Watch the poignant new video for David Lee Roth’s Van Halen tribute

Earlier this week David Lee Roth released Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then, a nostalgic tribute to his former band, Van Halen. And now guitarist John 5, who recorded the song in 2007 with Roth alongside Skyscraper-era Roth band drummer Gregg Bissonette and keyboardist Brett Tuggle, has made a video to accompany the release.

“Honoured to be a part of this amazing piece of history,” says John 5. “When I wrote the song with Dave, I knew it was something very special. I created this video on the tour bus as a tribute with Mike Savage. Very proud to share it with everyone.”

The video features still photographs and archive video of Van Halen both on and off stage, alongside images of gig tickets and flyers. 

“Dave and I have about 12 or 13 songs in the can for a future record,” John 5 told Guitar World in 2012. “And it’s all acoustic. But not strummy, campfire stuff – I’m talking lots of cool, crazy jazz chords, and 50 or 60 overdubbed guitar tracks, with all this harmonising and other weird stuff going on. Dave’s vocals are incredible. He sings his ass off.”

Other songs to have emerged from the sessions include Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar and Grill, which Roth released in 2020, and Giddy-Up, which came out in May last year.

“People really like those songs,” John 5 old al.com last year, “so I’m super happy about it. Because listen, you can’t deny a good song and Dave writes good songs. He’s written some of the most amazing songs of our lifetime, and Dave worked really hard on these lyrics. I’m not sure when it’s going to come out or if it’ll come out, but I hope it does.”

John 5 goes on tour with The Creatures next month. For venue and ticket details, visit the John 5 website (opens in new tab).  

Source: loudersound.com