Music fans know his shots, have seen his name credited on album covers. Zlozower connected with Van Halen in 1978, started shooting some shows, and before you knew it, he contributed some shots for the Van Halen II album. It was just the beginning of the pair's friendship and working relationship.
In 2008, Neil published his first book, “Van Halen: A Visual History 1978-1984” – a stunning display of photography capturing one of rock’s biggest bands in their undisputed heyday.
Zlozower spoke about VH – and lots more – with Sweden's Metal Shrine.
Here’s a part of that conversation – it picks up on the subject of whether or not Neil ever shot some pictures of bands mid-decadence, and was later told that he couldn’t use them….
Metal Shrine: I talked to Ross Halfin just a few days ago he said that Mötley Crüe were the ones that really didn´t care. They just did whatever they did and that was it.
NZ: Good friend of mine. Yeah, that´s probably true to some degree, but honestly, everybody likes to think there´s the bad boys of rock and roll, Guns N´Roses or Mötley, but honestly, the things that I witnessed with Van Halen were the most human debauchery as far as things they did with girls. I went on tour with Poison, I went on tour with Bon Jovi, I went on tour with Guns N´Roses, I went on tour with Ratt and I went on tour with Mötley and a billion other bands, but to me the antics with Van Halen, nothing really ever compares to that.
MS: Who was the main instigator? Was it David Lee Roth?
NZ: Well, they all had different personalities. Michael was married and is still married to the same girl. She´s fantastic and I love her, so Michael he liked to drink Jack Daniels and he never really got involved in too much of the debauchery that was going on. Eddie was pretty mellow. He did the shows… he´s one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived, but I´d say Alex to be honest.
Did you ever see those films where they throw pieces of meat to the shark and you get about 50 sharks that just f**king lose their mind and go ballistic, that´s how Alex was if he saw like a naked girl or whatever! He just would lose his f**king mind. He reminded me of those sharks and the shark eating frenzy. It turns out that me and Alex probably hung the most out of any of them.
Usually after the shows, Dave had three of four girls and he would just take them up and do whatever he did, but me and Alex hung and I have tons and tons of photos of different adventures we had. I´m sure that the Mötley guys did it, but I never really saw it. Nikki was one of my closest friends in the world in ´83 and ´84! Me, him and Robbin Crosby went to Martinique on our trip to the Caribbean and we caused quite a bit of drama on that trip, to say the least, but I just never witnessed the same type of antics that I witnessed on tour with Van Halen.
MS: You´ve got any plans for a new book?
NZ: Yeah! I´m working on it now. It´s gonna be an Eddie Van Halen book, that Eddie´s working on with me.
MS: Nice!
NZ: Yeah, we´re working on it and it should be out around August or September this year. It´ll be Eddie in his heyday from ´78 to ´84. I mean, I wasn´t a big fan of Van Halen with Sammy Hagar and I wasn´t a big fan with Gary Cherone. To me, the David Lee Roth years are the best!
MS: Looking forward to that! Do you have any idea of what those guys are doing? There´s rumors of an album and a tour?
NZ: Supposedly. People say they´re gonna go on tour. As a matter of fact, I don´t remember if I heard that they were announcing shows. I don´t know! People say that they´re making a new album. They don´t really call me. I haven´t heard from Dave since he got back into the band. I thought Dave was one of my best friends or whatever, but I guess I thought wrong. Once he got back in the band I never heard from him again!
(Ed note: DLR wrote the introduction to Zlozower’s 2008 book referenced at the start of this item).
Check out the full Zolzower interview at Metal Shrine here.
Van Halen Van Halen – Runnin’ With the Devil (1978)
See also:
Eddie Van Halen: new Stealth, Wolfgang guitars unveiled at NAMM
Valerie Bertinelli on why Eddie Van Halen was at her wedding
Eddie Van Halen: limited-edition miniature guitars available
Van Halen leads hennemusic Hot 10
VIDEO: Wolfgang Van Halen jams with Alter Bridge
Van Halen jams with Alter Bridge in Hollywood
