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The Press
News from Biloxi (Pre-concert)
The Sun Herald Article
Posted on Sun, Sep. 05, 2004
Van Halen plays tonight at Coliseum
Members trace musical
roots
By PETE TATTERSALL
THE SUN HERALD
The road that led Sammy Hagar to rock 'n' roll was laid out at the
early
age of 3 or 4. Alex Van Halen, a military brat, realized the power of
music when he and his brother, Eddie, would
march around the dining room
table for hours in a trance.
The two men, Van Halen on drums and Hagar behind the microphone,
join
bassist Michael Anthony and guitar impresario Eddie Van Halen on stage at
8 tonight at the Coliseum when Van Halen,
one of the most popular bands
in rock 'n' roll, returns to South Mississippi.
Alex Van Halen and Hagar took part
in a recent telephone press
conference, where each of about 10 reporters from across America, not to
mention one calling
in from Australia, were permitted several questions.
Following are excerpts from the two men's exchange with The Sun Herald,
represented
by yours truly.
At what point did each of you know that music would be your vocations in
life?
"When I was
about 3. Quite honestly, now I'm going to blow your mind,
4," said Hagar. "I saw Elvis, and that was it...
I saw
Elvis on TV, my big sisters were watching him, and they were going
crazy. And I'm sitting there going, 'Yes, well, maybe
I'll be that when I
grow up.' And I'm not jiving. (The next day) I went and got a broomstick,
and pretended like it
was a guitar, and I was throwing down some Elvis."
(Alex Van Halen, meanwhile, can't let this pass without comment.)
"No
(expletive deleted). A broomstick! That's not Elvis, that's Elvira,"
said Van Halen.
"And, man, I was doing the
moves, and my sisters started combing my hair
like Elvis and all this crazy stuff," Hagar continued. "So, you know, hey
there's
my trip, man. If you do your math you can even figure out how old
I am without the lies that you hear. Like everyone adds
10 years on me.
I'm a lot younger than what people say I am in the press.
"Sure. And Alex, how about you?"
"My
Dad was a musician, and as a working musician trying to support a
family, he finally ended up in the Armed Services, in
the Air Force Band.
And he used to bring home these marches and stuff that they would record,
they would play for dignitaries.
And there's something about marches,
man, it's the same tempo as disco, as rock 'n' roll, as whatever it is
that keeps
you moving. My brother and I used to walk around the dining
room table for hours in this trance-like thing, and you realize
the power
of music at that point.
"Now, you know, being surrounded by a father who is in music, and we
started
classical piano at about the age of 6...
our whole life was surrounded by music, so eventually (we) kind of fell
into
it.
"Was it a conscious decision for you and your brother to, I know you both
started on piano, but then to choose
two separate instruments, guitar and
drums?"
"Well, you know, Sammy's epiphany was when he saw Elvis. Ours was when
we
saw The Beatles. And, you know, immediately I'd grab the guitar and grab
drums, and I'd say about two or three months
later...
I mean it was very obvious that Ed, you know, should have been a
guitarist, so we traded instruments. We
just gravitated to those
instruments.
"And from the moment we learned how to play...
I mean, you can hear
yourself, and compare yourself to the musicians who
were making the records. But the music that we were playing, we were
either
topping it, or, you know, grooving better. We just really had a
shot at this.
"So we started playing as kind of
like a comedy act. Not a comedy act,
but a side act to my dad's nightclub thing that he did on weekends. So,
you know,
it was just natural. We just kind of grew up into it.
This is for both of you. If you weren't a singer and a drummer
respectively,
what would you be doing with your lives today?
"Oh, man. I have no idea," said Hagar. "I'll tell you, you know,
everybody
used to make jokes, you know, 'Oh, I'd be a shoe salesman. I'd
be this. I'd be that.' I have no fricking idea. You know.
The closest
thing I could think to it, if I had a little bit of money I'd just be a
beach bum. But if I had to work,
I don't know what the hell I'd do.
Alex Van Halen: "Yes, that's an if question I could never answer, you
know...
.
We've been surrounded by this - and I don't - there really is not much
missing, you know, in the life of a musician.
Especially not if you're in
a place where it's reasonably successful. Because you get to meet other
people, you get
to be creative, you get...
to work with other people who hopefully are the same caliber as you. And
you get to express
and share ideas. And I mean that's kind of what life
is all about.
Hagar: "You know, I'll tell you a quick little
story to answer the
question about what would I be. We were playing this week in my hometown,
you know, in the San Francisco
area...
So I came home last night after...
And I love to cook. I just happen to love to cook. OK, like, that's
what
I do for fun. All right. I go in the kitchen and whip up some bad-a--ed
meal.
"My wife walks in and she
goes, 'Honey, you're the luckiest person. Do
you realize how lucky you are that you get to do everything you love to
do?'
I get to walk out on stages and sing. I get to play guitar. I get to
write songs. And I get to walk in the kitchen and
don't even have to ask
no questions, I just start cooking. And I thought to myself, Man, she is
absolutely right.
"So
I don't know what else I'd want to be. Maybe I'd be a chef. But I
like what I'm doing, and I get to cook when I want, so."
Van
Halen: "There you have it."
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News from Biloxi (post-concert)
The Sun Herald Article
Posted on Tue, Sep. 07, 2004
REVIEW
Van Halen fans give a leg up to Hagar, boys
in the band
By PETE TATTERSALL
BILOXI - It was a mass celebration of rock 'n' roll Sunday night at the
Mississippi
Coast Coliseum, as more than 6,500 hard-core fans, most of
whom remained on their feet for the duration of the show, welcomed
Van
Halen back to Biloxi.
"This is a party. This ain't no rock concert. It's a love fest," said
lead singer Sammy
Hagar.
It was, in fact, a mutual appreciation night. The fans gave and gave and
gave. Van Halen, meanwhile, seemed
to channel the crowd's raw energy into
its music, pumping out high-volume, jubilant, in-your-face rock 'n' roll
for
more than two hours.
Highlights on display by Van Halen, a T-shirt and jeans type band whose
members consist of
Hagar, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, bassist Michael
Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen, included "Poundcake," "Top of the
World,"
"Why Can't This Be Love," "Dreams," "It's About Time," "Ain't
Talkin' 'Bout Love" and the romping, feel-good "Right Now."
Eddie
Van Halen took center stage for about 20 minutes, demonstrating why
he remains a legendary guitarist. At times he hammered
away ferociously
on his instrument, alternating occasionally to a light-finger style that
could only be described as
"fluttering." He also played his guitar with
an electric drill, and while lying on the ground.
But when it came
to connecting with the crowd, which ranged in age
largely from 25 to 55, Hagar proved he was without equal.
At one
point, he hopped down into the first few rows and began singing
from among their ranks. At another point he dropped to
his knees,
midsong, and began signing fan memorabilia. One fan even passed up a
prosthetic leg, complete with a running
shoe on one end, for Hagar to
sign.
But the best moments involved Hagar's interaction with a boy, who
appeared
to be about 4 years old, on his father's shoulders in the third
row. As the child, who at one point held a sign reading
"My 1st
concert," raised a clenched fist high overhead, Hagar stood in front of
him, raised his wrap-around sunglasses,
grinned ear to ear, and signaled
his encouragement.
Later, Hagar again sought out the boy and, seeing he looked
peaked, raced
to the back of the stage, fetched a cold, plastic bottle of water, and
passed it through the crowd to
the child.
After about 16 songs, plus several solos, Van Halen left the stage around
10:20 p.m., returning a few
moments later for a three-song encore, which
included a Kinks cover and the classic "Panama."
"Panama," in fact,
represented something of a departure. It was one of
the only David Lee Roth helmed-Van Halen songs the band performed.
An
all too obvious question, meanwhile, was posed by the band's final
song, "How Do I Know When It's Love?"
For the
four members of Van Halen on stage in Biloxi Sunday night, all
they had to do was look around.
"Biloxi, it took
us a long time to make it back here. Check it out.
Tonight, we're going to make up for it big time!" Hagar said at one
point.
And
they did.
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