The rocker shares multiple tales from the band’s days on the southern California club circuit in the mid-1970s, just two years before they would sign with Warner Brothers and issue their self-titled debut album in 1978.
“It was 1975, we were at the top of our game,” says Roth (as transcribed by hennemusic). “'All In The Family’ was the television show, the 'Thrilla In Manilla', and Van Halen at our peak, and we were singing our a**es off.”
Roth talks about travelling back and forth to club dates while having to load-in and load-out their own gear, their weekly schedule – which included two days of vocal practice – and the band’s insatiable drive to succeed, while seeing their friends move on to seemingly more stable futures.
“We lived with terror of the unforeseen finish,” he recalls, “we watched all of our friends go to college, join the military, start travelling…get their lives started – and we spent five and a half years wondering ‘are we really gonna dance the night away’”.
With more than 80 million albums sold worldwide, Van Halen were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007; five years after the band performed their final concert at the Hollywood Bowl in October of 2015, guitarist Eddie Van Halen passed away in 2020 at the age of 65 from a stroke and other issues following a lengthy battle with cancer.
Pick up your copy of 1978’s “Van Halen” album here.
See also:
David Lee Roth covers R&B classic Mustang Sally
David Lee Roth shares Haitian adventure on The Roth Show
David Lee Roth streams new episode of The Roth Show
David Lee Roth revisits Van Halen club days on The Roth Show
Search Van Halen at hennemusic
