Advertisement
Backstage in the celebrity green room of Spike's Guys Choice Awards in a booth next to his fellow honoree Clint Eastwood sits Eddie Van Halen — rock's ultimate guitar slinger — with his fiancé Janie Liszewski as he prepares to make an exceedingly rare public speaking engagement. In a star-studded night that will find Mel Gibson getting called "sugar tits" by Brad Pitt and Halle Berry making out with Jamie Foxx, Van Halen provides the clear emotional highlight when he receives Spike's first ever Guitar God Award from Robert Downey Jr. and is called "a rock & roll revolutionary" ( RS called him a Guitar Hero last year, too). Shortly before taking the stage at Sony Studios in Culver City, Van Halen spoke exclusively to Rolling Stone about the future of Van Halen and his fears of accepting the honor: "I never go to anything. That's why I'm actually a little nervous to get up there," he says. "I don't even know what to say. Especially sober, shit."
Eddie, this is not the first time you've been called a
god. But what did it feel like when you heard Spike wanted to give
you the Guitar God Award — the first ever?
Well, it's a little overwhelming, I guess. I mean, who ever would
have thought? I was seven years old when we came to America with my
mom, my dad, my brother with 50 bucks and a piano. Who ever would
have thought I would be a guitar god, you know? If I'm a guitar
god, then my son would be Jesus, right? That means on the
next tour, he'd have to walk on water.
The Van Halen tour was such a success. Were you
pleasantly surprised?
You never know. But I do know this. Janie and I are
getting married on the 27th of June, and then we'll go on a
honeymoon. Then Dave, Wolfie, Alex and I are going into the studio
and record some new music and go on tour about a year from now.
Did the Van Halen tour help fire up some new musical
ideas?
No, I am always writing, you know. But we're a true band
now. It wasn't just a reunion one-off thing. I've already gone to
Dave's house four or five times over the last month. I've got
so much music. It's just trying to figure out what Dave's
into because we haven't written together in a long time. But it's
great. It feels like we've always felt in the beginning. But I'm
sober, so it's different. He's sober, so it's different. It's a
wonderful feeling.
Advertisement
Does getting married again and being so happy these days
help or hurt musically? Because some people write better tortured
but you seem to be in a great place these days.
Tortured, no. I started drinking when I was 12 years old because I
was nervous. And my dad gave me a shot of vodka and it was a wonder
drug. It really worked for a lot of years. But I certainly didn't
drink to make music or to write. It had nothing to do with
it. I just get nervous. I'm nervous now. But I stopped
drinking over a year ago, and I'm done with it. For 42 years, I
drank. It just shows you anything is achievable. Just like
coming here with 50 bucks and a piano.
When I saw you guys on tour, the thing I got from it was
that in rock & roll there's the self-destruction myth that
people like — the Kurt Cobain way to go. And this was the
opposite. It was a statement about survival and growing
up.
Thank God I caught it in time.
Have you heard Chickenfoot?
No, I haven't.
No particular interest?
Well, I don't listen to anything really, for one.
You make your own music?
Yeah, I'm too busy doing my own thing. I wish them well. The funny
thing is that everyone who quits the band always claims they got
fired by me. Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. When Hagar left the
band, Mike went with him. Then when we get back together with Dave,
and all of a sudden, he wants back in. It's like, "No, dude, you
quit the band." So my son became the bass player. But we didn't
give Mike the boot to have my son play. He was around. We didn't
have a bass player. "Hey Wolfie, you want to play?"
It must be pretty mind-blowing to play with your
kid.
He was only 15 years old. "You want to play bass?" "Sure." We did
not have a bass player. That's the only thing really that bothers
me about people acting like I'm the bad guy. I just sit in the
studio and write music. I'm not some tyrant. I've got no beef with
anybody. I wish them well. I hope they are ... I don't know what a
"supergroup" means, but I hope they accomplish what they're setting
out to do.
There was a time when people were writing the guitar
off. What do you think of the fact that kids are playing guitar in
all these games and guitar is being rediscovered by a new
generation?
When was guitar written off?
Well, first there was the time when the synthesizer
era...
Guitar is one thing you can't synthesize.
Related Stories: