Desi Rexx recently chatted with All Music Magazine and recalled auditioning for David Lee Roth, along with sharing the three conditions he had for the Van Halen icon before taking up his offer to go on a tour with him.
When Roth was looking for a guitarist to accompany him on his then-upcoming tour, his team gave a call to Rexx, who agreed to audition only if he was the first or the last one on the line. So, that’s how he became the first-ever guitarist to audition for Dave, although things didn’t go the way he imagined at first.
Desi arrived at the rocker’s house, and while preparing his guitar kit, he asked where Roth was. The Van Halen icon’s team told him that he would be watching Rexx upstairs from his TV, so the guitarist decided to set his mic and amp right in front of the camera that connected to Dave’s TV and started playing a rather loud performance, blowing some of his equipment.
At the end of the brief show, Roth came downstairs and congratulated Rexx by saying that he got the gig. However, It woıldn’t be so easy for Desi to accept the rocker’s offer, disclosing that he had three conditions. To Dave’s guess, they weren’t anything money-related but rather a display of the guitarist’s unique sense of humor.
First things first, Rexx wanted to ride in Roth’s old Mercedes-Benz, and the singer had no problem with that, readily accepting the condition. Then, the guitarist’s second wish was to learn all about the brown M&Ms story, which Dave also accepted, and last, but not least, Desi wanted ‘Beautiful Girls‘ on the setlist because he thought that was the only song Van Halen actually recorded with Roth. (Ouch!)
The guitarist on auditioning for Roth and offering him three conditions before taking up the gig:
“So, we finished the audition, and Dave comes outside to meet me, and he goes, ‘All right, Des, first of all, good to see you again,’ I said, ‘You too, baby.’ He goes, ‘ Yeah, look, you got the gig,’ I said, ‘No, no, no, no, not so fast…’ He goes, ‘Not so fast?’ I said,’ I got three things I want.’ He goes, ‘What’s it gonna cost me, Desi?’ I’m like, ‘It’s not about the money, Dave. I’m sure you’re gonna be fair with that.’
He goes, ‘Not about… the money?’ I said, ‘Not about the money.’ He’s like, ‘Then what do you need?’ I said, ‘I’ll tell you what. For starters, I want to ride…’ his garage was over there with all the cars, and right in the middle was that beautiful 50 Merc from Panama. I go, ‘I wanna ride in that car,’ So, now he knows I’m not gonna try and fleece him.
He goes, ‘Done.’ [The] second one, ‘I gotta know what the deal is with the brown M&Ms,’ because he hadn’t written the book yet, and I wanted to know what that story was, and he goes, ‘Okay, I’ll tell you that too. You want me to tell you now?’ I said, ‘No, so you agree to the third one.’ [Dave’s like] ‘What’s the third one?’
I said, ‘We gotta put ‘Beautiful Girls’ in the set because it’s the only real song you guys ever recorded.’ He goes, ‘Ouch.’ I said, ‘I did Van Halen everything, but that’s like your song.’ He goes, ‘Done.’ He shakes my hand, and he starts to tell me about the brown M&Ms.”
So, when Desi told Dave that he had three conditions he needed before taking up on his offer, the singer thought it would be about financial requests or your usual paycheck-related talk. However, Desi was on a mission to mess up with Roth and have fun with him by asking for a few things that clearly showed his sense of humor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yh0xUpAq4E
