Alex Van Halen on David Lee Roth’s First Audition for Van Halen
Alex Van Halen talked about David Lee Roth’s first audition for Van Halen during an event for his new memoir Brothers.
Roth first auditioned for Van Halen in 1972, and it didn’t go so well. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, AVH said, “We started playing a song, and by the time we were done, Dave finally took a first word, which is a slight exaggeration, but he had a real long drawl. When it was apparent that this was not gonna work, the first thing Ed did is he left the room: ‘All yours, Al!'”
The older of the Van Halen brothers had to break it to Roth that they were going to pass on him as their singer at that time. However, Alex noted that they “left on amicable terms” following that first audition. Of course, things significantly changed two years later when Roth joined up with the Van Halens again. Alex noted that there were significantly fewer people around still interested in joining or starting a band due to people leaving town for college or other opportunities. Obviously, Roth made the cut this time, and the rest is history.
Alex Van Halen Confirms Why Rider Included the Brown M&M’s Clause
In other Brothers-related news: Alex Van Halen confirmed in the book why Van Halen noted in their tour rider to have all brown M&M’s removed from their backstage snacks.
Per People, he writes in his book that the brown M&M’s clause was added to test whether venues actually read the rider to make sure their stage setup would be safe and structurally sound. AVH admitted the clause made the band “sound like jerks,” but “it wasn’t about a power trip.”
He wrote, “If we see brown M&M’s, we know: we are not in the hands of professionals. If they didn’t bother with this, what else didn’t they bother with, what other corners are being cut?”
The “No Brown M&M’s” clause was a thing of legend for decades, but in 2012, David Lee Roth gave the same reason for it in a YouTube video.
Roth explained, “Van Halen was the first to take 850 par lamp lights, huge lights, around the country. At the time, it was the biggest production ever. Getting it in and out of older buildings like the Spectrum in Philadelphia where the hockey team played or Maple Leaf Gardens — these places were built in the ’50s, the ’60s, and the ’70s, and they didn’t have even the doorways of the loading docks to accommodate a epic-sized Van Halen production.”
He continued, “The promoters frequently didn’t read the contract rider, and we would have structural and physical issues, because there wasn’t the proper electricity, load-bearing stress, etc. … If I came backstage having been one of the architects of this lighting and staging design and I saw brown M&M’s on the catering table, then guaranteed the promoter had not read the contract rider, and we had to do a serious line check, because frequently, we had danger issues or accidental issues.”
