Mark Kendall Clears Up Myths About Van Halen’s David Lee Roth

In a recent interview on Booked on Rock, The Great White’s Mark Kendall talked about watching Van Halen perform back in the late ’70s and shared what David Lee Roth was really like. He cleared up two myths, and one of these was that Roth was difficult to talk to offstage due to his stage persona. He explained:

“He was quite sweet, actually. I’ve talked to him a few times, just sitting and talking. One time, I was playing in a pool tournament in Pasadena, and he was upstairs eating and I went up, sat down, and talked to him, because my brother had hung out with him before.”

In Kendall’s words, one of the things Roth liked to do was to engage in a conversation:

“He has this reputation like he’s some big ego guy, but all he was talking about is me. He kept saying, ‘What are you up to? How’s the band doing?’ This, that, and the other. Like, all he wanted to know was what I was doing! So, he likes to engage in conversation. But it’s not a ‘me me me me thing.’ He just digs on going back and forth.”

Did Eddie Van Halen Keep His Technique A Secret?

In the same interview, Kendall also debunked that Eddie Van Halen would turn his back to the audience while two-hand tapping to keep his technique secret. He explained:

“I never saw that. I’ve heard people say that, but I’ve never seen him turn his back on the audience. Because it took a long time before he started doing the ‘Eruption’ type thing.”

He added:

“He didn’t even have a tremolo bar on his guitar. He was playing a Les Paul when I’d first seen him. You saw him switch guitars and whatnot. But the bar came later, and the finger tapping came later. But I never saw him turn his back and try to hide what he was doing or whatever.”

You can see the interview down below.