The winners of the van-halen.com remasters competition have been announced. Click here to see if you're a winner!

"The guitarist is currently working on a new Van Halen record, due for release next year."

September 4, 2000 - The Official Van Halen Site has launched a new competition to promote the release of the remastered David Lee Roth era albums. The major prize is all six remastered albums, autographed by the band. To enter the competition, head over to the official site and click on "The News".

The rumours have been few and far between recently. Thanks to everybody who emails me with the information they've heard on the grapevine. To answer a whole bunch of queries in one hit: yes, I believe Dave is back. However, I'm just another Van Halen fan. I'm based in Australia, so what would I know?

We've been in a dry patch for most of the year, but things are beginning to happen. Sammy's new song is starting to get airplay, much earlier than anticipated. David Lee Roth's image is all over the media, including magazine covers and television commercials. Van Halen are releasing their first six albums in remastered form on September 19. The question is: will the autographed remasters on offer in the official site's giveaway be signed by David Lee Roth? It does say the CD's will be "autographed by the band"...

September 11, 2000 - Van Halen fans across the world are furious after MTV snubbed their favourite band during the Video Music Awards last week. In a mock segment to mark the passing of "artists no longer with us", clips were shown of MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, and Van Halen.

Emails have been pouring in since the segment went to air, most of them from fans disgusted by the way MTV is now treating the band whose videos helped make it such a huge success during the 80's. Some are even trying to organize a boycott of the music channel, which seems to be a little odd considering that fans who like Van Halen generally don't watch MTV anyway.

Personally, I think the MTV snub is the harsh wake-up call the band and its fans needs.

As die-hard fans of Van Halen, we obviously think they are the greatest band in the world. The rumoured reunion with David Lee Roth has caused excitement and created anticipation among us, with many believing a reunion will return Van Halen to their rightful status as the number one group in the world.

The snub by MTV last week lends a lot of credibility to the theory that the "average Joe"/non-Van Halen fan thinks that Van Halen are a spent force.

Our view of the band is obviously clouded. Many of us have a daily ritual of logging on to the Internet and checking out the various web sites, hoping that the long awaited announcement about the lead singer will be forthcoming. Bits and pieces of news come out regularly, feeding the appetite of fans, but there hasn't been anything of significance since the announcement that Gary Cherone was no longer in the band.

My personal experience when talking to non-Van Halen fans is that the band are now in the "where are they now" category. Most know about the Dave -> Sammy -> Dave's back -> Dave's out sequence of events, but after that it all gets a bit too hard to keep track of.

All we can do is hope that Van Halen make an announcement soon. The MTV Awards snub has shown that they've got their work cut out if they expect to regain their status as a major force in the music industry.

September 11, 2000 - Launch have continued their efforts to prove that the Van Halen reunion rumours are false (see July 2000 archive). Their latest update uses several quotes from Sammy Hagar, including the following (talking about David Lee Roth):

"He's in the hospital getting back surgery right now."
"He's been kicked out of the band already. They couldn't make the record."

I've been sent a copy of the sound file containing the comments from Sammy Hagar used in the quotes, and I'm skeptical about its validity. To me, it sounds like someone has cut and pasted a few of Sammy's quotes together. The audio throughout the snippet seems to be inconsistent. I could be wrong though.

"TK", webmasters of the official David Lee Roth site, have denied that Dave needs or has had back surgery. As for the quote about Dave being kicked out of the band again, obviously nobody can confirm or deny that because officially he isn't even back in the band.

September 18, 2000 - Last Thursday, a good friend of the VHND was given the opportunity to interview Sammy Hagar. The interview was conducted by Rob Putnam in Sammy's hotel room for Music Connection magazine, and was to promote his upcoming solo release, Ten 13.

When Rob told me he was going to interview Sammy, I thought it would be a great opportunity for someone to ask him about the quotes attributed to him last week (see story below - September 11). According to Launch, Sammy has been quoted as saying David Lee Roth had been booted out of Van Halen again, and had recently undergone back surgery.

Here are the answers Sammy gave when Rob brought up the topic again last Thursday:

(Sammy emphasized that he never rips Van Halen.)

Rob's full interview will be published soon in Music Connection magazine. I'll post an update on the site when it comes out.

September 21, 2000 - The Van Halen remasters have finally arrived. After years of watching other major artists have their catalog touched up with the latest digital technology, we now have the opportunity to listen to the first six Van Halen albums the way they should have sounded.

Many visitors to this site have asked me what the remastering process entails. One thing that people often confuse is remastering and remixing. The readers digest version reads something like this.

Remixing: This involves taking the original multi-track master tape and altering the levels and effects of each track, ie. bass, guitar, individual drums, vocals etc.

Remastering: The original analog tape, already mixed down to stereo, is pulled out of the vaults and converted to a digital format using the latest technology. No levels are altered because the tape used has already been mixed. Sometimes equalization or compression is used, along with noise reduction, where necessary.

Although the Van Halen remasters haven't been "remixed", you will still hear an enormous difference in sound quality, especially if you own hi-end equipment. The albums that were first released in compact disc format in the mid-80's sound flat because they were all put out in the great rush to cash in on the new format. In many cases the CD versions weren't even mastered from the original tapes!

In my opinion, it's good that the original albums were just remastered, not remixed. If you want a good example of why songs shouldn't be remixed, have a listen to the remixed tracks on ZZ Top's Greatest Hits. That said, if they decide to remaster OU812, it would be worthwhile to send someone in first to do a remix on all the bass tracks. Even with a sub-woofer I have a hard time hearing Mike's bass on that album.

If you haven't picked up the Van Halen remasters yet, do yourself a favour. You won't be sorry. The Inside are selling them for $9.95 each.

September 23, 2000 - Ticketmaster have started selling tickets for a show on the upcoming Sammy Hagar tour. If you live in the Washington DC area, click here to purchase tickets to the November 6 show at the 9:30 club.

In anticipation of more dates being released soon, the VHND Tour Page has been resurrected. Every Sammy Hagar date will be listed as they are announced, officially or unofficially.

A more complete list of dates are expected to be released soon.

Ten 13, Sammy's third solo album since departing from Van Halen, will be released on October 24. Click here to pre-order it from CDNOW. The track listing is as follows:

• Shaka Doobie (The Limit)
• Let Sally Drive
• Serious JUJU
• The Message
• Deeper Kind of Love
• A Little Bit More
• Ten 13
• Protection
• 3 in the Middle
• The Real Deal
• Tropic of Capricorn

Serious Ju Ju, the first single from the album, is available now in stores. It can also be purchased online from CDNOW.

Photo by Mitch Gerber.

September 25, 2000 - There was a rumour going around a number of message boards on the weekend that former David Lee Roth guitarist, Jason Becker had died. I'm pleased to say that these rumours are 100% false.

Jason's sister-in-law, Amy Becker (Amy is married to Jason's brother, Ehren) posted the following to a message board this morning:

As you probably know, Jason was diagosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) in 1989 and given five years to live. He joined David Lee Roth's band in 1990 and recorded A Little Ain't Enough in Vancouver, but was unable to tour due to his condition.

I strongly recommend you visit Jason's web site and read his biography. He is a true guitar legend, and an geniune inspiration.

September 27, 2000 - Sammy Hagar announced his "Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash" tour today via a press release. The tour will officially begin on October 31 at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT. Sammy and his band, The Waboritas, will play three shows at the Cabo Wabo Cantina on the 10th, 13th and 14th of October as a warmup for the tour that is currently scheduled to go into December. Check the VHND Tour Page for the full list of dates.

Valerie Bertinelli, wife of Eddie Van Halen, will be co-hosting Live with Regis this Friday morning on ABC. We may get some insight into what Van Halen have been up to, so check your local guides for the airtime.

On the David Lee Roth front, the webmasters of davidleeroth.com have promised "new audio and video" from Dave during "Rothtober". When quizzed on the DLR Mailing List (DLRML) if the new material was really "new" (ie not previously unreleased material from "Dave TV"), TK responded that it is "so new, it ain't finished".