Alex Van Halen recently shared the memorable story of the first encounter between him, his brother Eddie, and their future Van Halen bandmate, David Lee Roth, in a new interview with Ariel Levy.
Alex recalls how he and Eddie’s band, Mammoth, were scheduled to perform an outdoor show at a park but had to cancel due to confusion over who was responsible for the sound system and lights. Roth’s band at the time, Red Ball Jet, somehow learned about the mix-up and stepped in to take Mammoth’s place at the last minute.
“When we came back, lo and behold, there’s another band playing,” Alex remembers. “We’re standing there thinking, ‘Who the hell is this?’ It turned out to be Dave’s band. We were frustrated at first but decided to stick around and listen. A couple of the guys in the band were familiar—like the Komora brothers, and I knew the bass player and drummer, but I hadn’t met Dave yet.”
As the situation unfolded, tensions grew, leading to a confrontation that eventually involved the police.
Alex continues, “With a little false courage from a couple of beers, I went up and said, ‘Hey, man, what the hell are you doing here?’ and things escalated. The park guy, who was really muscular, got upset and started pushing people around. Then, someone pulled out a knife. That’s when it stopped being fun. I told him, ‘Put the fucking knife away, pal.’”
The situation intensified, leading to the arrest of the person involved. “And that was my introduction to Dave’s band!” Alex laughs. “I thought it was fitting, considering what rock and roll was about at the time—just causing trouble.”
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