Did EVH ever wear ear plugs?

[GaryMcT]

Friend of mine happened to run into him walking around one time. Talked to him for a bit. He definitely had hearing problems.

 

[guitarman_nebr]

Here is a youtube video of a guy who was in an opening band for Van Halen. He said there was a PA system pointed at the stage as loud as the PA out front....the VH boys loved the noise...no way they got by without some hearing issues....

Touring with Eddie Van Halen - Story Time - YouTube

 

[mos6507]

I swear I read something in the past talking about Eddie's hearing problems, tinnitus or no tinnitus. It's hard commenting on this without rattling off a lists of his peers who do have this problem--besides his brother. For instance, Ozzy's got really bad tinnitus (on top of his other health issues). Given that I have tinnitus myself and I know first-hand the anguish it causes I have to imagine that the condition is one reason why musicians become less productive and more self-destructive. They just are reluctant to talk about it.

 

[disconnector]

He didn't have tinnitus, but people around him did start to mumble a lot as time went on.

Wait . . . you mean my wife isn't really mumbling?

 

[tone4days]

When I met Paul Gilbert, he told the story of when he met EVH at a studio and got to hear the VH tracks being developed for their then newest album in the control room at deafening volume. PG was too awestruck at meeting a hero that he didnt let on how bad it hurt. He mentioned that he had permanent hearing loss from that episode and wore headgear hearing protection on stage.

Oddly PG didnt mind playing at brutal volume in front of all of us that day. I sat in the back and left after the first song.

He reps for a hearing aid company these days.

Protect your hearing folks

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I'm sure Eddie did lose some hearing as time went on. One cannot continually play at loud volumes & not expect some hearing loss.

 

[GerryJ]

There were some street videos (from ~ 10-yrs ago) , of him having friendly encounters with fans on the street, and he had to cock his head and say 'what?' if there was any transient traffic noise in the background. It was consistent with high-freq hearing loss- one on one in a room,you can have a normal conversation, but with any background noise, your ability to distinguish between consonants (k, t, s, c - high frequency by nature) is minimal.
(ex. 'cinnamon' sounds just like 'in a minute').
Hi-frequency loss is characteristic of cymbal and guitar induced hearing damage, and tinnitus is the 'phantom limb pain' from it.

 

[Tony]

GW did a feature on VH during the Carnal Knowledge tour that had a diagram of Ed’s live rig. If memory serves there was a direct feed to two 4x12s just for Al - one on each side of the drum throne.

I saw them at the Forum on that tour and it was shockingly loud. We had floor seats, and I recall vividly hearing the tech checking Al’s kick drum during changeover. First I heard the kick acoustically just coming off the stage, then it was suddenly the loudest thing on earth - and that was just the stage monitors. When FOH came up it was THUMP THUMP THUMP and my insides felt weird. The only other band I’ve heard at that volume was AC/DC.

No idea whether those guys have hearing loss but it sure seems obvious that they would.

 

[hawk45]

WHAT?

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Just because he didn't talk about it doesn't mean he didn't have it. His tones probably kept getting brighter for a reason

I know mine have.

 

[MikeVB]

screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place

You just bought yourself another Saturday.

 

[bigtone23]

I remember reading an 80s era EVH interview where he was discussing the volume onstage. It mentioned the 4x12" cab back by AVH, as well as AVH having a pretty decent PA system for his monitors. Just the snare feed in AVH's monitors was something like 115+dB! It was also mentioned that AVH would have to cup his ear whenever anyone talked to him. I can say from experience that drumming has done more for my hearing loss vs guitar. The snare and cymbals really get to you. Plus, the monitors have to be pretty loud to get over the inherent volume of just banging drums at a rock level.
Certainly EVH has also lost some hearing from all those years in the clubs (which is worse for hearing damage, IME) , where the drums are right behind you and the cymbals at ear level. The high volume zones from really loud monitor wedges and side fills of the stadium era are shocking. Being a wasted and sticking his head in front of speaker cabs doesn't help, haha.

 

[Misterbulbous]

When I met Paul Gilbert, he told the story of when he met EVH at a studio and got to hear the VH tracks being developed for their then newest album in the control room at deafening volume. PG was too awestruck at meeting a hero that he didnt let on how bad it hurt. He mentioned that he had permanent hearing loss from that episode and wore headgear hearing protection on stage.

Oddly PG didnt mind playing at brutal volume in front of all of us that day. I sat in the back and left after the first song.

He reps for a hearing aid company these days.

Protect your hearing folks

Was going to post the same thing about Paul. In regards to Ed, I recall an interview where he said he like to feel the hair on his arms move when he was in front of his amps.

 

[GerryJ]

Here is a youtube video of a guy who was in an opening band for Van Halen. He said there was a PA system pointed at the stage as loud as the PA out front....the VH boys loved the noise...no way they got by without some hearing issues....

Touring with Eddie Van Halen - Story Time - YouTube

Thanks for posting - if you're a VH fanatic, you'll like reading this experience - sober somewhat bemused Dublin guy talking about landing on the VH tour for ~ 7 dates, and the corporate juggernaut it was.

 

[Fatboy666]

You just bought yourself another Saturday.

you Sir rock on all levels