In a just released Rolling Stone interview with Alex Van Halen, Alex says he was actually rehearsing with David Lee Roth amid talks of a Van Halen tour after Eddie had passed. That is until Dave tanked the whole thing with just his attitude.

Alex had been dealing with a lot of back issues after decades of playing the drums, fairly similar to Phil Collins it sounds like. And while eventually Alex had to have a lot of work done on his spine, and actually broke his back at a shooting range in 2022, it was David Lee Roth that torpedoed the tour that never was.

Alex had been rehearsing with Dave as had been previously rumored. During that time Alex was also talking to Queen’s Brian May about how that band went on playing without Freddie Mercury, while respectfully paying homage to him at the same time. When Alex mentioned something about Eddie to Dave, Dave reportedly lost his cool.

Here’s Alex from the interview:

“The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now,” Alex says, “was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig. If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’ And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave fuckin’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”

As Alex tells it, Roth simply refused to pay tribute to his brother, found the very idea offensive, for reasons he can’t comprehend.”

So, there you have it. It was Dave who, once again, destroyed any possibility of a really cool Van Halen tour. Thankfully Sammy got it done. If only Alex would one day pop out on stage with that gig...

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