During a recent appearance on Masters of Shred, Darren Housholder revealed that David Lee Roth preferred not to have a family man in his band.
“Well yeah, so that’s when John [5] joined Marilyn Manson and they were looking for a guitar player,” the guitarist recalled when the host asked about the time he went to Dave’s house to audition to be in his band. “I think Ray [Luzier] threw my name in the hat and so I would write some things I thought Dave would like.”
He went on to say, “And his courier named Steve Martin would come pick up the cassette tape. David called and I drove over to his house in Pasadena and we would hang out, just he and I. It was cool. So, I did that twice, and then the second time leaving, he sees me. I got the car seat. I had my son Dorian who was just like a year old.”
“I just started brand new energy, my distribution company. This was like somewhere around 98 and he just sort of said, ‘How’s your family?'” Housholder shared DLR’s question to him. “And I was like, ‘Oh, great.'”
The musician added, “And then I drove away and I kind of thought to myself that was him saying, ‘Hey you know, go ahead.’ And he did me a favor basically. It would have been… It was better that I didn’t get that gig at that time.”
Housholder previously talked about almost getting the Roth gig in 1999 after John 5 left the band. He explained, “I sent over a tape, and he liked it, and I went over to Dave’s house. Just me and him. … And I wrote some more music and he liked it. And I went back to his house again.”
“Then he walks me to my truck, and I’ve got a kid and I just started my business, and he sort of looks at me and asks ‘How’s the family doing?’ And I say ‘We’re doing well, thanks, Dave.’ And that’s the last I heard from him. Two things happened. 1 – he wants all his band to be bachelors. 2 – Bart Walsh had gotten through to him,” he noted.
Housholder’s career includes releasing three albums with Shrapnel in the 90s, working with Love/Hate, briefly joining Jeff Pilson’s War & Peace, and playing with W.A.S.P and Enuff Z’nuff.
