Steve Vai Says About David Lee Roth's Eat 'Em And Smile Album Formation Reunion: A Little Difficult

Steve Vai (Instagram stevevaihimself/Larry DiMarzio)

JAKARTA - Guitar legend Steve Vai said that his reunion with Van Halen's solo band, David Lee Roth, was a bit difficult. Previously, the planned reunion in November 2015 in Hollywood was canceled.

Roth's Eat 'Em And Smile album reunion at Lucky Strike Live nearly seven years ago was canceled at the last minute by firefighters.

The show was set to mark the first time in three decades that Roth rejoined Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Greg Bissonette (Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band), and keyboardist Brett Tuggle to perform some of the hits from the classic album.

Asked in a recent interview with Linea Rock Italia's Barbara Caserta about a possible reunion of the Eat 'Em And Smile era band, this is Vai's answer.

"You never know about these things. And we touched on it in the past. (Before) We had doubts about this, because Dave had Van Halen, I had a solo career, Billy had...everyone was kind of busy. But, I almost did it with Eat 'Em And Smile, I think." said Vai quoted from Blabbermouth, Saturday, February 5.

"And the idea is really interesting, and I never rule anything out. But as time goes on, it's kind of hard. I understand now that Dave is retiring so I don't know when something like that could happen."

Vai, Sheehan, and Bissonette reunited in January 2019 for a two-song performance on "Ultimate NAMM Night" in Anaheim, California. They were joined by singer Jeff Scott Soto (Sons Of Apollo, Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen) to play a cover of Queen's classic Tie Your Mother Down and Sheehan's song Shy Boy which appears on the album Eat 'Em and Smile.

Eat 'Em And Smile is the first of two Roth albums to feature the duo, Vai and Sheehan, on guitar and bass.