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DAV I D L E E R OT H
The Van Halen icon is
hot for sensei
By Jeff W. Richards
V
eteran Van Halen frontman and rock
legend David Lee Roth has called
Tokyo home for nearly a year. It might
seem odd that an American rock star
would settle in the Land of the Rising Sun—but it’s
something that he ‘s done time and again in other
cities over the years. His interest in Japan, though,
goes way back, as Metropolis learned when we sat
down with him for a lengthy session at his city
residence.
One thing is clear from the start: living here
is about continuing his education. “I’m in school
every single day—this is Roth University, by the
way,” he says, getting right to it. “I do language
every day for two hours... I have a Go sensei, a professional,
who comes over two times a week. I love
that game.”
A long time student of the martial arts, I ask if
he’s studying kendo here in Japan—and he quickly
corrects me. “No, it’s not kendo. It’s kenjutsu. I’m
going for my menkyo kaiden [full mastery] and
I’ve been doing that since I was 12.” He explains
that was the first time he held a sword in his hand.
His father, an eye surgeon, had a lot of Japanese
patients and Roth grew up immersed in Japanese-American
culture in Pasadena—an area of
California that housed internment camps during
World War Two and became a strong Japanese-
American community after the war. “I grew up
next to Mr. Yoshida’s house—he was a kendo
instructor,” he says. “Today, I’m the master of the
six foot staff—it’s actually a shower curtain rod,
but it looks great in the lights and I use it on stage,”
he laughs, which is something that David Lee Roth
does a lot, flashing his pearly whites and making
you feel as if it’s the first time he’s told the joke.
“And I do sumi-e [Japanese ink painting] as
well,” he continues. “I always wanted to go to art
school. I always knew there was such a thing as
perspective even though my parents routinely
accused me of never having any.” He laughs, but
then quickly gets earnest. “But now that I’m here
I’ve found a very serious professional teacher.
It’s shugyo. Its austere style. My sumi-e teacher is
right out of the Meiji restoration. He’s got the little
goatee and he’s a man of very, very few words. And
now we’ve grown to become friends, ya follow?
It’s part of the education. It’s part of getting to
know the neighborhood, but it’s also sharpening
the sword—mentally, spiritually, physically—
because when I go back to show business in the
United States… It’s war. It’s conflict.”
On that cue, is he working on any new music
in Tokyo. “I’m in and out of the studio over in
Ginza, routinely. Great studio, superb studio.”
He’s recording constantly, but it’s not new music,
it’s content for his HD video podcast, The Roth
Show, and his radically different one-man variety
radio show, Tokyo High Power Style Radio
show (both available at davidleeroth.com and on
iTunes). “I invented that title. It’s supposed to be
08 • DOWNLOAD OUR PODCAST AT • PODCAST.METROPOLIS.CO.JP
COURTESY OF DAVID LEE ROTH, PHOTOS BY MARK ROJAS COURTESY OF DAVID LEE ROTH
like ‘Walkman,’ like no white guy would ever say
that but when you do it seems to work for you,” he
laughs. “So that’s me trying to sound Japanese-ish
[he does his best salaryman-style katakana English]
‘To-ki-o Ha-i Pa-wa— Su-ta-i-ru.’”
It’s evident that he’s riding a surging wave of
creativity in Japan. “There’s more latitude here,
‘gap,’ I think it’s called. There’s a gap and this is
one of the things [sumo champion] Konishiki
has shared with me—is that folks find it 'interesting'
if you do something that’s unexpected or
incongruous.”
He feels that popular music—and show business
in general—is much more restrictive back in
the US where you have to be known for one thing.
He cites an example: “Advertising Boss Coffee. In
the US—whoa!—they’re gonna make fun of you on
Saturday Night Live. Here it’s kind of expected. I’d
love to do a Boss Coffee ad. Here, I’ll do it now: [he
adopts low yakuza voice] ‘Who’s boss now?’” He lets
out another of his big laughs. “It’s pretty simple, but
it works." For Roth, in rock, to play what he terms
‘floor’ music ("because it’s house mix, it’s dance, it’s
R&B, funk, whatever... ") would be unacceptable
in the US. “Well, we’re not sure. ‘Jeez you changed
your hat, Bob—you’re not a cowboy anymore.’”
Roth broadcasts Tokyo High Power Style in English
and Japanese along with his assistant, Etsuko.
Does he bring in his famous Japanese friends as
guests? “A lot of my colleagues have reached back
in time, 1970s style, to replicate radio, and perhaps
even more, talk show television—and it becomes
a battle for guests. Whose guests are better?” He
stops. “I'm not really interested in guests. I use
as my template Mark Twain, who also traveled
the world.” Roth’s concern is to enlighten listeners
on subjects of his own mysterious choosing.
“You're gonna learn things. The last episode, Konishiki
said, ‘Wow! I didn't know the history of FM
radio and why the DJs [drops to baritone voice]
talk... so... slow.” It’s obvious he’s enjoying his new
didactic role.
So what's the perfect Tokyo day for Diamond
Dave? “It’s not going to be perfect for most people,”
he says. “Most of my day is spent is some variation
of school or transition in between. It starts off at
three in the morning because I’m running the
show [Van Halen’s tour] from the balcony up there
on my headset… Internationally we’ll probably do
50 shows outside of the United States next year.
Then I go back to sleep. Then school starts for me at
nine and I’m done at noon. Usually three times a
week I’ll have sumi-e and three times a week when
I train with the sword. Weekends my form of recreation
is Go. It’s not to most people’s taste.”
So is Tokyo home ? “I’m based out of here now.”
The highly content and independent Roth says
that the only thing missing is his dog, Russell. “His
inoculations are just about done. He’s an Australian
cattle dog—a Queensland Blue. Next time
we do an interview here, you’ll see Russ. We did
fifty-five cities together on the last Van Halen tour.
After that, I’m happy.”
Happily, Russ won't miss Van Halen’s dates in
Japan this month. “We're playing for two weeks,
you know, it's the devil's rush. We're playing
Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo.”
We end on his perceptions of day to day life in
Tokyo for those of us that come to live here—how it
seems to fire them up.
“It does for me. The ideas are much more myriad,
and much more complex and constant here. And
you know what? A lot of it comes from the interaction
of people on the street. ‘Sumimasen’-style, you know,
just that simple respect and the simple acknowledgement
of others—it’s pretty rare in the US.”
For the full interview with more on kenjutsu,
the Japanese language, his Japanese tattoo, and
more—see http://meturl.com/dlrintokyo.
Van Halen plays Tokyo Dome on June 21. See
concert listings (popular) for details.