What was once inconceivable is now a reality: A David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen is set to release a new album! It took 28 years, a soul-crushing false start with Roth in 1996, the dumping of bassist/backing vocalist Michael Anthony, and a new label home, but A Different Kind Of Truth finally arrives today. However, a fair appraisal of Truth could be dicey: Fans might get swept up in the grand return of a pined-after loved one, while the indifferent can effortlessly cry foul at Truth‘s mining of 35 year-old material and at suspiciously deft Wolfgang Van Halen bass lines. And yet early reviews state that Truth is a remarkably authentic classic Van Halen experience.

Here’s what steps VH took to recapture that old magic:

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Holy shit it is time to get super-pumped for new Van Halen music. That is for sure, fun lovers! Of course, it has been like thirteen years since their most recent album, so the music-makers of VH had some dust to shake off. No biggie. The more daunting task before Team Van Halen now is succeeding at their first album campaign since the upheaval of the record sales and of marketing practices.

Again, music is not the question, but rather how will these recording artists — once kings of presentation, promotions, and imagery during pop music’s last big shake-up, the MTV revolution — fare in the age of non-sales, lightning-fast rumors, and insidious internet marketing, and with the thud of Chinese Democracy still echoing and Aerosmith’s next winner looming ahead?

So far, the pre-natal life of A Different Kind Of Truth (out February 7 oh baby!!) is kinda wonky and marked by weird decisions and missed opportunities for coolness. Let’s take a friendly look: Click to read more…

The wait is over: the new Van Halen single, “Tattoo,” is here, and it even has a music video. This is exciting, of course, because the new Van Halen album on which “Tattoo” will appear, A Different Kind of Truth, is the band’s first effort with David Lee Roth in twenty-eight years, so… yeah, there’s a lot of expectations to live up to.

And the band has acquitted themselves admirably — as a song, “Tattoo” might not blow your mind and make you jump up and down and squeal with joy, but it’s still really good, and does no shame to DLR-era VH’s legacy. Diamond Dave’s voice is in great shape, and that Eddie solo is top notch. I certainly dig “Tattoo” way more than I did either of the songs DLR recorded with the band back in ’96 (although Vince really likes those songs, so fuck do I know anyway?).

The video, on the other hand, is pretty lame. But I don’t think it really matters, given these specific circumstances.

A Different Kind of Truth comes out February 7 via Interscope; the band hits the road for a North American tour that same month. Get dates here.

-AR

With a new Van Halen single set to be released tomorrow, it seems like a good time to look back at the only two original songs the band recorded with David Lee Roth since 1984, “Me Wise Magic” and “Can’t Get This Stuff No More,” both of which appeared on 1996′s Best of Van Halen Volume 1 and thereafter caused the DLR/VH relationship to spontaneously combust. At the time, critics and fans alike questioned the band’s motives for the “Volume 1″ suffix, and we were kinda right to do so, weren’t we? Since then Warner Bros. and its affiliate labels have pushed out no fewer than 7 other different greatest hits / best of comps, but none of them have had any new songs; go figure.

So what of those two “new” songs from ’96? Axl already opined on them drawing the wrath of many an MS reader; Anso hasn’t told me what he thinks of them but he loves all VH unconditionally like his first teddy bear, so, ya know. Moi?

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So last night Van Halen played at Cafe Wha?, this incredibly small club (capacity is 250 people) here in NYC; alas, MetalSucks did not score an invitation, but, hey, that’s what cell phones are for. You can check out some footage from the show in the above video.

More exciting for the approximately eight trillion people who wanted to attend the show but couldn’t get in is that the band has now announced dates for their upcoming tour in support of their new David Lee Roth-reunion album, A Different Kind of Truth. Vince and I saw the band play Madison Square Garden in 2007, and to our surprise and delight, the show was AWESOME, so, yeah, I’m excited to go see them again, even if I have my reservations about them trying to follow-up 1984 twenty-eight years later. But Truth‘s first single, “Tattoo,” drops Tuesday, so we should have a better sense of twenty-first century Van Halen sounds then.

A Different Kind of Truth will come out February 7 via Interscope; dates for the band’s upcoming tour are after the jump.

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I got freaked out for a second when Van Halen no-showed for their rumored appearance at the Grammy noms party in late November. I was spooked by Hagar’s rumor-mongering and by the fact that these things can fall through. But I’m groovy now cuz over the holidays VH announced a 2012 tour (!) and a February 7 release date for their twelfth album (!!). Awesome!

Its title hasn’t been announced yet, but the good news is that the lead single comes out January 10, a tasty billboard went up in Times Square, and good vibes surround this promo clip of VH talking about the old days and this clip (scroll down a little) of Roth looking all fabulous while dancing or subdued and bearded with dog. And they’ve been rehearsing in secret over two months. That’s enough for me to trust this whole thing and thusly I am pumped for this tour! Think about it: These are the first shows since the invention of Fruit Roll-Ups where VH will play new material with David Lee Roth. Shit man!!

And while we’re talking setlist, I vote that VH specialify these shows even further by swapping out a few standards for some seldom-heard mega-jamz. I don’t endorse a vibe-killing focus on obscurities or a promoter-enraging set of only new stuff. Nothing radical. Just a few swaps of worn hits for some shit we’ve not heard in a while — like since said old days; I can think of a few deeper jamz that would be super-fun for everybody:

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The ink is barely dry on Van Halen’s new record deal with Interscope. So, of course, it’s time to start speculating about the actual contents of the band’s new record, which will be their first with David Lee Roth in almost three decades, and their first with Fatty Ding Dongs Van Halen ever. And who better to speculate than Sammy Hagar, a dude who hasn’t been in the band in six years and hasn’t recorded with them in sixteen?

Hagar has never been shy about discussing his old band (although, in his defense, it’s obviously difficult to be a former member of one the biggest acts in rock history and not get asked about that group on a regular basis), and in a new interview with  Rolling Stone, the current Chickenfoot singer reveals that while the new Van Halen album will contain material none of us have heard before, that doesn’t mean it’s actually new:

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Hey check it out Van Halen news!!

• According to rumor, the band is divided into two camps: one exclusive to guys named Van Halen and the other populated by a sole Roth. And cooperation between the sides has been not awesome. Expected? Sure. Exaggerated? Prob. I only heard third-hand from the guys in Chickenfoot. You can set your watch to Sammy’s shit-talking I swear! Remember 1986?
• They have announced that the Grammy noms announcement press conference thingy will be the setting of a Van Halen performance, presumably of a new jam. If there is a more fitting venue for new music from gods like Van Halen, I don’t know of it. I do hope that charming Drake will be there. P.S. Release date please.
• The longtime Warner Bros act recently squashed an imminent deal with Columbia. Reports credit David Lee Roth with nixing the deal, alleging his preference is that VH signs with a closer-to-home label. So they just announced a new deal with Interscope (above), headed by Jimmy Iovine (above, in the hat) aka the mentor-type guy from last season’s American Idol. Huh I wonder if Diamond Dave wants Iovine to swipe him a certain somebody’s lucrative Idol gig? Wow, that’d be wild. Better watch your ass, Ryan Seacrest!

-ADF

Hipsters Out Of Metal! is the adventures of a smily ’80s metalhead all high in the srs internet world. 

I had shall we say a moment of clarity about Van Halen this week. It’s nothing bad and nobody’s fault. I love. To me, they score highest in all categories of awesomeness since The Beatles srs. And thusly, I think fans flex on lots of bullcrap. Like, no Michael Anthony? Uh okay. Your teen son in his place? If you say he’s cool, then cool. Shirtless in those white capris brah? Fuckin’ have to trust you on that, I will! And the super secret recording sessions? Fuck it! Like the song says, I’ll wait. Ditto for Aerosmith.

My, like, epiphany isn’t about something they’ve done that freaked me out. There exists no action to be undertaken by Van Halen that could disinterest me in their DLR-inclusive shit. But here I’ll reprise the headline as I explain the wake-up call I received the other day: Holy fuck Van Halen is old as all shit.

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Photo by Clay Patrick McBride

Sebastian Bach’s new record is surprising and unsurprising. That is, no one who has witnessed the former Skid Row singer’s recent playdates with members of Asking Alexandria and Black Veil Brides could be shocked by Kicking And Screaming‘s slick, modern vibe. Plus, a clue was provided by each of Bach’s personnel moves, be it a 21-year old guitar prodigy, or a producer of tight radio rockers (Shinedown, Saliva) and lovable old guys (Iommi, David Lee Roth). And duh it’s 2011: For mainstream rock, the choice is big production or small potential. And there is nothing small about Sebastian Bach.

Anyway, those were my thoughts during the opening notes of Kicking And Screaming. But the album’s surprise element mounted with each song: He pulled it off! Yes, Bach is great at bright, pop-punkish hard rock throughout the totally lovable Kicking. Eventually it dawned on me that Bach might’ve been supplementing — not discarding — his OG fans via cavorting with scenebros, dissing of today’s Skid Row, and tabloid-friendly barroom antics. Via producer, boy wonder axeman, and his own snarling edge, his aim was a collection of jamz for both sensibilities and their overlap. Via classic Bach thrust and charm, Kicking is a Skid Row fan’s newest friend.

Last week, I spoke with Baz about Kicking And Screaming‘s creative team, singing high, being high, Steven Adler, John 5, Phil Varone, and tons more in an epic MetalSucks interview that crescendos from chill (excited new album chatter) to silly (an impromptu stoner giggle party) to rampage (invective against the Skid Row he never bargained for). Read and laugh!

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Van Halen, featuring the young squire Van Halen (left); Mark Tremonti (inset)

The reason that Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti is the world’s luckiest guy is not cuz he gets to party with amazing singer Scott Stapp 24/7. Nay, Tremonti is Lord Luckynuts cuz he’s buds with Wolfgang Van Halen, who is the bassist of Van Halen. Which somehow means that Eddie Van Halen, also of Van Halen, trusts Tremonti enough to allow him a live preview of new Van Halen jamz.

Tremonti described Thursday his visit to 5150 (via Van Halen News Desk):

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Don’t you love classic Van Halen? It’s amazing how that band’s music can just save your day. It’s been my go-to cure for post-American Idol misery; it’s Listerine for the ear, and a reminder of what true excellence sounds like. It’s Prozac for PISD (Post Idol Stress Disorder) and a reset button on any mood soured by three phony-ass judges slinging horseshit like stableboys late for a date. See, David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen can drown out even the echoes of judge Jennifer Lopez’s barbed whine as she pays lip service to “finding your voice” — yeah like she’s done with her wack new single about ballin’ up in da club, the dick-biting hack — and her more-than-occasional retorts to fellow judge Randy Jackson. (I don’t get that. She already had her turn, so like shut it, harpee!).

While we’re talking VH, can we all agree to end this silly farce already with the new bass player? I don’t give a fuck who he is; whether he’s Ed’s high school-aged son or fucking Jesus Christ, it is a side issue; Michael Anthony is Van Halen. His and Ed’s backing vocals absolutely jam on those records (like here), each of which is way better than what Idol judges can’t stop calling true creativity and great artistry. Those duo vox comprise, like, 35% of the band’s appeal, so the Van Halens should put that shit back together. We, the fans, declare amnesty; we want only what is right. Plus, if the young Van Halen is as brilliant as Ed thinks, he will earn his own chances. (Same goes for these “beautiful, perfect” Idol singers.) Van Halen just is not Wolfgang’s band. It’s Michael Anthony’s, the brothers’, and Dave’s. Period. Get Michael and pay him. And Ted Templeman too. That would counteract any and all effects of American Idol, cancerous shitpile of ear-AIDS.

Okay thanks for sticking around for paragraph #3, by which point I think we’ve established that thinking about/listening to the music of Van Halen is serving as a defense mechanism to prevent my re-living the mind-blowingly stupid, untrue nonsense spewed this week by Steven Tyler (the high preist of hooey), ‘Fer-‘Pez (SYFF), Randy Jackson (how much does it cost Idol to lease your honesty, dog?), guest fucktard Sheryl Crow (want a salt lick, girl?), and each blubbering, fam’ly-lovin’, Bin Laden-hatin’ individualist genius contestant who these days would happily agree to be shat on in exchange for the Idol crown. And because of the show’s near-total resistance to real, useful critique by “your Idol judges,” I’m counteracting this you’re-all-winners jive with a nudge upwards on my assholo-stat. So here comes your stabbiest Idol Remains shitcard ever! We measure in Danzigs ‘round here!

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Here’s an interesting excerpt from a recent interview with Sammy Hagar that was conducted by Forbes, your leading source for rock and metal news:

“I was asked at one time to be in Mötley Crüe. I was asked at one time to be in Pantera by their mangers. I was asked to be in Velvet Revolver when Scott Weiland quit and went back to the Stone Temple Pilots. I was waiting to be asked to be in Led Zeppelin to say no, since they were the greatest band on earth and no could replace Robert Plant. I was asked to be in Aerosmith and I said no. Certain bands and certain front man singers are more difficult to replace than others. Steven Tyler and that band have stayed together for forty years and you don’t to walk into something like that. They had one moment years ago, when they replaced Joe Smith, but it’s still always been Steven at the front of Aerosmith. You don’t replace that. When I came into Van Halen, it was easy because Dave wasn’t a great singer, but he was a good front man. In those times, I was selling out the same arena’s they were so it was like the combination of two forces and it worked but it’s a rare thing. We were all lucky that the fans accepted it and it got bigger. I would avoid bands that are going to break up pretty soon.”

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In a perfect world, image and looks would not matter in the slightest. But until Sammy Hagar’s alien overlords take over and create utopia, we live in a time where those very things seem to be of the utmost importantance. When it comes to music, it really shouldn’t make a difference how a band looks. The key word here is “music” — they’re not working in a visual medium, so why should image be an issue? Unfortunately, the way a group is visually presented is among their defining factors, which is also reflected in their fans. I might be crudely generalizing, but let’s face it, there is some truth in most stereotypes. I like people watching, especially on music-related occasions. I will observe the people and the musicians and find patterns, because that’s interesting to me. While there will always, always be exceptions to the rule, there are certain trends that will also always be present.

The most obvious is hair.

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A++++ WDBWA to whoever put this together; we can’t believe it wasn’t done years ago.

Can I get “Bop bozadee bozadee bop zitty bop” in the house?

-VN

Thanks: Mykee Shaffer

It’s kinda common knowledge that Steel Panther is the best live show like ever. If you disagree, that means you haven’t seen their show or that you hate fun, equally odious offenses at this point. So, to approximate the Steel Panther concert rapture, just remember your most cherished, slamming, no-dip-in-momentum live experience, then augment it with hilariousness and toplessness and drugs and great hair and a flying guitar solo and celebrity guest bloopers. That’s Steel Panther live. It is a manifestation of heaven on earth.

The fun stuff is fun, but most importantly, Steel Panther is a musician’s band. It’s tightness that allows S’Panther to slay all those hair rock classics thereby transcending bad karaoke or wedding band hell. It’s harder than it looks. My most boner-bending Steel Panther gig opened with “Panama” (smack in singer Michael Starr’s DLR wheelhouse) and “Up All Night” (goosebumps) and then “Shout At The Devil” (suck it, Vince Neil), but it’s with great sadness that I report that I’ve never seen them make fuck to Whitesnake’s titanic jam “Still of the Night” (above). Lexxi Foxxx owns!

–ADF

One my least popular observations is that Eddie Van Halen’s progress as a guitar soloist was temporarily stunted by the wave of gooey acclaim that soaked him as early as 1978. Until the 1984 album, the newly 56-year old axeman seemed more focussed on wizardry and novel tricks than on crafting memorable solo passages, notwithstanding “Somebody Get Me A Doctor.” His skillz were always bonkers, but apparently good judgement arrived with the keyboards; that’s when he proceeded to rail off beautious leads to equal his unmatched chord choices and phrasing. Then came F.U.C.K., Balance, the departure of Sammy Hagar, the whole Gary Cherone thing, dementia, divorce, marriage, a reconciliation with singer David Lee Roth, a deconciliation with bassist Michael Anthony, the enlistment of Wolfgang “FD-D” Van Halen, and finally Thursday, the happiest day of my adult life thanks to producer John Shanks’ twitter:

Here we go kids … VH.

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Yesterday, Sergeant D. posted a Metal Edition of the classic parlor game Marry, Fuck, or Kill, and you guys responded, uh, enthusiastically, surprising no one. And because we’re equal opportunity offenders — don’t forget that this is the site which posts leaked naked pictures of women and men alike — we decided that today we should post a metal d00dz edition.

So we sat down with the Mansion’s resident feminist, Leyla Ford, and presented her with some hot metal d00dz for a new game of MFK. Check out the results after the jump…

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Kevin Dubrow is dead, and I think that most of us assumed he would take Quiet Riot (the seventh most-often-miscategorized-as-a-hair-metal-band of all time) with him to the grave. Those of us who did make that assumption, however, forgot that desperate times call for desperate measures, and an empty belly holds no room for dignity.

So Quiet Riot are re-forming.

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Fucking publicists.

Last month a story started going around that there was a new Van Halen album in the works for 2011, the first complete record to feature David Lee Roth since 1984′s, uh, 1984; then the band’s publicist/Eddie Van Halen’s wife, Janie Van Halen, called the new album “rumors” and said “I don’t have any updates at this time.” I said at that point that JVH might be “completely full of shit,” and as it turns out, she was. From The Hollywood Reporter:

“…a recent release announcing a re-upped deal between publisher Warner/Chappell and Eddie and Alex Van Halen stated that the band ‘is currently in the studio recording an album with Roth that is due for release in 2011.’”

So, there you have it. Unless someone at Warner really fucked up when writing that press release, there is very much going to be a new Van Halen album next year.

Celebrate or weep in the comments section below.

-AR

Thanks: Mick Stingley