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GW It’s weird how fans want bands to keep putting out new albums but when they play live fans only want to hear the old songs.

IOMMI Even that doesn’t stop the criticism and complaints. Whenever we do a show people are always saying that we didn’t play enough songs. Nobody understands that you only have a limited time. There are curfews and union rules that you have to obey.

VAN HALEN Or you’ve got a guy with a decibel meter telling you how loud you can play.

IOMMI And then people complain that the band wasn’t loud enough. What can you do? You can try to fight these things but you can’t refuse to go on. I wish that people had a better understanding of what is going on.

VAN HALEN People only see the end result. When you walk onstage, they don’t take into consideration the years of practice, the attitudes and egos of other people that you have to deal with, the songwriting, the recording, the record producer, the crew, designing the stage. All they see is the show.

IOMMI And then they complain that you didn’t play a certain song.

GW It’s interesting how you both made your initial impact and found success by coming up with something that was very original. Then, after thousands of imitators copied you, you had moved onto something else, but fans didn’t want you to change. It seems like the more successful you become, the harder it is to do what made you successful.

IOMMI That’s why I just do what I like.

VAN HALEN I’m just glad to be able to play. I recently had hand surgery and arthritis treatment. I found out that Tony was having the same problems I was, so I turned him on to my doctor. It’s funny how there are so many parallels between Tony and me.

IOMMI I was already booked for surgery in London with this specialist. Then Eddie told me about this guy in Dusseldorf, Germany, who he went to for the same problem, so now I’m going to see him instead.

VAN HALEN My hand hurt so much I couldn’t even play. On the last half of the last tour, I was in pain. Tony is in pain now, and people are giving him shit about not wanting to tour. This is what we do for a living. It’s not only our livelihood and our income, it’s the only thing I know how to do. You don’t know how I felt not being able to stretch my hand to play because of that pain. And then I had to go under the knife! I was scared shitless that it wasn’t going to work.

IOMMI I know that as soon as I go in, all of these things are going to come out on the internet and in the press.

VAN HALEN It’s nice to have some avenue to explain this to people.

GW Why wouldn’t you want to get a problem fixed? You want to be able to play. Everyone should understand that. Les Paul suffered and struggled with arthritis for years. It’s too bad he didn’t find out about your doctor.

VAN HALEN I knew Les very well. I’m glad that my son and I got to hang out with Les when we were on tour in New Jersey. He lived a long life, and he always did what he wanted to do.

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