Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen formed Mammoth before Van Halen was formed. The duo were hired to play an outdoor show at a park back in the 70s were they witnessed a live performance by their future singer, David Lee Roth.
However, it was cancelled upon finding out that there was a miscommunication between who was supposed to provide the sound system and lights. Somehow, Roth’s then-band, Red Ball Jet, got word of this, and stepped in at moment’s notice.
During a recent interview with Ariel Levy, Alex recalled the events that transpired that day and how things could have easily turned deadly.
“So we came back, and lo and behold, there’s another band playing,” Van Halen recalled. And we’re going, ‘Who was this?’ It turns out it was Dave’s band. So we’re standing out there, not too happy about it all, but, ‘What the hell? Let’s just listen to the band.’ A couple of the guys we knew, the Komora brothers, and I knew the bass player, and I knew the drummer. I just didn’t know Dave yet.”
Soon, a confrontation occurred, which seemed to escalate an already tense situation even further.
“So, in your infinite wisdom of having false courage with this, you walk up, ‘Hey, man, what the hell are you doing here?’ And push comes to shove. And the park guy got really pissed off, and he was a very muscular guy, and he starts pushing people around. And then some guy pulls a knife. Now it’s not play time anymore, okay? Now, it’s bigger time. ‘Put the f***ing knife away, pal.'”
Alex revealed that cops were summoned and order was eventually restored before any harm was done.
“And the guy, they got into it, they arrested him. But that was my introduction to Dave’s band! I thought it was appropriate and fitting in the context of what rock and roll was doing at the time, which is causing nothing but trouble.”
