Great Billboard EVH cover story

[Chubtone]

Guitar World 1985 "The Life and Times of Van Halen"

GW: Did you suggest bass parts?

Van Halen: Some things would just obviously follow the guitar-type of stuff, unless I had a specific bass line. Otherwise, Mike does whatever he feels like doing.

 

[Chubtone]

From Guitar One magazine, in an unpublished interview right after Fair Warning.

G1: How would you rate David Lee Roth's vocals on Fair Warning?

EVH: The truth is, I don't think he sang as good as I played. He took off
for two weeks after the tour, and again it was like "Wadda ya got, Eddie?"
Like I said, I had basic ideas for pretty much everthing that's on the
record. I worked my ass off on that one. But I love it, it's my life.
Whereas Dave, well...I won't rag too much on Dave; he pulls his own weight.
Mike [Anthony] doesn't. He doesn't do anything; he has no input whatsoever.
But he has remodeled his whole house and bought himself a [Porsche] Turbo
Carrera with the money he's made off of us. Whatever.

later: I'll tell you the honest-to-God truth - since day one I never liked
Mike's sound, and I could never hear him. I can never even hear him when
we're playing. In fact, live, all I have in my monitors is Al, a little bit
of Dave's vocals, a little bit of mine, a little bit of Mike's - and all I
hear is myself and my brother. It's the same in the studio.

 

[sixstringking713]

Good to see Sammy stick up for his buddy Mike

I guess it's for certain to say that we'll never see Sammy and Ed on the same stage...ever I just hope they can get through this tour because I have damn near front row seats August 3rd

I have 2 shows I'm going to and have great seats to the one in san diego...

EVH is reaching a point where he didnt really interview much, and this year he seems to be much more public. I think he will see the public's reaction to some of his bandmatebashing and maybe it will knock him down a rung on the ladder.

In "defense" of EVH, he's been praised as one of (if not THE) guitar god for the past 30+ years, so i'm sure it gets into your ego no matter how humble you start off.

I am slowly losing some respect for EVH as a person with how he acts but that doesnt take away his phenominal playing/performances. I hope he comes back down to earth a little.

 

[Deleted member 21375]

You know, I agree that Ed really should keep his mouth shut about his current and former band mates but for folks to go all over social media and forums to campaign Ed being a "horrible human being" is just taking it too far. How fast people forget Ed giving away amps and guitars to up and coming guys that went on tour with VH such as Jerry Cantrell and Steve Brown to name a couple. What about the 75 Wolfgangs he donated to LA schools for music education? The financial support for Jason Becker and his family and The ALS Foundation? Putting the Bumblebee Charvel in Dime's casket? Don't actions speak a little louder than words?

 

[AndyK]

Cool old interview evidence!

Who knows, maybe Mike was a douche to EVH, and was the lazy type, who just asked "what do YOU want me to play on this part?", etc. Years later, that turned into Ed showing him every single note. Exaggeration, but not a total lie.

 

[ejecta]

You know, I agree that Ed really should keep his mouth shut about his current and former band mates but for folks to go all over social media and forums to campaign Ed being a "horrible human being" is just taking it too far. How fast people forget Ed giving away amps and guitars to up and coming guys that went on tour with VH such as Jerry Cantrell and Steve Brown to name a couple. What about the 75 Wolfgangs he donated to LA schools for music education? The financial support for Jason Becker and his family and The ALS Foundation? Putting the Bumblebee Charvel in Dime's casket? Don't actions speak a little louder than words?

I personally don't give a lot of weight to a multi millionaire "giving stuff away". Yes actions do speak louder than words and he's acting like a douche.

 

[Deleted member 21375]

You know, I agree that Ed really should keep his mouth shut about his current and former band mates but for folks to go all over social media and forums to campaign Ed being a "horrible human being" is just taking it too far. How fast people forget Ed giving away amps and guitars to up and coming guys that went on tour with VH such as Jerry Cantrell and Steve Brown to name a couple. What about the 75 Wolfgangs he donated to LA schools for music education? The financial support for Jason Becker and his family and The ALS Foundation? Putting the Bumblebee Charvel in Dime's casket? Don't actions speak a little louder than words?

I personally don't give a lot of weight to a multi millionaire "giving stuff away". Yes actions do speak louder than words and he's acting like a douche.

Well you're entitled to feel however you want but I respect the fact that he did those things when he didn't have to.

 

[journeyman73]

You know, I agree that Ed really should keep his mouth shut about his current and former band mates but for folks to go all over social media and forums to campaign Ed being a "horrible human being" is just taking it too far. How fast people forget Ed giving away amps and guitars to up and coming guys that went on tour with VH such as Jerry Cantrell and Steve Brown to name a couple. What about the 75 Wolfgangs he donated to LA schools for music education? The financial support for Jason Becker and his family and The ALS Foundation? Putting the Bumblebee Charvel in Dime's casket? Don't actions speak a little louder than words?

I personally don't give a lot of weight to a multi millionaire "giving stuff away". Yes actions do speak louder than words and he's acting like a douche.

Well you're entitled to feel however you want but I respect the fact that he did those things when he didn't have to.

i don't think its coincidence that there were cameras in a lot of those instances or that the public broadly knows about them...i doubt the 'only' reason ed did those things was for PR purposes but there are a lot of instances of celebrities doing that sort of thing and you only really hear about them through a small group of people who were intimately involved, etc.

 

[romanianreaper]

Well at least we can all agree that Ed will never be able to touch Ritchie Blackmore on the asshole scale.

 

[charvelstrat81]

One thing i wanted to bring up is that "billboard" in not the most trusted magazine for interviewing
guitar players and since the full interview is not on audio eddie may have never actually said those things?
I mean listen to him on the real recent smithsonian interview or the steve rosen interviews?
he sounds like a decent guy on those? so i dont really trust this CHUCK KLOSTERMAN that did the interview at all!
just food for thought?

 

[RG955TT]

Listen to this...Romeo Delight no vocals, just Mike, Eddie and Alex. Tell me the bass playing sucks on this or sounds amateur in any way....the bass is hot in the mix on this demo.....13:59 is the start. To me Mike kills it on this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtsKQ6oc_Pw

AGAIN.....LISTEN TO THIS AT 13:59 and the next song as well. NOthing IMO further needs to be said about Mikes playing. Done, Over...

 

[BMoore77]

You know, I agree that Ed really should keep his mouth shut about his current and former band mates but for folks to go all over social media and forums to campaign Ed being a "horrible human being" is just taking it too far. How fast people forget Ed giving away amps and guitars to up and coming guys that went on tour with VH such as Jerry Cantrell and Steve Brown to name a couple. What about the 75 Wolfgangs he donated to LA schools for music education? The financial support for Jason Becker and his family and The ALS Foundation? Putting the Bumblebee Charvel in Dime's casket? Don't actions speak a little louder than words?

I personally don't give a lot of weight to a multi millionaire "giving stuff away". Yes actions do speak louder than words and he's acting like a douche.

well said.

 

[Rufus Leaking]

I dunno, I'm tired of everyone bashing Ed constantly. He's a guitar hero, not a fucking ambassador who's job it is to make sure no one's feeling get hurt. What I see very clearly between the lines, is that Ed threw all in with MA early on, giving him the same cut from the band as he got, even though it was clearly himself and Roth doing all the heavy lifting. Years later, MA renounces his loyalty to VH by siding with Sammy instead of the VH brothers. A completely ungrateful, bullshit move IMO. So yes, Ed's bitter, but he's human... who of us wouldn't be? And let's not forget he's being baited by interviewer after interviewer to spill dirt, because we're all gobbling up the stories and speculating on it like a bunch of old biddies at the hair salon...

 

[journeyman73]

i dont know, if ed wasnt acting like such a dick people wouldnt get on him so much.

lets be honest - all things being equal, most folks (definitely people on this forum) would love to stroke ed and say how awesome he is. rock guitarists love his music and its actually sad to come to terms with the disconnect between his behaviour and his music.

this isnt people making something out of nothing becuase they otherwise have some agenda against the guy and think hes overrated.

 

[romanianreaper]

I dunno, I'm tired of everyone bashing Ed constantly. He's a guitar hero, not a fucking ambassador who's job it is to make sure no one's feeling get hurt. What I see very clearly between the lines, is that Ed threw all in with MA early on, giving him the same cut from the band as he got, even though it was clearly himself and Roth doing all the heavy lifting. Years later, MA renounces his loyalty to VH by siding with Sammy instead of the VH brothers. A completely ungrateful, bullshit move IMO. So yes, Ed's bitter, but he's human... who of us wouldn't be? And let's not forget he's being baited by interviewer after interviewer to spill dirt, because we're all gobbling up the stories and speculating on it like a bunch of old biddies at the hair salon...

This is how I feel. With all of the drink, drugs, and groupies over the years, Ed saying something about Michael Anthony's playing is probably something he didn't even really think about. He said it, being honest and thought it would come off like everything else he has said in the past. I mean back in the 90's, Ed said if DLR ever talks to him the way he did at that awards show, he better make sure he is "wearing a cup". Here we are years later and they are touring together.

 

[Anonymous]

I dunno, I'm tired of everyone bashing Ed constantly. He's a guitar hero, not a fucking ambassador who's job it is to make sure no one's feeling get hurt. What I see very clearly between the lines, is that Ed threw all in with MA early on, giving him the same cut from the band as he got, even though it was clearly himself and Roth doing all the heavy lifting. Years later, MA renounces his loyalty to VH by siding with Sammy instead of the VH brothers. A completely ungrateful, bullshit move IMO. So yes, Ed's bitter, but he's human... who of us wouldn't be? And let's not forget he's being baited by interviewer after interviewer to spill dirt, because we're all gobbling up the stories and speculating on it like a bunch of old biddies at the hair salon...

This is how I feel. With all of the drink, drugs, and groupies over the years, Ed saying something about Michael Anthony's playing is probably something he didn't even really think about. He said it, being honest and thought it would come off like everything else he has said in the past. I mean back in the 90's, Ed said if DLR ever talks to him the way he did at that awards show, he better make sure he is "wearing a cup". Here we are years later and they are touring together.

If I was talking about this one isolated incident it would be different, but this is a pattern of being a raging asshole for years. If you guys wanna love him, be my guest...

Steve

 

[jabps]

I dunno, I'm tired of everyone bashing Ed constantly. He's a guitar hero, not a fucking ambassador who's job it is to make sure no one's feeling get hurt. What I see very clearly between the lines, is that Ed threw all in with MA early on, giving him the same cut from the band as he got, even though it was clearly himself and Roth doing all the heavy lifting. Years later, MA renounces his loyalty to VH by siding with Sammy instead of the VH brothers. A completely ungrateful, bullshit move IMO. So yes, Ed's bitter, but he's human... who of us wouldn't be? And let's not forget he's being baited by interviewer after interviewer to spill dirt, because we're all gobbling up the stories and speculating on it like a bunch of old biddies at the hair salon...

This is how I feel. With all of the drink, drugs, and groupies over the years, Ed saying something about Michael Anthony's playing is probably something he didn't even really think about. He said it, being honest and thought it would come off like everything else he has said in the past. I mean back in the 90's, Ed said if DLR ever talks to him the way he did at that awards show, he better make sure he is "wearing a cup". Here we are years later and they are touring together.

If I was talking about this one isolated incident it would be different, but this is a pattern of being a raging asshole for years. If you guys wanna love him, be my guest...

Steve

Agree...great guitarist and musician, crappy human being. It happens.

As for those thinking Mike sided with Sammy...the fact is, Mike was paid a sidemans wage for his last tour with VH in 2004. And was lucky to get that. I guess 20+ years of loyalty didn't pay off in the end. As for the Roth/MTV Reunion fiasco...who can blame Roth for being mad. They flat used him to promote a greatest hits album, trotted him out onstage with fans going crazy. Ed and Al then tried to make it seem like Roth had made a shamble of everything when in fact...the fans were dying for a Reunion. Even the grunge movement guys were digging it when in reality they were working with two other singers and never had any intentions of working with Roth past the album. And they wonder why VHIII flopped.

I'll always be a fan though I could care less about Ed or Al personally. Both versions of the band, even though as Ed and Al said, one was a VW and the other a Porche. Odd that a band would completely denigrate a decade that made them who they were to begin with....but they did.

 

[mixohoytian]

LOL

Chubtone, you taught me everything I know about discriminating against bass players

difference is I'd never say any of that out loud if I were doing a high profile interview...

 

[Deanmachine]

No surprise why Dave does not want to be his friend!

 

[bigdaddyd]

You know, I agree that Ed really should keep his mouth shut about his current and former band mates but for folks to go all over social media and forums to campaign Ed being a "horrible human being" is just taking it too far. How fast people forget Ed giving away amps and guitars to up and coming guys that went on tour with VH such as Jerry Cantrell and Steve Brown to name a couple. What about the 75 Wolfgangs he donated to LA schools for music education? The financial support for Jason Becker and his family and The ALS Foundation? Putting the Bumblebee Charvel in Dime's casket? Don't actions speak a little louder than words?

I personally don't give a lot of weight to a multi millionaire "giving stuff away". Yes actions do speak louder than words and he's acting like a douche.

Well you're entitled to feel however you want but I respect the fact that he did those things when he didn't have to.

You mean calling up Sterling Ball or Hartley Peavey and having them ship over a bunch of gear that costs him nothing and that the companies can deduct as marketing expense? All those guys endorsed the gear anyway. As for donations, if he were doing something without getting anything back, you wouldn't need to know about it. He could donate on the without making it public. It's all advertising. I mean, it's a good thing that schools got some free instruments, but I wouldn't go patting him on the back. EVH is, was and always will be a douche.