DLR Interview - Phoenix New Times

[rxman]

Nothing new.....pretty much the same stuff we have been reading for a while now.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/issue...l/1/index.html

[dirtymovies]

Here it is:


David Lee's Froth
Diamond Dave rants on fashion, being a digital gigolo, rival/tourmate Sammy Hagar and a pending lawsuit
BY BOB RUGGIERO



Roth might as well face it: He's addicted to sleaze.


David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar
Details: Scheduled to perform Friday, June 21. Showtime is 8 p.m. for the all-ages show.
Where: Cricket Pavilion



To fans, he's the ultimate showman — loud, funny, flamboyant and in-your-face — in both his singing and his desire for your girlfriend. To the hatas, he's an annoying misogynist well past his sell-by date. Either way, David Lee Roth is co-headlining one of this summer's more interesting tours — with Sammy Hagar, his replacement as Van Halen's lead singer. Roth and Hagar will alternate 90-minute sets, with Roth sticking pretty much to the Van Halen catalog while Hagar does material dating from his days with the band Montrose to the present.

So what inspired the two, who have traded potshots in the press for almost 20 years, to get all "kumbaya" for the tour dubbed by some wags as "Sans Halen"?

"Actually, Bono called me and said we had to do this for world peace," Roth quipped at the tour's kickoff press conference. True to form, the king of cock rock was accompanied by a set of Playboy triplets in yellow cat outfits and a shock-wigged dwarf.

Dave on fashion: "Nobody wants to dress like me. What I wear on stage, I wear through the airports of America, and people sizzle like wieners on a barbecue! And girls, you can tell what religion I am from 300 meters away!"

Calling from the "Disco Submarine," as he has christened his tour bus, on the eve of the first tour date, Roth is a manic interview subject. He sometimes answers questions in stream-of-consciousness bursts that make Robin Williams's talk-show appearances seem as lucid as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

"I practice self-promotion as an art form — along with ridicule and sarcasm!" Roth blurts out between raspy laughs. "I'm more like Mark Twain wandering! The innocent abroad! This is what I try to reiterate in my lyrics and videos — there's a sarcastic exuberance about all the classic Van Halen stuff that I think summarizes rock 'n' roll. Rock 'n' roll is not lament! Lament is folk music!"

From its formation in 1974, Van Halen was America's closest answer to Led Zeppelin. Tracks like "Runnin' With the Devil," "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," "Dance the Night Away," "Jamie's Cryin,'" and covers of Kinks, Roy Orbison, and even Martha and the Vandellas songs blasted from every suburban-basement bong party and high school parking lot.

But while Eddie Van Halen's revolutionary fret-hammering style, his brother Alex's hard-pounding drums and Michael Anthony's nimble bass shaped the band's musical side, it was often Roth's front-man antics that drove the band. With his hairy bare chest, tight rainbow spandex pants and high-flying karate kicks, Roth injected a bawdiness and campy humor best exemplified on the record 1984.

Taking a decidedly more fun approach to the year than George Orwell had, the record spawned numerous hits, including "Jump," "Panama" and "Hot for Teacher." It was a pop-metal classic, its endlessly repeating videos on MTV bringing the band to its commercial pinnacle.

Playing out a familiar scenario, Roth split the next year for a solo career, which at first seemed promising with the hit albums Crazy from the Heat and Eat 'Em and Smile. With Hagar,Van Halen continued to find success, but changing tastes and some lackluster records grounded Roth's career. Soon he was playing showrooms in Vegas.

After Hagar's bitter departure in 1996, Roth seemed primed to rejoin the boys, especially after he recorded two new songs with them for the ambitiously titled Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1. But at a much-ballyhooed appearance together at the MTV Awards, Diamond Dave — being himself — ad-libbed and took over, much to the obvious anger and embarrassment of Eddie Van Halen. After that, the split was for keeps — with a none-too-convincing Van Halen claiming that the reunion was "never meant to be permanent." The brothers then recruited ex-Extreme warbler Gary Cherone as their new front man, but his tenure lasted for just one tour and one record, a commercial and critical bomb.

Dave on making the cover (in a thong, no less) of Spin's "100 Sleaziest Moments in Rock" issue, and on female companionship in 2002: "Who would you rather be, Hugh Hefner or Bill Gates? Who will history venerate more? It's all lies and rumors, designed to destroy my good name, Bob! Heh-heh. That's not an objection, your honor! In this information age, I get e-mails from [women] with pictures of the city, seat numbers and things like 'Dear Dave, I'll be in aisle 352 wearing such and such . . .' Now you can e-mail me from your seat, and I can e-mail you back! Heh-heh. Diamond Dave goes digital!"

But as the tour passes through certain cities, Roth may need to be wary of groupies concealing subpoenas in their thongs. In March he was on the receiving end of a suit filed by Houston concert promoter Louis Gavrel, who claims he is owed $51,200 in unpaid fees for Roth shows that he either booked or subcontracted to International Creative Management (also named in the suit), as well as $17,081 in attorney costs.

After an uncharacteristic silence, Roth mounts a defense. "Aahh . . . you know, I guess it's kind of a barometer [of] where you are. You can be judged by how many people are chasing you, and lots of people are chasing us for lots of reasons. This is as common as Jackie Chan spraining his ankle."

When asked point-blank if Gavrel's allegations have any merit, Roth dismisses them as "all nonsense."

"It's a pity that so many people that have worked hard for David over the past several years are having to file claims against him," says Gavrel's Houston-based attorney, Robert Durbin, via e-mail. According to Gavrel, who says he's known Roth for more than 20 years, he booked the singer on a tour with Bad Company in 1999. But in lieu of payment — because of what he claims were Roth's pleaded "cash-flow problems" — Gavrel instead took the right to promote four additional Texas dates. When those shows didn't happen, Gavrel helped with some 2001 shows, some of which were subcontracted to ICM. But the lack of a formal written contract apparently complicates matters for Gavrel.

"Due to Louis' long-standing relationship with Mr. Roth as a friend and a promoter, telephone calls from Roth requesting Louis' help and simple writings between the two were enough to bind them," Durbin counters, adding that, because Gavrel was paid by Roth for some of the shows, there was a "pretty clear mutuality of understanding" between them. Durbin says that Roth and ICM have formally responded, reiterating no intention of settlement.

Dave on Sammy: "Let's get biblical, Bob! It's a rivalry that the audience wants to be in the middle of. Rivalry brings out the best, whether it's car design or political governments!"

After the current tour is over, Roth has no plans save for promoting his video/DVD release, David Lee Roth's No-Holds Bar-B-Q. It features Roth and assorted strippers, midgets and pals dressing up in costumes and doing . . . well, not much of anything besides running around his house and dancing to techno music, with jarring camerawork and editing. But with Eddie Van Halen's recent self-proclaimed triumph over cancer, and the dormant Van Halen in need of a front man, might we see another reunion?

"I tell ya what," Roth says, answering the question for what is probably the millionth time. "I see myself . . . you know . . . arriving at the gate of dreams worth dying for with nothing but convictions. Religious, spiritual, musical and PRIOR!"

He laughs: "That shit is all-inclusive, Bob! God bless!"

[ June 20, 2002, 05:55 AM: Message edited by: dirtymovies ]

[pissmonkey]

""After the current tour is over, Roth has no plans save for promoting his video/DVD release, David Lee Roth's No-Holds Bar-B-Q. It features Roth and assorted strippers, midgets and pals dressing up in costumes and doing . . . well, not much of anything besides running around his house and dancing to techno music, with jarring camerawork and editing. But with Eddie Van Halen's recent self-proclaimed triumph over cancer, and the dormant Van Halen in need of a front man, might we see another reunion?

"I tell ya what," Roth says, answering the question for what is probably the millionth time. "I see myself . . . you know . . . arriving at the gate of dreams worth dying for with nothing but convictions. Religious, spiritual, musical and PRIOR!"

He laughs: "That shit is all-inclusive, Bob! God bless!""

WTF does that mean??? Anyone?? Bueller?? [img]graemlins/wtf.gif[/img]

[lance watts]

I have no idea what the fuck he's trying to say but atleast it's not a "no". [img]smile.gif[/img]

[LA]

Originally posted by pissmonkey:
"I tell ya what," Roth says, answering the question for what is probably the millionth time. "I see myself . . . you know . . . arriving at the gate of dreams worth dying for with nothing but convictions. Religious, spiritual, musical and PRIOR!"

He laughs: "That shit is all-inclusive, Bob! God bless!""

WTF does that mean??? Anyone?? Bueller?? [img]graemlins/wtf.gif[/img]

lol... That's Dave!! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]