Chuck Shute Podcast
In depth interviews with musicians, comedians, authors, actors, and more! Guests on the show include David Duchovny, Billy Bob Thornton, Mark Normand, Dee Snider, Ann Wilson, Tony Horton, Don Dokken, Jack Carr and many more.
Chuck Shute Podcast
Darren Paltrowitz & Kevin Baldes (DLR Book: How David Lee Roth Changed the World)
Darren Paltrowitz is an author, licensed investigator and host of the Paltrocast podcast. Kevin Baldes is a photographer and musician, best known as a founding member and bass player of Lit. Darren has a new book out titled “DLR Book: How David Lee Roth Changed the World”, which also includes photos taken by Kevin. In this episode we discuss several David Lee Roth anecdotes including why Van Halen asked for no brown M&Ms, the Van Halen food fight, DLR in a straight jacket, how Beverly Hills 90210 almost used a DLR song as their theme, DLR & Sammy Hagar’s relationship and more!
0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:13 - Interest in Roth
0:03:00 - Joe Rogan Interview
0:04:40 - David Lee Roth Knocks on a Door
0:08:00 - Kevin's DLR Interaction
0:10:15 - DLR Legends & Influence
0:14:30 - Mention of Kevin & Razzle in the Book
0:15:50 - Odin & Other Where Are They Now
0:18:30 - DLR Food Fight & Straight Jacket
0:20:45 - DLR Sleep & Health Habits
0:28:54 - Beverly Hills 90210 Theme Song & Influence
0:32:45 - Kevin Experience in California & DLR Mansion
0:36:26 - Darren's Experience Writing the Book
0:37:45 - Book Intermission
0:41:10 - Brown M&M's & Artist Demands
0:43:39 - DLR Movie & Bart Walsh
0:47:40 - Being a Fan & Influences
0:49:11 - DLR Impressions & Influences
0:50:50 - Being a Diehard Fan & Deep Cuts
0:53:10 - Different Languages
0:54:25 - Why Van Halen Didn't Go to Scotland
0:56:00 - Podcaster & Musician Rob Lane & DLR England
0:58:10 - DLR Copyright & Trademarks
0:59:10 - Why Sammy Pulled the Plug on Sammy & Dave Tour
1:01:10 - DLR, Axl Rose & Sebastian Bach
1:02:30 - DLR, Billy Joel & Steven Tyler
1:03:10 - Blues Saraceno & DLR
1:04:40 - Sammy Hagar & Bad Blood
1:07:10 - Dave Jellison's Take on DLR & Potential Book Sequel
1:08:50 - Kevin's Run Ins with DLR
1:10:20 - Backstage Van Halen MTV VMA's & Various
1:11:40 - Kevin's Photos & Lit
1:12:45 - Outro
Darren Paltrowitz link tree:
https://linktr.ee/paltrowitz
Kevin Baldes website:
http://www.kevinbaldes.com/
Chuck Shute link tree:
https://linktr.ee/chuck_shute
Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!
So the My first question for you Darren then is like, this obsession with David Lee Roth like, Did you ever try to emulate? Because you don't look like you have you don't work? There's nothing on you that looks David Lee Roth. Did you ever try to emulate his look with the bandana or the hair? Or the pants? Or any? Are you ever trying to sing in a band?
Darren Paltrowitz:Just the Judaism? I did have a bad trying to sing thing in high school, which I shall not go further into my brother's acquired teacher. But I would say I've tried to emulate Kevin more than I had David Lee Roth.
Chuck Shute:Have you tried to play bass?
Darren Paltrowitz:Oh, I do play bass. Or do you? Yeah. So I mean, somebody has to Frank Zappa says that the bass player is the failed guitarist. I don't buy that. But it happens. But
Chuck Shute:so is there a part of David Lee Roth that inspires you to in your own life like that? You? I mean, obviously, you have I think I have a wife so you don't try to sleep with a bunch of groupies?
Darren Paltrowitz:Good, good. Good. incorrect assumption right there. I loved David Lee Ross musical alone, but his book from 97 Crazy from the heat. Did you ever read his autobiography? Chuck?
Chuck Shute:No, I just saw bits and pieces in your book about it. It's
Darren Paltrowitz:alternately, the best memoir you'll ever read. And the worst memoir you'll you'll ever read, because it's totally written and Dave speak, which you have to be in the right mindset to process Kevin is not me, Kevin, you've read it. I've read it. And it's
Kevin Baldes:it's, it's like a pinball machine. Man. It's all over the place.
Chuck Shute:Yeah. And so you this book, you borrow from that. But you also cover so many other things, and your private investigators. So you've tracked down a lot of these people and gotten stories, because a lot of them have non disclosures and they couldn't talk to you. Right?
Darren Paltrowitz:That is That is true. And there hasn't been a book that simply focused on Dave, aside from his, you know, including his biography and over 25 years, and Dave has done interviews, he'll pick a period, and I'll do every interview. And then he disappears and doesn't do interviews for years. And some of these claims he's made in recent years are simply not true. So I kind of wanted to take, what did Dave say in 84? And then what did Dave say 92, or this year when he was on Howard Stern? And And how did he tell the same exact thing in the early 2000s. And he's been telling the stories a little bit differently. And then when you speak to other people in the room, they tell it even more differently. So my book is not to say anyone's a liar. It's just to try to figure out where the gray is that everything's not just black and white.
Chuck Shute:Well, yeah, and then just what is your take or opinion, based on all your David Lee Roth research? Because like one thing, one part of the book that I just kept waiting for, I was like, Oh, I can't wait till I get to the Joe Rogan interview. I can't wait to like it's the Joe Rogan interview. And then you just have like a sentence about it. I was like, Oh, I thought you're gonna have some sort of like, take on that or opinion like this. He was a little wacky in that interview, was he not?
Darren Paltrowitz:He was pulling the curtain back. I turned in the manuscript about a year and two or three months ago, and I did a rewrite based on some of the edits maybe six months ago, seven months ago. And my publisher did not want more words. So you hit a point where you go, man, I could do another 15,000 words about this. And they're like, no, no, not even 15 more words, you're done. So I didn't get to go into depth about everything. But if they ever won a deluxe edition, there's so many more things we could talk about.
Chuck Shute:Well, what is your take on that interview, then like if you were going to just just as a fan, and as somebody who knows is it's just typical, this is how he always is because it seemed like a little bit abnormal. Even for Dave David Lee Roth.
Darren Paltrowitz:They first Rogan interview was interesting. The second one was really hard to get through for me. And I think Dave has been in his own bubble for decades now. Like, imagine not being in a relationship with somebody where they go, Listen, hot that out. Don't wear that don't do that. Dave has not had that for 50 years, more or less. Dave doesn't have people telling them what to do. So Dave is just Dave in it up. And I think the Joe Rogan interviews are examples of Dave Dave ended up.
Chuck Shute:Well, and what about I don't think you've mentioned this in the book either. Or if you did, I kind of rushed through the little bit of the last few chapters. But you did talk about Vegas, but that part where he knocks on the fans door, the fans playing Van Halen in a hotel and he's walking in the hallway and he knocks on the door and he's like, Hey, how's it going? And the guy has no clue that he's the singer of the song that he's listening to.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, that was not a good luck having and I have had calls about this interaction. Kevin, what do you feel about it?
Kevin Baldes:I mean, I part of me, I get it, dude. It's like Dave doesn't look like Dave, you know, people, people, their vision of David Lee Roth is from 84 ish, you know, give or take some years, you know, on both ends of that. But Roth doesn't look like David Lee Roth anymore. You know, he's an older version of that. I know who he is because I'm a huge fan. I love Roth. But not everybody does. And not everybody is. So to knock on a random door. Sometimes the song is bigger than the band, you know. And in my own situation, that that sometimes is the case, you know, so I get it. Yeah, that's
Chuck Shute:interesting that that you say, I always thought that way about let to I was always like, and I've interviewed your bandmates. And I think we talked about this how like, I feel like you guys should have been so much bigger than you were. It's definitely it's an interesting sidebar. Yeah, with with with lead, especially. But I think of that case with the Van Halen. I feel like it was a generational thing. I think that guy was like 25 or 30. Yeah, those kids have no idea about that generation. Not very little, very little knowledge. And if there was a Van Halen movie or something, I think it might have been different. But
Darren Paltrowitz:yeah, if I can button here with that Vegas thing, I've now watched it many times like Zapruder film. And when I recently watched the Vegas thing, I'm like, oh, there's this manager slash accountant standing next to him. They're basically if you want to get anything to Dave, there's only one person you could get it through at this point in time. Whereas the Olden Dave used to have a secretary office team, there were multiple ways to get something to him. His managers were generally artistic people who were very approachable and out and about, and sociable people, whereas he now is just kind of playing defense at this part of his career. And you see that one manager lady next to him, and that Fox News video, where the paparazzi found him, like two years ago, you see her walking him to the stage at the kiss show. That's like, that's his person. And then the guy holding the boom mic. I don't know if I should say his name, because he's under at some NDAs. I've found, but that's his producer. That's the guy recording all this stuff. But if you want to get even weirder with the conspiracy theory stuff, Dave has been releasing stuff on social media out of sequence. So he's released stuff of him talking on camera that's from that Vegas weekend, but he only released it like three months ago. And I'm wondering if he was there in Vegas to be filming a reality show or a travel show? Based on some of the things he said that got shelled? And if so that's one of like, 25 shelved projects. That guy?
Chuck Shute:Yeah, that's good. I didn't even know about a lot of this. That's why it was interesting to read the book. I didn't know about the crazy from the heat movie, or if I did, I might have learned about it in passing, but I definitely didn't know about the barbecue one or whatever, in 97 or whatever that was. That was very interesting. Kevin
Darren Paltrowitz:was around that. Because I mean, you were around the the DOM triplets on on that tour day, right?
Kevin Baldes:Yeah, I hung out with them. And I also met the little person, his security guard guy. He was, Well, I I don't remember if I got photos with them, but I had a disposable camera with me. And I got back there because of a guitar tech for a band called The Dickies. We toured with offspring and the Dickies and their guitar tech was happen to be standing next to me. And I was standing with Paul Gargano, from metal edge magazine. And he came up to his account, what do you do and airmar came to see the Dave and Sammy show. And it was all cool. I go Yeah, I brought up disposable in the event that I run into Dave, I really want to get a photo with him. And he goes, you want to get a photo a day when I'm out. Yeah. And he goes, come with me. He was like Dave's weed provider. And he brought me back to the bus and everything and went on the bus grab Dave Dave came out. And at first Dave walked over to the ghetto blaster and a couple giant security guards with some champagne and, and he's he's like turning the music on and the boombox and he starts dancing with the triplets. It was like this weird scene and there was nobody else back there. There was no party going on. It was just the trip. It was just whole smoke and mirrors kind of thing. And it was kind of weird. But it was interesting talking to the girls. They were literally hired guns in a way, you know, you could tell like, you know, whatever, and it was cool. I get it. I get the Dave show. I buy the ticket, but uh
Darren Paltrowitz:you pave that was a cold club, Dave?
Kevin Baldes:I think so. Yeah. And he had plants and everything back there and and then he got a photo with me. It was very cool about it. And Paul Gargano said, Get me the photo. I'll put it in the magazine, which I was like, Oh, hell yeah. When the magazine came out, it was a full pinup and it said let's Kevin bald us and David Lee Roth and I was like holy shit like That was insane. But uh, yeah, it was it was around that time you were talking about.
Chuck Shute:That's crazy. Yeah. Well and also didn't mean he always had the girls with him, but also wasn't before he would like, just have girls with him when they tour. Wasn't he the first person to start this like groupie reward system program or whatever, where he would like, you know, train his staff to find the groupies. And there was like, different it was a numbering system or color, Sis, I can't remember that. You probably know. You guys know better than I do.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, that's also from the brown m&ms era. But now as time goes on, I don't know what's made up and what's real anymore with with Dave, because we've heard that lore so much, that I just I don't know anymore. Well,
Chuck Shute:what about the he took a million dollar policy insurance policy on his dick, is that real?
Darren Paltrowitz:That one I've heard is not true that it was a press thing. So one of the guys that we interviewed in the book, Mitch Schneider, who's an alias publicist, who handled there for over 10 years. In talking with Mitch, he told me about like the publicity stunts that he concocted one example being in the 80s having Ted Nugent, putting in an offer to buy music. And he's mentioned all these kinds of things, because you then get the wire services to pick up. Oh, Ted Nugent wanted to buy Muzak so he could destroy it. And the amount of press you'd get with that? I think that's what Dave's one was. It was like a million dollar paternity insurance.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, interesting. So that's it was there. That was he was kind of a pioneer. Also in the publicity stunt thing, because Motley Crue took that to the next level, because I'm just saying, you know, the book is about how he changed the world, obviously, you're a fan of the music and the music was huge, but there's so many other things like the style, and the attitude. And I think things like this, like the publicity stunts, that's like really made a huge difference in the music world.
Kevin Baldes:Well, to add to that, 1978, Van Halen played, I think, with Black Sabbath, and I don't know who else Anaheim Stadium, which is just a couple of miles from where I'm at now. And Van Halen came up with the idea, I'm guessing it was Roth and came up with the idea of right before Van Halen hit the stage, they would fly over Anaheim stadium, and four guys would jump out with parachutes, and they would have the announcer in on it, like, look up in the sky, it's Van Halen. And then Van Halen would run on stage and peel off their jumpsuits from jumping it but it wasn't really them that jumped out of a plane. But what a great idea. I mean, in 1978, they probably thought these guys are crazy for doing this. And now they're onstage entertaining us like, what a cool stuff. So yeah, I agree with you. I think they were ahead of their time with it with the media game, you know? Yeah.
Chuck Shute:Well, and also the attitude, because in the book daring, you mentioned, you interviewed Jon Taffer, which is awesome. By the way, he's, you know, the host of Bar Rescue, but I guess I didn't realize he also managed the troubadour. And so he was around David Lee Roth, and he talks about how good of a frontman he was, and how he wouldn't take shit from anybody. And I think to me, that's what really got me into like, quote, unquote, hard rock or hair metal was like, I love those. The rock stars more in my era was like Axl Rose and Sebastian Bach, but those guys just seem like they did not take shit from anybody. And for me, it's like a little 13 year old, shy kid, I looked up to that. I was like, wow, those guys. They don't take shit from people. And it sounds like that's how David Lee Roth was, as well. Dave
Darren Paltrowitz:knows what he wants, for the most part, and does it and sometimes that leads to amazing results. And then sometimes that leads to him telling his handler to knock on the door of a stranger in Las Vegas. And then filming that and posting that on your YouTube. Like it was a good thing. So that instinct has paid dividends and that instinct has held them back.
Chuck Shute:Right? Well, I think it it maybe doesn't age as well, when you're the older you get. And I feel like I've seen that with like Sebastian Bach to like, which, by the way, I guess I could say anything I want about him. He blocked me on Instagram, so But I still love him. I think he's great. I shared his new song. I said, this is a great song. And then I realized I was trying to tag him in the Instagram. And I was like, Oh, he blocked me on Instagram. So but yeah, maybe it's
Darren Paltrowitz:you interviewed snakes. Saibot. Is it one of those things?
Chuck Shute:I don't know. That would be kind of weird. But yeah, I don't know. But and the other thing, so this is, I think one I visited multiple mentions of you in the book, Kevin, I know this one was like really cool. I thought I didn't realize this. And I watched the decline of Western civilization. Part two, but was this in that movie where they talk about Bill Bizzarri, who, you know, was the owner of bizarre he's predicted your first band before it was lit Razzle was going to they were going to make it that was his last prediction. It
Kevin Baldes:was his last prediction. He died like two weeks later. That was how crazy is this? I know that you Your date and is February 23, of 91, I believe. And is when he predicted us and gave us a star on stage. But apparently this is things he did with the doors and Van Halen, and rat and all that. But yeah, we were like his last prediction.
Chuck Shute:That's crazy. I mean, technically it was right. But you guys just had changed the name. Yeah,
Kevin Baldes:yeah, we were pretty young man at the time. And yeah, we did go through a little bit of a metamorphosis. But it's funny because I think he predicted a lot of bands. I mean, you predict them all. You're gonna hit a couple on the head, I guess. But it is it's a it's a cool endearing story, you know, so
Chuck Shute:Yeah, cuz it's, I mean, the doors rat Van Halen, he predicted all those ones. Yeah. And Odin, this is two and Odin. Yes, Odin. Yeah. Well, what happened to those guys? Well,
Darren Paltrowitz:I know this. I know this. And Kevin. I'm going to tie it into you. Okay. So when I interviewed Kevin's bandmate, Jeremy, I just threw in an ODIN reference and out of nowhere, Jeremy's like, oh, yeah, I'm friends with Randy. We grill together all the time here in Nashville. Yeah, it's the story. Is there more to that? Dude,
Kevin Baldes:I want to say that Jeremy talked to Randy Oh, and had him and his wife come out to their area. When Randy was about to retire. And Randy loved it so much. I want to say that even Jeremy helped them, you know, with a real estate agent helped him find some property whatnot really kind of got involved. I mean, and yeah, there really good friends. They talk all the time and grill or whatever. But I want to say that Randy is also really good with a hammer. And if you need something fixed, he literally knows how to do everything, which is pretty cool.
Chuck Shute:So that's interesting. So he doesn't do anything with music though now, right?
Kevin Baldes:I don't think so. No,
Darren Paltrowitz:I don't know. Like Bill Gates already said, He's boxy.
Chuck Shute:It's always interesting to me to see the people that make it and the people that don't make it and why some people make it and some people don't. And some people I feel like maybe they shouldn't be in the spotlight still, but they're still out there. Like, you know, they had a MTV Video in 1987. And they're like, they're still touring on the success of that.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah. If they were to do a Where Are They Now, on the decline of Western civilization, the people that were not Megadeth kiss poison, Ozzy. There's some highs and lows. There's one, the guy with the multicolored hair like the half blonde half black, he went to prison for bilking investors, concert promoting kind of stuff. I'm not saying anything that will get you fined or held accountable, Chuck. But yeah, he was charging people fees to open up tours for motley crew and stuff like that. And there weren't necessarily tours, but then isn't Stevie Rochelle in that Kevin?
Kevin Baldes:In the in the film? Yeah. Isn't he one of the?
Darren Paltrowitz:I think so. Yeah. Yeah. He that guy's made it because like tuff did really well. He continues to hustle. And then metal sludge is huge. So kudos to metal
Chuck Shute:sludge. Yeah, that's great. And I like his other stuff that he's done some other stuff more modern. He played with like a Brazilian band. I forget the name. But I liked that one, too. Like the guy can see Tom at the rock and pod concert. And he was great.
Darren Paltrowitz:Oh, nice. But cheeseheads with attitude was ahead of its time. Yeah. Yeah.
Chuck Shute:I brought that up when I had him on. But back to the Van Halen stuff. I you know, I don't think you mentioned this in the book. Maybe this wasn't crazy from the heat. But tell me about the Van Halen food fight. And Steve Perry got caught in the middle of it. The crossfire
Darren Paltrowitz:that really I think around the time of Eddie's passing that just went clickbait everywhere. In some places. It was cake. And other sources. It was guacamole. And some of them Steve Perry was crying and then some of them he wasn't crying. I don't know. I don't know what's real, some of these situations because there aren't photos of that. There's just a bunch of people who are possibly intoxicated at the time telling a story about something that happened 40 years ago, you know,
Chuck Shute:so there's no confirmation if that's even a real story.
Darren Paltrowitz:Enough people say that it happened that I think that something would have happened, but Van Halen was first of three on that tour. So Van Halen had its own dressing room on every show. I would be shocked.
Chuck Shute:Okay, what about the rumor of David Lee Roth in the straitjacket? Is that legit?
Darren Paltrowitz:Refer refresh my memory about Panama.
Kevin Baldes:No, that was
Chuck Shute:a day the managers had to put him in a straitjacket on the tour because he got so crazy at one point.
Darren Paltrowitz:He is how do I say this? You have to say allegedly six times you say allegedly so you can't ever get sued because somebody told me allegedly Okay. he you know he does have an imbalance. It is kind of document In all that he does talk in his book about being ADHD and hyperactive and all that kind of stuff. So it wouldn't shock me. But at the same time, some of the things that he talks about in his own book didn't happen. You could say the same thing about Motley Crue is that dirt they totally remember things that never happened. And all their autobiographies contradict one another. So sometimes, you know, as they say, You never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, I mean, it's it's probably cooler to say that he was in the straitjacket like it's a badge of honor for him, I'm sure.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, I don't I don't know about that stuff. But I really wanted to more focus on like, here's what I could verify. Or I could get the alternate things on. And you could really just do a book based on the Dave Howard Stern interviews that he would do every five or so years, because Howard was pretty much the only interviewer that Dave doesn't steamroll.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, you mentioned that in the book, I thought, maybe I'm remembering this wrong, but just from the sparse interviews of sterner episodes that I've listened to I remember him saying that David Lee, right. He thought David Lee Roth was mad at him and he wouldn't return his calls and it had been like a really he was one of the the interviewers that he had been trying to get back on. He thought he pissed David Lee Roth off. He did.
Darren Paltrowitz:Howard, the old Howard and the current Howard had zero in common whatsoever. And David Lee Roth, you know, he likes to present that he's dislike confident, confident guy, but he doesn't forget grudges. Same thing with Howard and Howard. You know, Howard's now close buddy buddy with Jon Bon Jovi, but he doesn't talk about the years when he was calling them Jon Bon phony. And with David Lee Roth, you know how over the years, he's making fun of his hair and calling them David weave Roth, you know, those things have been swept under the rug. But at the same time, when Howard wanted to get into better shape, he called Dave's sister who's a nutritionist for help. So who knows, like, what's on air and who knows what's beyond the scenes, but he did a talk about Dave on the air, like nine months or so ago about going like, Hey, how's Dave doing? So I, I don't know. I don't know if it was the last
Chuck Shute:time he interviewed Roth.
Darren Paltrowitz:I think it was like, oh, five right before our Roth took over the time slot.
Chuck Shute:So it has been a while then.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, definitely been a while. What I was saying before that Dave has these periods where he does a ton of interviews and then goes into hiding. Like when he did that Joe Rogan one. He was the first one. He was on Marc Maron and Debbie Millman and Scott lips. And was it Vogue? He was everywhere to show the tattoo cream.
Kevin Baldes:Well, yeah, wanted to promote it. Yeah.
Darren Paltrowitz:And then the second time we did rochen. I think that was he did that and maybe the VMA appearance on the red carpet for four minutes. But he had this period in the early to early 2010s When he's living in Japan, and he was like doing every interview, as long as he was interested. So he just gets into it. He'll talk his brains out. And then he disappears for a couple of years.
Chuck Shute:And you got to interview him. Was it Oh, three that you did it.
Darren Paltrowitz:Shock you do your research? That was oh, three.
Chuck Shute:Yeah. Okay. I just went, Yeah, I just read the book. So, I mean, was that like a dream come true, or Well, I mean, if that's like your number one most favorite person and you you got to cross off the bucket list.
Darren Paltrowitz:I was psyched. But I think now I'm on eastern standard time in New York. Dave was in Pasadena at that point. I think it was like seven in the morning. For me. It was something crazy. So it's like he's doing interviews at three or four in the morning. I didn't understand what that was about. And like, like, Hey, Dave, what's a rock God like you do and up so early? I haven't slept since the 80s.
Chuck Shute:You know that kind of Yeah, you said that in the book. This was a mind blowing thing that he only sleeps two or three hours a night that's crazy that real?
Darren Paltrowitz:Then explaining the sleep cycling. And did you ever read that book? The game about pickup artists?
Chuck Shute:No, but I know I know about it's the same Neil Strauss the guy that wrote the dirt the cover letter. Exactly.
Darren Paltrowitz:So he kind of he went from this guy who could never get a date to like infiltrating this pickup circle. Pickup Artist circle. Yep. Like living with them and adapting their lifestyle habits. And he was trying all these life experiments. So he was doing this thing where I guess he was sleeping 15 minutes every three hours something this
Chuck Shute:was like a sample set of Seinfeld. Kramer tried this. It was a crazy Yes, I swear to God he said he got it from Leonardo da Vinci I think
Darren Paltrowitz:well, I don't know if that's a day was due but he was explained to me in that interview that he keeps boxers hours because touring is cross training or I've No idea what he's talking about. But I think you're saying you did two or three hours and then in the evening, two or three hours. Don't you feel groggy after you take a nap?
Chuck Shute:Yes. Yeah, I'm always I feel like I'm always groggy. I don't know how to drive. Isn't that just getting old? I don't know how you like get around that.
Darren Paltrowitz:Well, so Kevin, you have been touring more of your life than not? How do you do the sleep thing when you're on tour.
Kevin Baldes:When you're on tour, you sleep in a bunk on the bus and you have a curtain and then you're in a hallway and both ends of the hallway have the doors. So when those doors are shut and the ACS going, it's kind of you keep it cold, it kind of keeps the germs down. It keeps people from getting you know sick and or passing us a sickness on man, you kind of sometimes get the best sleep and your of your life because the motor, the generators always going. You're just in that dark hole and you're really bundled up to keep warm. That combination. You could you can really get some good sleep. It there's no way he's like, sleeping for a couple hours and waking up. I mean, dude, that's crazy.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, I was thinking that because that one of the things that my book is I was talking to a character actor who was supposedly cast in the crazy from the Eat movie, about his about Dave's lifestyle, what he saw. And then I asked Dave Jellison Did you ever meet Dave Jellison. Kevin used to have a nice rat. I'll introduce you, Tim. Okay. He was supposed to assistant direct that movie. And Dave was saying, Yeah, Dave would be like, out partying all night. And then he'd go to his session with Benny the jet is like martial arts kind of thing. And then he'd show up on the set, and write all day, and then he do it all over again, you go. That's not possible, because he was also shredded. Dave was always in amazing shape. Keeping a good diet. So how can you keep a good diet and drink Jack Daniels all day, and not sleep, and allegedly be doing glow?
Chuck Shute:I wonder what his testosterone level is? It's gotta be off the charts. i Yeah. Or was back then at least?
Darren Paltrowitz:I don't know. He's always been in great shape. There's one or two tours where he's like, average weight. But otherwise, he's always been like a 4%. Body fat. Yeah. tremely amazing fit person. And then you go like, so how are you drinking the jack? Or is that just a stage prop? How are you partying? How you surfing? It's it just does not add up to me at times.
Kevin Baldes:Dude, I don't mean to my singer, parties. And he has been given the gift of like, lead singer. I don't want to say body because that sounds weird. But he I mean, he's fit. And he doesn't really exercise. But Aj is really fit. You know,
Chuck Shute:I know. I know. You're, there's people like you. This is you off because you're like, you asked him for their fitness tips. And like, I eat whatever I want. And I drink party and I and they have a six but my brother, and we have the same genes. Right? So my brother's got a six pack. He said told me it's whatever he wants. And he, you know, he drinks margaritas and stuff. And I'm like, how do you have a six pack? And I try so hard. I cut all the carbs. And so I don't know, I think it's a genetic thing.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah. Okay, put that aside, put that aside. There's 24 hours in the day. How were you? Like on tour, doing media, and creative and doing your language practice and all these life skills? It's just not possible. DMT? Yeah. So, you know, after diving into this book a little too hard. You really don't know what's true. until like, six people have verified it.
Chuck Shute:So here's one that is this one really true to this was cool, because so me and my girlfriend she'd never seen 902 No. And I was like, Oh, you've never seen that. Let's go back. So we went back and we're rewatching the reruns. And in the book, you said that they were gonna use David Lee Ross, just like paradise as the theme song is that and that's 100% True.
Darren Paltrowitz:He mentioned that in his own auto biography. And I've tried to verify that through a few people. Now the way that Dave tells it is not true. So I think it did happen, but the circumstances around it aren't true. He says in his book, they called his office, his manager, and the manager said no, and didn't tell him. Okay, I don't fully believe that because Brett Tuggle co wrote that song. So unless Dave was administering the master rights, all the publishing all the writers rights, I don't think that's what happened. I think what's more likely is they went hey, we want to use this. And then they asked for a lot of money and then fox went, That's not our budget, and they didn't buy So with that, and that's how it dropped,
Chuck Shute:or Yeah, couldn't have been something that good. We're considering it or something. But it was at least talked about probably,
Darren Paltrowitz:yeah, the first episode of nano to know did have a different theme song from the rest of the series. So that's not a super known thing. That's just me reading too much trivia. Is
Chuck Shute:it? Wait? Is it on the official? Like if you rewatch the episode now? Or is it when it originally aired, and now they've gone back and changed it?
Darren Paltrowitz:I believe it's been a long time since I've watched 902 an hour on syndication. I believe they still show with the pilot, the alternate music for that one episode. Oh,
Chuck Shute:I have to check that out. I know they changed from the first season to the second, but that's one of the greatest theme songs and intros of all time, I think.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah. Now in the case of Dave, let's say, because in that era of Fox was barely the fourth network. The it's kind of known that if you were on Fox your show, you weren't getting paid a lot of money, you might have signed a bad deal or two, that kind of thing you had to renegotiate. So the people in the Simpsons and married with children and live in color did not make a lot of money in that era. Okay, so let's say you got underpaid and they're like, we'll give you 10 grand Dave, and you just hit that 10 grand, but then it went into syndication for the next 35 years. That's millions upon millions of dollars. Yeah.
Chuck Shute:Well, you talk about how he changed the world. I mean, I feel like his influence is all over that kind of period, because I grew up on now to know and saved by the bell. And I feel like David Lee Roth had some influence on both those shows, and just how, you know, glorious California was, and, you know, convertibles, and, you know, attractive women. And it was just like this paradise, palm trees and all that stuff. And that was like that. I feel like David Lee Roth had some sort of influence on that kind of era. Now, it's obviously California is very different, in my opinion, but I mean, that's what I grew up on. I just looked at California, it's like, you know, heaven like this paradise that you couldn't get to. Totally
Darren Paltrowitz:something I want to add before I throw the thing to Kevin here is that when I interviewed ice team, this did not make the book because my publisher said, you're already above your word limit. No more, no more. But I interviewed ice tea and was asking him I was just trying to bait him for a David Lee Roth quote, that I could hopefully get picked up by blabber mouth or Van Halen newsdesk. And he was saying that when he first moved out to LA and he was writing lyrics, which are gangster oriented and street oriented, that all of his friends were kind of telling him he was a poser because their like, their view of LA was based on the David Lee Roth California Girls video. That's what they thought it was. So they were kind of making fun of him. Or at least that's an ice told me. So So throwing it to Kevin here. Did you fully grew up in Orange County, and then kind of became a sunset trip kid.
Kevin Baldes:I started going to the Sunset Strip, probably around 14 or 15 years old, playing my first show when I was 16. Finally, at the troubadour, EDA, now you can do the math and figure out how old I am. But yeah, yeah, I grew up in Orange County, California. And, you know, on the weekends, we'd head up to La because all the clubs, all the all H clubs, and all the fun clubs were up there, you know.
Darren Paltrowitz:So was it a fake ID Haven? Or was it 18 And up to get in?
Kevin Baldes:Here's the thing with us. The first early years, I mean, it was the clubs were all age. That's why a lot of them were good for us to play because we were so young. But when we started doing shows, we quickly would meet the promoters and they would like us and we were like, pretty young kid. So we stood out, we weren't just older dude, shaving yet. We were pretty young kids, you know. And then once we were a staple from from the ground level, we stood there for a few years, you know, working it and so we knew all the promoters and getting into any club was pretty easy. But to be honest with you, sometimes you wouldn't want to go in the club unless you had a friend playing because out on the street was a circus too. And you wouldn't want to miss out on that. You know, it was so
Chuck Shute:as glamorous as it appeared on like now Joan Allen Saved by the Bell was it just like beautiful women all over and just convertibles and sunshine and amazing.
Kevin Baldes:It was it's not so much anymore, which is really sad. It's very dirty down there. A lot of a lot of that has gone away. We used to go and hang out on the Hollywood Boulevard and all the different little boulevards. A lot a lot of homeless people now it's kind of sad and dreary and it's weird because I have friends that live out of state and they'll they'll save up their money to go to California to go see all the glitz and glamour and it's not really it's still beautiful but it's you'd have you'd be better off just driving in the hills and looking at the homes and you would be driving the boulevards because the potholes and the homeless people it is everywhere. What
Chuck Shute:I noticed too one thing it's interesting little sidenote, California though, like when you start driving in, like the landscaping, I don't know. Like because I live in Arizona so we Have we have desert landscaping? Well, it's like red rocks and like desert bushes, but California, I think they used to have green trees or something. And then they just killed the water system. So it's just a bunch of weeds and dirt. And it's just really bizarre like, no, no, I
Kevin Baldes:don't understand it. Yeah, we went through a pretty crazy drought there for a while to get to stay on the David Lee Roth topic. This is going to sound very weird, but I can't help myself. If I happen to be in Pasadena, which my wife and I were recently. I have to drive by Dave's house. I know where it's at. Or once everyone
Darren Paltrowitz:knows where it's at, we're not near Chuck. He still lives there. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:I live moved to New York, or is he was visiting.
Kevin Baldes:I think he owns places in New York and Japan and Okay, he's the only sibling of his of the kids of his dad that could afford to take on the mansion that that's in Pasadena. I say a mansion it is pretty, pretty big property. But what I want what I was gonna say is the last time I went by there, I was in awe, because you can kind of look into the yard a little bit, you know, without getting too creepy. It just didn't look very well taken care
Darren Paltrowitz:of. Was kind of wild. That's what I've heard. That it's not so taken care of. Yeah. I love
Chuck Shute:to Darren is such a hardcore fan. He knows about what David Lee Ross yard is like. That's
Darren Paltrowitz:amazing. Okay, well, here's, here's the deal to write this book. I first, like was going to do a self publishing then I eventually got a book deal and literary agent, super agent Lee syllable sold it and here we are. But to write this damn book, I went to Team Dave, to the aforementioned lady who walks in places and pushes people out of the way for him and does his taxes. And what if Dave will participate in this book, I will yield creative control. If not, I will let you in him read anything and tell me that's totally wrong. And I'll make notations of Dave said that this is wrong. And they didn't respond. They just ignore. So all the ways that tried to get him. So you had as as an investigator, you go, if I can't get to the primary source, how am I going to get any confirmation and you have to do with source of firsthand going to stuff, public records, talking to people who were there looking at archival materials that said you have to do so I'm not saying I spent a lot of time camped outside of his house. But the last time I was in Pasadena I was. I was around there. I
Chuck Shute:love the part to the intermission in the book. And you have all these stories like Steve Brown a trickster and Billy Corgan, from the Smashing Pumpkins, Stevie Rochelle, who mentioned Jason Biggs, which I love that interview he did. Jason ElDeen. My favorite one. This is so great because you have all these stories. And then there's one and it says author and comedian Bobby Slayton, October 30 2021. Interview. I have nothing to say about David Lee Roth. But did you include that? That's pretty cool. That's the quote. It was great. It was like everyone else has a little paragraph and then I have nothing to say. But you quoted him.
Darren Paltrowitz:Do you know, Bobby stated? No, I
Chuck Shute:don't say I don't think so. Bobby
Darren Paltrowitz:Slayton is one of the best comedians of all time, mark my words. I'll bet anything on that. And his nickname is the pitbull of comedy. And you might recognize him for a bunch of TV and film things. He was in that Bruce Willis movie bandits, which also exists. So you hear that voice and it's rapid fire. And I figured because he hung he hangs out with Paul Stanley a little bit, and he hangs out with a lot of old rockers. Maybe he knows Dave, he's he's a touring comic since the 70s. He's a rock and roll guy. And I was interviewing Bobby Slayton for his book, which is called like the book of Jewish comedians have this cool, awesome coffee table book. At the end, click bait, get material for the book. Hey, anything about David Lee Roth, you know, no, not really. And then the next day I emailed him by the way this about Van Halen did that ever happen? And then he calls me from his car phone. He's like, What do you want David Lee Roth, what what what what is this thing? And I told my co host on the DLR cat, Steve Roth about it No relation. And it just all the time. He's like, what's with you and David?
Chuck Shute:I mean, I think a lot of people must wonder that too, because you asked a lot of David Lee Roth questions to every guest on your podcast. I somehow you find a way to bring it up. Can
Darren Paltrowitz:I add one more thing about Bobby Slayton, he said, When I told him I'd sold the book, it was coming out and I might include his quote, he goes, Great, sign it to me. Don't personalize it. So I can eBay it Bobby Bobby Slayton is the best
Chuck Shute:well and then on the other thing I was gonna ask you about the intermission maybe I just missed this but you mentioned somebody had a quote and it just has their initials LP who is LP LP
Darren Paltrowitz:there's two LPS there's the rapper E L dash P, which with that group of Killer Mike the Run The Jewels and then there's LP real names Laura forget her last name starts with the P she had a few record deals she's written hits for Rihanna, Backstreet Boys share etc. And she huge internet like playing arenas overseas. So in other words, if she's playing I'm sorry, I might be um, I think she likes to be called vet, if they are playing arenas in Mexico, they are playing to 15,000 people, and then here in the States, it's to only three or 4000 LP is huge. Okay,
Chuck Shute:interesting. And then yeah, I think a lot of people know about the brown m&ms thing that uh, you know, Van Halen would say in the writer like no brown m&ms, but apparently it was not, because they were really picky. It was just a test to see if people actually read the full thing.
Kevin Baldes:That's 100%. Right. Absolutely. And that's, that was actually a very creative idea. Because you could put something like that. And for a band like Van Halen, everything should be read very well, because they're gonna make a ton of money off the Van Halen show. So they do that as soon as they walk into the room, and they would put it in in the middle of something, they wouldn't put it in the food section, they would put it, kind of hide it a little bit. They want to make sure you read in every word of their contract. They come in, there's brown m&ms. That means there could be something faulty with the stage. I completely back that. It's funny because they always a lot of people laugh about that. Like, oh, that's so silly. Well, it's not silly. If you know what it's for. It's actually a brilliant idea. Yeah.
Darren Paltrowitz:Chuck, this is worth interrupting you rudely. Kevin, do you have anything in the lit rider that is similar to the brown m&ms? Are any autographed photos?
Kevin Baldes:Yes, we do have, we do require that there's an autographed. Ronnie James Dio framed photo in our dressing room. And it happens seven times out of 10 It'll happen. There'll be a handful of promoters that don't do it or didn't realize it or something. I
Chuck Shute:was how would they find that?
Kevin Baldes:It's, you know, our, our writer for our backstage needs is not as long as say a Van Halen one, you know,
Chuck Shute:but how would they get over? They'd have ordered on eBay or something.
Kevin Baldes:So when you book a show, and the promoter goes, Okay, cool. I want litre Van Halen or whatever. Once you secure the deal, a writer and all the different details that is needed from the promoter is sent over to the promoter, the writer, the writers like what we need backstage, the bigger the band The more details you know, like we need a Mazouz on on you know in the hallway all day long ready to go and stuff like that. I mean, which you know you if you're I'm not going to name any names but let's say if you're Cher you need to probably Emma Seuss every day if you're going to be performing you know, she she's older and she probably wants her body massage before she gets up there and dances around you know, I get it. What's
Chuck Shute:the craziest thing you've seen backstage of other bands that required a
Kevin Baldes:Seuss in the hallway for all day? I want our band but I I have seen some stuff like that. Yeah.
Chuck Shute:Okay, so anyways, I was asking about the m&m thing because there was a thing where the guy that worked on the barbecue, no holds barbecue movie. Couldn't they told him not to wear cologne and to wear unscented deodorant and then David Lee Roth made him change his socks or something like what was going on with this? Mark
Darren Paltrowitz:Elmer generously did that interview. He's a great editor behind the scenes person, but I think it's gotten back into acting mark with the CE mark Elmer P. Worked on the editing in the editing bay. purely an accent like he didn't seek out that job as somebody passed along that gig to him. And he took it say I love David Lee Roth he kidding me? So I think he'd spent about six weeks on it. And that's still didn't finish editing the whole video. There was still more to edit. Because Dave can be a perfectionist about things and I don't know how six months still produces that because I think the video would be a lot better myself. You cannot cohesively watch that no holds barbecue without like, getting up. It's It's rough. The music work
Chuck Shute:on the Star Wars Christmas Special.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yes. Yes, yes, it is. Much worse. So have you what have you seen shock of the no holds barbecue?
Chuck Shute:I didn't even know it existed until I read about it in your book like yesterday. So at zero I've not and then I thought you said in the book that you couldn't find it or something. He posted
Darren Paltrowitz:an edited version that's still on his YouTube channel. But there has been a few edits like it cut out the credits at the end, he might have shelved a few minutes. And he blurred out Bart Walsh's face because I think Bart was sued and within a year or two of that, and fortunately Bart is Bart last. He we lost Bart a couple of years ago. And right before we lost him, I think he was about to start like a cool Van Halen tribute band, like the atomic Punx that's one of the things he's working on. Did you know Bart? Kevin, I've met
Kevin Baldes:him. I've met him back in the day. Yeah. And he? I think I saw him with atomic Punx. Right.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, that makes sense. He was great. Yeah,
Kevin Baldes:he was incredible.
Chuck Shute:That's why Roff got him because he was he could do it in the atomic punk right?
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, exactly. If you watch it MTV Finnland concert that is Bart Walsh on there. That's my favorite. I am obsessed with this concert video. Because it's Dave where he's like, yeah, he's 40s something but he's still doing all the hype high kicks and he's still wearing all the bad leather and still acting like he's flirting with the imaginary girl in the in the third row and all that stuff but he's playing all the Van Halen it's n deep cuts and he's still doing Yankee rose which he wasn't doing much after like oh four I cut you off. What were you talking about? Before I sideboard into Ronnie James Dio autographed photos Jack?
Chuck Shute:Oh, no, I just think we were talking about the the deodorant thing. And maybe they Rother st telling him to take his socks off because they smelled bad and made him put David Lee Roth talks on. And I think it's just a little strange.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah. Dave is very aesthetically oriented. That he designs the stage shows he picks out the wardrobe. He very much cares about how things look and smell. And supposedly the instructions that Mark got from Dave's handler was Do not wear scented deodorant, and make sure you're wearing socks. And there was a day where I think he wore sandals without socks or something like that. And Dave noticed and he was taken out to the car to get some socks from Dave's trunk. So
Chuck Shute:maybe as a heightened sense of smell. And again, that would go back to my theory of high testosterone. I'm surprised you don't know his testosterone levels.
Darren Paltrowitz:Is that an insult? Or?
Chuck Shute:No, that's a compliment that you're such a good investigator and researcher and fan. I think that's amazing. I love when people are super fans of anything, even if it's something that I think is weird, like Harry Potter. I'm like, that's cool that you're really into that. I think that's neat.
Darren Paltrowitz:I've always believed if you like something a lot, and you get more into it, why don't you figure out who inspired that and you go back and back and back and back. So for example, let's say you love lit and you go well, what are the bands that made lit sound like lit? Eventually you'll get to Van Halen. Yeah. And that kind of a thing. So I think with Dave it's different because Dave we think of as being this hard rock guy. He's not a metal or hard rock guy at all. He's into EDM, outlaw country, old school, hip hop, Brazilian dance music. He's kind of into everything except the music that we think that he created. Now
Chuck Shute:that that makes sense. I think there's a lot of artists like that. The one that I'm thinking of off top my head because I just interviewed him was a is Joey Bella Donna of anthrax. I don't think he's like really was a thrash metal guy. When he joined anthrax, I think he was playing. I mean, because now you see these doing journey cover band, like that's the kind of music that he was doing. Before he joined anthrax. They just convinced him to join it. And then it took off. And so now he's known for that. Yeah.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, I want to see that journey tribute band that he's got. I'm sure it's amazing. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:he's still doing the Star Spangled Banner and killing it. But oh, another thing I want to ask as about because he talked about in the book about how people do the David Lee Roth impressions like the whole crew was doing to do either of you do a David Lee Roth impression?
Kevin Baldes:The only impression I ever did was jumping off my mom and dad's bedroom roof into the lawn trying to do the splits as high as I could. Which I think I have a knee injury still from that actual day. But yeah, dude, I remember
Chuck Shute:you were a big hair metal fan, right Kevin? Like you had the posters on your wall and you dressed like in the spandex and shit, right?
Kevin Baldes:Well, I wouldn't say spandex but we did wear some tight clothes. I had the long hair and stuff. Yeah. Is there
Chuck Shute:a picture of those those pictures public have you got because I tried to find like Razzle stuff and it's very rare. I think I've seen like one picture. And there's a couple songs I think going on YouTube. Yeah
Kevin Baldes:yeah that's out there if you if you look for it for sure. But we did were kind of like some leather type stuff and and had long hair. Absolutely. I mean, to answer your question yeah I grew up Van Halen I was into kiss first and then my buddy Nelson Balti. That works for Claire brothers now and I have a David Lee Roth connection there but he's the one that turned me on to Van Halen on the diver down album. I was 10 years old and then things really started changing for me and did Van Halen Is it for me, you know?
Chuck Shute:Yeah. Have you read this book?
Kevin Baldes:I have not read the book yet. No, I'm waiting for for it to be in my hand. I can't wait to read it. Yeah,
Darren Paltrowitz:I mean to you, I think by talking to me on the phone regularly, he's read the book.
Chuck Shute:I mean, I'm like a casual Van Halen Roth fan, but I mean, I learned a lot. I mean, I really did like that's I mean, that's a compliment Darren like you really did your research. You're much more of a bigger fan than I am. I won't pretend that I'm as big a fan as you I mean because and I love that I love that you're like into the albums that didn't sell as well like what are they called? Like? What's that
Kevin Baldes:fair warning and women and children first?
Chuck Shute:No, no those ones the soul the other solar ones that like nobody was buying like because like me with like Vince Neil I bought like carbon stone and all these albums that you know a lot of the bands the fans are like kind of turned on the bands at that point I was I couldn't wait for the you know skid row sub human race and those kinds of our I'd love that shit. So I get it.
Darren Paltrowitz:You can help me with this one Chuck. The first tell me if you agree with this, the first Vince Neil solo album is fantastic. It because it's like he's out Motley Crue and Motley Crue and the second one is maybe the worst second solo album I've ever heard.
Chuck Shute:I'm like this the second one it took a while to it grew on me though and I it's it's not Motley Crue ish at all. It's totally different. But there's some cool stuff on there that I I still really like to this day, but I get why. If you're a fan of Motley Crue and you pick that album up, it'd be like, What the fuck is this?
Darren Paltrowitz:But Vinci was doing this article in the early this? Pardon me? He did this interview in the early 2000s where he said, Man, if this album came out now it would have sold 10 million copies. What wouldn't sell 2000 copies. This him in the dust brothers might be the worst musical pairing in the history of rock music.
Chuck Shute:I liked it. I know it's weird, but I really did and I liked the guitars Brent woods I thought he did a great job. Like
Darren Paltrowitz:when nr ne rd was supposed to do that out with Velvet Revolver is supposed to be Pharrell and Velvet Revolver. You like what you did? No, no, stop it. And they had to stop it in the middle of the production. Just not a good idea. Stop thinking outside the box sometimes.
Chuck Shute:See this is what like when you're a hardcore fan. Like you like the shit that nobody else like that's what I'm saying. Like with you and David Lee Roth, you like the shit that probably nobody else liked? Like these albums that tank you? You I mean, you might not like them as much, but you bought it. You listen to it, right?
Darren Paltrowitz:i My favorite daily Roth album is either sonrisa Silva. Hey, which nobody bought? I haven't. Nice. Do you know what that is? Chuck? No, I
Chuck Shute:have no idea. That's
Darren Paltrowitz:yeah, it's elevens file in Spanish. Oh, okay. Yeah, I
Chuck Shute:do vaguely remember, I mentioned that. And I think that
Darren Paltrowitz:Dave was like, at times ahead of the curve with that. Because when you think about how many artists these days cut their music in different languages, like the Beatles at the beginning, cut, I want to hold your hand in German and the Motown artists did in different languages. And not a lot of people did in the 70s. And then Dave started doing that. I wish Dave than every album, I it never gets old listening to him butcher Spanish in the style of eating and smile.
Chuck Shute:And then they try to butcher Japanese a lot to talk about how he would say things in Japanese and people were like, I don't think that's
Darren Paltrowitz:I didn't put that rumor out there. My Japanese is very elementary, very elementary, like I understand, at times more than I could speak but Eddie Van Halen who put that rumor out there that David was speaking broken Japanese on that 2015 album.
Chuck Shute:What was the story? This is another thing I didn't ask you about? Because you mentioned that. Eddie Van Halen told the story about why Van Halen never went to Scotland after the late 1970s Which Roth appears to not have known the true reason for so what is the reason? Do you know it?
Darren Paltrowitz:I if I remember correctly, because I watched watch that intoxicated out of my mind at like three in the morning on YouTube when I was writing the book. I'm pretty sure that was from the downtown sessions. That was the extra desk when you bought a different kind of truth. And it was that somebody from the Van Halen who stole a pillow and the hotel All was finding them and threatening to ban them. It was something really bait. It was either somebody got into a fight or someone stole a pillow and that was it. And then Helen never played in Scotland ever again. That's crazy. Well, again, then again, like sorta again, rudely interrupt you for the 18th time here. You know, in 95 Van Halen was opening for Bon Jovi in Europe as special guest. Van Halen is not a European thing. Like Van Halen is a US, Canada, Japan debatably, the Netherlands because they're from there. That's it like yes, they did that DVD with Gary Sharon, that never came out in Australia, not an Australian thing. South America, South America, I guess because they turned toward it the early 80s. But then Helen's not International.
Chuck Shute:That's interesting. So they're not I know you. It's cool that you interviewed my buddy, Rob Lane, the podcaster and musician and got his take on like Van Halen and David Lee Roth, from somebody who actually lived in London. So like, they weren't very big there.
Darren Paltrowitz:They were big. Like there's this really obscure Dave, Nintendo UK commercial campaign that he voiced over in the in the early 90s. But And early on the year filthy little mouth tour. 94. You know, he was down to small venues there. And I don't think he went back to England until did did he tore England again after that? I don't know if he did on the ofour run. I don't know if there was a proper European jaunt on that. I
Kevin Baldes:think they realized their bread and butter was in America and they can make they can make ends meet really well, just staying home. It is kind of tough to go over. I wish lit could go there more often. But it's it's tough. Money wise, you really. You know,
Chuck Shute:unless you're playing like a big festival or something then they have probably the money to Yeah,
Kevin Baldes:so what you try to do is you try to do some festivals and then do some headlining gigs as well. So it's it, you know, unless you have a really, really gnarly audience over there, which Van Halen in. I think 7879 did go over there. I'm not sure they really went over there and add one or anything later the
Darren Paltrowitz:ad for Donington, which is the video that leaked like six months ago, which is great, but yeah, Van Halen not as big of a deal. If you look at the Tour routings like David Lee Roth's 86 Edom and smile tour did not go internationals just North America. 88 went around the world. 91 did go to Europe, but it was plagued with financial ruin. A lot of shows got canceled on the North American thing. Jamie Lane just spent depending on who you ask, either fell off a stage or had a nervous breakdown. And yeah, that's yeah, that's in the book.
Chuck Shute:That was cool. What about explain this? And did you do you find this out from your private investigator thing? Or how did you find this out about the trademarks? And the copyrights? He trademarked all these weird things like, dries tight and buckshot and but then he didn't use a lot of them, I guess.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, if I were to check Dave's copyright listings and trademark listings now, I wouldn't be shocked if he's trademarked six things in the last two months, that he then abandoned within nine months. So like he pays all the attorney fees and the paperwork fees. And then just because now, how did I find that? I mean, a lot of these are public records. Some of these, you do need to give a usage or why you want it to the local jurisdiction. But I got his EMT license, his helicopter pilot's license, some of his corporate documents. Why? Because I want to see if this stuff is true. And so one of the things in the book is about how that Hagar Roth tour was supposed to go much longer than it did. And I kind of got proof through finding some corporate documents.
Chuck Shute:Yeah, so explain again, the story to the listeners, what happened there? Or should they just wait to buy the book?
Darren Paltrowitz:They can buy the book, I mean, but ultimately, Dave was as difficult as Dave can be at times. He was in that tour for the long haul. And Sammy pulled the plug on it. But you know, Sammy is this nice guy, and we all think he's the nicest guy. And when he says let's do lunch, that means he's going to he's going to do it, of course, like, okay,
Chuck Shute:so then what happened recently, because I don't think this was in the book because this happened so recent, but Sammy Hagar said, they're gonna tour and David Lee Roth was welcome to join them. I think he meant for like, a show or something. And then David Lee Ross, like, Yeah, I'm on tour with Sammy Hagar and Sam Hagar is like, fuck you. You're not invited to the damn tour. And it's like Is that like, did he just miss speak or what happened there? I
Darren Paltrowitz:want to hear if Kevin agrees. I think that Dave trolled him a very, very effectively and knew that Sammy was gonna have to backtrack.
Kevin Baldes:Yeah, I can't imagine after after the experience they had with touring with each other already. I can't imagine Sammy want to sign up for that again. Sammy is the one that talks the most about how horrible that would tour was. Dave hardly ever says anything. So it would be weird of Sammy would sign up for that. Again, I don't think he has to. I think he can bring enough friends out per show. That'll make it interesting and sell tickets that way. Yeah.
Darren Paltrowitz:And what Kevin just said about bringing enough friends out. So the last time I saw Sammy live, he brought out Trombone Shorty, and I'm just guessing here. I don't think that Sammy has met Trombone Shorty before coming on stage with him that day. I think it's the kind of thing that is torx. Manager. Whoever puts out an APB and goes who's in town. Yes, George. There are good. You're coming up tonight.
Kevin Baldes:Yeah, yeah, I could easily be that kind of thing. Okay,
Chuck Shute:is this I don't know if this was in the David Lee Roth book, but you didn't mention this story. And this is probably my one of my favorite David Lee Ross stories is Have you seen the Sebastian Bach story where he's this is you can find on YouTube and he's telling the story over there. I think there were the rainbow or the whiskey. And, and Roth says to Sebastian Bach and Axl Rose like it looks like there's a couple of pretenders to my throne. And then x was like, What the fuck did you just say and then the next day sends them a message on their answering machines that apologizes, but that's such a great story if you guys heard that one.
Kevin Baldes:I haven't heard that one. That's pretty amazing.
Chuck Shute:Oh, Google it I probably butchered the real Sebastian Bach tells it's so great.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, actual did get irate. And then ultimately, there was apology sent by fax
Chuck Shute:or was it fax? Yeah, that maybe that's what it was. But it was like he's like I was I really was pretending you know, he's like, Axl was I don't know if Axel forgave him. But that was a pretty cool story. The three of them were just to be a fly on the wall to see those three guys like hanging out. That'd be amazing.
Darren Paltrowitz:Yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. I'm not sure about how many times that Dave met Axel. I know that. Sebastian Bach and him were seated next to each other flying to Australia. And the festival dates may be the ones that Van Halen did and other 2012 or 2015. Do you ever see the press conference? That's David Lee Roth, Billy Joel, Steven Tyler, and I forget who the fourth one is for the Australian festival dates. No, that
Chuck Shute:sounds fun too, though.
Darren Paltrowitz:Watch it. You'll you'll you're watching Billy Joel's like brain spinning while David Lee Roth's just skippity Bop and is his fondness. Now I say all this like I don't I think that Dave is a highly intelligent, motivated, a cop accomplished person who's had a longer career than anybody. It's just there's so many bad public moments. And unfortunately, that's what we remember because he and his team don't execute these things to make us forget about these bad moments. So you just watch this, him and Billy Joel sitting next to each other. Oh, boy.
Kevin Baldes:I gotta I gotta see. Yeah.
Chuck Shute:There's another thing that you missed in the book was I think I might have broken the story. I don't know. But guitars, blue saris, you know, who played with poison. He had a story about trying out for David Lee Roth. Did you ever see that or hear that story?
Darren Paltrowitz:I heard it through you. You broke that one. That was great. That was like the first hour he's laughing his ass off. And like the second hour, it's like, oh, maybe I should get out of here. And the third one's like I definitely need to get out of here. And you hear that with other people? Was a Jeff Young from Megadeth was another one of those. The list just goes on and on and on. Like everyone has been asked to audition for Roth at some point in time. Hey, was Steve Brown ever asked to audition? Kevin any idea?
Kevin Baldes:I don't know. That's I know that Steve is tight with Alex so I'm not sure he would cross streams like that. Yeah,
Darren Paltrowitz:like the first reply on Alex is happy holidays. Instagram posts. We got a rare Alex sighting this week. Oh, really? Yeah. Maybe Maybe. A
Kevin Baldes:lot of Van Halen fans might say that's a warm up to him going out with Sammy
Chuck Shute:blood right I mean, I know that much.
Darren Paltrowitz:I'm sorry. What was that Chuck I talked to Sammy and
Chuck Shute:Alex I've really bad blood right. I know that much.
Darren Paltrowitz:I think so. I it could be business stuff. It could also be personal stuff. But what somebody who knows stuff because I do not want to throw him under the bus. Somebody who knows stuff told me and this is a fact is the Sami book that came out is not the Sami book that was originally turned into the publisher. So there was a Sami book that was kind of ghost written that Sammy spent six figures filing an injunction on and going to court over to get this book rejected. So then his book that we saw is the one that came out. So I don't know what was in there in the original one. But what was in the one that came out was so unkind to Alex and Eddie, like unforgivable, like, you would never talk to those people. Again, unforgivable, I think, Wow. Really?
Chuck Shute:Like what did it say? Or can you say, Can you not say?
Darren Paltrowitz:What I remember because I only read it once was he was talking about the business deal that he had to give up his share. And all that to get Michael Anthony on that tour about Eddie not having teeth about Eddie always being one drunk about them try traveling separately. About Eddie's plane being so bad that you didn't know what song it was playing every night, which I find very hard to believe. I think Eddie on autopilot is still really good. Except for that Simon and Garfunkel performance. You ever see that?
Chuck Shute:No, but wow. And he didn't have teeth. That's kind of sad. Well,
Darren Paltrowitz:I mean, smoking and the metal pick and cancer and all that, you know, dental health happens. But yeah, it has Tamizh book was very unflattering about everybody. And some of the people that I spoke with, for this book would be like, that's not true. And that's not true. Like some Jesse harmes, who played on Edom and smile and was also in Sammys band for a lot of years. It's like, yes, Sammys book says, I was in the room for that. I was not in the room for that. So you have to wonder, is it that somebody tells a story 20 times perfects the story, and then that's what they remember. Yep. That's true. Yeah.
Chuck Shute:Okay, so this whole book, I mean, if you want to this last tease here, or you can tell me what was the most shocking or surprising thing that you found out while making this book that you as a fan who's followed him very closely, obviously, didn't know before.
Darren Paltrowitz:I don't know how much of the interview that I put in pages. But Dave Jellison, J E ll i s o n, who was the first or second basis and rat, who's now a huge successful director, all the stuff that he kind of told me about Dave is super true. And he was he worked with Van Halen, I think on the diver down crew before I went with Dave solo. And I don't know if I put this in the book. But he basically said that when it's you one on one with Dave, he's the real person. And when the third person enters the room, diamond Dave takes over. And so the opening of the book kind of looks at where does the diamond Dave character end? And I still don't know. And since I've read in this book, more Dave whisperers have come out of the woodwork to basically go, all you should have talked to me for the book. It's like I tried reaching out, like, I worked with him exclusively from this year to this year, and I'm not under an NDA, and you go, damn it. So
Chuck Shute:SQL,
Darren Paltrowitz:I would love to, there's plenty more to choose from, and hopefully some of these NDAs were off. And we can go there. Yeah,
Chuck Shute:you can use my blue sourcing a story and the next one. Hey,
Kevin Baldes:Darren, have you ever met David in person?
Darren Paltrowitz:Only that one phone call? Phone call? I've met
Kevin Baldes:him twice. And I've been very fortunate that both times I've met him he was totally cool. Like super cool. So you know, other than just hearing stories industry stories and stuff and obviously the the YouTube stuff and and stuff that's out there. Like he I've been very fortunate to my run ins with them. And I got to photo both times. And so it's been awesome, but
Chuck Shute:you play with them or you just ran into an event or something?
Kevin Baldes:No, just I ran into a VHS one one time and then that backstage run in with them on the Sammy Dave tour. Those were the two times I met him. We did an interview for VH one and our publicist, Ken Phillips, knew that Roth was going to be there the first part of the day, so he signed us up to be there the second part of the day, and he knew our our paths would cross. So dude, he was super cool. But man, I remember like every word out of Dave's mouth being like, a 1980s interview like, holy crap, man. Like he was just this entity in front of you like, rock God, you know, it's like David Lee Roth, you know, and the way he talks and everything the way like carries himself is very diamond. Dave, you know, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool that he's Astrid, this, this thing you know that obviously, millions of people really dig.
Chuck Shute:Well, yeah, except that Eddie Van Halen. I mean, that's one thing that's in the book that I guess it's probably pretty well known story about backstage at the musical MTV Music Awards, where they are Video Awards or wherever it was in 1996, when they first reunited. And Roth made that comment to, I think, MTV, Kennedy, MTV VJ Kennedy and said, that's a nice dress, but it looked better crumbled up on the floor or something. And then she laughed. But Eddie Van Halen was like, like an asshole, and like apologize. And that wasn't crazy part of the book.
Darren Paltrowitz:Thank you. Kennedy was a pleasure to speak with but you know, without naming names here, like some of his handlers, I'll see if I could show this to my camera. Some of them send me photos a day of eating salads, like that. So it's weird to be at the epicenter of this scene, where you get photos a day of eating a salad, like that. So I don't feel that the book is like, mean about Dave, I think it's just going. I like magic. I like to know how the tricks are done. Rather than being blown away and entertained. I like to know how the geniuses do things. And Dave has not always been willing to give up his tricks. And I did my best I could to kind of figure out how the tricks are done.
Chuck Shute:I think you did a great job. And people should definitely get the book. I'll put the link in the show notes. They can order. It's not out yet, but they can preorder it. And I wish I could compliment Kevin's photos but I didn't get to see any of them. So I'm sure they're beautiful. And hopefully I
Kevin Baldes:think 13 or 14 in the book that I've taken over the course of a handful of shows with with Van Halen, and yeah, they were all Van Halen shows. So very cool.
Chuck Shute:Well, Darren, good luck with the book. Kevin. Let me know if lit ever comes to Arizona. I still don't think I've ever seen you guys live. I know you played in like Lake Havasu, or something like on a houseboat. I was like, Oh my God, this show up. So cool. And I missed it. And so hopefully to do that again.
Kevin Baldes:Yeah, we'll be back. We've we've done Arizona quite a bit so we'll be back. Okay,
Chuck Shute:yeah, thanks. I want to promote Well, you
Darren Paltrowitz:have to make sure Mellotron comes with you to the Arizona show to
Kevin Baldes:do like we gave that thing away. What is more Tron? Look up our video for lipstick and bruises. It'll explain everything. There's a giant robot with a mullet.
Chuck Shute:Okay, it's been a while since I've watched the music videos of hardly any band. I remember that. Obviously. I remember the Pamela Anderson one that was Yeah, that's a tattooed on my brain. But yeah,
Kevin Baldes:that's a good one. Yeah. Cool. Thanks, guys. Alright, man. Thanks, guys.
Chuck Shute:See ya. Bye bye. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the full podcast episode. Please help support our guests by following them on social media and purchasing their products whether it be a book, album, film, or other thing. And if you have a few extra dollars, please consider donating it to their favorite charity. If you want to support the show, you can like share and comment on this episode on social media and YouTube. And if you want to go the extra mile, you can give us a rating and review on Spotify, Apple podcasts or Google podcasts. Finally, make sure you're subscribed to the Show on YouTube for the video versions and other exclusive content. We appreciate your support. Have a great rest of your day. Shoot for the moon.
