FOLLOW US ON:
GET THE NEWSLETTER
CONTACT US
Roy Smeck: The Eddie Van Halen of Ukulele players
10.20.2020
06:14 pm
Topics:
Tags:


The great Roy Smeck surrounded by his instruments.
 
One of the many rumors passed around the Internet (imagine that!) concerns musician and ukulele player Roy Smeck, known as “The Wizard of the Strings.” It turns out that a lot of people seemed convinced that Smeck was actually Eddie Van Halen’s father and an innovator of “two-hand-tapping,” a method of playing a stringed instrument by tapping the strings with an object or your fingers. The technique has been traced back to the late 1700s, but as far as the popularization of two-hand-tapping, that honor belongs to Roy Smeck – a visionary ukulele player who rose to fame as one of vaudeville’s premier attractions. Smeck’s popularity was such that he was invited to play at President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inauguration celebration in 1933. Getting back to the popular notion Smeck was EVH’s dad…after the devastating loss of Eddie earlier this month, keyboard warriors started sharing videos of Smeck tapping away on his uke with lightning speed, with the caption “this is Eddie Van Halen’s father.” I suppose it was an easy mistake to make, given the skill level Smeck possessed, and its eerie similarity to one of Eddie’s calling cards, his blink-and-you-missed-it guitar tapping wizardry.

Ed’s real father, Jan Van Halen, was, of course, a great musician in his own right and mentor to both Eddie and Alex Van Halen. He was also born twenty years after Smeck in 1920. To my knowledge, Eddie has never credited Smeck as a source of inspiration for his style. Though he has given the nod to another musician known for his finger-tapping innovations, Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. In a 2012 interview with Ultimate Guitar, Hackett credited himself as being the “inventor of tapping on record,” which isn’t really true as guitarist Jimmie Webster was known for his tapping (or the sexy-sounding “touching”) technique, which you can hear on at least one recording, Webster’s Unabridged, from 1959.

But let’s get back to the talented Mr. Smeck, whose first 78 rpm recording came out in 1928, shall we?

Roy Smeck was born in 1900 in Pennsylvania. Starting at a young age, the future virtuoso would teach himself to play the guitar, steel guitar, banjo, octo-chorda (or “octachorda,” an eight-string steel guitar), jaw harp, harmonica, and his weapon of choice, the ukulele. While still in his early 20s, Smeck would become one of vaudeville’s most successful stars without uttering a single word during his energetic performances. Smeck preferred to dance for his fans while he frantically tapped on his uke. He’d also play it upside down with the same alarming speed and precision. His early exposure in vaudeville would lead to a myriad of incredible opportunities. His music would be featured along with the 1926 film Don Juan—the very first film to use Vitaphone sound-on-disc, which allowed both music and other sounds to be played in sync with the moving picture. His Pastimes, a short preceding Don Juan, featured an electrifying uke performance by Smeck would send his star soaring. The following year, he was approached by Jay Krause, the president of the largest string instrument manufacturer in the U.S. (at the time), the Harmony Company of Chicago. In a 1984 interview with an 84-year-old Smeck, he recalled Krause’s proposal that Smeck “produce” a Hawaiian guitar, uke, banjo, and guitar exclusively for Harmony. Smeck’s bosses at Warner objected to the use of the word Vitaphone for the line. Smeck and Kraus changed directions slightly by naming the various instruments as “The Roy Smeck Vita-Uke,” The Roy Smeck Vita-Guitar,” etc.
 

 
None of the instruments in Smeck’s Vita line of instruments were crafted by the musician, though they contained some of the master uke player’s preferred modifications, such as the graceful sound holes at the base of the Vita-Uke neck. Though it’s important to note, the shape of the holes, which Krause would describe as “seal-shaped,” also were not designed by Smeck. In fact, it’s unclear whose idea it was. What is known is that when Harmony presented Smeck with the array of instruments they were creating for his namesake gear, he would choose the one he felt had the best “action.” Amen to that, Mr. Smeck. Harmony’s Smeck line was so successful, it gave birth to a sister line—Supertone—for Sears and Roebuck. During this time, Smeck was traveling around the country promoting the Vita line performing live at record shops, theaters as well as showing up to local uke contests where he would razzle-dazzle onlookers with his remarkable dexterity. During his long career, Smeck would release 500 recordings, a huge collection of instructional manuals, song books and more. In 1976, the sadly now defunct record label Yazoo released a vinyl retrospective of Smeck’s work, Roy Smeck-Plays Hawaiian Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, And Guitar 1926-1949 with cover artwork by Robert Crumb. There is also a wonderful Academy Award-nominated documentary short on Roy Smeck, Wizard of the Strings (1985), that is well worth your time if this is the kind of history you like learning about. At the very least, you can now politely shut down the next person who tries to pass Smeck off as Eddie Van Halen’s dad. Lastly, but certainly not least, the legendary Leonard Cohen was a huge fan of Roy Smeck and met the Wizard of the Strings when he was just ten and an aspiring, enthusiastic ukulele-player himself.

More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
|
10.20.2020
06:14 pm
|
Rat Salad: Eddie Van Halen’s riffy 1994 collaboration with Black Sabbath
04.15.2019
08:41 am
Topics:
Tags:


Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen in 1978.
 

“Without Tony, heavy metal wouldn’t exist. He is the creator of heavy! Tony is a legend. He took rock and roll and turned it into heavy metal.”

-–Eddie Van Halen telling the world how he feels about Tony Iommi.

Not long after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio (as well as drummer Vinnie Appice) in 1992, Tony Iommi began formulating his plan to re-assemble Black Sabbath. In his revealing book, and in this fan’s estimation, one of the best rock bios ever, Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi discussed in detail his experience of rebuilding Black Sabbath yet again. In the process of auditioning new UK-based timekeepers, Iommi got a call from a fellow former bandmate of Dio’s, Brooklyn native Bobby Rondinelli, who was very much interested in the gig. According to Iommi, Rondinelli flew out to play for the guitarist, and Iommi hired him on the spot. With Tony Martin back on vocals (for the first time since 1990), long-time Sabbath keyboardist Geoffrey Nicholls (RIP) and Geezer Butler firmly in place on bass, this version of Black Sabbath began the process of writing and recording their seventeenth album, Cross Purposes, at the Monnow Valley Studios in Wales. While Sabbath was busy working, Van Halen (or Van Hagar, as it was 1993) was close to wrapping up the European leg of their Right Here Right Now Tour, stopping at the National Exhibition Centre on April 25th,1993. This time, when Iommi’s phone rang it was Eddie Van Halen on the other end, asking Tony if he had time to hang out while he was in town. And this is where one of rock’s riffiest rumors got its start.

Since Tony Iommi is a class act, he personally drove to Eddie’s hotel to pick up the guitarist to bring him to Sabbath’s nearby rehearsal space, just outside of Birmingham. On the way, they stopped at a local music shop to pick up a guitar for Eddie to play, setting the stage for the possibility that Eddie Van Halen might somehow become a part of Cross Purposes. Ever since this particular meeting of the twin guitar titans, there have been persistent affirmations from fans and websites that Eddie’s signature shredding appeared on the song “Evil Eye.” And why not? If Eddie Van Halen asks if he can come over and “play” with you, not only do you say “yes,” but anyone with good sense would also be sure to capture the moment in some way, shape, or form, or as they say, “it never happened.” So here’s the story straight from Iommi on Sabbath’s jam session with Eddie Van Halen one Sunday evening in 1993.

Noted in the book, on their way to the rehearsal space, Eddie asked if his new BFF wanted to pick up some beer. Since Iommi was driving, he declined to imbibe, but the seemingly very thirsty Ed grabbed a case of beer to bring along with him anyway. Before Eddie became, in Iommi’s words, “legless” (you know—when your legs stop holding you up because booze somehow broke all your leg bones), Eddie played a solo over Iommi’s original riff for “Evil Eye.” What happened next would echo back to Sabbath’s problematic “let’s do all the cocaine” days in the 70s when they were completely fucked up all the time, including while they were in the studio laying down music for an album. In an interview with High Times magazine in 1994 with both Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne, Ozzy recalled, quite remarkably, that the band would constantly “forget” what they were doing, including not remembering to hit the “play/record” button in the studio for hours on end! This time (noted in chapter 71 in his book), Iommi put the blame squarely on his own stone-cold-sober self—and the band—for not recording his and Eddie’s epic riff/solo collaboration:

“We (Eddie, Iommi, and Sabbath) had a jam, and he played on “Evil Eye.” I played the riff, and he played a great solo over it. Unfortunately, we didn’t record it properly on our little tape player, so I never got a chance to hear it! That was a funny day.”

Much more after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
|
04.15.2019
08:41 am
|
The night in 1976 when a pre-fame Eddie Van Halen OD’d and nearly died
08.31.2018
09:12 am
Topics:
Tags:

Golden West boot
 
Regardless of how you feel about their music, it’s undeniable that the first six albums by Van Halen had a massive impact on hard rock and heavy metal. Though they had catchy songs that rocked, and frontman David Lee Roth had much to do with their appeal, the influence of Van Halen is largely due to their guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. He not only wrote the group’s music, but his unique approach to his instrument inspired a generation of musicians. Unfortunately, many of them focused too much on Eddie’s technical prowess, seemingly failing to notice that his style has loads of personality, too. So, what if Eddie had died before Van Halen’s first album was even recorded? It’s interesting to ponder, especially as it nearly happened.

By spring 1976, Van Halen had been together for a couple of years. They were gigging regularly and had developed a following in the Los Angeles area, but a record contract had so far eluded them. They played all over Southern California, performing at house parties, high schools and colleges, as well as seedy nightclubs like Gazzarri’s. But there were also shows at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and the Golden West Ballroom in Norwalk, which were larger venues. Though Van Halen already had a number of original songs, their sets largely consisted of cover tunes—often at the assistance of club owners. For their May 9th appearance at the Golden West, in which they would open for popular English rock band UFO, they were told they could perform their own material. This marks the first time Van Halen would play a set of just their songs.
 
Van Halen
 
That night, after being introduced by early supporter Rodney Bingenheimer, Van Halen blew UFO off the stage of the Golden West. Their set off all originals went over so well that they were called back out for an encore, electing to perform the one cover they would do that evening, KISS’s “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

Afterwards, Eddie Van Halen hopped offstage and worked his way through the crowd of supporters towards the men’s room. His group had just played the biggest show of their young career, but nature called. Once in the bathroom, Eddie ran into a drug dealer he knew. This guy was so impressed with the performance he had just witnessed, that he freely offered what Eddie thought was cocaine, and that Ed could snort as much as he wanted—so the guitarist did just that. After thanking the man, Eddie left the bathroom and headed back towards the stage to fetch his gear. Once there, it wasn’t long before Eddie’s body started convulsing, and he soon collapsed to the floor. Turns out it wasn’t blow that he had snorted, but PCP.

In his essential book on the their formative years, Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal, author Greg Renoff describes what happened next.

As his bandmates and crew huddled around him, Edward’s face was drawn taut, like a mask. His jaw was locked and his eyes fixed. Panicking, Alex [Van Halen, drummer] yelled in his ear and shook him, and yet his younger brother remained rigid and unresponsive. Edward Van Halen was dying.

 
Continues after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Bart Bealmear
|
08.31.2018
09:12 am
|
Slash vs. Eddie Van Halen: This really happened in Ohio…
02.21.2013
04:14 pm
Topics:
Tags:

image
 
Who’s the better guitarist: Slash or Eddie Van Halen?

A couple was arrested after their argument over who was the greatest guitarist of all time became so heated that Motel 6 staff was forced to call the Brook Park police.

The boyfriend was screaming on behalf of Slash, lead guitarist for Guns and Roses. The girlfriend was jumping for Eddie Van Halen, namesake of ’80s rockers Van Halen.

When police arrived, they calmed down and agreed to be quiet. However, their names were run through a database that revealed they had outstanding warrants in other cities. Both were arrested.

Predictably, the commenters can’t agree on who is the greatest guitarist of all time, either.

Via Cleveland.com

Posted by Tara McGinley
|
02.21.2013
04:14 pm
|