“The first thing Ed did is leave the room: ‘All yours, Al!’”: Alex Van Halen recounts David Lee Roth’s Van Halen audition
This year, Alex Van Halen has been reflecting on the past. The recent release of his memoir, Brothers, has seen the drummer digging into the archives, commemorating the bond he shared with the late Eddie Van Halen.
But Eddie isn’t the only person Alex has been reminiscing about. At a recent promotional talk in support of Brothers’ release, the drummer recalled the first time Van Halen met David Lee Roth.
READ MORE: “I was with him from day one”: Alex Van Halen’s new memoir is a “love letter” to his late brother Eddie
In a conversation guided by The New Yorker’s Ariel Levy, who collaborated with Alex on his memoir, Alex reflected on DLR’s first audition for Van Halen in 1972. Long story short: it didn’t go well. “We started playing a song, and by the time we were done, Dave finally took a first word,” he jokes, as reported by Ultimate Classic Rock.
“[It’s a] slight exaggeration, but he had a real long drawl,” Alex clarifies. “When it was apparent that this was not gonna work, the first thing Ed did is he left the room: ‘All yours, Al!’”
Despite Eddie’s dismissive response, Alex was drawn in by the quirky singer. “I must say, I had nothing but respect for Dave,” he explains. “He was there, he gave it his best shot, and from my view, he did not take it lightly. All I could say was, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is gonna work.’”
While David Lee Roth fell at the first hurdle, he eventually joined the Van Halen ranks. But the decision seemed to be a last resort. “The next two years go by, everybody in town is going to college,” Alex says. “There’s only a few people left who are actually serious about pursuing a life in music – and I mean a life. This is a full-time job.”
Alex says the David Lee Roth Van Halen years were definitive. In conversation with Billboard, he admits: “What happened after Dave left is not the same band. I’m not saying it was better or worse or any of that… But the magic was in the first years, when we didn’t know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything.”
Alex shares the same sentiment within the pages of Brothers. He refers to DLR’s 1985 departure as “the most disappointing thing I’d experienced in my life… Until I lost my brother.” [via Ultimate Classic Guitar].
Brothers explores the early days of Van Halen, right up to more recent letters addressed directly to Alex’s late brother. The memoir will also dig into the brothers’ childhood, featuring never-before-seen photos and many “tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behaviour.”
The memoir is a “love-letter” to Alex’s life with Eddie. Alex explained to Billboard that the memoir aimed to reminisce on the good times. “It’s not about the dirt,” he asserted. “If I start throwing dirt, it’ll never end… I really felt like a lot of the stuff that was out there was incorrect, and it didn’t do justice to the more sensitive side of Ed. So before I die I would like to at least partially set the record straight.”
Brothers is available now.
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