VAN HALEN Singer: 'The Band Is Getting Along Famously, Better Than We Have In Quite Some Time'

VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth has released a videotaped message for the fans explaining the reasons for the postponement of 31 of the band's concerts — starting from their July 7 show at Uncasville, Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Arena through their September 25 concert at Milwaukee's Bradley Center.

Un unnamed insider close to the band told Rolling Stone that VAN HALEN's members "hate each other" and that "the band is arguing like mad. They are fighting." The magazine questioned an industry source as to why the band is, seemingly, shelving such a large amount of dates, saying: "You want to know the absolute fuckin' truth? I have no fuckin' idea." A source at the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena, where the band was scheduled to play on July 7, said: "It's selling pretty good — I don't know why they would say it's being canceled."

In the videotaped statement, which can be seen below, Roth says, "The band is getting along famously, better than we have in quite some time, and I think the shows reveal that through the miracle of YouTube. I think we're one of the few bands who relishes you bringing whatever camera — if you can carry it in and pull the trigger on it yourself, then please do. And through the eye of YouTube, you can see that we're having ourselves a hell of a time, and I think that translates into the music. As usual, we've bit off way more than we could chew when it came to scheduling. The band is winning but our schedule has been sidelined for unnecessary roughness. If we continue past July 4 and all the way into Australia and Japan, then we're asking for the robot-zombie tour when you start getting a lot of 'yes' questions. [Adopts robotic voice] 'Do you feel alright' 'Yes.' 'Are you having a good time?' 'Ahh…' You don't wanna get to that point. And we're nowhere near that point. But we're gonna take a break and we're gonna come all the way back around, because this tour is gonna take us about two years. And we're the guys who brought you KOOL & THE GANG as the ultimate and arguably left-handed top bill co-headline tour — they just went on first every night — and we have in mind a supersize monster truck rally VAN HALEN tractor pull sort of event, and we're gonna be bringing that back around for the United States as soon as we learn to speak Australian. So stay tuned and we'll see you down the road in just a little bit."

A major selling point of VAN HALEN and David Lee Roth reuniting was that all of the squabbles and musical differences that tore the band apart in the mid-'80s had been resolved — a point that Roth and Van Halen have always been quick to drive home to the public. "We really have reformed this team like a brother team that it never was before," Roth said, according to The Pulse Of Radio. "I think you hear that in my voice here, and we think we got it right this time. You come and judge the performance harshly. Please, I beg you, come on down and see." Added Eddie Van Halen: "None of us want to give you less than our best and we are at our best."

VAN HALEN's new album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", has sold 377,000 copies in the United States since its February 7 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.