Rumor Of New VAN HALEN Single Shot Down

The usually reliable VAN HALEN fan site Van Halen News Desk has shot down as "completely false" a report from the Boston Herald on Thursday (August 18) that a new VAN HALEN single titled "Late Term" could be arriving next Tuesday (August 23). According to The Pulse Of Radio, the Herald cautioned that the information came from "a friend of a friend who is tight with someone in the VAN HALEN camp," so this was about as far from official news as one can get.

If the single does emerge, it will be the first music heard from the band's new album and first in 27 years with original singer David Lee Roth.

The group entered the studio last January to begin recording, with vague reports indicating that it is either finished or close to being completed for a fall release.

There has virtually no info from the VAN HALEN camp about album or tour plans. Rumors have also suggested that the band pulled out of an Australian festival tour scheduled for late next month. The trek was officially canceled last week.

One person who doesn't think VAN HALEN can get together and continue its comeback is Roth replacement and former singer Sammy Hagar. "They can't get it together," he said. "You know, they can't. I was there. I saw it. Eddie [Van Halen, guitar], doesn't matter if he's clean and sober, like they even if he is, too much damage. They're just too wacky. They're so out of it. And it could be cool, time warpy, if they were the original band and everybody was on the same page."

Producer Ross Hogarth, who has worked on the VAN HALEN album, spoke briefly about it in an interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com, saying, "I'm really stoked about it, as it is the original band, Eddie and Alex [Van Halen, drums] with Wolf [Eddie's son] playing bass, and David Lee Roth singing, it's the killing side of VAN HALEN at the top of their game again . . . and the band on fire."

ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti recently said in an interview that he had gotten an opportunity to hear the music through his friendship with Wolfgang Van Halen, saying it sounded like "vintage VAN HALEN."

VAN HALEN reunited with Roth in 2007 for a successful year-long reunion tour minus original bassist Michael Anthony, who now plays with Hagar in CHICKENFOOT.