While speaking with Noisecreep about VAN HALEN and his "favorite new record", A Different Kind Of Truth, HELLYEAH/former PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul recalled the fateful night he first met Eddie Van Halen: "So one night my manager calls me and tells me that Eddie is at The Clubhouse (Paul's strip club in Dallas, Texas) and that he wants to meet me. I couldn't believe it, man! So I dropped what I was doing and went straight to the club.

"I meet Eddie and we start talking about music right away. After about five minutes into the conversation, he says to me, 'Man, I feel like I've known you for a lifetime. We have so much in common!' I couldn't believe it. Later that night, I put Eddie on the phone with my brother and they spoke for over 90 minutes.

"Van Halen were playing a show in Dallas the next day, but Pantera had a show in Boston already booked, so we couldn't make it. Anyway, we got back from doing that and Eddie calls and tells me that they're playing a show in Lubbock and if we wanted to come and fly out to the city, he would send a limo to the airport to pick us up. So we do it and get to see Van Halen do a sound check from the stage. Me and my brother were like kids in a candy store. I remember being on the plane, on the way back home from the Van Halen show, and my brother saying to me, "Man, if this plane crashed, and I died tonight, I would be OK with it because we got to meet Van Halen,"" laughs Paul.

Read the entire tale at Noisecreep.

Hellyeah release their new album, Band Of Brothers, on June 5th release in North America. The album, the band's first effort for their new label home, Eleven Seven Music, was recorded in Dallas at drummer Vinnie Paul's home studio, VP's Upstairs Studio, and was produced by the band and Jeremy Parker (GODSMACK, EVANESCENCE), who also served as engineer.

Hellyeah will be teaming up with Maryland rockers CLUTCH for a North American co-headlining tour this spring. Dates include:

April

10 - Norfolk, VA - The Norva (Clutch only)
11 - Lancaster, PA - Chameleon Club (Clutch only)
12 - Albany, NY - Northern Lights Ground (Clutch only)
13 - Providence, RI - Lupos
14 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
15 - Long Island, NY - Paramount Theater
17 - Stroudsburg, PA - Sherman Theater
18 - Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall
20 - Traverse City, MI - Ground Zero
21 - Ft. Wayne, IN - Pierre's
22 - Toledo, OH - Headliner's
23 - Dayton, OH - McGuffy's House of Rock (Clutch only)
24 - Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater
25 - Des Moines, IA - Val Air Ballroom
28 - Lincoln, NE - Box Awesome's Bourbon Lounge
29 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater

May

1 - Springfield, MO - Gillioz Theater
2 - Wichita, KS - Cotillion
3 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom (Clutch only)
4 - Sauget, IL - Pops
5 - Chattanooga, TN - Track 29
6 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theater (Clutch only)
6 - Atlanta, GA - WLKS Project Cinco Party (Hellyeah only)
8 - Libertyville, IL - Austins
10 - Rock Island, IL - Rock Island Brewery (Clutch only)
11 - Joilet, IL - Mojoes
12 - Detroit, MI - St Andrews Hall (Clutch only)
13 - Flint, MI - Machine Shop (Clutch only)
19 - Hartford, CT - WCCC Big Gig (Hellyeah only)
27 - Pryor, OK - Rocklahoma (Hellyeah only)

More dates to be announced soon.