TESLA bassist Brian Wheat spoke to Robert Cavuoto of Sonic Perspectives about his upcoming autobiography, “Son Of A Milkman: My Crazy Life With Tesla”, which will arrive on November 24 via Post Hill Press. In this 304-page hardcover book, Wheat lifts the lid on living the rock ‘n’ roll life while struggling with anxiety, depression and other issues seldom discussed by musicians.

Asked how the members of TESLA managed to keep their hardcore partying antics out of the press in the 1980s and early 1990s while other bands, like MÖTLEY CRÜE and GUNS N’ ROSES, were notorious for their wild offstage lifestyle, Brian said: “Bands like MÖTLEY CRÜE or GUNS N’ ROSES got a lot more publicity than we did. TESLA didn’t have the sort of image where we were in all the magazines and on MTV all the time. We had a short period where we were on MTV a lot with ‘Five Man Acoustical Jams’ — ‘Signs’, ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ and ‘Love Song’ — but I think we were viewed as an American BAD COMPANY or a blues-based rock band. We didn’t have a high-profile image. I think that is how we kept it down. We weren’t throwing TVs out of windows and shit like that, but we liked our drugs and our alcohol. I really don’t know how we avoided it, and I’m thankful we are all alive today. I guess it’s a blessing that we somehow avoided it.”

Wheat also talked about the fact that he was suffering from anxiety and depression but didn’t want to take any medication to treat those conditions, preferring instead to drink and take downers.

“I didn’t want to take drugs for anxiety and depression, because I was already a drug addict,” he explained. “I had a short time where I dabbled in harder drugs like cocaine, but I was mucked up and depressed at the time. Unfortunately, that was my logic behind not wanting to take medicine for anxiety. If anything, the downers were contributing to the anxiety. Thank God, because that is when I met Dr. Herschkopf, who was my psychiatrist. He helped me immensely to deal with my anxiety disorder. Later in my life, I started taking Paxil for anxiety. I guess it was my mindset at 27 when this all came crashing down on me.

“I know it sounds a bit funny. The book was in my voice, and I wanted to have people get a laugh out of it. Through therapy, I learned that alcohol and downs contributed to the anxiety, so now I don’t do that. [Laughs] It was not the smartest thing in the world as I could have died.

“If I get on an airplane, I’ll take an Advair because I’m horrified of flying,” he continued. “I’m still glad I didn’t take the antidepressants at the time and went to therapy with Dr. Herschkopf; it was the best money I could have spent on my health care.

“The one thing I want people to take away from this book is that I had some shit I needed to deal with, which readers might not think a guy in a rock band has to deal with. I did it, and I’m not complaining. I came out of it okay.”

“Son Of A Milkman” features a foreword by DEF LEPPARD vocalist Joe Elliott, and was co-written with award-winning journalist and author Chris Epting, whose titles include “Adrenalized” (co-written with DEF LEPPARD’s Phil Collen) and “Change Of Seasons” (co-written with John Oates).

Wheat co-founded TESLA, which became one of the biggest bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brian owns a recording studio by the name of J Street Recorders in Sacramento, California. PAPA ROACH, TESLA, PAT TRAVERS, DEFTONES, KODIAK JACK, FLASHFIRES and many others have recorded there.

Former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Gilby Clarke says that the door is “always” open for him to play with the band again if he is invited.

Clarke replaced founding guitarist Izzy Stradlin in the GUNS lineup in 1991, during the “Use Your Illusion” tour, and stayed with the band for three years. After exiting GUNS N’ ROSES, Clarke continued as a producer and solo artist, while also playing in SLASH’S SNAKEPIT, ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA, HEART and other acts.

Two years ago, Clarke revealed during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation LA Invasion: Live From The Rainbow Bar & Grill” that he was approached about taking part in GUNS N’ ROSES’ reunion tour, which features three-fifths of the group’s classic lineup — singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan — but that he had to turn it down because he had to see his daughter’s band perform at the Lollapalooza festival on the same day in July 2016 that he was supposed to jam with GN’R.

Asked in a new interview with Ultimate Guitar if the “door” between him and GUNS is open at this point, Clarke said: “Oh yeah, always. Always. But you know, no matter what, I have respect for the band. I’ve always thought that even after I wasn’t in the band, I always paid the band their respect. I never took it for what it was or what it wasn’t but I always tried to treat those years with respect. I never try to put the band down or try to gain from that. But if it ever came up, I’d have to see what the situation is. Just like before when people asked me and I said, ‘Yeah, I would absolutely be a guest.’ But that situation didn’t work out for me at that time.”

Gilby also discussed how Axl wanted GUNS N’ ROSES to become a three-guitar band in the mid-1990s when he and Slash were still in the band. Rose’s vision came to fruition later when he recruited different guitarists during the “Chinese Democracy” era.

“When the band was going through changes and we were in flux, Axl did have that idea of three guitars a long time ago and I think I was maybe the only one who was adamant in saying that was a bad idea,” Gilby said. “I just thought, you have Slash. You have a rhythm guitar player that accentuates Slash, but Slash is the sound of the band. If you put three [guitarists] in there, you take away one of the great things about that band.

“What I liked about GUNS N’ ROSES when I first saw the band and first heard the record was, No. 1, the music,” he explained. “I loved the way the band sounded. I like the aggressive bluesy guitars with Axl singing over it. Those songs had a sound to them. But I also loved the rebellious spirit of the band, and we really needed that punk rock-esque rebellious spirit at that time when there were a lot of MTV bands that weren’t living that rebellious spirit. I don’t think the band is very rebellious right now. But that’s what attracted me to it in the very beginning.”

Clarke, along with Slash, McKagan, and former GN’R drummers Steven Adler and Matt Sorum, performed three “Appetite For Destruction” songs with Myles Kennedy at the band’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in April 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. Kennedy, who handles lead vocals in Slash’s solo band and ALTER BRIDGE, sang “Mr. Brownstone”, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City”, with “Use Your Illusion”-era member Sorum sitting behind the drum kit on “Brownstone” and the man he replaced in GN’R, Adler, pounding the skins for the other two songs.

Clarke’s new solo album, “The Gospel Truth”, will be released via Golden Robot Records. The disc was produced and written by Gilby at his Los Angeles recording studio, Redrum Recording, where he’s also helmed records for such artists as L.A. GUNS, THE BRONX, BEAT ANGELS, BULLETS AND OCTANE and many more. The album was mixed by Grammy Award winner Chris Lord-Alge and mastered by Maor Appelbaum. Joining Gilby on the LP are Muddy Stardust on bass, Kenny Aronoff (JOHN MELLENCAMP, JOHN FOGERTY, CHICKENFOOT) on drums, along with Matt Starr (ACE FREHLEY, MR. BIG) and Chad Stewart (FASTER PUSSYCAT, L.A. GUNS) on backing vocals.

TESTAMENT’s Alex Skolnick spoke to André Cholmondeley, tour manager and guitar tech to the stars, about how he was influenced by Eddie Van Halen, the legendary VAN HALEN guitarist who died on October 6 after a long battle with cancer.

Alex said (see video below): “I started playing guitar in 1980. ‘Cause this movie came out — a terrible film, but incredible music — called ‘American Hot Wax’. Chuck Berry played himself and just blew everybody away. And he wasn’t exactly fresh and new at that time. Between him and then discovering KISS, who were like the ‘Avengers’ and ‘X-Men’ in the same band, that made me wanna play guitar. But for a couple of years, I didn’t know what kind of guitarist I wanted to be. Do I wanna be like a Chuck Berry and do early rock and roll? I was really leaning towards that. Do I wanna be like a singer-songwriter, more of a John Lennon or even a Paul Stanley? I didn’t really care that much about lead guitar. The closest thing I cared about lead guitar[-wise] was Chuck Berry — all those intros. And then, I guess that’d be ’82, some friends at school said, ‘Oh, you play guitar. You have to hear VAN HALEN.'”

He continued: “I’m far from the only person that has this story, but hearing ‘Eruption’ for the first time… I mean, the whole record, but when ‘Eruption’ played, and it got to the second track on the first VAN HALEN record… They were already on their fourth record, so I was discovering them for the first time, but I’m old enough to appreciate it. I suddenly knew what kind of guitarist I wanted to be. Like, okay, I’m not doing early rock and roll. I’m not gonna be a singer-songwriter necessarily. I’m gonna play hard rock and roll, and I wanna be a lead guitarist. And it was entirely because of Eddie Van Halen.

“Eddie was one of the few people that I’ve always gone back to this whole time,” Skolnick added. “I never outgrew the music. I always kept it as a benchmark — what would Eddie do right here? And there are so few people you can say that about.”

Eddie died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his son, Wolfgang, and Alex, Eddie’s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.

The iconic VAN HALEN axeman died from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

BLACK STONE CHERRY vocalist/guitarist Chris Robertson spoke to the “Aftershocks” podcast about the fact that his band has not undergone any lineup changes in the two decades that the Kentucky-based act has been together.

“I think through history, you’ve got us and ZZ TOP, and that’s about it, man, that have never had a lineup change,” Chris said (see video below).

“I think it all goes back to the fact that we were all friends. And as tight as we are as a band, we are even deeper friends than that,” he explained. “The friendship has always been before the band; we’ve always been a family before the band.

“We’re just very fortunate that all four of us see eye-to-eye on the way to run our business. And we’re all four equal members, man. You split a dollar up, you get four quarters with BLACK STONE CHERRY. Every dollar we’ve ever made we split four ways; everything we’ve ever done we split four ways. It’s the four of us. You take one away and it’s not BLACK STONE CHERRY anymore.”

Asked if BLACK STONE CHERRY could ever perform without one of the original members or carry on if one of them left the band, Chris said: “I think it would have to [depend on the circumstances]. I think the only way that we could go play and go any shows as BLACK STONE CHERRY with one guy potentially [not being there]… Say I broke my arm, and we get somebody to come play guitar while I sing. Or, God forbid, Ben [Wells, guitar] or John [Fred Young, drums] broke a limb, [we could] get someone to fill in. But as far as a full-time replacement, I would say if one guy ever had to walk away for whatever reasons, the friendship would remain first and foremost, because, to me, that’s worth more than the band. And then secondly, I would say that would be it for BLACK STONE CHERRY.”

He continued: “If, God forbid, any of us walked away, I would have to still be happy with the fact that, over however many years it would be, that we’ve done what we’ve done. I mean, who would have ever thought four kids from B.F.E., Kentucky would have been around putting out records for the last 14 years now, when there’s been a hundred and fifty bands come and go in that timeframe that sold more records than we did and they sold out tours, but now they’re not even heard of anymore. And here we are — we’re still chugging along. The few and the furious is what I like to say with our fans, man. No matter how many of them are there every night, we’re gonna have a good time, and they’re there for the right reasons.”

BLACK STONE CHERRY released its seventh studio album, “The Human Condition”, on October 30 via Mascot Label Group.

Metal Hammer has uploaded its entire METALLICA cover story from the September 2020 issue of the magazine. The article, which can be read at this location, includes a discussion about a possible follow-up to 2016’s “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct” album, which marked METALLICA’s first full-length collection of new music in eight years.

“There’s a lot of material,” guitarist Kirk Hammett said. “I know I have tons, because I totally overcompensated. You know, last time around, it was a real shock to my system losing all those musical ideas. [Editor’s note: Kirk lost a phone with more than 300 pieces of music on it during the creative process for ‘Hardwired…’] So, I was very determined to try and make up for lost time. I also felt that, creatively, I have so much more to offer this time around.”

Bassist Robert Trujillo added that the songwriting process for the next album could be a decidedly more collective effort compared to “Hardwired…”, which was largely composed by guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich.

“I’m not gonna speak on behalf of the other guys, but to me, it feels like this could be a very collaborative [writing process],” Robert said. “And for me personally, I love that. I love that we are in that head space to be more collaborative, and I think that’s very exciting for where we’re at now, the journey we’re about to take, the fact that those doors are opening like that.”

“It’s taking a couple of months, literally, for me to go through all [my ideas],” added Kirk, who is is not credited on any of the songs on “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct”. “I’ve got a wealth of material, and so, at any given point when we all decide, ‘Okay, let’s start formulating a schedule to start writing songs and recording it.’ I’m ready. I’m there, from day one.”

“Kirk has so many ideas,” continued Trujillo. “It’s funny because sometimes it’s literally him in the kitchen and he’s cooking, and at the same time he’s playing you a riff, or you’re sitting on the toilet and he’s playing you some ideas. But when we started to understand that [the lockdown] was gonna happen, it was like, ‘Hey, let’s be creative’, you know? Let’s just get on it. A lot of times, when there’s a band that’s been around as long as METALLICA has, you find that one of the biggest problems is, ‘Man I can’t come up with a riff, I can’t come up with any good lyrics, it’s just harder to write songs’, but that just doesn’t seem to be the problem with us. Not taking anything away from any other bands, but sometimes our worst riff might be another band’s A-list riff.”

The entire article is available at LouderSound.com.

“Hardwired… To Self-Destruct” debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release.

Hetfield told Metal XS in 2016 that “Kirk’s riffs weren’t there” when it was time to write the music for the follow-up to 2008’s “Death Magnetic” record. He later seemed to dismiss Kirk’s missing-iPhone excuse, telling the WRIF radio station: “That’s what he claims. I’m sure he did [lose the phone], but it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t have [the music] on his computer, either. But, whatever… Yeah, Kirk had some riffs that he… I guess submitted — [‘submit’ is] not a very nice word to be used if you’re in a band. But you know, we all submit our tapes, and we sit there and we listen to them and we pick the best stuff. There was not much stuff from Kirk. Whether his phone was lost, or whatever…”

Hetfield told U.K. radio station Planet Rock that Kirk “was not present in the studio” while METALLICA was working on “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct”. “He was dealing with life,” James said. “He had a lot of life things going on for himself, which he’ll choose to talk about if he wants. But, you know, [it was] Lars and I steering the ship as usual, going through the riffs, creating the songs. And I got to do a lot of guitar stuff that I was missing around ‘Death Magnetic’ and ‘St. Anger’ — some of the harmony guitar things, harmony vocals… You know, a little more layering, like the ‘Black’ album.”

Photo credit: Anton Corbijn

Metallica. Brand new interview. Only in the new issue of Metal Hammer – on sale tomorrow. #Metallica pic.twitter.com/S96hcPdLyM
— metalhammer (@MetalHammer) August 19, 2020

ELLEFSON, the solo band of MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, took part in the “End Of Days” festival in San Antonio, Texas on Friday, October 30. All attendees were required to wear face masks to enter the Sunset Station venue and social distancing was “encouraged” at the event, according to a poster advertising the festival. Anthem Entertainment Television, which organized “End Of Days”, said it would “follow city COVID policies” regarding indoor gatherings.

“End Of Days” also hit Brown’s Village Plaza in Slidell, Louisiana on Saturday (October 31) and is scheduled to make its final stop tonight (Sunday, November 3) at Barge 295 in Seabrook, Texas.

ELLEFSON’s current lineup also includes former GUNS N’ ROSES and current SONS OF APOLLO guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal.

Fan-filmed video footage of two songs from the San Antonio concert, Symphony Of Destruction” and “Peace Sells”, can be sen below.

ELLEFSON will release its covers album, “No Cover”, on November 20 via earMUSIC (Europe) and Ward Records (Japan). The effort will be made available in conjunction with Ellefson’s revived Combat Records, which will issue the album in North America via Amped.

Produced by Ellefson and vocalist Thom Hazaert, with additional production by guitarist Andy Martongelli and Matt LaPlant (NONPOINT, SKINDRED, LIL’ JON), mixing by Alessio Garavello, and mastering by Maor Appelbaum (FAITH NO MORE), “No Cover” includes ELLEFSON-ized versions of 19 classic tracks from MOTÖRHEAD, W.A.S.P., DEF LEPPARD, CHEAP TRICK, QUEEN, JUDAS PRIEST, TWISTED SISTER, FASTWAY, FIGHT, DEAD KENNEDYS and more. Featuring cover art by Melody Myers (ALTITUDES AND ATTITUDE, ESCAPE THE FATE), an homage to the legendary DEF LEPPARD debut “On Through The Night”, “No Cover” is the second release under the ELLEFSON banner, the follow-up to 2019’s “Sleeping Giants”, a double-disc compilation combining new tracks, with unreleased Ellefson solo and F5 material.

ELLEFSON, featuring Ellefson on bass, vocalist Thom Hazaert, guitarists Andy Martongelli and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (SONS OF APOLLO, YES, ex-GUNS N’ ROSES), and drummer Paolo Caridi, are joined on the album by a who’s who of legendary guests including Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX), Eddie Ojeda (TWISTED SISTER), Brandon Yeagley (CROBOT), Dirk Verbeuren (MEGADETH), Frank Hannon and Troy Lucketta (TESLA), Mark Slaughter, Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, ex-WATCHTOWER, EVIL UNITED), Greg Handevidt (KUBLAI KHAN, ex-MEGADETH), Chuck Behler (ex-MEGADETH), Gus G., John Aquilino (ICON), Doro Pesch, Dave McClain (SACRED REICH, ex-MACHINE HEAD), Dave Alvin (WHITE TRASH), Todd Kerns (SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS, Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE), Jacob Bunton (Mick Mars), Al Jourgensen (MINISTRY), Russ Parrish (FIGHT), DEAD BY WEDNESDAY, and more.

2019 saw the release of Ellefson’s “More Life With Deth” memoir, co-written with Hazaert, which led to the pair collaborating on the ELLEFSON compilation release “Sleeping Giants”, released as a companion album to the book. Ellefson and Hazaert followed up the release of “Sleeping Giants” with an extensive U.S. and European tour, dubbed “More Live With Deth”, with HATCHET guitarist Clayton Cagle, as well as FLOTSAM AND JETSAM’s Steve Conley, stepping in on second guitar in the U.S., including several now-legendary shows featuring MEGADETH alumni Chuck Behler and Chris Poland.

The European “More Live With Deth” tour saw the permanent addition of guitarist Andy Martongelli and drummer Paolo Caridi into the recording lineup, as well as the return of Bumblefoot to the fold, and ELLEFSON was born. March 2020 brought the release of the single “Simple Truth”, which was premiered on SiriusXM by Eddie Trunk, followed in May by the release of their re-imagined Post Malone cover “Over Now”, both of which garnered national airplay.

ELLEFSON is set to tentatively release its debut full-length studio LP in 2021.

David Lee Roth has launched The Roth Project, a new online comic narrated by the legendary VAN HALEN singer, with music from John 5 on guitar and bass, Greg Bissonette on drums, Brett Tuggle on keyboards, and Luis Conte on percussion. The 17-chapter comic also includes five songs Roth co-wrote with John 5 and recorded several years ago at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California: “Giddy Up”, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill”, “Alligator Pants”, “Lo-Rez Sunset” and “Manda Bala”.

Featured chapters:

01. How About A Little Fire Scarecrow?
02. Meanwhile…
03. Nobody’s Dying In My Helecopter Tonight…
04. Bad News Waiting To Be Delivered
05. Christmas Early
06. Pink Mist
07. The Missionary’s Daughter
08. Bad Mojo Heat And Serve
09. No Dude, Seriously, Fuck You
10. Tiger Step, Between Walls
11. Bohica
12. Chaos
13. A Secret Empire
14. The Dark Ocean Society
15. Knock Knock
16. All Pastel And Watercolory
17. Let’s Talk

The full version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill” is available for streaming below.

John 5 got his first big break playing on Roth’s solo album, “DLR Band”, before landing stints with Marilyn Manson and now Rob Zombie. His latest sessions with the iconic VAN HALEN frontman apparently took place at least six years ago, with John 5 unveiling a snippet of the album during an interview with Masters Of Shred back in May 2019.

Last year, Roth was asked by Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF if his LP with John 5 will be made available at some point. He responded: “It will. There’s been a revision of things, and I can start making real plans and start marching into the future. And, of course, you’ll start hearing that material. This is material that we wrote variously for me solo and for VAN HALEN, and it’s quite a bank of stuff.”

Roth, who was promoting his Las Vegas residency at the time, didn’t offer a possible time frame for the release of the record, explaining that his priority was “getting out on the road first. Let’s see the band, let’s show ourselves off, let’s travel all over the world.”

Back in 2015, John 5 told Guitar Player magazine that the sessions for his latest Roth album were remarkably relaxed. “I would just go to his house and I’d write these songs with him, and he would say, ‘Let’s go into the studio,'” John 5 explained. “So he would go to Henson studio and record these songs. They came out… They’re so good. They’re so good. And we’ve got Gregg Bissonette playing drums on it, and I played the bass, and they’re really great songs.”

The guitarist said that Roth’s vocals on the album sound “like nothing you’ve ever heard. It’s old VAN HALEN — sounds like ‘Could This Be Magic?’ or anything like that. It’s just that sound, that tone.”

In a 2014 interview, John 5 described the LP as “11 of the greatest songs you’ll ever hear, and it’s just me and Dave, and we had Gregg Bissonette play drums on it. And it’s unbelievable,” he said. “There’s a song called ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill’. And you know, just great, great songs.”

This past March, Roth postponed the final six shows of his Las Vegas residency due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Roth performed as the opening act for the February/March North American leg of KISS’s “End Of The Road” farewell tour.

Sebastian Bach has urged his fans to make their voices heard in next week’s presidential election, saying in a video message that they should “vote for rock and roll music over reality television.”

The former SKID ROW singer donned a “Fuck Trump” t-shirt but did not explicitly back Democratic challenger Joe Biden in his message, focusing instead on the issues he said had hindered the U.S. from adequately tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are days away, hours away from an election on November 3rd, which is by far the most important election of all of our lifetimes, and maybe the most important election of all time,” Sebastian said. “Because this is about democracy. This is about choosing who is the best man to run our country — and it’s not Jared Kushner, okay?

“Here’s the situation: all of us have had our lives stopped since March 2020,” he continued. “It’s now gonna be November. We all want our lives back. In order to change our lives back to normal, we have to put somebody in charge that has a plan — not give another four years to the guy that stopped everything. It doesn’t make sense.

“I have a tour booked starting in April. Half of the shows are in the country of Canada. We have booked shows in Canada, but Americans aren’t allowed in Canada right now. So if things don’t change, I don’t see how we’re gonna go on tour in Canada when Americans aren’t allowed in Canada.

“Do you understand how heavy this is?”

Bach added: “My kids have a chance to maybe go back to school. Everybody’s scared, because they don’t know if it’s safe or not, because nobody’s in charge. We need somebody in charge.

“I would never tell anybody who to vote for. I would never do that. I would never, ever try to influence anybody into, say, ‘Hey, vote for this guy.’ I would never do that. Never would I say those words. What I would say is this: vote for science, so we can stop the virus and go back to work, like before. Vote against racism, because racism is for assholes. Don’t be an asshole. Vote for the climate, because it’s a hundred thousand degrees. The world is burning, and there’s hurricanes all the time. So vote for the climate. Most importantly, vote for our children. As adults, it’s our job to leave the planet for our kids better than when we came into it.

“So I’m not telling you who to vote for, but it’s obvious that one candidate is thinking of our children. There’s obviously one candidate who has our children in mind and the future of America and the world in mind. Vote for that guy. Vote for the return of rock and roll to America. Vote for rock and roll music over reality television.

“Who are you?”

Bach frequently criticizes Trump’s policies on Twitter. This past July, he told Esquire that he missed “smarts” in the White House. “I can’t watch footage of JFK from 1962,” he said. “I can’t even watch that shit because I’ll cry. Because motherfucker is so cool and so smart and hates racism. And then we have this fucking jackass. And it’s just not fair to the country. I put Barack Obama in the same category. When I watch him speak, it rips my heart out because he makes you feel safe.”

In August 2019, Sebastian lambasted America’s 45th president, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Vice President Mike Pence and other Republican leaders for their inaction on gun regulation. A month earlier, Bach made headlines when he said that he “would do a better job” running the county than Trump.

In a 2018 interview with TheRecord.com, Sebastian revealed that he voted for Hilary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

View this post on Instagram

Is this the last ever weekend of the United States of America? On Tuesday we have the chance to make things better and go back to normal. Or have things stay the same as they have been since March and watch everything get exponentially horrifyingly worse. It’s up to us America ? We can either vote for rock and roll or we can vote for reality television We can either vote for #science or we can vote for fiction Who are we?
A post shared by sebastianbach (@sebastianbach) on Oct 31, 2020 at 3:00pm PDT

Wolfgang Van Halen has blasted Us Weekly for publishing an allegedly fact-challenged cover story on his mother, including how she is dealing with the death of his father, Eddie Van Halen.

Earlier today, Wolfgang tweeted out a picture of the new issue of Us Weekly with his mother on the cover, along with the headline: “Valerie Bertinelli’s Untold Story: Love, Loss & Staying Strong”. The 29-year-old musician wrote in an accompanying caption: “Fuck this, and fuck you @usweekly.

“The only thing printed in this piece of toilet paper that’s true is that we all loved my father.

“This is not a new interview. My mother did not speak to them for this. That is all.”

He added in a separate tweet: ” I know what a lot of you are going to say. ‘Just ignore it, bro!’

“I’m not going to stand by and let people publish lies and make my family’s tragedy someone else’s entertainment.”

Bertinelli split with Van Halen in 2002 after 21 years of marriage. They officially divorced in 2007. Eddie then went on to marry Janie Liszewski in 2009.

“One of the many reasons that Ed and I split up is to give Wolfie a better vision of what two people who are supposedly in love treat each other like,” Valerie told Oprah.com. “Ed and I weren’t treating each other like two people that loved each other, and that’s what Wolfie was seeing. So I’m hoping that when he does get married and start a life for himself, that he takes his time and marries a friend and not just someone that he can’t keep his hands off.”

Valerie went on to say that leaving Eddie wasn’t an easy choice. “We were all very raw from 9/11, and you heard all these stories of people coming together,” she said. “They hated each other and they were back together and divorces weren’t happening anymore. And I’m like, ‘Am I the only one in the world that wants out now because of 9/11? I’m not going to live my life if it’s that tenuous. That’s not how I want to live my life anymore.'”

Eddie died on October 6 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65. Wolfgang, Valerie and Janie were by his side, along with Alex, Eddie’s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.

Fuck this, and fuck you @usweekly.
The only thing printed in this piece of toilet paper that’s true is that we all loved my father.

This is not a new interview. My mother did not speak to them for this. That is all. pic.twitter.com/5Z5LvRAkji

— Wolf Van Halen (@WolfVanHalen) October 31, 2020

I know what a lot of you are going to say. “Just ignore it, bro!”
I’m not going to stand by and let people publish lies and make my family’s tragedy someone else’s entertainment.

— Wolf Van Halen (@WolfVanHalen) October 31, 2020