Alex Van Halen ‘Got Revenge’ Over John Bonham

0
183

Jason Bonham, the son of Led Zeppelin’s legendary drummer John Bonham, recently shared an interesting encounter with Alex Van Halen, drummer for Van Halen. In an interview with KSHE 95, Bonham recalled meeting Alex Van Halen at the Monsters of Rock festival in Donnington, where AC/DC and Van Halen were performing. However, the encounter didn’t go as expected.

Bonham recalled the moment he met Alex Van Halen:

“It’s been 40 years since I saw Mike play at Donnington. My wife and I went to Donnington to Monsters of Rock; AC/DC, Van Halen, the final day. The monsters were throwing lots of bottles everywhere when they were playing and I got to meet Alex that day. He came up and I’m like, ‘Oh my God that’s Alex Van Halen.’”

When Bonham introduced himself, Alex Van Halen’s reaction was less than enthusiastic. Bonham shared Alex’s reaction:

“He went, ‘Hey Leonard this is Jason Bonham.’ He goes ‘So what?’” This puzzled Bonham, who later asked Mikey (Michael Anthony, Van Halen’s bassist) why Alex reacted that way.

Mikey explained that years earlier, when Van Halen was playing at Gazzarri’s, a club near the Rainbow Bar and Grill, they had tried to meet John Bonham, who was at the Rainbow. Alex had apparently jumped over a barrier to greet John Bonham, who, unfortunately, responded by taking a swing at him. This incident likely explained Alex’s lukewarm reaction when meeting Jason Bonham years later.

Jason Bonham concluded,

“Oh maybe that’s why he was a little bit.” This humorous yet revealing story sheds light on a memorable interaction between two rock legends and their families.

The previous incident involving John Bonham and Alex Van Halen might have influenced Alex’s decision regarding joining Sammy Hagar’s band for the upcoming Best Of All Worlds tour. Sammy Hagar, in an earlier interview, discussed his efforts to include Alex Van Halen in the tour, which will feature Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham. The tour, starting on July 13, will highlight Van Halen classics along with songs from bands like Chickenfoot and The Circle.

Despite believing that Jason Bonham is an excellent fit for the band, partly because of Alex Van Halen’s admiration for John Bonham, Hagar shared that they made numerous attempts to contact Alex. He explained:

“Mike and I reached out to Alex before we did this. We reached out to him a dozen times before this tour, in every way. Email, text message, phone call, message on the machine, OK? No response.”

“I mean, we made every offer to get together or to just talk or to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Go to the studio and play. Come to my house or I’ll come to your house. Go ride horses, go sit on the beach. What do you want to do? Let’s just do something. Let’s get together. And nothing.”

Alex Van Halen also rejected speaking to Sammy Hagar.