More From Tremonti: New Van Halen Music Sounds Like OLD SCHOOL VAN HALEN

More From Tremonti: New Van Halen Music Sounds Like OLD SCHOOL VAN HALEN

Friday, 1 July 2011

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As we reported earlier, Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti is good friends with Wolfgang Van Halen and was recently invited to 5150 studios, where Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang Van Halen performed their not-yet-released new record live in the studio, from front to back. He called the experience “Incredible.” Yesterday, a bit more details emerged as Tremonti called in to Ross Ford’s morning radio show on 94.3 KILO in Colorado and spoke more about his recent trip to 5150.

Describing more about the experience, Mark says, ‘Wolfie asked if me and my buddy Eric wanted to go checkout rehearsals the next day over at his dad’s house. And I said (laughs) “Of course!” (laughs) So he picked me up the next day and we drove to this big, gated home and we get to 5150 studios. It was just me, my buddy Eric, Wolfie and Eddie in one room, and then Alex was in the other room behind some plexiglass, and then they played down the entire new album. What makes it so great is that they took what they could from all their old demos back in the ’80′s and pretty much did what they could to create songs out of old ideas, so it sounds like vintage Van Halen. Musically it sounds in the [early '80's] era. I didn’t hear any vocals – David was not there. It was just the three of them and the music sounded like very authentic, old school Van Halen. It was a just a crazy experience to sit there and watch. Eddie was four feet from me, and Wolfie was on the other side. The guys were very excited to be doing what they’re doing.
‘I remember commenting on Wolfgang’s bass parts – I said, “Man, that was a great chordal thing you did at the end there.” And then Eddie looked at me and joked, “Wha..wha..wha.. how was MY part?” (laughs) [I said], “Dude, you’re Eddie Van Halen. Your part is incredible every single time! (laughs). He was very, very nice. I couldn’t have had a better experience.”
When talking about his friendship with Wolfgang, Mark says, “He’s just a good, good guy. Every time I see him he’s a very positive, humble guy. Being the son of Eddie Van Halen, you don’t know what you’d expect, but he’s the nicest guy in the world. He’s more talented than anybody. He’s a drummer, guitar player, bass player, and great singer. I think that when you learn young, you become that much better and he’s been doing it since he was a baby, so he’s a very, very talented guy. We call him Wolfie.”