David Lee Roth tells Van Halen: can we please play somewhere new?

It’s been six years since David Lee Roth reunited with Van Halen – and he’s had enough of simply playing old songs around the arenas of North America. “How long have I been back with the gang? Maybe six years,” the singer told Rolling Stone. “And we have yet to travel to Europe, South America, Japan, anywhere outside of [the] basic 50 cities in the United States.” The band will actually be playing in Tokyo and Osaka this June, but from what Roth has said, Eddie van Halen took a lot of convincing and a fair share of drama.

“We have an audience and we have a potential future in many, many places, but our story is one of a whole lotta Shakespeare going on,” Roth complained. “Alex [Van Halen, drummer] and I have been begging to become part of [festivals like] Glastonbury and Reading and Hyde Park … We’re back knocking on the doors begging for Bonnaroo and begging for Lollapalooza and Coachella, not even as an advancement of career, but there’s a whole new audience who doesn’t know and doesn’t give a shit about Van Halen, and that’s exactly the best audience to sharpen your spirit on.”

Roth is also frustrated that Van Halen haven’t written any fresh songs. Although a new album, A Different Kind of Truth, was released last year, almost all of its tunes were “written and demoed” more than 30 years ago. “I would certainly look forward to writing a whole list of songs with Ed, but we haven’t found the time to do that,” he said. “You hear [my] tone. I’m not sure what’s in Ed’s mind at this point … Edward and I haven’t written a new song in 20 years.”

Roth also longs for a fuller Van Halen reunion, reincorporating Michael Anthony, who played bass and sang backup vocals from 1974 to 2006. Anthony is “one of the greatest high tenor voices ever”, Roth said. “In our tiny little corner of the universe, that voice is as identifiable as the high voice in … the Beach Boys.”

Roth has even proposed that Van Halen gather and record at the home of his friend, the former sumo champion Konishiki. “Let’s go woodshed,” Roth declared. “But so far there hasn’t been any response, so hope and faith are not actual tactics and strategies – they’re strippers from Albuquerque.”

Source: The Guardian