Alex Van Halen, Las Vegas Sun, Oct. 2, 1998

Wailin’ with Van Halen Lisa Ferguson Friday, Oct. 2, 1998 | 9:21 a.m. Imagine there are people around the world -- eyebrows raised, arms arrogantly folded -- just waiting for you to disappoint them. Now, take a seat behind a drum kit set up in a room full of them. Welcome to Alex Van Halen's world. The drummer shares this scrutiny with three others -- his guitar-god brother, Eddie Van Halen, bassist Michael Anthony and singer Gary Cherone -- who comprise the rock band Van Halen. Together the foursome, which plays The Joint at the Hard Rock tonight and Saturday, has spent the better part of this year trying to prove that it still has the musical stamina to weather its third, highly-publicized incarnation with the addition of Cherone, the group's third frontman in two decades. It comes as no surprise to Alex Van Halen that some fans and critics are still wavering about the change. "I think it's obvious that some people are kind of sitting on the fence waiting to see what happens," he says. "First of all, it's human nature to want to see things stay the same. Maybe we're all victims of that in some way, because it certainly was not our choice," he says, to have either of the band's previous singers -- the unforgettably egocentric David Lee Roth and, most recently, Sammy Hagar, formerly of the band Montrose -- leave its lineup. Roth, who provided the vocals for most of Van Halen's signature tunes -- "Jump," "Panama," "Hot for Teacher" -- split from the band in 1985 and pursued a short-lived, laughable (i.e. his covers of -- and music videos for -- "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody") solo career. Hagar, the voice behind some of Van Halen's biggest hits including "Why Can't This Be Love," "Dreams," "Right Now" and "Finish What You Started," replaced Roth shortly afterward. He, however, parted ways with the band in 1996, amid much finger-pointing from both sides. In some media reports, Hagar, who has since released a marginally successful solo album, claimed to have been booted out by the band. But he explained to the Sun last year that "Eddie and I just wanted to go (in) different directions." Meanwhile, Van Halen's camp continues to contend that he left on his own accord. "Whatever it is he said, he never said it to us," Alex Van Halen says, explaining that the band learned of Hagar's gripes while watching MTV. "If he didn't want to leave, why did he? "I understand where Hagar is going with all this: He needs press. He made a mistake, I think, by leaving and he found out very quickly. ... I guess in any relationship things change and, I hate to say it, but the bottom line is he was extremely jealous of Ed. ... He didn't want to have people yelling 'Ed-die!' when he walked on stage." Egos inflated even more at a reunion with Roth last year. The band had contemplated bringing him back into the mix for its "Van Halen -- Best of -- Volume 1" disc. Backstage at a televised MTV awards program on which they appeared, Van Halen says,, "it was 'The Dave Hour.' If anybody asked Ed a question about a song or this, that or the other, Roth just freaked out." The scene effectively squelched the reunion plans. "You know, the reality of it is, I think people remember the past. They remember the band with Roth, when Roth was at his peak. I think that people would better live with the memory than the reality. Trust me, we were in the studio (with Roth) and it ain't a pretty site." Now it's Cherone's turn at the mike. Formerly of the pop-metal band Extreme ("More Than Words"), he hooked up with Van Halen through a mutual friend. "Gary was basically ... a singer without a band and we were a band without a singer," Van Halen explains. "It's not like he was a big fan, I don't think, of Van Halen. He knew of our music and vice versa. More than his musical talents, the main criteria for bringing Cherone aboard was whether or not he and the bandmates got along. After a week spent hanging out at the recording studio with them, Van Halen recalls, the deal was set. According to Eddie Van Halen, he couldn't have asked for better collaboration than what he has with Cherone, who penned most of the lyrics for the group's latest offering, "Van Halen III." He told the Boston Globe that "his lyrics are not all about female body parts. And there's a sense of humor. ... Everything's not blatantly in your face, so there's room for your imagination. "A lot of people, because of our past, will think some of these lyrics are pretentious. But they're not. Every damn thing on this record is for real and from the heart. There's not a contrived note or lyric on it. It's based on personal experiences, or other people's experiences." But so far, reviews on Cherone and the CD have been mixed. Steve Morse of the Boston Globe wroter earlier this year that the disc "will surprise many fans who view the group as 'America's premier party band,' to quote Eddie. ... But there's now more meaning to the songs, courtesy of Cherone." But Chris Riemenschneider of Cox News Service wrote that the disc is evidence that "the new Van Halen is simply no fun," laying some of the blame on Cherone's writing. "Would-be singles 'Without You' and 'One I Want' are good enough, but probably won't be around two or three tours from now." Even Alex Van Halen had initial reservations about the disc, which he says was the result of "basically Ed cleansing his soul of a lot of frustrated years of music that he wanted to do, but nobody was really interested. "I think as a cohesive record, that may not have been the smartest thing to do but, you know, having said that, rock 'n' roll is about taking a chance and Ed really wanted to do this record, so we were in on it 100 percent. "I think there were a number of people scrutinizing this record too much, expecting that this was going to be the definitive record of where (the band) was headed into the new millennium," Alex Van Halen adds. "Well, that's not the way we operate; that's not the way we think. "I personally think that 10 years from now, people are going to look back and see this record the same way that (1981's) 'Fair Warning' was first received," which was lukewarm, he says, "because it was more musically-oriented and it was not your 'hit'-type record. This record demands a little bit more listening ... It's not something you can really understand completely upon first listening." Following a tour of Japan later this month, Van Halen will head back into the recording studio in early 1999 to record its 11th album -- with all of the same band members in place. At least, that's the plan. "I think we all have enough experience under our belts that (losing another singer) is not going to happen," Van Halen says. "Creatively, without question, it's gonna work."