looked horrible. He looked like he could barely stand. Sammy, looking tanned and healthy, sat down next to Ed on the drum riser and they put their arms around each other and had a very friendly chit chat off microphone. They went back and forth with Ed offering kisses and Sam offering hugs in front of the cheering crowd. After a solid thirty seconds, Sammy says to the crowd, “I gotta tell ya, this is the shit I’m talkin’ about! Right?!” The crowd roars, Sammy puts his shades on and Ed grabbed the mic. “Anybody that can put up with this shit,” and pointed to his samurai hair. “I got no problem with this shit, OK?!” said Sammy, referring to Ed’s hair. “Gimme some fuckin’ scissors, here, gimme, gimme some scissors! So, let me ask Ed a question here in front of 18,000 people…” Ed grabbed the mic and said, “You cut my hair, I shave yours.” Sammy responded with humor. “Ed, I’m already shaved buddy,” he said. “I’m already shaved, I take care of my shit. Aww, yeah. My old lady likes it like that, you know what I’m sayin’?” It was a rare moment of levity.

Shortly after the two Worcester shows and just before two shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey,
The
Boston
Globe
reported on June 23, “Showing his softer side, Eddie Van Halen surprised guests at the Ritz-Carlton on Avery Street the other night by playing a few jazz standards on the piano. In town to perform at Worcester Centrum Centre, he played the grand piano in the hotel’s lounge, paused to smoke a butt outside, then played some more.”

A highlight of the Worcester shows was when Wolfgang joined his dad onstage during his guitar solo. Ed knew what was coming and he knew it was going to be emotional for him. He started to play “316,” the song he had dedicated to Wolfie, but stopped. He was visibly weeping. He mouthed “thank you” to the audience and soaked in the applause. He continued to play until he came to rest completely on his back. At that point, Wolfgang—only 13-years-old at the time—came out playing “316” exactly like his dad. He walked over and sat down next to his pa, who was overcome with emotion. Ed showered him with kisses and they jammed on “316” and then a little bit of “You Really Got Me” together.

Just a few days later on June 29,
Blathermouth.net
ran with the headline “Eddie Van Halen Drinking Again?” The article ran as follows:

Eddie Van Halen, who has set up camp in Boston while his band tours the East Coast, made a couple of bizarre appearances at the Back Bay boite [last week], leaving patrons and employees wondering if Eddie’s in big trouble. First off, the big-haired axeman wandered into the Newbury Street hotspot with his own bottle of wine, which the management promptly took away. Eddie returned a few nights later, seeming rather disoriented. He went up to a table where [a young couple] were dining, stuck his fingers in their water glasses, then proceeded to bless them — papal style with the water — and stumble out. The rocker’s camp, when contacted yesterday, had no comment.

Edward was inseparable from his wine. He would likely have gladly paid a hundred dollars simply to drink his own preferred brand that he kept in hand. The incident with the young couple was just a smart-ass throwback to his Catholic upbringing and not a God complex thing in any sense. Sammy described Eddie as often being a “rude wise-guy.” While Ed did get the final “fuck you” in with the restaurant, the press attention and scrutiny he was getting in 2004 was fairly harsh.

In East Rutherford, Edward continued to take the second line of the second verse of “Why Can’t This Be Love?” as he had back in 1998. His vocal did not hit the mark, and his guitar playing did not either. Reviewing dozens of videos of various concerts in 2004, Ed ranges from brilliant to horrific. Nearly every song features an obvious sloppy mistake, and occasionally worse. “I couldn’t listen to Eddie,” said Hagar. “He made some terrible mistakes and it seemed like he couldn’t remember the songs. He would just hit the whammy bar and go
wheedle-wheedle-wee
. I’d listen to Mikey to find my note.”

In late July, while playing the United Center in Chicago, Edward literally petered out during his guitar solo.
Los
Angeles
Times
writer Geoff Boucher said, “Hagar said that Eddie Van Halen was drinking heavily and, on some nights, it showed. In Chicago, Eddie stumbled throughout the set and, at one point, quit playing and sacked out, telling the crowd: ‘I done run outta gas.’” It was also reported that Edward either tripped on his cables or simply fell down on the stage repeatedly.

On July 23, a venture between Eddie and Charvel Guitars was announced. They were going to co-produce custom one-off guitars under the name EVH Art Series. The Charvel press release said: “The Charvel Custom Shop will work closely with Van Halen to create no more than 100 pieces, all of which will replicate the original down to every detail, including original specifications, as well as its nicks, scratches and wear marks.” It was a fairly clear sign that the Peavey relationship, soured by the 2003 NAMM appearance, was coming to an end.

In Oklahoma City, on July 29, Sammy had arranged for Toby Keith to join him onstage during his acoustic segment. Sam had set it up so that Keith would join him while singing Keith’s “I Love This Bar.” Just before Keith went out to join Hagar, Eddie confronted him backstage and asked why he was going on with Sammy and not with the band. Keith told Ed that Sammy had invited him and Eddie hadn’t. “Why are you wearing that cowboy hat?” Ed asked Toby. “I’m a country guy,” he said. Ed retorted with, “No, it’s because you’re bald.” Keith went on anyway and, of course, being in his home state, the crowd went nuts. “Eddie went crazy the rest of the night,” said Sammy. “He destroyed his dressing room after the show. His son, Wolfie, was in my dressing room, scared and crying.”

Valerie said Wolfgang “had a handful of eye-opening experiences with his father.” In her words:

I don’t know all the details concerning the drinking, drugs, and anger. When I asked, Wolfie would cut me off with “Mom, I handled it.” Later, as I pushed for more details, he would say only that he was able to say, “Dad, I don’t like it when you do this.” For the first time, he got an accurate picture of what Ed was really like. After all, I’d protected him his whole life. But this was no-holds barred. Wolfie saw everything.

As soon as tickets went on sale, my friends and I jumped on them for the show in San Antonio on September 28. When Van Halen hit the stage that night in San Antonio, the crowd went absolutely nuts (although the venue was not quite sold out). I was not a critical audience member, I was simply there to have fun.

During Ed’s solo, he approached the center stage microphone, which was something I had never seen him do. He said, “I’m just fuckin’ around, I hope you guys don’t mind.” The crowd cheered. Then he followed that up with, “I normally play the same thing, but I just feel like fuckin’ around tonight. Alright?” I noticed then that his speech was slurred. It occurred to me that he was probably drunk.

For the end of the show, my good friend Brando and I pulled the old sneak. Through a combination of lax security and early departures, we ended up as close as you could possibly get to Ed’s corner of the stage—the left-front corner of the stage was about five feet from us. As they ended the show, we were just baffled by how close we were to Eddie. After the last song, Ed led the crowd to thunderous applause. From the stage, he yelled, “1-2-3!” several times and gestured for applause. I will never forget that we were so close that we could actually hear Ed’s voice from the stage, no microphone. All in all, we had a blast.

On the drive back to Austin, someone said, “I think Eddie was wasted.” The thought got passed around the car, and I pointed out that his speaking and behavior during his solo was a little odd. As we drove further down the road, someone else offered up, “Did you notice Sammy stayed on Mike’s side of the stage the whole night?” I remember adding, “Did you notice that Sammy barely even moved during the whole show?” It didn’t take long for the adrenaline to wear off, and we all assessed that what we saw was indeed fun, but it was far from the real Van Halen. At the time, I had so much going on personally that I didn’t pay much attention to the press surrounding the tour. I had not read any online reviews so I went into the concert absolutely tabula rasa. I just wanted to let loose and have a blast. If I had known what had been going on, I might have paid more attention. But all I really wanted to see was Edward and I most certainly accomplished that. I was so psyched that I just did not notice his hair or teeth or his skin. One friend that saw the show in August in Salt Lake City had close seats. He told me that Eddie’s skin looked “green.” I just didn’t notice.

Meeting Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott

The day after the San Antonio show, on September 29, Van Halen played in Lubbock, Texas. There to meet his idol was Damageplan/former-Pantera guitarist Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott. “That was the first time Dime ever got to meet Eddie Van Halen,” said Rita Abbott, Dime’s wife. She continued:

They hung out before and after the show. Dime even got to play on his rig at sound check. He was like a kid in a candy store… the way his eyes were lit up. He told me later—in the limo—which Van Halen provided—how cool is that? Anyway he leaned over and looked me right in the eyes and said, “If I died tonight, it wouldn’t matter,
’
cause I’ve done everything now, I’ve met Eddie Van Halen!” and he had the biggest smile on his face… he was so happy!

Afterward, Dime called Ed’s cell phone. He left Edward an exuberant voice mail about how great it was to meet him and hang out. The voicemail was something that Ed seized on as a pick-me-up. He decided to keep the message saved; Ed liked validation from the new guard. While they were hanging out, the two of them discussed the EVH Art Series guitars that had just been announced, and Dime made a specific custom request for a replica of the
Van
Halen
II
-era black and yellow striped guitar. Ed promised to secure one for him.

The situation within the band worsened throughout October. Sammy told several different stories of Edward getting beyond out of control after shows. One notorious incident was more or less caused by Sammy and Michael staying after a show to simply shower and pick up some sandwiches. At the airport, an impatiently waiting Edward had been growing more and more furious by the minute. Sammy wrote:

“Don’t ever fucking make me wait,” he said. “Without me, you’re nothing. You’ll see. At the end of this tour, you guys will have nothing. You’re going to have to call me if you ever want to tour again.” He was facing one direction, I was facing the other. I turned and said, “Ed, shut the fuck up, man. Come on. We just did a gig.” “Fuck you,” he said, and started bashing his bottle on the plane window… . The stewardess and the pilot started freaking out. They were reluctant to take off with this madman on the plane. Finally, Al got him to take it easy and we took off.

From there on, the two traveled separately. Sammy and Edward would never take a plane together again ever, actually, nor stay in the same hotel or ride in the same limo. The only times they would ever interact again would be just before show time and during performances. Sam did not do sound checks in order to save his voice for the actual show.

That old VH rumor mill was smoking again, so much so that Sammy went out of his way to post a message on his personal website on November 2. “The Last Leg of the Van Halen Tour is about over. It ends on Nov 19th to be exact in Tucson at the Anselmo Amphitheater. Last two shows. Huh! . . . You can’t make it? Get real! See ya in Tucson! Everything has been great, the fans awesome, the fun meter in the red. Listen here, all these crazy rumors flying around cyberspace are that. Plain and simple, I never said I was quitting Van Halen. There has been no discussion as to when or where we’re going to pick this show up on the road and do it all over again cause quite honestly, 80 shows since June 11. Wow, I’m bushed… HA!”

Black Friday

November 19 in Tucson would become known to some Van Halen fans as Black Friday. It was the second night of an end-of-tour, back-to-back pair of shows at a small 4,200-seat arena. The November 18 show was relatively unremarkable. The choice of songs at sound check on November 19 would give some indication as to Edward’s general mood and potential “future” direction. Sound check jams caught on tape included set list staples “You Really Got Me” and “Jump.” The former classic VH tune was actually sung in part by Wolfgang. During a playful version of “Jump,” Mike sang lead and Ed screamed the lyrics in a fun call and response with Mike; it also featured some major jamming between Ed, Mike, and Al at the end. Another jam, though, was a song only occasionally played on the 2004 tour, “Runnin’ With the Devil.” Mike sang lead with enthusiasm, and Ed chimed in with some of Dave’s own classic vocal fills including, “I tell ya all about it.” One spontaneous jam of “Drop Dead Legs,” however, was something very different. It was a very short little jam, less than a minute, and most of that was the outro. This song had
never
been performed live—not even on the
1984
tour. The jam was cut short abruptly in a teasing manner by Ed. This 53-second jam has been viewed (or heard, rather) nearly 100,000 times on YouTube. Another major jam during the sound check was the unearthed treasure “I’m the One.” Mike sang lead and Edward sang all of his lines right in unison with Mike. At the end, Eddie’s shouted lines of “Show your love!” literally sounded like Kurt Cobain. The lucky few in attendance cheered along with the practically never-heard tunes.