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Shortly after his triumphant guest appearance with Teddy Swims on Coachella’s main stage, David Lee Roth strutted into the press tent. He was still wearing his stage clothes – leather vest, fitted silver and black pants, wraparound sunglasses and the wide grin that has been his trademark since his early days as a Van Halen frontman – and was still energized, electrified by having just played “Jump” for the Coachella crowd.
In a fast-paced exchange with the 71-year-old, who is currently in the midst of his own sour tour with what he calls the Roth Show Band, we try to squeeze in a few words about his first-ever Coachella experience.
You played with Van Halen at the Hollywood Bowl in 2015, and now you’re on the main stage at Coachella with Teddy Swims.
What we do here for a living is steeped in history. Anyone who goes to West Point joins the Long Gray Line. If you go to the police, go to the Long Blue Line. And what we do here goes back to the [Tanztruppen der 1930er-Jahre wie den] Nicholas Brothers and the Berry Brothers. Long before there were microphones or PA systems, there is this long line of tweeter and two-tone traditions. [Zeigt auf seine zweifarbigen Schuhe.]
Roth’s Roth Show Band
This is what we watch every night before rehearsals with the Roth Show Band. I have nine people in the band. A killer power trio that plays the most unrelenting white trash superstar riffs you’ll never get the hang of in your first three years of playing guitar. And the vocals are like the Four Tops – oh yeah. The best of the Glendale-Inglewood Baptist community. I am a product of the busing program. And that’s in every Van Halen songbook entry. Our stuff is like “West Side Story.” You can play it on the ukulele. In the orchestra. Alone on the harmonica. And each of these different versions brings out a different emotional content.
A song like “Jump” can be very, very, very sad, and it can be very, very uplifting and euphoric – depending on the context and tone. And the music is timeless. “Jump” is on every playlist of every NFL franchise in this country. If you play real soccer, Soccer – Marseille, the meanest team, is the equivalent of what Boston is to New York – their half-time theme song for 40 years is “Jump”.
So is this your first time at Coachella?
I worked as a paramedic around the corner on a few New Year’s Eves a few years ago, seven or eight years ago. I’ve never been the one-job type.
Coachella: Freestyle and Art
Have you been to the Coachella Valley before but never been to the festival?
Coachella is much more free, sexy, art-oriented… I play shows where many of my colleagues and contemporaries look practically identical – obligatory amp array, extensions, devil horns. Nobody smiles. The Rolling Stones started it. [Lacht.]
I don’t know – Mick smiles sometimes.
Yes, now that he’s a millionaire, but on the first eight records… No grin. That was what gave the Rolling Stones dignity. Everyone else – the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five – wore big smiles. And even further back: All of my heroes wore a suit for work. Whether you stood at the jazz stand like one of the jazz greats – you smiled. It was my Uncle Manny, who owned a really famous club down in Greenwich Village, who told me, “There are two basic rules, Dave: One, smile and let everyone know you’re damn glad to have the job. And two, perhaps more importantly, never, under any circumstances, leave your wallet out of your pocket on stage.” [Lacht.]
How did the collaboration with Teddy come about?
We rehearse at a very well-known place called Third Encore, which is near Van Nuys Airport. Most of Coachella rehearses there because of the huge facilities with all the power you need and the proximity to all the technical resources – all within cycling distance. And we’re all separated from each other across the parking lot. There I am the old gray wolf. Guardian of tribal knowledge. Ancient Rabbi. My best introduction is: “You look important. Who are you?” You can say that to the Queen of England and she will reply, “Well, this is my castle.” “Well, I’m not wrong. Call me Dave.” That’s how it always starts.
Teddy Swims gets FOMO
Three of Teddy’s people came over from his crew: “Hey, can we take a quick look? We heard a few songs.” I said, “Of course. Come in.” Two days later they brought 36 people from his crew with them. Teddy got FOMO.
He is a long-time fan [von mir]. And he asked as soon as he found out I was there if he could come over and watch the rehearsal. We got along like pirates. We had a few drinks well into the night. And our voices are very similar. We have a stubborn sense of humor. We come from a working class background in music. Many places where there is sawdust on the ground. Today there is a generation that doesn’t know what that means. Teddy knows.
This is there to soak up the beer…
He came by and there’s a story. He knows every lyric from my classic Van Halen songbook. As a vocalist: I wrote every word I sing in the Van Halen songbook. I wrote every word. Every line, every melody, every harmony stack, I organized everything the vocals do. For better or worse, if you sing it, Roth brought it.
