Is A New Van Halen Album On The Way?
Van Halen fans are nothing if not patient. There was an epic fourteen year gap between the band's 1998 release, Van Halen III, and 2012's A Different Kind Of Truth. However, if David Lee Roth is to be believed, Van Halen fans aren't going to have to wait quite so long for the band's next album. According to Roth, the band's next album should be released in 2015. Is it too good to be true?
David Lee Roth was a guest on That Metal Show host Jim Florentine's Sirius XM show, Ozzy's Boneyard, recently and told Florentine that the band is currently working on new music. “I was up at Edward [Van Halen]'s house, maybe three days ago – just before I came here to the city – and we’re starting to put music together,” he said. Roth also went so far as to predict that Van Halen would be good to with a new album and a new tour in 18 months.
The hiccup for the band? Unlike a lot of other bands, the guys of Van Halen put their personal stamp on everything.
Roth explained, "We don’t hire out and have somebody design a bunch of album covers for us and then choose...we start from scratch ourselves. Same thing with the merchandise – if you buy a t-shirt, that was designed, literally, in my living room. On and on…stage design, lighting rig, putting the show together – it takes about a year and a half, 18 months, because any idea that you have is 85 phone calls.”
Let's hope the guys are putting all those phone calls in now. The band not only put out a new album in 2012; they also performed together as a band. The line-up for the last album and tour was Roth on vocals, Eddie Van Halen on guitar, Alex Van Halen on drums and Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen, on bass. It's a good bet that this would be the same group for the new album Roth is referring to.
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[Photo Credit: Splash News & Getty Images]