Tuning up with Journey's Neal Schon

Journey guitarist Neal Schon.  (Photo: Travis Shinn)

My first visit behind the curtain, as it were, to the mystical concert realm reverently referred to as "backstage" occurred on Aug. 26, 1978, and I was a recently graduated 17-year-old who had no real clue what he was doing while wandering aimlessly around hoping to catch a glimpse of rock stars in their natural habitat.

My family had just moved from Los Angeles to Utah earlier that summer, but I excitedly made the 11-hour drive back down to Southern California to catch the most anticipated concert of the year. The Electric Light Orchestra, then at the peak of its popularity, was headlining at Anaheim Stadium. I recognize that statement might sound a little funny now, but trust me, ELO was the biggest band in America that year, touring behind its definitive double-album opus, "Out of the Blue," even though the Jeff Lynne-led group experienced a rather dramatic fade in the ensuing years -- due in large part to its out-of-left field, disco-tinged followup, "Discovery," but I digress. The word on the street in that pre-Internet daze was that ELO was performing inside a giant spaceship stage with an array of dazzling effects, creating a show that was not to be missed. Certainly I was not going to allow something as minor as a multi-state move be a roadblock to attending.

  As it so happened, a friend who worked for one of the major record labels at the time and knew I was traveling down for the show, kindly arranged for a pair of backstage passes. Alas, they came with one caveat: I had to pretend to be a British newspaper journalist. (Because every respectable British tabloid flies a non-accented, 17-year-old overseas to cover a random concert in Los Angeles!) Figuring I had nothing really to lose and an unparalleled backstage opportunity to gain, I accepted.

The passes, as it turned out, were arranged through the management of Journey, the main support band that day. Journey was just starting to break nationally at that time behind the arrival of a new lead singer, Steve Perry, and the strength of their current release, "Infinity." I had the album -- or rather a crackling and hissing cassette tape that had been copied from a friend's vinyl album (the 1970s version of Napster) -- and had been wearing it out while grooving to great songs like "Wheel in the Sky," "Lights" and "La-Do-Da." One thing I knew: The band's guitarist, Neal Schon, could flat-out rock.

On the day of the show, backstage check-in was at a door somewhere behind left-center field at the stadium. Another friend and accomplice, Paul Moore, and I approached the burly -- and extremely brusque guard and waited while he attempted to find our names on the hallowed list. Of course, they weren't on there. Fortunately, I had been given a phone number for the nearby hotel where Journey was staying and the name of the band's tour manager, Pat Morrow, in case there were any problems. So I rang him up.

"You're on the list, I just barely went over it," Morrow said. "We're just getting ready to leave the hotel, so we'll be there in 10 minutes. We'll be pulling up in four limos. Meet me there."

Buoyed by the positive response, we went back and waited in the parking lot near the backstage entrance. The same security guard saw us and ordered us to leave. I explained the situation -- but the guard clearly didn't believe us, and, in retrospect, who could blame him? I countered by saying the band would be pulling up in four limos shortly and he would see all was in order. He scoffed and told us to wait outside of the immediate parking lot.

We felt no small amount of vindication when the quartet of limos -- precisely as promised -- pulled up a few minutes later, and members of the band and their contingent piled out. One man glanced toward us and yelled out my name. We hurried up and were greeted by Mr. Morrow, who was every bit as friendly and inviting as the backstage security guard was rude and gruff. The security guard actually balked as Morrow cleared the band -- and us -- through the door.

"They're with me," Morrow said a wee bit dismissively -- to my amusement. Once inside, I thanked him by name, but he quickly corrected me. "Call me Bubba," he said. "All my friends call me Bubba."

With that, Bubba turned us loose in the backstage area -- where we had absolutely no idea what we should or should not be doing. During the first two acts, bands named Trickster and Kingfish, we wandered out and watched the show from right in front of the stage, in the pit separating the stage from the vast stadium audience. It was surreal.

We were wandering around at some point between the band performances when we noticed a few trailers off to one side. One trailer had an open door and a sign that said "Tuning Room." I wandered up and looked inside and that's where I had my first real interaction with Schon -- a guitarist who would go on to write the riffs and melodic leads to some of the best-known songs of the 1980s. Journey may have been supporting that day, but in a matter of years, it would be the San Francisco-based band headlining stadium shows.

That memorable first backstage meeting with Schon, at least for me, is detailed in this interview. I like to think that experience 34 years ago, at least in some fashion, eventually helped influence a legitimate career in music journalism. One that no longer requires a fake British accent.

This interview -- which touches on a variety of topics, including Schon's upcoming two solo albums, his memories of seeing guitarist Eddie Van Halen live for the first time when Van Halen opened for Journey on the band's first tour and his year in the tabloids as a result of his relationship with reality TV starlet Michaele Salahi -- took place on July 24, the day of the third stop on Journey's U.S. tour with Pat Benatar and Loverboy. The show makes a stop tonight at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City.

DOUG FOX: Now, where am I reaching you at today, are you in Paso Robles, is that what I saw?

NEAL SCHON: Yes I am. I’m here and we’re playing here tonight and then we’ve got a long-ass drive.

DF: Where are you going tomorrow then?

SCHON: We’re going to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

DF: That is a long drive.

SCHON: Well, it was either that or take a zillion little tiny flights to get there. And I hate the airport anymore, anytime I have to do a connection and then another connection, I say screw it, we’ll drive — but it’s 18 hours. It’s an 18-hour drive. So that’s our day off, it’s an 18-hour drive.

DF: Well, if it’s any consolation, I think a lot of that terrain is good to sleep through.

SCHON: Exactly. That’s just what I’m looking forward to doing actually, you know. Sometimes I get more sleep on tour than when I’m at home.

DF: You know, I can believe that.

SCHON: So I’m going to catch up on some sleep.

DF: OK, well good. In starting, I must say that it’s a pleasure to finally get to speak with you because the first time our paths crossed — which was just about 34 years ago — you left me completely and utterly speechless ...

SCHON: What did I do?

DF: Well, it’s funny. It goes back to when, I know you’ve played a thousand shows since then, but this was a pretty big one and it’s still one of the best concerts I’ve ever witnessed from top to bottom, so I think you’ll remember it, but it was when you opened for ELO at Anaheim Stadium back in 1978.

SCHON: Oh ... so this was pre-Steve Perry?

DF: No, Steve was there. It was the “Infinity” tour. 

SCHON: Oh, and we were opening for ELO? 

DF: Yes. Do you remember that? 

SCHON: It must have been right in the very beginning when he first got in the band. 

DF: Yeah, you were touring for “Infinity” I remember, that was the big album then. 

SCHON: Right. 

DF: But the thing is, that summer I was just fresh out of high school and I had a friend in the record industry who was able to set me up with a backstage pass through Pat Morrow ... 

SCHON: Yeah, Pat. I love Pat. 

DF: And that was like my first backstage experience and of course I didn’t have a clue what I was doing back there, I was just kind of walking around and soaking in the atmosphere, but there was a series of trailers that were there and I noticed one of them had a sign that said “Tuning Room” on it, and the door was open. So I wandered over there, just to kind of get a peek inside to see what was going on. So I was there looking in the door, and there you are, like 10 feet away sitting in a chair, like, warming up ... and I’m just standing there thinking, “Oh, wow, this is so cool to watch.” I must have been there like 10-15 seconds just watching and then all of a sudden, I guess you kind of realized that I was standing there, and you suddenly turned and stared at me. And the look on your face to me, as I interpreted it, was “Whaddya want, kid? I’m getting ready to play before a stadium full of people, what are you doing here?” That was just the look on your face, of course. But I totally panicked, I was like a deer in the headlights. 

SCHON: Oh, sorry, man! I was probably in the zone trying to get ready for everything. 

DF: Yeah, I know that’s totally what you were doing. I was just so out of my element, I was like, “Oh, no, what do I do now?” And I just turned and walked away. But that’s still one of my favorite backstage stories to this day. 

SCHON: Oh, that’s funny, man. Well, if you come to this one, I won’t be shocked if you’re standing there looking! [laughs] 

DF: And I think I’ve grown up a lot since then, I think I could at least get a few questions out before turning and walking away. 
SCHON: Yeah. 

DF: Well, you’ve got so much on your plate these days, I mean, it’s almost hard to pick where to start off, but since you kind of mentioned it already and the tour has just barely kicked off, the brand new tour you’ve got with Pat Benatar and Loverboy, how have the first few shows gone? 

SCHON: Doing great. I’ve heard that the reviews are really outstanding, I haven’t read any yet, but you know, really, the first show all I was trying to do was remember the songs. We did very little rehearsal, really all we did was fly down to San Bernardino and we were able to set up our gear in the actual place we were playing, that was San Manuel the amphitheater. So we had new video content, our whole crew was there and we were sort of doing run-throughs of the show with new content, but the band had not actually played for close to 10 months, the last 10 months. So, you know, I was just trying to remember songs. I had a couple train wrecks, you know, [laughs] up on stage I did some fast editing in my mind — that sometimes works in the studio, but it doesn’t work on stage. So I’m playing an extra chorus and I’m looking around at everybody going, “Where are you guys,” you know? So we had some real moments like that, but I think overall it was good. And our show in Lake Tahoe the night before last was very strong. I mean, I felt like I had a good show, and the band had a good show. The altitude is very high. Right now we’re playing in A4-40, which is the original key. And then there was a fire that broke out, a forest fire. And so all through the set I was watching these ashes come down. My lungs were filling up. And they’ve got the high altitude and I’m sitting there singing and I’m going, “ ... I can’t even breathe.” And so I’m going, “I don’t know how he’s doing it.” He really did well I thought. He got through it with not such a great environment to try and sing in. But, you know, that’s what the road is. You deal with all these different elements from time to time, things that happen. That’s what it is. Sometimes you get dealt lemons, you make lemonade, you know? 

DF: I’ve got to say, that’s kind of the rock ’n’ roll attitude. And I think, though, in listening to you talk about that and having seen you play live so many times over the years, as well as so many other great musicians — I assume you guys make some mistakes, but most of the time in the audience we don’t figure that out. Do you find that those things happen occasionally or more than that? 

SCHON: I think usually the mistakes are so minimal and so small that nobody would notice it except for us — or someone that’s really a “muso” guitar player or somebody that plays keyboards as an actual musician, and he would go, “Oh, that was terrible, what was that clunker?” Then there’s train wrecks, you know. [laughs] And usually those never happen, but I mean, if we had rehearsed more it wouldn’t have. But I think we ended up playing a lot of material when we were soundchecking and will continue to do that. We’re working up a bunch of stuff and plan on moving things around a bit more than we usually do. Sometimes we get locked into a set that works really well and we just kind of stick to it. I think we’ll just keep mixing it up, because I think, not just us but any other band, that plays the same thing all the time, you get kind of just worn out with it in a longer tour. You’ve got to just kind of put in some new elements once in a while to keep everybody thinking and creative. 

DF: And building on that, I know that you’re kind of locked in, I’ve heard Jonathan [Cain, keyboardist] refer to them as “The Dirty Dozen,” you know, your hit singles that you really have to play a certain amount of those, but are there any old album tracks that you personally would love to see in the setlist? And do you get the chance to break those in once in a while. 

SCHON: Well that’s what I was just saying. We just rehearsed a bunch of older stuff. I mean, we rehearsed a bunch of “Infinity” stuff that we haven’t played for years. A lot of stuff. We’ve got a lot of material. Yeah, we do have to play the greatest hits, that’s what everybody comes to see, but, you know, we have stuck in a couple songs that we didn’t play last tour from “Revelation,” which was our first record we did with Arnel [Pineda, vocalist], and we’ve been playing those, so who knows what we’ll throw in? But we have our little slots, I believe there’s like three or four slots where there’s interchangeable songs, that we have right now. So far, the first two shows we’ve moved things around. 

DF: I saw some setlist from not too long ago where you opened with “Majestic”? 

SCHON: We just did that the other night, yeah. And that was something we did that was in our “Live in Manila” DVD that’s close to a three-hour show. So we went back to that because we didn’t use any intro the prior tour. You know, you do so many things throughout the years, you don’t want to go out every two years or every other year and go, “Oh, let’s not do exactly the same thing.” We do have to play the hits, there’s no getting around that. I mean, we’re a classic rock band and, you know, we’re selling out. It was just really great news, we did better business the last couple nights than we ever did in the past. And oversold. I think it’s a good package, once again. Pat Benatar’s very strong, Loverboy’s great. You know, we toured with Loverboy in the 80s, and we did a few shows with Benatar and Neil [Giraldo, Benatar’s husband and guitarist]. I think the music goes together really well. It’s definitely a classic rock show. 

DF: I was going to mention that because delving back into my Journey history, I also caught your “Escape” tour show with Loverboy at the Forum in L.A. ...  

SCHON: Right. 

DF: And that was such a dynamic pairing back then. As I recall, “Escape” had just gone to No. 1, and Loverboy’s “Get Lucky” was also really big. What kind of memories does this pairing rekindle for you? 

SCHON: You know, we always got along with those guys really great. They were great guys. I remember I was in Canada in Vancouver, mixing the second Bad English record that I did when I was in that band with John Waite, Jon Cain and Deen [Castronovo, Journey drummer] and Ricky [Phillips, bass, now in Styx], and Mike Reno [Loverboy vocalist] was in the back studio — same studio, another room — doing a solo record. Well, the Bad English band had broken up, in fact, while I was in the studio — mixing this record, you know, we decided that we were not going to continue, so I kind of just bolted down to the other studio to see what Mike was doing and I ended up playing on his solo record. [laughs] 

DF: It seems to me today, with all the people I’ve talked to involved with the packaged tours that have really popular, the thing that stands out to me is it seems like there’s a really cooperative spirit between all the bands and a healthy camaraderie, but that hasn’t always been the case, right? In the old days didn’t it get pretty competitive between the headliner and the support acts? 

SCHON: Well, you know what, I think everybody’s still competitive, it’s something that keeps everybody alive and kicking. But there’s no reason to be, like, weird about it. It’s like, everybody’s good. It’s like that. It’s like just play as good as you can and it’s going to be great. 

DF: As far as lead guitarists, what’s been the most competitive tour that you’ve ever been on? 

SCHON: With other guitar players? 

DF: Yeah, with other guitar players on the bill. 

SCHON: Well, absolutely I’d have to say, hands down, it was our first “Infinity” tour that we did that we were headlining, with Van Halen — that was their very first tour. It was Van Halen, Montrose — Steve Smith was then playing with Ronnie Montrose, it was instrumental — then us. All I remember saying is I was glad that I was not following Eddie [Van Halen] back then — even though, you know, I had my flaming moments too. We were all on fire but Ed was like coming out of left field at that time and nobody knew what the hell he was doing with the tapping, you know? I mean, I sat in a bedroom and tried to figure out his stuff with a record player, slowing it down to a slower speed and the whole thing and I still couldn’t — I’d never seen anybody do a triplet thing with their other hand, you know, with tapping. Until I met Ed and he showed me what it was, I was like, “You got me. This completely stumped me.” And he was just on fire. You know, I don’t think he ever plays bad, but in the very beginning, Eddie was just ... the whole thing, those guys were just rockin’. You know, that was a great guitar show. 

DF: What was it like to see him live for the first time? 

SCHON: It was just, really I was like, “Wow! This guy is so on fire.” I loved the whole attitude of it, you know? He had a really different tone than anybody back then and it was interesting. He had a lot of interesting things he did to get that sound. The power alternator, all kind of things that made the amp head get hotter, like run hotter, they sound better. They blow up more frequently, but they sound better, you know? So he was like a mad little scientist, you know? Ed and I became really close. We hung out a lot. Later we jammed and hung out for years after that. And Sammy Hagar — Ed and I were hanging in my room one night, I think after he played, and I had just done the record with HSAS [Hagar, Schon, Aaronson, Shrieve] and I had a boombox in my room, and I was playing Eddie this record and he was like, “Wow, this is pretty cool.” And he was going back and he kept listening to some riff that I did in some song back before, and I said, “Let the thing run, listen to the whole thing!” And then he goes, “Well who’s the singer?” And I go, “It’s Sammy Hagar.” So shortly after that, Sammy Hagar was in the band, so I think I brought awareness of him to Ed at that point. 

DF: Well I would love the day when the tape surfaces of those jam sessions that you and Eddie had. 

SCHON: Well, I don’t know if there is any tape — we jammed a few times on stage. One was a NAMM show, one was at a little place in Marin County, close to where I live, called Uncle Charlie’s, and I jammed in there with Albert King, and a lot of people. I used to play with Albert a lot when he came through town. And B.B. You know, there was a lot more music going on in the ’80s all the way around, in clubs. Clubs are kind of non-existent right now for the most part. There’s a few, but I think they’re trying to get back on their feet. I hope they do for the sake of a lot of younger bands that are trying to get out there because there’s just no other way that they’re going to be heard. 

DF: I know that despite your main time commitment to Journey over the years, and you’ve just touched on this again, but all the solo and side projects — HSAS, Bad English, Planet Us, and everything along the way — do you ever have any down time when you’re not playing? 

SCHON: Actually, you know what? I’ve just had 10 months off and I worked my ass off. [laughs] My manager just said to me yesterday, she’s just like “Work like a dog!” I had recorded two solo records in my down time. Actually right after we did “Eclipse,” the last Journey record with Arnel, we had a month of time off, so I decided I was going to stay in the studio and I knocked out a new solo record that’s coming out Oct. 29, “The Calling.” 

DF: Yeah, I was going to ask if there was a release date for that yet. 

SCHON: Yeah, it’s now coming out on Frontiers worldwide, and EMI in the United States. Yeah, I was hoping it was going to come out sooner because it’s done and ready to go, but I’m really proud of this record. It came out of nowhere. I just kind of improvised the whole record with Steve [Smith]. I played bass on the record. I had Igor Len on keyboards, who worked on “I on U” and “Electric World” before with me. He plays a lot of great acoustic piano, a blazing Moog solo. And then I also had Jan Hammer did me the honor and played on a couple songs and played a couple of blazing solos. And the record is really well rounded musically. There’s a lot of different variety on it, which I’m happy about. So when I got done with that record, I decided, “Well, I’m going to stay in and I’m going to do another record.” [laughs] I had the creative juices flowing, you know? That’s how it is with me, once I get going ... if I get going and get off to a good start, I sort of have endless creative ideas. So I did another record with Marco Mendoza on bass and lead vocals, and Deen Castronovo, on lead vocals and drums, and then I also sang. And then Jack Blades came in to help round out songwriting. I got together with Jack and him and I wrote lyrics for a lot of the songs. And I wrote some lyrics with Marco on a couple tunes, and that record is just being finished right now, I’m tweaking the mixes right now, but it’s done and it sounds really strong. Very experimental, every song is a bit different. You go, “Are those the same guys?” Really jamming stuff, pretty cool. 

DF: They’re sending me “The Calling” in the mail but it hasn’t gotten here yet, but I’m really looking forward to listening to it. 

SCHON: Yeah, I really feel it’s one of the more musical solo records I’ve ever done — instrumentally anyway. 

DF: And it’s a full instrumental album? 

SCHON: Yeah. 

DF: Listening to you talk about getting the creative juices going, all of a sudden I’m remembering a quote from Sammy Hagar back in the HSAS days where he said playing with you was like turning on a water faucet, you know, once the faucet’s open you can’t slow it back down to a drip, it’s like flowing non-stop. I’ve always remembered that. 

SCHON: Yeah, I’ve always had a lot of ideas, and Sammy has actually given credit to the whole project that we did together. He’s told me before and he’s told a lot of other people that I’ve read, that he just said, “Had I not done that project with Neal, I probably would have never known where to start in the Van Halen realm.” I think that we got really experimental. Him and I wrote everything in two weeks. We wrote like, I don’t know, I think close to 20 songs, and then rehearsed for two weeks with the guys and then we played lived, and that was that. 

DF: Have you had a chance, I assume you have, to listen to “A Different Kind of Truth” — the new Van Halen record? 

SCHON: I have listened ... I just actually downloaded it a while ago and I’ve listened to a few tracks. I have not gotten through the whole record because I have so much new stuff that I downloaded, I’m kind of like moving around and checking everything out a little bit, but I definitely am going to get through it. 

DF: Yeah, I just wondered what your thoughts were from a guitar player’s standpoint. 

SCHON: You know, I think it’s really good. I have to be completely honest. I think Wolfie sounds really good and competent as a bass player, more than competent, he sounds like a great player. I kind of miss Michael Anthony in the realm of things because I just feel that he was like the glue that kind of glues everything together — even though it’s very good. You know, but a lot of people feel the same about us. You know, you change one element of a band, it always sounds different. It still sounds very good and very strong. 

DF: As fans, at least as far as my thought process is, we can’t make bands stay together in their original lineups, sometimes change turns out even for the better. All we can do is listen to and judge the current product. 

SCHON: All I know is that we always have fans like that, that say, “You guys are not Journey” without this, without that or without Steve. And I’m like, “Well, obviously we are because we’re doing better than we’ve ever done.” The last tour was the best we had done in 20 years, and this tour is already doing better than we’ve done in the markets prior to this. So we’re off to a good start again. 

DF: You opened that last tour here in Salt Lake. 

SCHON: Yeah. 

DF: Now throughout your career you’ve been used to a certain amount of attention, like as a rock star, but this past year or so has really taken things to another level with the lawsuits, tabloids and everything involved with that ...  

SCHON: [laughs] 

DF: Now I understand you have a reality TV show coming out too? 

SCHON: Well, there’s lots of offers and I’m dabbling with the idea of it, but I’m also, like, thinking about it very carefully. I can definitely tell you that I would not get involved with anything that I’m not controlling. I’d have to be executive producer, and then I would consider it. I’d only consider it at that point. But, yeah, it’s been a lot to digest, a big learning curve, though, for me, because I never knew any of this stuff existed out there. And then, bam! [laughs] “What is going on?” It was crazy, really kind of surreal. But people have been really great through it all to myself and Michaele. Everywhere we go, people are very, very nice and supportive. You know, we were just dealing with some crazy things — the fact that everything went so ballistically public, in TV and everything, you know? I’ve had my divorces before but everything was taken care of behind closed doors, and so the fact that everything was brought out into the open, and brought on “Good Morning America” and this and that, I was just like, “Wow, this is insane!” But we’re alive and well, and skin has gotten thicker and we’re still smiling [laughs]. All is good, you know? 

DF: Well, that’s great to hear. I think we’ve gone past our allotted time so I don’t want to keep you hanging on, but I’ve enjoyed talking with you. 

SCHON: Oh, thank you. 

DF: And hopefully if I see you in Salt Lake, I’ll be able to say something this time. 

SCHON: Yeah, say hello. 

DF: Thanks, Neal. 

SCHON: All right, buddy.

Def Leppard's Phil Collen

I interviewed Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen on May 23 to advance the band's U.S. tour-opening appearance at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City on June 20. Here is the full interview:

DOUG FOX: Hi, Phil, how are you doing?

PHIL COLLEN: I’m excellent, mate.

DF: Good, well it’s a pleasure to talk to you. again. It’s been a few years, but I look forward to it.

COLLEN: Absolutely, yeah

DF: Where are you calling from today?

COLLEN: I’m at home in California.

DF: What part of California do you live?

COLLEN: We’re in Laguna Hills, you know, Orange County.

DF: I grew up in La Crescenta, down by Glendale, Burbank area.

COLLEN: My son lives in Burbank.

DF: So, what are you up to these days — are you enjoying some down time before the big summer tour?

COLLEN: We kind of did. I did a trip to New Zealand, which was beautiful. A lot of pretty colors there. The rest of the time, we’re getting ready for the tour. There’s so much going on, you know. We did the “Rock of Ages” stuff. We’re constantly writing, I’m always in a state of writing songs and stuff. There’s that and then there’s the Manraze thing, I don’t know if you’re aware of that?

DF: Right, uh-huh.

COLLEN: Again it’s just constant. I just really do like getting time off at home.

DF: OK, I was going to ask you about Manraze, then you mentioned it. What can you tell me about that, what’s the latest there?

COLLEN: The latest thing would be, we had a single out actually here. We did a song in a movie called “Showdown,” which was a documentary .... the second one we’ve done actually, so that was cool. We try to write songs for that as well, which again was very different. Just kind of like a regular rock thing, like a whole garage thing. That was a blast.

DF: So, you’re just kind of doing that in you time apart from Def Leppard, and just to kind of fill in the gaps? But I understand it’s pretty successful.

COLLEN: Yeah, pretty much. I mean it’s ... you know, you have to sacrifice a few evenings and such because of it. And then you get on tour and it kind of screws that up really, and there’s only Def Leppard things to be doing, you know?

DF: Now, your upcoming tour actually kicks off in Salt Lake City ...

COLLEN: Right.

DF: I’m sure that every show on a tour comes with its own built-in level of adrenaline and excitement, but I was wondering if that’s amped up even a little bit more for a tour-opening show, you know, at least until everybody settles in a bit to the routine of how things are going to be working on the tour?

COLLEN: I think so, especially this tour, you know, we’ve got a lot of new stuff going on. We’ve got a different stage, a new screen system, so it’s all different. There’s a bunch of different people actually working on this tour that we haven’t worked with before so we’re really excited about that. So, yeah, Day 1’s always an exciting thing — especially production, so many things can go wrong and we’ve had brilliant Spinal Tap moments in the past.

DF: What are some of the most memorable ones of those that have happened?

COLLEN: We played in the round once and it was Wichita Coloseum in Kansas and we’d open up with a Kabuki dropping down. This thing would go down and then the Kabuki would fly into the ceiling. My guitar would be the cue, they would say, “Do you wanna get rocked?” and I’d go [makes guitar sound to Let’s Get Rocked] but the guitar wasn’t on. And everyone just looked at each other under this tent, “What do you do now?” Then the guys let go of this weight, and then the Kabuki flies into the air and we kind of trainwrecked our way into “Let’s Get Rocked.” It really did affect us, I mean, how many shows do you do, thousands upon thousands of shows, and it still threw us, completely threw us, it really affected the mojo. We also had another moment on the Hysteria tour and this was true “Spinal Tap.” We had these three triangles and the wings were flowing, so there’s these three things and we were supposed to climb up with them into these clouds. And we hadn’t really rehearsed it. And we tried this thing and it was really dangerous up there, and we ended up not. We wanted to use it but we had to can it. It was pretty funny though.

DF: A good memory! When do you actually begin rehearsing for the tour, like, with the new production and everything?

COLLEN: Next week actually. Thursday the 31st.

DF: How do you personally enjoy these double-package tours — I know you guys helped kind of pave the way dating back to your hugely successful tour with Journey, and you’ve done well with them since then. How do you personally like them?

COLLEN: Well, I think they’re great. I think in this day and age it’s what people come to expect really. The first tour I heard of like that, it was Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. In a million years you wouldn’t have put those two together. I think what happened on that tour, all the audiences loved it. They loved both guys. They went in there either a Bob Dylan fan or Willie Nelson fan, but they came out liking both guys. I think that was really cool. You can see that with the Journey thing. If you weren’t a Journey fan, per se, obviously you found you knew half the songs — and maybe you were a Journey fan and didn’t know it. So we really like it with these packages because it actually does that. So even if you weren’t a huge fan of the band, there’s a reason why these bands are up there. These double package things are really cool.

DF: I remember talking about these touring partnerships with Lawrence Gowan, keyboardist from Styx, this past fall, who of course toured with you a few years ago, and one of the things we were talking about is how they tend to be really great for camaraderie between the bands and he specifically mentioned how one of the highlights for him was that he was playing guitar backstage. He said he got to have you actually sit down with him before a couple shows and teach him how you exactly play some of your parts and things on Def Leppard hits. 

COLLEN: (Laughs) I’ve actually got a brilliant Lawrence story. He is an amazing practical joker. I probably shouldn’t tell you this.

DF: No, you probably should. I know him fairly well.

COLLEN: He’s always doing pranks. We were playing Reno, Nevada, and Joe Elliott was working out with our trainer doing some weights. There wasn’t really a big backstage area so we took, um, Lawrence, someone had bought some fake [boobs], and so you know those Billy Bob teeth?

DF: Yes.

COLLEN: OK, so he had the Billy Bob teeth, the fake [boobs] and he tucked his package underneath himself and he comes flying out of these curtains, “Whoa, hi, I’m John ... “ Everyone nearly just burst into tears. We were laughing. It was just the funniest thing, you know, you had no idea and all of a sudden this big lug pops out with [boobs] and teeth and no clothes on. So, yeah we did have a blast with those guys. Lawrence is great. It was actually a great vibe backstage and that really helps the whole thing as well.

DF: OK, so do you that kind of similar camaraderie with Poison, this year’s partner?

COLLEN: With Poison it’s a little different. We’ve known them since the 80s, so you know, it just really goes back in time. I’ve known C.C. [DeVille, Poison guitarist] for years. Over the years I’ve bumped into all of the guys. So, yeah, it’s great. It’s really opened up. They will be touring with the same band, it’s the original members, which really makes a huge difference. So, yeah, it’s going to be wonderful.

DF: I suppose that Hugh McDonald will not be appearing with them this year in Salt Lake? I don’t know if you remember that show a couple years ago when [Poison bassist] Bobby Dall got sick and Hugh, who was hanging out backstage, actually had to come out and play bass for Poison.

COLLEN: That’s right. Yeah. Everything’s back to normal ... they’ve got that under control.

DF: I read that the band is releasing some new renditions of “Rock of Ages” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me” — what can you tell me about those — what prompted that?

COLLEN: Well, we’ve got, obviously the movie’s coming out. It’s such a big deal. As you know it’s pretty lame that we’re not on iTunes. We had a legal action against our record company a while ago, you know with the whole download scene with these guys, that they can’t have permission to put our stuff out. So we’ve been waiting and this has gone on for years. ... We actually have a ton of catalog, It’s pretty lame if we don’t have “Rock of Ages” and “Pour Some Sugar” out when Tom Cruise has got the song out and the movie’s called “Rock of Ages.” So we took it upon ourselves to make sure that we’ve done two new versions that sound identical to the other ones.

DF: Can you talk about “Rock of Ages,” what has been the band’s involvement with the movie coming out?

COLLEN: I think that I’m just flattered to be quite honest. It’s an honor ... you know, the whole thing, I don’t know if you’ve seen the Broadway play, it’s really quite fun as well ...

DF: Uh-huh.

COLLEN: Yeah it’s based on that, but it’s a lot more, you know, obviously huge movie stars, really intelligent and funny and just the fact that they use 80s as a backdrop and the title is a Def Leppard song. We have three songs in there, one of which Tom Cruise sings, it’s almost like the highlight of the movie, as far the performance goes. So we were thrilled about that. You know we met Tom and saw him film that part when he was on the set ...

DF: Oh really? What was that like?

COLLEN: We were so impressed with the fact that he learned how to sing just for that role, you know. He actually said he felt nervous when we turned up. He said he wanted to get the song, because it’s so iconic, to get all the perspectives there. So that was lovely coming from the world’s biggest movie star. You know, that was great.

DF: Excellent.

COLLEN: Yeah, he totally done us proud. And the other song he sings in the movie, I was, like, blown away. You know, really cool stuff. So the involvement there we really didn’t have to do anything, but we were definitely involved in the album sleeves and you know it was a very technical part of that era, I guess, so it’s pretty cool that it’s in there. I think we’re probably going to hopefully get some music in the play because again stuff legally wasn’t talked out when the play came out.

DF: Right.

COLLEN: So hopefully now we can get all that out.

DF: I was going to say that I saw the touring production of that just three to four months ago and they didn’t have your music, just the music playing at the end, like, over the speaker.

COLLEN: Yeah, so we’ve changed that. So it should be in there, you know.

DF: Just yesterday, I was talking with Matthias Jabs from the Scorpions, who of course are wrapping up their farewell tour this year ... I know it’s still way too early for you guys, to perhaps be you know focusing on this, because you’re kind of the next generation past the Scorpions, but when it’s all said and done, how would you like Def Leppard to go out?

COLLEN: Well, we’re just getting started obviously. To be quite honest ... it’s a new lease on life, not that we needed one because we were touring and recording and writing new songs all the time. So I think, it’s not even crossed my mind. Not even a thought at the moment.

Scorpions' Matthias Jabs: When the Smoke is Going Down

The Scorpions are set to embark on the final leg of their last U.S. tour.

Most Scorpions fans would agree, "Blackout" is the band's take-to-a-deserted-island album.

The 1982 release not only truly broke the band in America, but it is pretty much a melodic hard rock masterpiece from start to finish. While "No One Like You" -- and its breakout solo by guitarist Matthias Jabs -- was the defining hit, the album was littered with songs that could have been successful singles. I often wonder how "Can't Live Without You," "You Give Me All I Need" and "Arizona" would have fared on the charts, if only they'd been released.

Despite all the album's air-guitar anthems, however, it is the haunting closing number, "When the Smoke is Going Down," that inevitably stays with me long after the song has ended. I've always been intrigued by the imagery wafting through the seemingly perfect combination of lyrics and music as the song examines the post-show viewpoint from the band perspective.

"Just when you make your way back home
I find some time to be alone
I go to see the place once more
Just like a thousand nights before
I climb the stage again this night
'Cause the place seems still alive
When the smoke is going down."

I've been to enough backstage affairs over the years to know the routine -- with all the aftershow hoopla, greeting of fans and inevitable walk to the buses that will take the band to a new city, where the process will all be repeated again -- and this perspective rings true to me. I get lost in the song, and can totally see band members returning to a mostly empty stage for a moment of quiet solitude, reflecting on the power of the shared experience with fans an hour or two earlier and their different paths of the present. All, quite literally, as the smoke is going down.

"This is the place where I belong
I really love to turn you on
I've got your sound still in my ear
While your traces disappear
I climb the stage again this night
'Cause the place seems still alive
When the smoke is going down."

 It's hard not to see parallels between this song and the current state of the Scorpions, who are beginning the final leg of their final U.S. tour on Friday. (The tour's third stop is Monday at USANA Amphitheatre near Salt Lake City.) With their announced intentions to retire from touring, most likely at the end of this year,  the smoke is metaphorically beginning to swirl around the band's 37-year career.

But with so many memories and so much great music that always will remain only an album, cassette, CD, iPod or YouTube clip away, perhaps the smoke will never completely settle over Scorpions nation -- a place which will always seem still alive.

Here's my latest interview with Jabs, which occurred on May 22, where he called from his home in Germany during a short break from the band's grueling three-year ultimate tour. We only had 10-15 minutes to chat, so there were many topics left uncrossed on my preferred-questions list. But we did have time to discuss an array of subjects, including where the band is at mentally at this stage of the final tour, some of his favorite openings to Scorpions shows over the years, one more studio project that should be intriguing to fans and why he has been so underrated and never received his due in the annals of all-time great lead guitar players.

Oh, and we also touched on "When the Smoke is Going Down" and why he can't resign himself to the tendril mercies of that metaphorical mindset just quite yet.

DOUG FOX: I've got to say, it is such a pleasure to talk with you again.

MATTHIAS JABS: Have we talked before?

DF: We did, we talked two years ago when you came to Salt Lake City.

JABS: OK.

DF: Yeah, we had a great interview. It's been one of my favorite ones.

JABS: Oh, good.

DF: When we talked last, two years ago, you were just at the beginning of this

final victory tour around the world behind "A Sting in the Tail" and this
grand retirement idea that you'd adopted was still kind of fresh and new, I
imagine it still seemed like quite a long ways away to think about it. But
now that you're entering the homestretch and just about to embark on your
last U.S. tour, how is everything standing? How are you holding up, and what
are your thoughts.
 

Klaus Meine, left, and Matthias Jabs making it real in 2010. (Doug Fox)

JABS: Yeah, first of all, it's amazing how time flies. Two years ago and more 

when we started this final tour, this farewell tour, and you know, two years ago
I didn't expect that we would return to the U.S. one more time. It felt like
the last time. But thanks to the demand all around the world, we are playing
certain cities one more time. And that feels great. And we have had a lot of fun
on this final tour. In the beginning, you know, it started out like maybe
I'd expect it -- very mixed emotions, half sad, half OK, not knowing what to
think. But meanwhile I can tell you we've really enjoyed this tour. The fans
are fantastic and the thought is much clearer now. We know that this is
going to be the end, and we're really enjoying the final tour so much that
it's all been worth it. And now I can imagine much better that, you know, 
things will come to an end.
 
DF: Right. Now when we talked before we talked about the song "When the 
Smoke is Going Down," a fantastic song, and how, you know, maybe the smoke 
wasn't quite going down on you guys yet, it was maybe floating around 
and hovering ... but now that you're in that final stretch, can you get yourself 
to that place where the smoke is going down, so to speak?
 
JABS: Yeah, I know what you mean, but you know the difficulty is, when you're
still on the road, the next show is the most important one for our fans.
Like tomorrow, we are flying to Morocco for our very first time -- and last
time -- in Morocco. And to those people, it's the first time they'll ever see
the Scorpions, you know? We cannot, like, tour, generally speaking, with a
feeling, "Oh, the sun is going to set," like we're slowing down or
something. We have to keep it up 100 percent until the very last show and
then we can go, "Oh, OK, last night was the show and that's it now." It's
difficult mentally to think that you are on your final tour while you still
are preparing for every show like you've always done it. I don't know if
that makes any sense, but you have to sort of forget it, forget that you are
on the final tour in order to be in 100 percent shape for the upcoming shows in
order to enjoy them. You don't want to, like, be sentimental. You want to
have fun and have power. And therefore it's like in conflict to a certain
extent and it's better to decide mentally to go, "OK, surprise me. Tell me
when the last show is done." Mentally I can't do that every night to prepare
myself for, you know, this could be the last time in Salt Lake City, or the
last time in lovely whatever. It's like afterward is better than before.
 
DF: Well, I can totally understand that feeling because I think us fans are
experiencing that feeling with this tour because I know when you came to
Salt Lake City on this tour last time, I prepared myself that that was going
to be the last show that I would be able to see you guys. But then to see
that you're coming back, I was just like, "Oh, this is unbelievably great!"
I must say that you guys are really going out on a high note because I've
seen you since way back -- the first time I saw you was on the "Blackout"
tour -- and your show this last time had such energy and was so well-prepared
and everything, as a fan, I could say, "You know, I appreciate what they've
done and this was such a great show that I can accept that it's the last
one." But now, you've got to live up to that again!
 
JABS: Yeah, indeed. Yeah, I understand. You're right, even for the fans it might

be the same twist, so to speak. But I'm glad that we have another chance to
come around because everybody likes to play and perform. We are enjoying it
so much and we are in great shape. Most people say, you know, "Unbelievable,
you guys should continue." But I think our decision is the right one because
now we are in such great shape. Klaus [Meine, vocalist] turns next Friday, like in 
three days from now, he turns 64, and we will continue definitely until the very 
end of this year. If we do anything next year, we don't know yet, I don't think so.
I think the touring will probably end this year. And even though we might
finish a studio project, we don't stop making music, but the typical go on
the road and never stop touring, that will come to an end. And, I think, to
leave the last impression, like what you just said, the show was great, the
band is in good form and you leave the last impression, and the people go, "OK,
they were a great band, good career and everything." And that is the idea
behind staying like this long time on tour.
 
DF: So you may still do other studio projects?
 
JABS: We have one. You know we released "Comeblack," I don't know if you 
know about this ...
 
DF: I do. I have that, yes.
 
JABS: Good. The funny thing was when we announced "A Sting in the Tail" as
the last studio album and the last tour, the record company offered us a
contract for two new studio albums.
 
DF: Oh, OK.
 
JABS: OK, this makes one of them. We also have unreleased stuff, from, 
especially, the early '80s. It was a very creative time for us, you know, starting 
with "Blackout" and "Love at First Sting," and lots of songs which didn't make it
to the albums back then are still great, they're just unfinished. We already
started earlier this year, when we had, like, a certain break from touring. We started 
to listen to everything seeing what's good, what's not good, what's worth updating 
and improving. So this is something we're going to take a serious look at early next 
year in January or February, and I think it's a good thing and the fans will enjoy it. 
It's the sound and the musical ideas from the time when we really got very popular. 
People say the early '80s were our strongest time, anyways. It's a final album for 
the fans with a big thank you for all the support and love all these many years. 
And it's something that could be great.
 
DF: Yeah, I think that could be fantastic. Hey, I also wanted to ask you about
something that's always fascinated me, it's that special moment at the
beginning of the show, you know, when the house lights go out and everything
is dark, and there's a surge of excitement that goes through the crowd. I'm
talking about those moments right after the lights go out, but before the
band starts playing. I know what that moment is like as a member of the
audience, but I was wondering what is that moment like for you personally?
 
JABS: Oh, that is the moment when you definitely know, and the adrenaline flows
and you're just about ready to go on stage, or run up the stairs, because
you're always, like, waiting behind the stage. Then the intro starts, then
that's the moment where you have, like, full concentration. I usually warm
up half an hour before we go on stage, so the fingers are well warmed up.
That's the moment when we hear a click, like a starting click, so that we
all know when to come out of the dark. It's very dark up to the stage.
That's the moment -- and from then on, you forget everything that's
happened before the show. Then for the two hours, I'm within the music and
with the audience. It's a great place to be, on stage, I'm telling you,
because we have so many people around us who keep talking to our ears, you
know, all day. But on stage, there's nobody who can talk to us. And we are
way too loud, we couldn't even hear what they are saying. So that's kind of
cool. It's like you live in your own world.
 
DF: That's what's fun talking to you about that because those of us in the audience, 
we have an idea of what that must be like to be up on stage, but we can never really 
know. That's why I like asking about it. One thing I've thought the Scorpions have 
always done really well is capitalize on that momentum at the beginning of the
show. Over the years, you've had great concert openings. You know, I can think 
back to the "Blackout" and "Love at First Sting" tours where you come running out 
from under the drumset, and you did that different version of "Coming Home" on
the "Face the Heat" tour with Klaus out there sitting on a stool before you
guys came running out ...
 
JABS: Yeah.
 
DF: And I thought you did a fantastic job, like I mentioned a few minutes ago,
with the "Sting in the Tail" opening. How much time do you spend coming up
with those ideas, and do you have a favorite one of the tour openings that
you've done?
 
JABS: I always remember that "Blackout" opening, and it seemed so great with 
the drum riser going up and the Venetian blinds flipping over and the lights
from behind and the smoke.
 
DF: Exactly!
 
JABS: And actually we all liked that so much that we integrated it again into this
show again.
 
DF: Yeah, at "Blackout" again, right?
 
JABS: Yeah, after the drum solo, it's the same visual like [from] the "Blackout"
days. We talk about it all the time, about the new ideas. But to actually do
them, we don't take that long. We have good production people. And we have a
production meeting, say, like two months before the tour, and then
everything gets prepared, and then we usually have very little rehearsals.
The production rehearsals might take, depending on how big the shows, maybe a
week. But I know that some bands are rehearsing and practicing their music
for a show for like four weeks. We've never done this. We do maybe a day.
But it's mostly the technical side that needs to be rehearsed. Or if we do
pyro, which we don't use all the time. Sometimes we do, but the Scorpions,
we're never really like the pyro band like Motley Crue or other bands that
have explosions all night long. The Scorpions don't like it so much, it's
deafening. We don't rehearse that much, but I like that, it's like
spontaneity and the freshness at the beginning of the tour. If you don't
over-rehearse things, then it's more vital, I think.
 
DF: I agree. I've got to say that when it comes to great lead guitar players I
think you've been criminally underrated all these years. I mean, I never see
your name on the lists of guitar greats that they come out with, and I think
that's kind of a travesty. Does that bother you at all, not getting the
recognition in that fashion?
 
JABS: Actually, years and years and years ago, yes it bothered me a little bit.
Never too much because I know what I can do. Sometimes, yeah, I wonder why? 
Is it because we are a German band and we are far away from the [United] States 
most of the time? I don't know what the reasons are. I'm quite happy the way I
am (laughs], therefore I can do without that. But you know, I've never
figured out why it is. I don't know. You tell me. [laughs]

 
DF: Well, you know, I was thinking about it this morning as I was listening to
tapes driving in, getting in the mood for the interview, and it occurred to
me, I wonder if it's because you're in a two-guitar band? A lot of the top
guitarists that are considered and get the notoriety, a lot of them are
from one-guitar bands. And, to me, that shouldn't make a difference, but I wonder
if it does.
 
JABS: The attention is divided, even though I'm very clearly the Scorpions' lead
guitar player. Yeah, maybe it's because of that or because maybe, I don't
know, the Scorpions were changing guitar players. But then again, that can't
be a reason because one guitar player was there for a year and a half,
another, Uli [Roth], for five years, and I'm in the band for 34 years. The career 
basically started when I joined.
 
DF: I agree, I totally agree. My friends and I have talked about that, too, that
are Scorpions fans. You're up there in our top five or 10 guitarists of all
time, and yet we can't even find you on a Rolling Stone list of the top 100. I think 
that's insanity.
 
JABS: I don't know, maybe it's bad management, too. You know, the other guys 
have, like, a better publicist! [laughs]

 
DF: I suppose having 10,000 people a night going crazy over your work helps you
forget about all that?
 
JABS: Oh, absolutely! Yeah, I don't think about it every day.
 
DF: Hey, I just wanted to say, because I'm not sure when they're going to cut
this interview off ...
 

MODERATOR CUTS IN: Actually, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to 
have to ask you to wrap it up.
 
DF: OK. I just wanted to say that probably one of the most favorite parts of the job 
that I have is getting the opportunity to tell people whose music has had such a
big impact on my life, just to have that opportunity to tell them thank you.
So when I tell you that you're criminally underrated, I really mean that.
Your music and the way you play and the way you approach the instrument and
the concerts and everything -- it's really been like a real charge of energy
and excitement listening to your music for the past 30 years, so I just
wanted to take this chance to tell you thank you.
 
JABS: Yes, thank you. That's very nice.
 
DF: Matthias, thank you so much. It has been a pleasure again.
 
JABS: Yes, thank you.
 
DF: I'll see you in Salt Lake.
 
JABS: See you in Salt Lake!
 

Related content: To read the news story based from this interview, click HERE. To read my 2010 interview with Matthias, click HERE. To read my backstage report from the Scorpions' 2010 concert at USANA Amphitheatre, click HERE.

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Davy Jones: 'Remember me the way you hoped I'd be'

Davy Jones, 66, died today of a heart attack near his home in Florida.

 
As a young boy growing up in Southern California in the 1960s, The Monkees were one of my first entry points into music — albeit through television.

It was appointment TV for my brother and I on Saturdays to gather round the set and watch the weekly hijinks of the pop sensations, while enjoying the inevitable musical performance of a song near the end.

Davy Jones, as was the case with millions of other Americans, ended up being my favorite Monkee. No offense to the others, he just seemed to bring the most life and joy to the screen — and that resonated with me.

Jones, 66, died earlier today of a heart attack near his home in Indiantown, Fla. The completely unexpected news gave me pause as I fondly recalled my early fascination with The Monkees.

Fortunately, I have a more recent memory of Jones to fall back on. I had the opportunity to do a phone interview with him prior to a local concert on Memorial Day 2010. And also to meet up with him with some members of my family just prior to the show.

The interview, conducted on May 24, 2010, turned out to be one of my favorites. Not because of how I was able to craft the interview or prepare the questions — in fact, I pretty much had to throw my pre-interview notes to the wind as Jones took control from the outset and went off on many unprompted, but interesting, tangents — but just because of the excitement and enthusiasm he still so obviously had for life.

In preparing this interview for publication today — the first time it has been presented in full Q&A format — I was looking for added meaning in his words, in light of his unexpected passing.

I found it right near the end of our interview proper, before the closing small talk. Davy was expressing the joy he felt at meeting people who still recognized him in his journeys, and how it was his philosophy to leave a happy trail wherever he went.

And then he said this:

"Remember me the way you hoped I’d be."


Thanks, Davy. I will.

Note: Interview conducted on May 24, 2010


DAVY JONES: Hey, Doug, how ya doin? This is Davy Jones calling.

DOUG FOX: Hey, I’m doing great, how are you?

JONES: I’m just looking at my things here. I’ve been out on my farm all morning with my horses and I’m sorry I’m late.

DF: Not a problem at all. So you’ve got a few minutes now? Now would be good?

JONES: Sure, sure, sure.

DF: First, is it OK to tape this?

JONES: Sure, yeah, what are you writing for?

DF: You’re doing a concert here Orem, Utah, on Monday, a week from today, so I’m doing an advance for that concert in the newspaper where that town is.

JONES: Cool. We’re actually coming in from different parts of the country. My band, different members come from different places. Next week is going to be a fun week starting off in Utah because we’re then going to go on to Louisville and then up to Chicago, so it’s going to be cool. So we’ll be together to learn some new songs.

DF: You’re going to be learning some?

JONES: Well, you know, we’re going to Japan, so I’ve got a number of songs over there that I don’t do when I’m working. So we’ll just have to spruce up on those, you know.

DF: Do you find that you have to do that often, work new songs into your setlist all the time, and have to go back and relearn them?

JONES: I don’t, you just need to brush up. You pretty much get it after one go through and then it’s on the No. 2 go-through it sounds like we’ve been playing it for a while, you know. It all depends. Just on this one occasion in Japan, it has songs that I’ve performed, and had hits with in Japan, over the last, like, 20 years. So [there’s] a couple of things it might be interesting to include, but yeah, I do do different shows, in a casino, to a stage in the park or to a family audience at Epcot Center, you know what I’m saying? The songs are all there. You know, all the songs are there. You’re still listening to “I’m a Believer,” and “Clarksville” and “Pleasant Valley” — so we’ve got all that going. Then there’s just the rest of the communication that we have with the families and the people, you know, they like good music and they hear good musicians playing it, so I think everybody gets a little happy.

DF: Yes, that’s probably one of the highlights of your show. It’s why people enjoy coming, I imagine, it’s very up, and a happy atmosphere.

JONES: Yeah, you know, we make fun of ourselves, and make fun of life and try to be as normal as you can. Obviously carrying all those songs and having shared them once before, and here they all go again. They keep going and going. I hope that the records being made today are long lasting. It would be nice to have those memories, you know, for these people in 40 years later, like we had it, or I had it, maybe not you, I don’t know how old you are, but it’s an interesting thing. It’s up to me to change my presentation with the occasion. You can’t be everything to everybody all the time, so when I go into a Vegas situation, maybe I’m a little more sort of adult with my delivery. I mean, I’m not a promiscuous person, but sometimes you go on the edge, you know, and let people have to think about certain things. It’s a good thing because the songs cover everything. If you sort of enjoy music, then you’re going to be listening to 10 to 12 songs that you recognize, you know what I mean? So, you’ll know them again. It’s real fun. These musicians are quite excellent, so I’m very lucky to be in [good] company, and obviously we love to come up to Utah. I used to go as a kid up to Alta, Utah, skiing and I’ve had a few friends that lived there in the state. And it’s good, and now we’re going to the park and meet all the families, and have a good old time — and be positive and hopefully meet a couple people. We might stay on an extra day actually. Just like chill and breathe some of that mountain air.

DF: That’ll be good for you! It’s funny how you mention the families coming to the show and things like that, because there’s a local guy who met you back in an airport here in 1968, and he was going into the service, and you ended up signing a concert ticket for him and he took it with him to Vietnam as his good luck memento. He mentioned how much he’s looking forward to coming to the show on Monday night. So things like that really resonate with people.

 JONES: Well, you know, I don’t just pass over those kind of emotions. It’s really difficult. I try to, when I finish, just turn off and just go back to my horses or spend an afternoon just strumming on my guitar, you know, in the sunshine. And when we don’t want to be on the beach, we can go up to Pennsylvania to a lovely old house we have up there and still be able to ride and still be able to enjoy that for two to three months. After 50 years one would think that there is something with a little bit of a schedule going on, you know. It’s awfully hard for me to have sympathy with people in the media, I’m talking about the so-called baby boys and baby girls that come out of nightclubs at 4 in the morning and sort of like make obscene gestures. But why are they there? Why didn’t they just go to Denny’s and have a nice sandwich and then go to bed at 10:30, you know what I mean? Enjoy the day! It all depends what it is. I’m pretty happy in Florida. My wife and I, we’ve been married since August, and we’ve known each other, we worked in children’s theater together. And I think also, it’s the first time I’ve had a companion that’s in the business, and is active and working. So, you know, I know what it feels like to be sometimes waiting for her to come home. My past experiences, I didn’t realize the pressure and the strain and the responsibility. So I’m glad to travel with her. We tend to [share], for the show, a lot of ideas about our performance. She’s a flamenco dancer and has danced all over the world, and so she’s got a lot of rhythm and she knows what she’s doing. So we do some movement things and she dances in my show sometimes, she won’t, unfortunately, be there [in Utah], she’s dancing this week in a festival in Miami. It’s quite a passion. So, unfortunately, she’s not going to make it. But we were there about a year ago, we went to, not this last film festival, but the one before that. I’d done an episode of SpongeBob. They actually viewed, with the screen in front, the screen back and all the actors doing the names and voices and then I pop up. It’s quite interesting, I enjoyed it. But I love the mountains. Obviously a few other people have found that to be good, too. I’m a seasonal person. So, I’m sure you’ve experienced that up there and looking forward to meeting, as I say, people, and just enjoying an afternoon in the park.

DF: Well, here we have two seasons — winter and summer.

JONES: Well, that’s good enough, too. Two out of four is not bad.

DF: The thing is, today it’s totally snowing here if you can believe that.

JONES: No.

DF: Yeah, we haven’t had snow for probably about a month, and then today ... but it’s supposed to warm up again so I think your show will be fine, but we are getting snow today.

JONES: Maybe I should go into the blanket business. Somebody’s going to be selling hand warmers or things like that. Hey, it doesn’t matter to us. That’s the difference. It could be 10 or 10,000 people, it doesn’t matter. When I was in the theater, I worked so hard on the matinees, because everybody’s kind of holding back, you know, waiting for the evening show. It felt like that way. Or maybe that’s like the fantasy that you have. You know, they say don’t go a matinee, you’ll only get half a show. But me, I don’t. I enjoy trying to top what I just did. It’ll be fun. It’ll be nice for everybody. Just bring the families and just make sure they all bring their blankets if it’s going to be cold, and we’ll warm you up with some familiar music.

DF: Where do you live, what state?

JONES: I’m in Florida half of the year, and I’m on the road a third of the year, then I’m in Pennsylvania. We have a place just outside of Harrisburg, in Snyder County, and then we have a little place where I’m talking from right now, which is a little further up the state from Hollywood, Florida, where we have our apartment. Just a little further upstate, Indiantown. It’s 20 miles west of Stuart. So we’re inland between Okeechobee Lake and the ocean. And we keep our horses here in the winter. We’ve had two beautiful foals born. Beautiful, two colts.  So we’re looking forward to that. It’s a bit of a passion. I can’t beat ’em with what I’ve got, so we’re going to try to breed a couple and see what happens in a couple of years from now and concentrate on other things.

DF: Well, I think that is something people, unless they’ve done the research on you, probably don’t know ... I know I was surprised at how involved you are with horses. And that I even saw where you said that if you hadn’t got your break in the entertainment industry, you thought you might have ended up as a jockey.

JONES: Yeah, and I’ll probably end up as a trainer one day, but not until I can do it full time. I don’t want to be going on the road, you know, laughing and singing and then calling and finding out how the horse is doing. You know what I mean? I want to be able to get myself into a position where maybe I do do a couple or three or four things a year. I don’t live in Hollywood, California. I’m not walking the beat, you know what I mean? I don’t have high-powered press agents, and agents, and publicists. You know, as Ringo [Starr] said when I asked him about, “Do you have a resume?” He said, “If they don’t know who I am by now, they’ll never know.” And that’s all he said. Aw, screw it man! Let the performance be the thing that speaks, you know? Not some history that people remember you from, you just go on and do it. And they say my ... he’s getting better and better, you know. I mean, that’s what you want to do. You want to entertain them to the point that they’re impressed, you know? It’s a natural thing for us. We’re there and that’s what we do. I was just in Pittsburgh for a couple of days, hosting a PBS special with all kinds of doo-wop groups from the ’60s and ’70s, you know, Paul Revere and Peter Noone and Roger McGuinn and all these people and Sandy, Sandy, ah what’s her face now ... Jackie De Shannon, who wrote some lovely songs back in the ’60s. She was there and we co-hosted this thing together, a PBS fundraising thing, so that was kind of cool. We do things with the Indiantown education coalition. We do a benefit every year in a local place, and we get a couple other people and we raise 20, 30 thousand dollars, and some kid goes to college, you know what I mean? Just quiet little things, commuting and stuff. I was up with Michael Bolton, I did a benefit with him for battered and abused women. He does it every year and has done it for about 20 years. And then the Boys and Girls Club of Florida, and other sorts of things that are able to be sort of shared. But it’s awfully difficult when you’ve got children and grandchildren, you’ve got performances, you’ve got travel ... very rarely are you sitting down at Thanksgiving, you know, eating with everybody else. Memorial Day, you’re rarely there, you know what I mean? And everybody’s celebrating with a glass of vino and you’re sort of like in a hotel lobby waiting to get picked up for the soundcheck.

DF: Right.

JONES: So you can’t grumble. There are ups and downs, there are benefits and setbacks, you’ve just got to be able to balance them all. Some people can’t, and that’s why you get all this bad behavior. It seems like you have to have rehabilitation these days to be famous. It takes years to be able to present yourself, both on stage or you know in print. It doesn’t really matter. You just have to be positive, so that the negativity that you see all the time in television, you know they’ll be researching these things they do and these exposes and stuff. You never saw the stars like Lauren Bacall and Bogart and Mickey Rooney, you didn’t hear scandal, you know what I mean? And they weren’t in your face and filming you going to the bathroom, making obscure situations that we’ve all experienced like Big Brother or something. Well that Big Brother’s going to go to college and you share sort of a dorm and things like that. And then you have to pass each other or say, “Good morning” or then you have to sit in the rec room together or do whatever. But then because they’re being filmed they use bad behavior because that brings attention. You know, all the quiet people, you know what I mean, who are also contributing. So they contribute continually and loud voices become a very unnecessary thing in your life. It’s very difficult, even ... well, even [scoffs], as a writer, you’re a writer, I write, sit down and do stuff, OK. It’s very difficult to have the same needs you had when you were 21. So I go out and have a beer with the boys, and I might have some fish and chips down at the local pub or something, but it’s not something you’re able to frequent because of your schedule and because of commitments and all. So that’s why I think a lot of people run into trouble who have celebrity, and then all of a sudden they don’t have it and then bad behavior brings them back into the forefront, and other unnecessary [things]. Everything can’t be peaches and cream, you know what I’m saying? You’ve got to have a bit of roughness there once in a while. And you see these young people, whether it’s Miley Cyrus or whether it’s, well you remember the days of the Osmonds ... and all that family kind of stuff. Well, people are more Christian than one would imagine. They are more interested in simplifying than one would imagine. The bad news always seems to make headlines, but you know, there are a lot of people with families alive and well and living in America. You know what I mean? It’s unfortunate there are some states that are troubled more than others, and every good intention is sort of given them, and what speed or what rate, I don’t know. But, I mean, I’m lucky. I’m going away this weekend. I’m coming to Utah. I’m going to travel on a plane and people will think, “Hey, you’re Davy Jones, aren’t you?” We try to leave a happy trail. All right? So bad behavior is not associated with who we are. Remember me the way you hoped I’d be. You know what I mean? And that makes it all good. And then the music speaks for itself. Maybe the sun will be shining and it will be nice and warm and we’ll all be just, like, getting some vitamin D. Let’s pray for that, OK?

JONES: Will you be coming to the show?

DF: Yes.

JONES: Well, introduce yourself, and we’ll see what happens. Looking forward to it.

DF: OK, I would love to.

JONES: All the best.

DF: Thank you.

JONES: Goodbye.

'A Different Kind of Truth' sets Van Halen fans free

Back in the late 1970s and early 80s when Eddie Van Halen was constantly rewriting prevailing wisdom on what people presumed possible to achieve on electric guitar, he used to describe his playing approach as falling down the stairs and landing on his feet.

Applying that same analogy to “A Different Kind of Truth,” Van Halen’s first studio album with lead singer David Lee Roth in 28 years, it sounds like Eddie should update the status of his guitar acrobatics to sliding down the banister, dismounting with a front pike somersault and sticking a perfect landing at the bottom.

As far as classic Van Halen fans are concerned, “A Different Kind of Truth” – pound for pound, perhaps the heaviest VH record ever -- constitutes several giant steps in the right direction.

From the opening guitar growl of "Tattoo” to the sustained 30-plus seconds where he slowly wrings every last bit of fuzz and distortion out of his instrument to close “Beats Workin’,” “A Different Kind of Truth” expertly testifies that Eddie has once again taken his guitar playing “Back to the Future.”

There was a reason, after all, that when Marty McFly needed some serious guitar mojo to forcefully frighten his father into critical action during the popular 1985 Michael J. Fox flick that he did so with a cassette tape labeled “Edward Van Halen.” In its original incarnation, Van Halen always did tend to scare parents while unabashedly encouraging the young at heart to become “Unchained” and “Hot For Teacher” or simply to “Dance the Night Away.”

Classic Van Halen was quite literally a glimpse into rock’s future, as nearly every new album contained at least one reinventing-the-instrument guitar moment. Think “Eruption,” “Spanish Fly,” the “Mean Street” intro, “Cathedral,” and “Little Guitars Intro,” not to mention any number of “How-in-the-world-did-he-do-that?” in-song solos that routinely sent guitarists worldwide scurrying back to the woodshed to learn at the frets of Professor Van Halen.

And sometimes the guitarist trying to learn what the younger Van Halen did was the guitar god himself. When I had the opportunity to interview him in 1998 during the course of the Van Halen III tour where the band was playing a lot of Roth-era songs that hadn’t been played in more than 15 years, Eddie told me that relearning a part of 1978’s “I’m the One” had given him fits.

“It sure blew my mind -- I didn’t realize how much my playing has changed over the years,” he said. “You know, it’s an unconscious thing, but there’s a lick in the beginning that I’m going, ‘Man, how in the hell did I do that?’ And it took me a while to learn.”

“A Different Kind of Truth” is literally Van Halen relearning, revisiting and reclaiming its legacy as the greatest American rock band of all time. Much has been written about the band going back into the vaults and revamping up to seven old demos -- many of them from the unreleased recording sessions financed by KISS bassist Gene Simmons prior to the band’s official debut with Warner Brothers.

While that approach may indeed seem at odds with conventional wisdom, just ask yourself this question: When has Van Halen ever done anything by the book? From a listener’s standpoint, I couldn’t care less if the smoking guitar riffs that billow throughout “A Different Kind of Truth” were written last century, last year or last night. The simple truth is there remains nothing else quite like it in music today.

When discussing “A Different Kind of Truth,” there is no getting around the chip off the old block in the room. As Roth declared during the band’s 2007-08 tour, this edition of Van Halen is three parts original, one part inevitable. The latter half of the equation refers to the addition of Eddie’s son, Wolfgang (21 next month), on bass, following the subtraction of Michael Anthony.

Clearly, Anthony, who had remained a member of the band through all three of its previous lineups, was popular and extremely fan-friendly. His onstage exuberance and background vocal abilities are missed. However, it’s quite likely that were it not for Wolfgang, there would have been no reunion with Roth, no new tours and no new music. The potential to play with his son was likely the main impetus that led Eddie back to rehab, back to the stage and, eventually, back into the studio for the new recording sessions after years of band inactivity – sans a somewhat disastrous reunion tour with second-singer Sammy Hagar in 2004. In that respect, it’s hard to begrudge father and son this unprecedented opportunity.

Yeah, but can he play? The proof is in the creme brulee. Wolfgang is not only locked in step with his uncle, drummer Alex Van Halen, but he adds his own little flourishes throughout the entire record and holds up the bottom end with aplomb. The kid is more than all right. And the rhythm section on this entire record is off-the-rails powerful.

The typical sign of a great album from an established band is if there are three or four tracks that you would want to see in concert. Let’s just say I would be ecstatic if the band played the entire record from top to bottom’s up. Track by track, and there are a blazing baker’s dozen of them, this album ranks right up with the band’s best work.

Here’s my song-by-song breakdown:

“Tattoo” -- The diehard Van Halen camp has not been so split over the merits of a lead single since the release of “Jump.” Half the fanbase seems to love it, while the other half loathes it. I fall into the former group. While it did initially raise some red flags with those who hoped the band would return to its hard rock roots, those fears would prove to be completely unfounded. When the initial reviews started filtering out in advance of the album’s release, I scoffed when many claimed “Tattoo” was the worst song on the record. I now hear their point. I still love the song, with Dave’s lyrical imagery and Eddie’s guitar solo making it already better than most anything else on the radio today. I also like the subtle keyboard in the verse -- the only spot on the album where any keys are apparent — and the “Down in Flames/You’re No Good” volume swell ending.

Favorite lyric: “Swap meet Sally, tramp stamp tat, mousewife to momshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo.”

“She’s the Woman” -- While “Tattoo” hints of “Down in Flames,” this is the first track that draws heavily from an earlier demo. Same title and music, completely different lyrics. While on the subject of lyrics, I’ve got to give it up to Roth here. It’s incredible having his gift of gab and wink-and-a-nod sense of humor back in play. This song is a perfect example. The last Hagar-attempted lusty love song with the band was the wholly unappetizing “Up For Breakfast,” and its line upon line of third-grade fruit metaphors (“Cherries on bananas ... honeydew my melon”? Seriously? Gag me with a prune!) But with Dave we get lines like “suburban garage a trois” and “I want to be your knight in shining pickup truck.” Upbeat and fast-paced, this track features a funky feel and Eddie’s trademark between-vocal guitar fills and squeals. This song also answers all questions about Wolfgang’s bass abilities.

Favorite lyric: “The song ain’t dirty it’s really just the way we sing it.” (Reminds me of the famous Jessica Rabbit line from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”: “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.”)

“You and Your Blues” -- At this point in time, I can’t get enough of this song. A syncopated Eddie riff sets the mood and carries the song for the first 15 seconds before Alex and Wolfgang join in mid-first verse. I’m probably not recognizing them all, but Dave name checks at least nine different blues songs in the lyrics. This is Van Halen-style blues, in that you don’t get pulled to a darker, somber place while commiserating with the lyrical point of view. Instead, the upbeat chorus lifts your spirits even while it hammers home the suffering viewpoint. The background vocals also stand out -- checking off another question lingering from Anthony’s departure. I could see this as a potential single.

Favorite lyric: “Ain’t goin’ down to no crossroads, ain’t gonna dust no broom, no evil woman’s got a hold on me, ain’t goin’ to heaven anytime soon.”

“China Town” -- This is as heavy a song as Van Halen has ever recorded. It’s 3 minutes and 12 seconds of pure adrenaline. If you could somehow bottle this, you could put Red Bull and Rockstar out of business. Alex’s drumming throughout this breakneck pace is incredible. Looking for your mind-blowing guitar moment of this album? Check out the last 12 seconds of the song -- as Eddie unleashes a free-falling torrent of notes that just make you shake your head and say, “Wow!” I would love to see the band open its new tour -- which as I write this opens tonight in Louisville -- with this song. Besides, how can you not love a song that begins with the line, “Headless body in a topless bar”?

Favorite lyric: “Heroes aren’t born they’re cornered, and this corner is where we write the story.”

“Blood and Fire” -- Longtime Van Halen fans recognize the main music motif in this song as “Ripley,” an instrumental written by Eddie when he scored the soundtrack to “The Wild Life,” a 1984 movie by Cameron Crowe. Fans have always wondered what it could turn into with lyrics and the full band treatment. Now they know. Lyrically, with its talk of “forgotten empires” and “lost victories long past,” it seems to be an autobiographical nod to the band’s history. Dave even inserts his trademark concert exclamation of “Look at all of the people here tonight!” Speaking of trademarks, this marks the first of several standard spoken mid-song slowdowns (think “Everybody Wants Some!,” “Unchained” and “Panama”) with Dave breaking down the third wall and talking directly to the listener. “Told ya I was coming back. Say you missed me. Say it like you mean it.” The transition from spoken word to over-the-top guitar solo still gives me goosebumps, even after a couple dozen listens. I kind of feel like rating Eddie’s guitar solos is a bit like judging Michael Jordan’s dunks in that even his average takes are on such a higher plane than the competition it’s almost unfair. It’s mostly futile to compare Eddie to others, he’s best compared only to himself. With that in mind, this solo stands up to some of his best work.

Favorite lyric: “Look at all of the people here tonight.” (This line never ceases to put a smile on my face.)

“Bullethead” – So far, I have a real love/like relationship with this song. When I’m scanning the songs on the disc, it’s never one of my first choices to listen to. Yet, when it does come on, invariably I enjoy it. With its blast-from-the-gates guitar squeal, this is another blistering rocker. Musically, it dates back to the Simmons demo, but with new lyrics, albeit the same title. Personally, I place it toward the bottom of this album, but I know many others who rate it near the top. This album tends to invite that very rare phenomenon where opinions are across the board on what the best songs are. I’ve read hundreds of comments, from professional reviews to message boards, listing the best and worst songs on the album, and someone’s treasure is another’s throwaway track. To me, that’s actually the sign of a very good album.

Favorite lyric: “How many roads must a man walk down, before he admits he’s lost?”

 “As Is” -- This song is just a monster! I remember Eddie saying once that before there were lyrics to “Me Wise Magic” he referred to the song as “The Three Faces of Shamus” because of its trio of distinct musical sections. In that case, this song might as well be called “The Five Faces of Shamus” for its handful of abrupt turns and changes of pace. Alex kicks things off with an 18-second drum intro before Eddie and Wolfgang join in, and just when you’re settling into what you expect to be the main groove it all turns upside down with what turns out to really be the song’s main riff. Discerning fans will recognize a striking similarity in the predominant riff to the explosion-of-jam moment he played during his walk-on appearance of “Two and a Half Men” in 2009. (On the show, that was given the tongue-in-cheek title of “Two Burritos and a Root Beer Float.”) Everybody is just firing on all cylinders throughout the song before eventually settling into an ethereal rideout section that eerily endures for more than a minute. Great, great song.

Favorite lyric: “It's not who you squeeze, but who returns once again to squeeze you no doubt, love ’em all I says, let Cupid sort ’em out.”

“Honeybabysweetiedoll” -- There is so much going on musically in this song that I’m still finding amazing things in it with each new playback. It opens up with 30 seconds of guitar wankery and weird sound effects. The main segment is a roiling undertow of a riff that pulls you in and relentlessly pummels you before finally releasing you exhausted at song’s end. Dave handles most of this song in a lower register, half singing, half speaking his way through. The final minute and a half is all instrumental and features a furious solo by Eddie and some guitar playing that has a surprising Mideastern flair.

Favorite lyric: “Stone soul sistah soccer mom, muchacha-miga, cherry bomb.”

“The Trouble With Never” -- Another top flight song that could be a potential single. There’s much to like about this song, from its main verse and chorus to the couple “Alice in Wonderland” references and some nice backing vocals. But my favorite section of the song is the middle, which features a more-than-a-minute-and-a-half departure from the proceedings. It kicks off with a killer, wah-induced guitar solo lasting 45 seconds before easing into another classic Dave-speak breakdown that sets up a thundering reverie before returning to the original chorus. Amazing!

Favorite lyric: “Let’s un-plan the moment, dance the night away, selective amnesia is only a heartbeat away.”

“Outta Space” -- The backstretch of this album is just unbelievable. There is no let-up and no filler. It’s undoubtedly buoyed because three of the final four songs are revamped from a trio of all-time demo favorites -- their explosive main riffs having lost none of their power in the intervening 35-plus years, and, in fact, even gaining more of an edge in the hands of a battle-tested and –scarred Eddie.This song is based on “Let’s Get Rockin’ ” and is flat-out stellar as Dave updates it with his take on overpopulation and political correctness.

Favorite lyric: “Need no polar bear to scare me, no Eskimo to share with me his fate, woo, we outta space. No blog-o-sphere to sell me, no dolphin needs to tell me, no starving kid to make the case.”

“Stay Frosty” -- If “Stay Frosty” weren’t poised to become the catchphrase of 2012 -- Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has already chanted it like a mantra -- then you could call this “Son of Ice Cream Man.” Completely different song, of course, but the formula is the same -- the only thing missing is Dave dedicating one to the ladies and a hearty “All right, boys!” before the song ramps up from acoustic to power-based boogie blues. Dave’s storytelling talents are in fine form here, transporting the listener on a journey to various religious leaders who offer sage advice along the lines of: “Don’t want them to get your goat, don’t show ’em where it’s hid” and “You want to be a monk, you’ve got to cook a lot of rice.” There are not one, but two high-octane guitar solos, and Alex and Wolfgang keep up the oft-frenetic pace.

Favorite lyric: “Stay Frosty, and there's nothing you can’t handle, far and wide, far as you ramble, trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.”

“Big River” -- Reworked from a fan-favorite demo titled “Big Trouble,” this is another amazing song. It’s almost redundant at this point: The musicianship on here is first-rate. Great catchy tune, with a pair of mind-numbing guitar solos.

Favorite lyric: “Listen to a sea shell, you can hear the sea, listen to a beer glass, that river belongs to me.”

“Beats Workin’ ” -- Top to bottom, this is one of my favorite songs on the album -- a potential party rock anthem for the new generation. Opening with a 45-second setup, the song receives a complete jolt when the extremely catchy main riff (originally from the demo “Put Out the Lights”) explodes onto the scene. This song is vintage Van Halen. Great vocals, blazing guitar with three solos, great backing vocals, heart-thumping rhythms. Not only does this make a great closing number, especially with its exaggerated fadeout, it would also make a fantastic single.

Favorite lyric: “One empty floor, stands between the stage, and the welfare door, heads or tails, of the same bread, coin of the realm, just like the man said.”

In summation: Forget all the infamous backbiting, sniping and animosity between various members throughout the decades. Forgive the years and years of wasted time and lost opportunities. Throw the “No news is good news” slogan to the wind.

Trust your ears. This is the exactly the type of “Truth” that can set long-suffering Van Halen fans free.

After a couple dozen listens, my fur-rising factor rates “A Different Kind of Truth” on a nearly equal hallowed plane as “Van Halen I” and “Fair Warning” -- my two personal favorites based on 35 years of utmost fascination with this little old band from Pasadena.

Ultimately, only time will tell if it stands the test of ...

(Editor’s note: The breakdown segment in “Mean Street” just struck this poor boy down ... )

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