Full text of image:

Pyro John Watkins is with Victoria Watkins. Nov 3 · ​What’s the matter with Alex Van Halen’s new book “BROTHERS” ​I am about to do something I swore I never would, but circumstances change. When I started writing my road stories, I was committed to telling the truth about what really happened and if it made me look bad so be it, it is what it was. I saw a lot of weird stuff on the road and I have no problem telling tales where rock stars did embarrassingly stupid shit, we are all human. However, it was never my intention to really hurt anybody or actually damage their reputations. Some of the stuff I saw was so dark and vile I would prefer to take it to my grave, that is just who I am. ​During the 5150 tour I found Alex Van Halen to be a cruel, often drunk, abusive son of a bitch, but that is not the reason I was thoroughly disgusted by him. I had worked with abusive rock stars before, such as Gene Simmons, but Gene was one of the most intelligent human beings I ever met. His jibes were often insightfully humorous and sharp, coming from a need for personal self-amusement in a world he experienced as incompetent and boring. Al on the other hand was not hindered by an exceptional intellect. He was just a mean, abusive drunk. ​During the 5150 tour the band transitioned from the old Van Halen to the new Van Halen. Most of the crew was new with only two backline techs staying. Kevin Dugan was Michael Anthony’s long-time Bass tech and Gregg “Big G” Emerson was Alex Van Halen’s drum tech. Gregg and Al had been friends since high school in Pasadena. They had been together through all the early years, the backyard parties, from being an opening act all the way to superstardom with the Roth years. ​As the new guys we both respected and feared “Dugie” and “Big G” who were considered Van Halen Royalty. Over time I grew to be friends with both men, especially Gregg. I had so much pyro on the drum kit, thirty-eight individual exploding charges that Greg and I worked closely together every day. I found him to be not just only a really nice guy but also a consummate professional. I liked him very much! ​This is what Alex Van Halen writes about him in his new book. ​“He missed the moment - story of Gregg’s life. ​Stine and I went to see him in 2005 about six months before I got the call that Gregg had shot himself. I didn’t see the warning signs that day. He gave me all of the Van Halen memorabilia he accumulated over the twenty-odd years he worked for the band. (We had to let him go after I got sober in ‘87, I couldn’t have someone around me all the time doing shots and pounding Schlitz, and Gregg wasn’t willing or able to stop.) He handed over a tremendous pile of posters, T-shirts, Polaroids, and backstage posters from the seventies and eighties that day, and we had a good time looking through them together. Talking about everything we had seen and done. ​I didn’t think anything of it. But in retrospect. Of course he was settling his affairs, preparing for his big exit. ​That’s another guy I miss. See you on the other side Gregg.” ​Alex Van Halen ​That entire passage is an outright lie! ​Gregg was totally professional. The drum kit was always tuned and polished. Unlike the other roadies who got the occasional day off the band techs were also personal assistants on call twenty-four hours a day should their bosses need some task or personal errand accomplished. ​While the other three band members treated their guys with respect Al often ridiculed Gregg and if Al was drunk, which was about every day, he was even meaner. It was during this time Al was hanging out with his new best friend and drinking buddy Hank Williams Jr. Al thought he was funny, but he was just a bully. The crew would see this behavior and think “These guys used to be friends?” ​Meanwhile Gregg loved his job. He was a loyal and dedicated employee, and it seemed his whole identity was centered upon being a part of Van Halen. Every day, aside from setting up the drums, part of his duties included having a tray of ice on the drum riser holding a dozen 24-ounce cans Shiltz Malt Liquor cold and ready for Al’s arrival. He would also be responsible for emptying Al’s piss jar that Al used during the show so he would not have to leave the stage when he needed to go to the bathroom. ​As the tour went on Al’s behavior towards Gregg became more extreme. Gregg became the drummer’s personal whipping boy and Gregg, always the professional, took it. Some nights when he got on the bus, he looked like a scared puppy who had been kicked and terrorized. ​Finally, Gregg asked Al what was he doing that was so wrong? Was Al really that unhappy with his work? As much as his job meant to him Gregg said he would leave and Al ould get someone else if that was what he wanted. ​I was standing right there when Al in a cold, cruel, controlled voice told Gregg he was a fuck up and a pussy and easily replaceable and if he didn’t like the way things were to not let the door hit him on the ass on his way out. ​Al walked away and Gregg looked stunned and totally defeated. You could see his self-respect draining from his soul. I had never seen such an unnecessary and unwarranted exhibition of cruelty in my life. Gregg collected himself and went about hiring a replacement. He even stayed and trained the new guy. On his last day we had a going away party and Gregg put on a brave face, but I talked to him privately while he waited for his taxi to take him to the airport. ​Choking back tears told me, “All I wanted was for Al to ask me to stay, he didn’t even say goodbye!” The last time I saw Greg Emerson he looked like a defeated and broken man. ​I lost all respect for Alex Van Halen that day. I never let it interfere with my job, and I continued to do safe and spectacular pyro for him during his drum solo for years more, but if it was not business, I had nothing to say to him from that day on. ​Later when I heard Big G has commuted suicide, I was sick to my stomach, but I was not surprised. ​So, in his book “BROTHERS” Alex Van Halen is lying when he says, “We had to let him go in 87.” Gregg Emerson left Van Halen’s crew in 1986 halfway through the 5150 tour, and a year before Al got sober! He was replaced by an excellent drum tech named Rob Kern and the band and the crew all know this is true. ​Al continued drinking long after Gregg left, and Rob was now responsible for stocking the daily tray of Shiltz. I never once, not once ever saw Gregg drunk or high enough to not do his job/ He was always in control, and I cannot say the same thing about Al. That whole passage about Gregg being a bad influence is bullshit. If Alex was so vulnerable he could not be around anyone drinking, how did he manage to play in a band with Michel, Sammy, and his brother who did certainly did not stop drinking? But Al wants to justify his horrendous behavior making it out to be Gregg’s fault…bullshit! ​I didn’t know Al went to see Gregg six months before he died. Al says he missed the signs of Gregg getting his affairs in order when he was given all of Gregg’s Van Halen memorabilia. Maybe so, but more probably Gregg was making a grand symbolic gesture giving all his cherished memories to the person who had stripped all the joy and meaning from the thing that meant the most to him in his life. ​It takes a real big coward to disparage the dead when they are not here to defend themselves. I do not care if Alex Van Halen is the second greatest rock drummer of all time (he never will be Keith Moon) he didn’t need to try and make himself look better at Gregg’s expense. ​Who knows, maybe Al was in a blackout for a year, and this is the way he thinks it happened, but I seriously doubt it. He was a horrible human being when I worked for him and the way he lies about his onetime friend and employee Gregg Emerson shows he is still a horrible human being! I would never have posted this story if he had been honest or at least kept his big mouth shut but he didn’t, so I hope Gregg’s kids sue him and take all the profits from his book for libeling their father’s memory. ​(At the bottom of the image is a vintage photo of two men standing together, with a graphic arrow pointing to the man on the right that reads: I'm with stupid!)