CHAIRMAN OF THE ’BOARD
When Van Halen took the Monsters Of Rock show at Donington by storm in 1984, a return visit of the sooner-rather-than-later variety seemed likely. As it is, the UK had to wait nine years to see the band in action, meanwhile enduring the tease of two live videos along the way. “Actually, it’s not just Britain; it’s Europe altogether… and we’ve never even been to Australia!” laughs Edward Van Halen, obviously not quite believing it himself. “I’m sure a lot of people are really pissed off, goin’, ‘Hey, fuck you – if you’re not going to play, I’m not going to buy your records.’ But that isn’t it at all. It was just an unfortunate chain of events.”
We’re chatting during a break from the band’s rehearsals for the European leg of their forthcoming tour. Whereas most of us have to make do with the local scout hut or the bass player’s front room, when you’re Van Halen you hire Docklands Arena for the week. But back to the plot. Just what was this terrible chain of events that has kept Ed and the boys from our shores for so long? “Well, when Roth quit the band, it kinda left us going ‘Hmmmm…’ In the beginning, I was planning on doing a solo record with Alex [Van Halen] and Mike [Anthony] but having a different singer on each track: Joe Cocker, Phil Collins, Pete Townshend. I was thinking of doing something strange. It wouldn’t be Van Halen, but it would be Alex, Mike and me with all these different singers. But logistically, it would probably just be getting finished now, what with everyone’s scheduling, y’know? So we nixed that idea and Alex said, ‘Heck, let’s continue with Van Halen. You write the music anyway.’
“WE SPENT A MONTH DIGGING BACK INTO TAPES AND FOUND SOME PRETTY GOOD PERFORMANCES, AND SO ‘RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW’ IS NOT JUST ONE SHOW, IT’S THE ’86, ’88, ’91
