#vhnd

System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan says Van Halen was one of the few bands who could be inspired by Led Zeppelin yet still create their own sound.

"I wanted to play drums before I knew who Van Halen was but Van Halen introduced a different style," Dolmayan said during a recent appearance on The Paltrocast. "I guess you could say some of the drumming was derivative of John Bonham, but that's really only because everybody's drumming is derivative of John Bonham after John Bonham right? You're always going to have a flavor of it but Van Halen did it differently. It was more straightforward. It was heavy. It was kind of like a merging of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, and [it had] exceptional musicianship, which you had quite a bit of at that time, but not many people played as melodically as Van Halen did. And I feel like everybody in Van Halen had something unique and interesting to bring to the table irrespective of how they were perceived."

VAN HALEN PERFORMING LED ZEPPELIN'S "THE ROVER" (1976)

Michael Anthony joined Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt on stage this past Saturday (April 20) to perform a few Van Halen classics!

Armstrong and Dirnt have a side project called The Coverups, who played a gig at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, California. Anthony and The Coverups performed "Dance The Night Away", and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" along with KISS's "Rock and Roll Nite", which also included Green Day drummer Tré Cool. Below are a few performances from that night.

"Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love"

"Rock and Roll All Nite"

Gene Simmons performed Van Halen's demo version of "House Of Pain" live during a recent solo concert in Milwaukee. According to Setlist.fm, this marked the first time Simmons ever performed the song in concert. The fan-shot video above was from The Gene Simmons Band's show at the Rock & Brews restaurant Wednesday (July 3rd).

Simmons' connection to the song dates back to 1976 when it was included on the demo he produced for Van Halen after spotting the band playing at a Sunset Strip club. Simmons offered to produce the band's demo and sign them to his company Man of 1,000 Faces. Unable to get the band a record deal, he eventually let Van Halen out of its contract, leading to the band's eventual signing with Warner Bros.

"The original version is like a locomotive that doesn't stop. Your jaw would drop," Simmons said during a 2020 appearance on The Jeremy White Podcast. "The 'House of Pain' that's been recorded by them is tame compared to what this is. You'll be shocked. And mostly it's live in the studio."

"House of Pain" would eventually end up on the band's sixth studio album "1984" but with different lyrics. The demo version also included the iconic multiple-car horn sound effect that would later be included on "Runnin' With The Devil" from the band's 1978 self-titled debut album. Although the recordings that emerged from the 24-track sessions with Simmons were never officially released, they've been widely bootlegged and posted online under the title "Zero Demos."

Have you Googled Van Halen lately? You're not alone. Van Halen is the most searched-for classic rock band in five U.S. states, according to recent data study.

The life insurance company Sell Easy analyzed Google Trends search data of 70 iconic rock bands at their peak pre-1990 to determine the most popular classic rock band in every state.

"When discussing the who's who of classic rock bands in the U.S., a couple of names stand above the rest," Sell Easy stated in the article. "Van Halen claims the title of best classic rock band in five states with their explosive sound and virtuosic guitar playing. Their high-octane performances and catchy tunes have resonated with fans from coast to coast, as they're the most popular classic rock band in Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin."

Here's another gem for all you rock-n-rollers out there! You can now watch a WTVJ local news report which has recently surfaced online. It's a news segment shot two days before 'Van Halen's Monsters Of Rock' stadium tour hit Miami, Florida on June 4th.

Travel back to June 2, 1988: Rock band Van Halen prepares for its concert at the Orange Bowl. It shows band members Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony practicing during a soundcheck at the stadium. Other acts included Kingdom Come, Dokken, The Scorpions and Metallica. This video was originally uploaded to YouTube by Quentin Melson.

Watch the video below. It's always great to see newly- unearthed news clips like this.

Nuno Bettencourt is defending Joe Satriani's perceived 'screw-up' of Eddie Van Halen's "Mean Street" intro last week on The Howard Stern Show.

Much has been said about Satriani's performance last week (Nov. 17), who joined Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham for the announcement of Hagar's upcoming Best Of All Worlds tour, and not all of it has been positive. During the appearance, Stern asked the band what the most difficult Eddie Van Halen riff to play is. Satriani then launched into an impromptu rendition of "Mean Street." Satch himself admitted: "This is impossible to play, right?"

Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt has come to the defense of Satriani. During a recent appearance on The Jeremy White Show, Bettencourt said playing Eddie's riffs is, as Satriani said, impossible.

"The one thing that I learned recently of seeing Joe or anybody—me, Joe, anybody—if we're gonna take a risk and we're gonna play an Edward anything, especially on Howard Stern or anything like that, where you know you can't get it back, good luck. That's all l'm saying is good luck. Why? Because you're going now into hallowed ground."

Later on, he called out Hagar for putting Satriani in a difficult position.