David Lee Roth Addresses Van Halen Postponements

When word came down that Van Halen had postponed 31 shows on the reunited group’s lengthy world tour starting in July, thoughts about the reason why turned to the tumultuous relationship between lead singer David Lee Roth and the Van Halen brothers that tore the band apart in the mid ’80s. The band members themselves remained quiet on postponement leading to a battle of “sources” – Rolling Stone’s Van Halen source claimed DLR and the brothers “hate each other” and that “the band is arguing like mad. They are fighting.” The next day TMZ had a Van Halen source of its own who said the reason for the postponement was due to the ridiculous schedule of shows, that the group needed to “re-charge their engines.”

This morning we’ve finally got a statement from an actual band member. A video featuring David Lee Roth has been posted on the Van Halen Vimeo channel and the ’80s icon says the group has been getting along better than ever and just needs a break. Take a look…

Here’s the text of DLR’s statement…

“The band is getting along famously, better than we have in quite some time, and I think the shows reveal that through the miracle of YouTube. I think we’re one of the few bands who relishes you bringing whatever camera — if you can carry it in and pull the trigger on it yourself, then please do. And through the eye of YouTube, you can see that we’re having ourselves a hell of a time, and I think that translates into the music. As usual, we’ve bit off way more than we could chew when it came to scheduling. The band is winning but our schedule has been sidelined for unnecessary roughness. If we continue past July 4 and all the way into Australia and Japan, then we’re asking for the robot-zombie tour when you start getting a lot of ‘yes’ questions. [Adopts robotic voice] ‘Do you feel alright’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Are you having a good time?’ ‘Ahh…’ You don’t wanna get to that point. And we’re nowhere near that point. But we’re gonna take a break and we’re gonna come all the way back around, because this tour is gonna take us about two years. And we’re the guys who brought you KOOL & THE GANG as the ultimate and arguably left-handed top bill co-headline tour — they just went on first every night — and we have in mind a supersize monster truck rally VAN HALEN tractor pull sort of event, and we’re gonna be bringing that back around for the United States as soon as we learn to speak Australian. So stay tuned and we’ll see you down the road in just a little bit.”

[via Blabbermouth]

The Van Halen tour continues on Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri.

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2 Responses

  1. SNOOZE! These guys have been fighting for years and fro DLR to tell us different is Laughable. I would love to hear the Van Halen boys say this. Afer all they seem to be ok with who ever sings. Sorry Dave looks like you will be singing California Girls infront of 63 people at a dive bar near you.

  2. thanks! to David Lee for clearing things up and i, for one, am looking forward to the next segment of shows!! obviously kyle was born AFTER 1990 with his “haters gonna hate” comment.

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