Music journalist Mitch Lafon recently shared an early interview of David Lee Roth talking about what being in Van Halen was like.
In the video, Roth revealed the drama in the band between the brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen. He said:
“It’s early in the morning. Not for me, I haven’t been to sleep since the late 80s, which is a very Dutch thing to say. Okay, that kind of sense of humor is Jan Van Halen, Mr. Van Halen. The brothers and I never got along.”
The singer explained the arguments and the debates in the band:
“The sparks from that collision, [imitates an explosion]. That kind of thing, that’s running with the devil. ‘No you, you man, how could you? You should have… [explosion].’ ‘I Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ [explosion]. ‘Look at her, she’s f*cking crying again.’ But Jamie’s always cried [explosion]. ‘You’re late.’ ‘I’m not late. I’m early!’ ‘But you [explosion].’ That’s Van Halen.”
‘We Always Hated Each Other’
Looking back at his time with Van Halen, David Lee Roth talked about his relationship with Eddie and Alex Van Halen in a 2019 interview on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast. Roth admitted that he and the Van Halen brothers never got along, from the beginning all the way to his exit.
He said their creative differences caused a lot of tension. Roth also noted that they started out in rival bands but ended up finding success together:
“We have always hated each other, right up until the last phone call. There were always creative differences. We’ve never gotten along. We started in rival bands. Bitter rivals. But we were thrown together, and it was amazing. Think of your favorite jeans; they’re ruined and full of holes. What you love most about them are the f*cked up parts.”
See Lafon’s post of the interview here.