Interesting. Check out the parts of the interview, done by Eric Spitznagel for MTVHive, that mention the abductions.
Before reading Red, I didn’t realize you had an interest in mysticism. You’ve apparently consulted with psychics and studied numerology and had crazy dreams about UFOs. Why haven’t we seen more mystical themes in your music?
I didn’t write about it much in Van Halen, but I have done a few songs that have sci-fi themes. There’s “Space Station #5” on the first Montrose album, and then on the second album there’s “Spaceage Sacrifice.” My first solo album, there’s “Silver Lights” and “Hot Rocks,” which are about UFOs coming and taking people away. The next one had “Little Star” and “Someone Out,” which is about how we’re not the only ones. “I feel so scared and lonely to think we’re the only ones, when I know there’s someone out there and someday they’ll come.” People say there’s no other life in the universe. But you know how big the universe is? It’s freakin’ huge! If we’re really the only ones out there, that’s scarier to me than thinking there are aliens. So, my whole career I’ve been writing about these kinda things. But they’ve never been the hits. They’ve only been the underground songs. If anything in the book has been played down, it’s my mystical side, because I don’t want to sound like I’m crazy.
Why would people think you’re crazy? Because of your opinions or your experiences?
My opinions are way out there. But yeah, definitely a few of my experiences, too. I can’t even go there. [Laughs.] I tried to keep my opinions out of this book, even about the Van Halen years. My opinions are not important, and they might come across as jaded. My opinions about the UFO stuff, well, I could write a whole book just devoted to that. I love it, man. I’m into it deep.
It sounds like you really want to talk about this stuff. So why aren’t there more UFO stories in Red?
Joel Selvin, the guy who did all the interviews for this book and really made it happen, he talked me out of it. He’d be like, “Aw, people don’t want to hear that shit.” He’s always been a wise-ass. He’s a prick, and he’s very blunt, and he was great for me, because he really kept me under control.
Okay, let’s just cut to the chase. I’m just going to come out and ask it. Have you ever been abducted by aliens?
I think I have.
What? Really? I was kidding. You seriously believe that?
[Laughs.] Now you’re making me sound like a crazy person.
How is that crazy? I wasn’t there, I don’t know what happened to you.
Remember the story in the book, where I have a dream about being contacted by aliens in the foothills above Fontana?
Yeah, yeah, I’ve got the page right here. “I saw a ship and two creatures inside of this ship… And they were connected to me, tapped into my mind through some kind of mysterious wireless connection.” You’re telling me that wasn’t a dream?
That’s right. It was real. [Aliens] were plugged into me. It was a download situation. This was long before computers or any kind of wireless. There weren’t even wireless telephones. Looking back now, it was like, “Fuck, they downloaded something into me!” Or they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment. “See what this guy knows.”
And this actually happened?
That happened. That friggin’ happened, I’ll tell you right now. Another thing happened when I was about four that I didn’t put into the book. One time I saw what I considered to be, well, at the time I thought it was a car with no wheels. We lived out in the country and I saw this thing floating across a field, creating this big dust storm. I threw rocks at it and shit. And I don’t know what happened after that.
You blacked out?
I guess. I just have no memory of it. And that wasn’t a dream. It was during daylight.
I can understand your apprehension. Alien abduction is a tough sell.
Especially back a few decades ago, when this stuff happened to me. I couldn’t talk about it because I didn’t know how to explain it. I didn’t understand the technology. But now I’m pretty sure it was a wireless situation. Either a download or upload. They were tapped into my brain and the knowledge was transferred back and forth. I could see them and everything while it was happening. There was a visual involved, almost like … I don’t know. [Laughs.] Don’t get me going!
Whole interview here
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