Alex Van Halen

First time I saw Van Halen play was 1969. They were called Genesis. Actually saw David Lee Roth sing in a band called Red Ball Jet before he joined up with Alex and Edward. I can tell you Budgie (and it's drummers) was a big influence on Van Halen. Ray Phillips and Pete Boot were the 2 Budgie drummers and during those early years Van Halen was playing Budgie covers. When "In For The Kill" came out with Boot, he was playing a kit with a floor tom mounted as a rack tom. Alex followed. Van Halen played several songs off that album. Since they were THE local Pasadena band, I saw them a lot. Another big influence on them was a band called Captain Beyond. Van Halen did several of their songs, and C.B. was obscure enough a lot of people thought the songs were Van Halen originals. I think Bobby Caldwell was the drummer for C.B., with Lee Dorman on bass and Rhino on guitar. I think Alex is a great rock drummer. Picks up a lot of influences and makes them his own. A great showman and entertainer.
 
alex van halen, one of the greatest of all time with out
any doubt. i have been playing drums for 28 years and i have
seen or herd them all and alex van halen should be in the top 5 greats.
the man put's so many differnt styles into his playing and soloing unlike
many drummers of past or present alex vh is a true drumming legend.
 
lilblakdak said:
BTW: Hot For Teacher isnt a digital kick with delay. Its very easy when You sit down and figure it out. There are 3 main parts.All played separately quite simple but when you put them together it sounds terrific. 1st you play a shuffle pattern with yur feet using your lefft foot to play the hihat and snare parts. Once you get that established put in the tom parts with your left hand and the ride with your right. It takes alot of practice but it can be done.


It's not a digital kick with delay, however it is a simmons pad that was overdubbed into the track...I read the interview with Alex in Moddern Drummer...Alot of people don't realize this...

I can only think of maybe 1 or 2 people who could actually play the intro...Niether of them were Alex. "Very easy", is not a term that should be used to describe playing that part..
 
Other than ripping off Billy Cobham's double bass beat on "Hot For Teacher" (BTW, if a drummer is so great why do we only talk about something he did 22 years ago) he also does that same crash/ride beat at the beginning of most songs before playing his loose hi hat under the same beat. Sometimes it's like listening to hip hop and those same repetitive beats they offer at times.

He's solid and has had a great career and has performed under the stress of success but I defintely think he was born into the right family.
 
toteman2 said:
It's not a digital kick with delay, however it is a simmons pad that was overdubbed into the track...I read the interview with Alex in Moddern Drummer...Alot of people don't realize this...

First time I've heard the specifics of that rumor. How sad.

He's an average rock drummer. Unfortunately, the constant use of the open hi-hat in every single song, for almost the entire length of the song, just irritates my ears. I call him Alex "Wwwwwssssshhhhh" VanHalen. Eddie is definitely the most talented, while Michael Anthony.....well.....for those of you who've seen his solo on 'Without A Net' know what I'm talking about (that CAN'T be real Jack Daniels!).
 
pcmckay said:
Alex V. is one of the most underated rock drummers ever. I have always enjoyed listening to VH. I feel Alex was very innovative and fit their music perfectly. I definately prefer VH with David Lee Roth instead of Sammy. They became a different band with Hagar, but not a better one. I have been listening to VH since 1978, and one of my favorite Alex tracks is " Loss of Control" on "Women and Children First." Great double bass work here!

I agree. "Im the One" from VH1 is also a great one w/double bass. Obviously not as popular w/out that H.F.T. drum intro.
Alex is without a doubt one of my biggest influences ( # 3 ) in my playing. VH2 had "Light up the Sky" w/that cool drum break. Plus "Outta love Again". Very cool beat, rock/funky and fun to play. W. & C. First w/ "Loss of Control" is another good display of great Alex.
Fair Warning had "Sinners Swing". Another good one. That album had very different drums in each song. Diver down was a good drum album. 1984, "Girl gone Bad" of course "H.F.T. 5150 w "Dreams". I still cant get that fill at the intro of the guitar solo. Close though. OU812 "Finish what ya Started" Again very fun to play. Remember "Just cause its not fast does not mean its not good".
Anyway just my thoughts. Great drumming. Alot of cool beats and fills w/out over doing it
Gotta love him!.
And dont forget that..." Big bad Bill is sweet William Now!.......................HA, HA, HA......
 
rjvsmb said:
Is it mandatory that you have to do clinics in order to be considered good or great? A call out to all drummers - make sure you do some clinics or you'll never amount to anything.


Give me a f***king break.

for sure it's not mandatory but it will be cool seeing the guy perform in a clinic
 
toteman2 said:
It's not a digital kick with delay, however it is a simmons pad that was overdubbed into the track...I read the interview with Alex in Moddern Drummer...Alot of people don't realize this...

I can only think of maybe 1 or 2 people who could actually play the intro...Niether of them were Alex. "Very easy", is not a term that should be used to describe playing that part..

That would explain why he never did that beginning to "Hot For Teacher" everytime I've seen them live.
The best thing about Alex was he used one drum (Ludwig) through his entire carreer. I can't stand it when I see an add with a famous drummer that says something like "I'd never play anything else" then next year thier playing something else. I know they get endorsed but these are people that could afford to play anything, why wouldn't they play with the brand that they really like?
 
toteman2 said:
I can only think of maybe 1 or 2 people who could actually play the intro...Niether of them were Alex. "Very easy", is not a term that should be used to describe playing that part..

Do you mean the 8th/16th notes that are played on the simmons drum? That isn't terribly difficult. It takes a few cracks at the pattern, but once you got the pattern down, you just have to work the practice pad for awhile. It is challengingly fast, but not too hard. I'm far from the fastest drummer and I use that two bar pattern as a warmup drill.
 
I think he means playing the Simmons hand part with your feet and the other tom parts over the top of that with your hands (like it sounds on disk.)
 
Anyone else hear this analogy:
Edison:Ben Franklin = AVH:Bonham

In fact from more than 1 source. Although, I can't say I totally agree.
 
Stu_Strib said:
Do you mean the 8th/16th notes that are played on the simmons drum? That isn't terribly difficult. It takes a few cracks at the pattern, but once you got the pattern down, you just have to work the practice pad for awhile. It is challengingly fast, but not too hard. I'm far from the fastest drummer and I use that two bar pattern as a warmup drill.

I'm talking about the opening bass drum riff to "hot for teacher"...I"m not even sure of the notation because it sounds like too many beats bunched together...The actual shuffle groove isn't really hard at all, but the intro almost sounds like "Bannana Peels" http://www.virgildonati.com/sounds/stretch/stretch-trk-06.mp3, only more notes bunched in and very mechanical..."Hot for teacher" sounded like it was overdubbed to me, and sure enough it was...
 
This is an old argument, that has been proven elsewhere. The part IS a simmons pad and it was overdubbed. In concert, he would start the part on a pre-programmed sequencer, then he would come in with the (relatively easy) bass drum shuffle/ride/tom part.

I can't find it at the moment but Danny Britt breaks it down for you (all the parts, intro, first part, adding the ride, then the tom)..

http://http://www.dannybritt.com/
 
Stu_Strib said:
This is an old argument, that has been proven elsewhere. The part IS a simmons pad and it was overdubbed. In concert, he would start the part on a pre-programmed sequencer, then he would come in with the (relatively easy) bass drum shuffle/ride/tom part.

WOW...propz for the info.....
I had wondered for years how he pulled that intro off...
 
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thumper said:
I saw VH on their "Women and Children First" tour-His kit blew me away-FOUR zebra striped bass drums! Alex and Eddie did an awesome "duo solo" together...that was the highlight of the show for me...

hey bro.....you must have seen the "fair warning" tour in 1981....that's when he started using the 4 kick drum set-up....the " women and children first" set was a huge white ludwig kit, with 2 kicks....but they had a black corrugated tube running from the front kick to the back kick......

i remember that tour.......it was the first time i had seen van halen, and i was absolutely blown away......they played with so much fire, i'm surprised the arena i seen them in didn't explode....and what made it better was i was in the front row on the floor....

just killer..................
 
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