David Lee Roth recalls nothing really came out of early Van Halen demos produced by Gene Simmons

David Lee Roth recalls nothing really came out of early Van Halen demos produced by Gene Simmons

Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth was recently interviewed by the Star Tribune. Roth is currently on tour opening for KISS on their second US leg of their End of The Road World Tour.

Roth was asked about KISS bassist Gene Simmons producing Van Halen‘s early demos in the 1970s. Roth recalled: “Van Halen was like a sea anemone. It’s born looking exactly the same way it does as it passes into the hereafter. If you listen to tracks from our club days in 1973, Van Halen, once I joined the band, sounded exactly like we did the first day together at Ed’s mom’s house as we did on the first record as we did on ‘Jump.’

“It took us 5½ years before Warner Bros. finally showed up. About two years before that, Gene came to the Starwood and said: ‘Let’s try to do some demos.’ We flew to Electric Ladyland and made some tapes, but nothing really came out of them. So that was that.”

In terms of his original break up with Van Halen back in 1985, Roth indicated: “That’s passe. I’m past that. It’s like antique battles ringing off my ears. Van Halen reformed since then, and we had ourselves a glorious time, and I wish Ed the best now. As far as old feuds, is Trump still fighting with Rosie [O’Donnell]? That was a colorful one. I dug that one.”

You can read the rest of the article / interview with David Lee Roth at Star Tribune‘s website.