EDDIE VAN HALEN Talks 'A Different Kind Of Truth' In GUITAR WORLD Interview

July 13, 2012

Guitar World has posted an excerpt from its exclusive in-depth interview with VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen, which appears in the magazine's August 2012 issue.

Guitar World: The last time we talked, you said you weren't sure if you wanted to make a new VAN HALEN album. What changed your mind?

Eddie Van Halen: I think I was pissed off at the time. I didn't want to do something new because I felt that even if we did, the fans wouldn't like it anyway. We just snapped back and realized that, hey, we're doing this for us, too. This is what we do. We make music for a living. Like I've always said, if you like what you're doing, you're halfway there; if someone else likes it, that's even better. If they don't like it, at least you like it. Not to be selfish, but you kind of have to be.

Guitar World: What got the ball rolling on this album?

Eddie Van Halen: Wolfgang's [VAN HALEN bassist and Eddie's son] enthusiasm. He was going, "Come on, come on!" We went up to 5150 [studios] and started jamming. It felt like a comfortable old pair of shoes. Working with Dave [Lee Roth, vocals] again was like we had never left each other. It was that comfortable. We've known each other since high school. When you have old friends, five or six years can go by when you don't see each other, but you just pick up where you left off. We started recording at the studio at my house with just Alex [drums], Wolfgang and me. Basically it's the same way we start any record. We went through our archives of stuff we had already written. Wolfgang picked out a bunch of tunes. "She's The Woman" was the first one. We started jamming on songs like "She's the Woman" and "Bullethead" and reworked them. Dave was onboard from the beginning. I was already recording and engineering demos of "She's The Woman", "Bullethead" and "Let's Get Rockin'", which is now "Outta Space". I sent Pro Tools files of recordings over to Dave, who was working over at Henson Studios, where he likes to record, which got him totally excited. He said, "Let's get going!"

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).