Former Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has released a lengthy interview with Van Halen legend Alex Van Halen. In the interview, Alex discusses the fact radio stations would often try to cut his brother Eddie Van Halen's guitar solos from songs - including on their biggest hit, Jump.
“In the mid-80s to get your record played – or our records anyway – we had to take the guitar solo out," Alex explains. "The original version of Jump that we sent out to radio stations was actually a minute longer than what was printed."
Released on Van Halen's 1984 - released that same year - Jump became the band's sole number 1 hit on the US Billboard 100. Speaking to Nicko, Alex reveals its parent album was also the first Van Halen album he was satisfied with their sound - before cheekily quipping "and then Dave [Lee Roth, original Van Halen vocalist] left."
“Now, there are a lot of people who love the sounds from the previous records and I do not hate the sound or dislike it, but it was a process," he admits.
"The studio [for 1984, 5150 Studios in California] was originally built as a demo studio, so it didn't have large rooms. It didn't really have the high ceilings that you need. So we’d use little tricks and little techniques, kind of like what the Beatles used to do by moving stuff around and putting it in certain places in the room to get the sound that we wanted. Even though it was a very belaboured process, I think in the end it really [paid off]. Our blood and sweat is really in there.”
The 85-minute interview was released as the season finale for McBrain's YouTube series Metal Sticks, which he co-hosts with author and fellow drummer David Frangioni. The series was launched in September, nine months after McBrain announced his retirement from Iron Maiden in December 2024.
The series has seen McBrain and Frangioni interview a host of famous rock and metal musicians, including Anthrax's Charlie Benante, Steve Vai and Mikkey Dee of Motorhead/Scorpions. In this final episode of the first season, Van Halen discusses everything from future recordings, to why he and Eddie switched instruments when they were first learning to play.
"When Ed played guitar, I go, ‘What am I playing guitar for? Maybe I should be playing something else.’" Alex recalls. "It was a no-brainer. I think Ed minimised it because he didn't like the pressure of it all. But man, he was a phenomenon from the moment he grabbed that guitar. It never left his hands."
Van Halen released 12 albums over their near-50 year career, officially disbanding in 2020 after the death of Eddie Van Halen. In the Metal Sticks interview, McBrain admits he considers Alex Van Halen "one of [my] top all-time drummers." In the interview, the pair also discuss evolving recording techniques, including the lost art of leaving mistakes in the final recording.
"There are times when we'd cringe, you know?" Alex says. "We’d go, ‘Man, we could have fixed that and we should have fixed it.’ But Ed was very much a purist. On Eruption, he made couple technical mistakes and Donn [Landee, engineer for Van Halen] wanted to fix it. They go, ‘No, no, leave it.’"
"It was brilliant because you never relive that moment," Alex continues. "There were other moments on those records, but you know, in hindsight, I'm going to quote something from Dave, which is called wabi-sabi, [which] means the imperfections make it what it is."
Watch the full interview below.
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