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Van Halen aren't doing much in the way of press around the release of their new album, A Different Kind of Truth, but the L.A. Times managed to track down frontman David Lee Roth to talk about his first new album with the band in nearly three decades. A few excerpts follow.

On Eddie Van Halen's health: "He's doing really well. He's lucid, he's sober, he's playing. You know, I don't know if Ed has ever felt good. There's a thin line between rage and great work. He really never enjoyed his fame or success, and that might be part of what compels him."

On Van Halen trying to live up to their legacy with their new album: "Are there second chances? I don't know, Mr. Faulkner, I'm tending to agree with you: No. We've managed to stretch our adolescence like a Chiclet to the moon and maintained the respectful dignities along the way that got us on that turnpike up in the first place. We love what we do for a living. Even in our wildest, most beer-soaked days we never missed rehearsal."

On revisiting old demos for the writing of the new album: "It's material that Eddie and I generated, literally, in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Usually fellas in our weight division will kind of gamely — or ironically, wink, wink — try to hail back to it [but] keep a safe, mature distance from it."

You can read the L.A. Times' full piece here.

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