During his recent chat with Jim Florentine of That Metal Show, David Lee Roth confirmed that Van Halen are indeed working on their next studio album.
That's the good news. The bad news, if any, is that the album is more than a year away from being completed and released. Roth says the process will take about 18 months.
"I was up at Edward's house, maybe three days ago — just before I came here to the city — and we're starting to put music together," Roth told Florentine on Ozzy's Boneyard. "Not to give away exactly what the package will be, it's gonna be about 18 months, I think."
Roth continued:
"We start way, way, way in advance, 'cause we are eminently art-centric, which is a really fancy way of saying we really do generate all the artwork, the graphics, etc. We don't hire out and have somebody design a bunch of album covers for us and then choose. We start from scratch ourselves. Same thing with the merchandise. If you buy a T-shirt, that was designed, literally, in my living room.
"So if you really want to generate the ideas from scratch and bring them all the way to the finish, you're gonna have to learn a few other languages, and you're gonna have to speak those over a lot of extra phone calls. And that's usually the break point for most artists."
"We're writing. I write lyrics routinely. It's a perishable skill. And the band plays together routinely, at least three times a week. They're up at Ed's place, routinely."
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
You can hear the entire 28-minute interview below.
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
