‘Over in a corner we wrote this song’.
CORRECT. From your recent single, ‘Encore, Thank You, Goodnight’ which you co-wrote in a dream with Eddie Van Halen, who died in 2020. Do you believe his ghost actually collaborated with you?
“100 per cent. It happened. I waited so long to tell the story because I thought nobody would believe me. It was real and spiritual. Whenever I’d run into Eddie, I’d always say, ‘What have you got?’, ‘cause his music was so inspiring to me, and he’d always play me a guitar lick or squeal that was unique. In the dream, he showed me the lick for ‘Encore, Thank You, Goodnight’. I called Steve Lukather and every guitar player who knew Eddie and asked, ‘Did Eddie ever show you that lick?’, and they replied, ‘No, but it sounds like something he would do though’. And I wrote the lyrics telling the exact story of what happened in the dream. The first time I sang the song, an energy came through me and I thought I was going to explode! I thought I was going to have to take a tranquiliser!”.
If Eddie hadn’t passed away, do you think you would have worked together again?
“100 per cent. We talked about it. This is personal stuff, but Eddie even said to me: ‘Man, we made some great music together. I’ve been fighting this [cancer] for 10 years. I’ve got to beat this, and next year, let’s get together, make some new music and go out and make some noise together’. Then he said: ‘But please don’t tell anyone, and especially don’t tell Al [Alex Van Halen].”
“And I’m going: ‘Wow, I guess him and Al aren’t getting along right now’. I mean, those brothers – it was rockier between those two more than between me and them. I never told anyone because I wasn’t going to betray Eddie. But Eddie wanted to go out and bring everyone out – do Sam and Dave [Lee Roth, original Van Halen frontman] and have [Eddie’s son] Wolfie open and do the whole nine yards. It would have been a dream come true for the fans. I’m sad it never happened. I’m sad we never got to do the Sam and Dave tour with Van Halen. If Dave had been more user-friendly, we could have done it, but he doesn’t play well with others! [Laughs]”
Is there no chance of doing a Sam and Dave tour in some form with the surviving members of Van Halen?
“No. I don’t have any hope to play with Alex. When you sell all your equipment and are walking around on crutches, you’re not going to tour. And Dave, I could care less. I’ve no problem with Dave, but I wouldn’t want to tour with him again. We did it in 2002, and he was miserable. He’s no fun. He’s not what he appears to be, he’s always playing mind games. Needless to say, we’ve all heard that he’s struggling with his voice, and I wouldn’t want to bring him out with the ticket price it would be and have to apologise to people.”
“I’m happy with my ‘Best of All Worlds Band’. I’ve got guitarist Joe Satriani, who is as close to Eddie as you’re going to get, and [longtime Van Halen bassist] Michael Anthony who is as much a part of Van Halen’s sound as anybody, and the legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff. This is the best band I’ve been in since Van Halen.”
