Former Great White lead singer Mitch Malloy recently opened up on ‘The Rock N’ Roll & Coffee Show’ about him nearly joining Van Halen after Sammy Hagar’s departure. The singer admitted after seeing David Lee Roth on TV with the band; he waited for an explanation from Eddie Van Halen that never came.
Malloy expressed that he didn’t want to wait any longer by saying:
“I just didn’t feel right. You know feelings are important; you should pay attention to them, and to me, it just didn’t feel right, and it was an overwhelming feeling.”
Desmond Child was the middleman between Mitch and Van Halen. Malloy expressed his uneasiness over the whole situation to Child and said:
“I said, ‘That doesn’t feel right to me, man. I love it. I love those guys. I’m so happy that I got a chance to do this and everything the opportunity, but I don’t think it’s going to go well. It doesn’t feel right to me, and I don’t really feel like I should do it.’ He [Desmond Child] goes, ‘Then write them a letter.'”
The singer also told ‘The Rock N’ Roll & Coffee Show’ that he was patient during those days but knew that he had to send the letter by adding:
“I did wait for a while. I did; there were days that passed, and it was like, whoa, those days. Those were tough days, yeah, from the moment I saw that thing to the whole situation; glad that’s over.”
After seeing Van Halen walk onstage at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1996 with former lead singer David Lee Roth, Mitch said in a previous interview that he was caught off guard. He expressed:
“[Eddie Van Halen] never did tell me though that they were going to present with David Lee Roth. I was back in Nashville and turned on the TV to watch. They came out, and Dave came out too. I was like, ‘What? My jaw just dropped. I was like, ‘Why are they with Dave?'”
You can watch Mitch Malloy’s interview with ‘The Rock N’ Roll & Coffee Show’ below.
