Guitar World Interview: Gene Simmons on Eddie Van Halen

[James in New York]

https://www.guitarworld.com/features...me-like-edward

Gene Simmons pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen:

“Not since Hendrix did anyone change the game like Edward“

By Gene Simmons a day ago.

The God of Thunder remembers Eddie and those early days when he produced the Van Halen Zero demos.


By the end of ’76, Kiss had become a pretty big deal. We’d come back to L.A. to write and take two weeks off, and my phone rang and a guy named Rodney Bingenheimer said, “You’ve got to come with me to the Starwood tonight.” So I said, “Sure, I’m not doing anything.”

I think I grabbed some Popeye’s chicken on the way. Greasy stuff, but great. I get to the club and they stick me in the asshole section on the second floor, where the general public can’t go. I was toward the wall and there were people in front of me looking over the railing. I was waiting for the Boyz, who were the headliner and the band everybody was talking about.

They had George Lynch on guitar. But the first band came on and it was, “What the hell is that?” It sounded like three or four guitar players playing, some of them in harmony, and with speed and melody. It was like a guitar symphony.

I hurried up to the railing and couldn’t believe what I saw: There was a lead singer with long blonde hair and no shirt doing splits and all kinds of physical stuff, like an acrobat. And the bass was rocking out and the drummer was pounding away with a double kick.

And I was searching for the other guitar players, but it was just one little guy. Looked like a kid. And when this amazing noise was coming out of his guitar, his pick hand wasn’t always picking.

He had both hands on the neck and I didn’t understand what was going on. I was thoroughly knocked out.

Within a few songs the band stopped and this kid stepped out to the front of the stage and started playing by himself. But he was doing the kinds of runs that most guitar players didn’t do. None of this old-fashioned blues – it was more classical music. B.B. King may have been in Eddie’s DNA someplace, but I didn’t hear it.

I wound up taking the guys to New York. I put them up in hotels, bought David [Lee Roth] leather pants and some high-heeled shoes. And we recorded 15 songs at Electric Lady Studios. Almost all of those songs wound up on the first Van Halen record, excluding House of Pain. Different version, which kicked the recorded House of Pain's ass.

Now, lots of people say, “Hey man, you discovered Van Halen.” I did no fucking such thing, okay? That first person who looks up and sees Mount Vesuvius can’t say they discovered Mount Vesuvius. It’s always been there.

You just happened to be the person that came by and said, “Look at that!” When Kiss went back out on the road about a year later, we turned on the radio and what did we hear? Da-da-da da-da [sings the riff from You Really Got Me].


I’ll tell you, one of the most satisfying things in life is to turn around to everybody and say, “I told you so…” My favorite Van Halen song of all time is that unreleased House of Pain. There’s nothing better, and that includes Eruption. That thing is like a locomotive that’s going down the track without being able to stop.

Besides being a monster on his instrument, there was such a pure soul in there. None of that ego stuff.

I love Jamie’s Cryin’ because of that hook. Which, of course, was sampled by Tone Lōc. The funny thing is the other song Tone Lōc sampled was [Kiss’s] Christine Sixteen, which also connects to Eddie and Alex [Van Halen], because they were with me in the studio doing the original demo.

In fact, Edward’s solo on that – one take – was so good that when Kiss went to re-record the song I forced Ace [Frehley] to copy it note-for-note. He hated that. Not since Hendrix did anyone change the game like Edward. But don’t kid yourself – it wasn’t just his guitar.

Those are legitimate songs. It’s great, classic songwriting. And besides being a monster on his instrument, there was such a pure soul in there. None of that ego stuff.

Even when you see the videos of him onstage, when he solos, he looks like he’s in heaven. He’s smiling his face off while he’s just destroying the fretboard. When I heard Edward had passed, the image I got in my head was a big smile.

Gene Simmons was speaking to Richard Bienstock.

[MF5150]

https://www.guitarworld.com/features...me-like-edward

Gene Simmons pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen:

“Not since Hendrix did anyone change the game like Edward“

By Gene Simmons a day ago.

The God of Thunder remembers Eddie and those early days when he produced the Van Halen Zero demos.


By the end of ’76, Kiss had become a pretty big deal. We’d come back to L.A. to write and take two weeks off, and my phone rang and a guy named Rodney Bingenheimer said, “You’ve got to come with me to the Starwood tonight.” So I said, “Sure, I’m not doing anything.”

I think I grabbed some Popeye’s chicken on the way. Greasy stuff, but great. I get to the club and they stick me in the asshole section on the second floor, where the general public can’t go. I was toward the wall and there were people in front of me looking over the railing. I was waiting for the Boyz, who were the headliner and the band everybody was talking about.

They had George Lynch on guitar. But the first band came on and it was, “What the hell is that?” It sounded like three or four guitar players playing, some of them in harmony, and with speed and melody. It was like a guitar symphony.

I hurried up to the railing and couldn’t believe what I saw: There was a lead singer with long blonde hair and no shirt doing splits and all kinds of physical stuff, like an acrobat. And the bass was rocking out and the drummer was pounding away with a double kick.

And I was searching for the other guitar players, but it was just one little guy. Looked like a kid. And when this amazing noise was coming out of his guitar, his pick hand wasn’t always picking.

He had both hands on the neck and I didn’t understand what was going on. I was thoroughly knocked out.

Within a few songs the band stopped and this kid stepped out to the front of the stage and started playing by himself. But he was doing the kinds of runs that most guitar players didn’t do. None of this old-fashioned blues – it was more classical music. B.B. King may have been in Eddie’s DNA someplace, but I didn’t hear it.

I wound up taking the guys to New York. I put them up in hotels, bought David [Lee Roth] leather pants and some high-heeled shoes. And we recorded 15 songs at Electric Lady Studios. Almost all of those songs wound up on the first Van Halen record, excluding House of Pain. Different version, which kicked the recorded House of Pain's ass.

Now, lots of people say, “Hey man, you discovered Van Halen.” I did no fucking such thing, okay? That first person who looks up and sees Mount Vesuvius can’t say they discovered Mount Vesuvius. It’s always been there.

You just happened to be the person that came by and said, “Look at that!” When Kiss went back out on the road about a year later, we turned on the radio and what did we hear? Da-da-da da-da [sings the riff from You Really Got Me].


I’ll tell you, one of the most satisfying things in life is to turn around to everybody and say, “I told you so…” My favorite Van Halen song of all time is that unreleased House of Pain. There’s nothing better, and that includes Eruption. That thing is like a locomotive that’s going down the track without being able to stop.

Besides being a monster on his instrument, there was such a pure soul in there. None of that ego stuff.

I love Jamie’s Cryin’ because of that hook. Which, of course, was sampled by Tone Lōc. The funny thing is the other song Tone Lōc sampled was [Kiss’s] Christine Sixteen, which also connects to Eddie and Alex [Van Halen], because they were with me in the studio doing the original demo.

In fact, Edward’s solo on that – one take – was so good that when Kiss went to re-record the song I forced Ace [Frehley] to copy it note-for-note. He hated that. Not since Hendrix did anyone change the game like Edward. But don’t kid yourself – it wasn’t just his guitar.

Those are legitimate songs. It’s great, classic songwriting. And besides being a monster on his instrument, there was such a pure soul in there. None of that ego stuff.

Even when you see the videos of him onstage, when he solos, he looks like he’s in heaven. He’s smiling his face off while he’s just destroying the fretboard. When I heard Edward had passed, the image I got in my head was a big smile.

Gene Simmons was speaking to Richard Bienstock.

Nice that Gene has come off of the “I discovered Van Halen” message of late cause it was always silly when he said it in the past.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KS 5150]

Thanks for posting I agree that the version of HOP from the Simmons sessions blows the doors off of the one on 1984.

[James in New York]

Loved this part:

And besides being a monster on his instrument, there was such a pure soul in there. None of that ego stuff.

Even when you see the videos of him onstage, when he solos, he looks like he’s in heaven.

He’s smiling his face off while he’s just destroying the fretboard.

When I heard Edward had passed, the image I got in my head was a big smile.

[chain]

Thanks for posting I agree that the version of HOP from the Simmons sessions blows the doors off of the one on 1984.

I've never heard the version Simmons mentions....Given I and many others love the recorded version, it must be pretty fucking stellar! Can this first version be found on youtube by any chance?

[Little Dreamer]

I've never heard the version Simmons mentions....Given I and many others love the recorded version, it must be pretty fucking stellar! Can this first version be found on youtube by any chance?

He failed to get VH signed, that's why saying he "discovered VH" is a dubious claim. VH were actually super depressed after Casablanca records passed on them, they almost split up. They went back to playing clubs in LA.
It's later on, when they had Marshall Berle manage them, that they were able to get WB records to come down and check them out. And also Dave sounds much better on the Ted Templeman-produced stuff compared to the Gene Simmons demo. I think Gene has always been very good a promoting his very minor role in the VH saga.

[jimmy812]

I've never heard the version Simmons mentions....Given I and many others love the recorded version, it must be pretty fucking stellar! Can this first version be found on youtube by any chance?

[noise next door]

I think Gene has always been very good a promoting his very minor role in the VH saga.

It wasn't minor...

KISS were huge at that time, and the entire executive level of the industry were aware that Gene had had that belief in them... it was a stamp of approval that the band and others could refer to as things continued to ramp up...

Gene was their first thank you on the Debut's back cover

[I Coulda Hada VH]

I've never heard the version Simmons mentions....Given I and many others love the recorded version, it must be pretty fucking stellar! Can this first version be found on youtube by any chance?

Never mind. Jimmy812 beat me to it.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

I remember reading a quote from DLR way back after the debut album was released that said something like, "We knew we'd made it when people thought we were KISS without the make up." Funny and odd, considering that Van Halen sounded nothing like KISS and Gene Simmons is about a foot taller than Michael Anthony.

[Daisy Hill]

He failed to get VH signed, that's why saying he "discovered VH" is a dubious claim. VH were actually super depressed after Casablanca records passed on them, they almost split up. They went back to playing clubs in LA.
It's later on, when they had Marshall Berle manage them, that they were able to get WB records to come down and check them out. And also Dave sounds much better on the Ted Templeman-produced stuff compared to the Gene Simmons demo. I think Gene has always been very good a promoting his very minor role in the VH saga.

I don't think any band of the day would have thought that to have Gene Simmons championing you was a minor thing. I am sure that the band was thrilled to have the exposure and the chance to record in a world class studio

[evhintexas]

Reading all of this takes me back to when I first heard VH. I was 10 years old. What a lifetime its been...I still can't believe he's gone. It just doesn't seem real...
Ed's guitar parts and harmonies are forever in my heart and soul...

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

This is great, but the 1984 version has always smoked it.

[Ashe]

It was only a matter of time for them to get signed. Gene Simmons tried, but they were so different, not everyone could see the potential. Its funny how people don't want to try the new and different thing. Most people want the familiar, but are puzzled when it doesn't work out. Too risky, I guess. But man, when you take a chance and hit on one, the payoff swings back like a sledgehammer.

I'm not a Kiss fan at all, and it doesn't take long for me to get tired of Gene when he is interviewed. However, the only time he ever seems genuine and sincere is when he talks about Van Halen, specifically Eddie. I think those two had a unique and special bond. Maybe they didn't see each other all the time or hang out, I don't know. But I'm sure Gene always was a there for Eddie with advice about the industry. Maybe I'm grabbing at straws, but sometimes it felt like Gene was kind of like an uncle to Eddie or something. I just get that feeling the way they talked about each other. For Gene, Eddie will always be that smiling kid playing his guitar with reckless abandon. And for Eddie, Gene was always the wise, larger than life figure who's seen it all.

Just my thoughts.

[Little Dreamer]

It wasn't minor...

KISS were huge at that time, and the entire executive level of the industry were aware that Gene had had that belief in them... it was a stamp of approval that the band and others could refer to as things continued to ramp up...

Gene was their first thank you on the Debut's back cover

Gene and Kiss were huge, no doubt. However Gene was trying to get VH signed and he failed. After this happened he told the band "sorry, I tried." So his involvement didn't lead to anything concrete for the band. Other people got VH signed, not Gene Simmons. It's all well documented in VH Rising.