Multi-platinum hard rock heroes Extreme - Gary Cherone (vocals), Nuno Bettencourt (guitar), Pat Badger (bass), and Kevin Figueiredo (drums) - will release their album, SIX, on June 9 via earMUSIC.

In a new interview with Greg Prato for Songfacts, vocalist Gary Cherone talks about the new album, how he feels about the band's classic hit "More Than Words", and his time with Van Halen (Cherone was with Van Halen from 1996 - 199, having replaced Sammy Hagar. He recorded one album with the band, Van Halen III. Hagar returned to the band in 2003). An excerpt from the interview follows...

Songfacts: What's the best Van Halen song you worked on?

Gary Cherone: "Two songs come to mind. 'One I Want' I thought was the closest thing to down-the-strike-zone Van Halen. And I thought lyrically it was fun – that it could sit well with their old catalog. But something that I thought was new and original was a song called 'Once'. I thought Eddie musically expanded his horizons. It started off as a piano piece, but then it got a little bit more elaborate with the band. Lyrically, I think it was a bit more complex. 'Year To The Day' is another track I thought was a strong song on that record."

Songfacts: What are your thoughts on "How Many Say I"? That's the only Van Halen song that Eddie sang lead on.

Cherone: "In the past with me and Nuno, we've always traded off – I would show Nuno a lyric, he might write to it. With my experience in Van Halen, that's not how Eddie wrote. So, that was one of the new things we did together. I just had a lyric – I might have written it over three days – and he looked over my shoulder one day and said, "What's that?" And I said, "I'm finishing up this lyric called 'How Many Say I.'" And he said, "Do you mind if I take it?" He took it, I went to bed in the guest house, and he stayed up all hours of the night. Woke up the next morning and he showed me on the piano. He sang it – he'd made a rough demo of it. I thought it was brilliant. His voice reminded me of Tom Waits or Roger Waters. I was the one who encouraged him to do it on the record. He was a little reluctant. It's gotten criticism over the years because Eddie sang it, but I thought the initial demo was so inspiring. For me, it was just like, "You should sing it." I twisted his arm a little bit, but then he embraced it because I was comparing him to Floyd. His demo was so emotional – I thought it was great."

Songfacts: Michael Anthony and Eddie Trunk have both said that the material demoed for the next Van Halen album after III would have been even better. What are your thoughts and do you remember any song titles?

Cherone: "In hindsight, looking back, joining the band, I would have rather toured and then recorded the first record with them, because Van Halen III was a studio production, I was getting to know the guys, and there was a writing/evolutionary process of me and Eddie writing. Then we went on tour and we became a band. We pretty much lived together on the bus and playing so many shows, so we came back tighter, we came back more focused. I don't know if it was subliminally because the record wasn't received great that we were writing material that was more down the strike zone of VH. Titles come to mind... there was one lyrical title, 'Left For Dead', that I took those lyrics and I did a record with a band called Tribe Of Judah a couple of years later and wrote to different music. A song called 'Rivers Wide' comes to mind. I'd have to rattle my brain as far as some of the other titles."

Read more at Songfacts.

With the force of a wrecking ball, Extreme swing between unapologetic fits of fret-burning hard rock and intimately introspective balladry on the 12-track SIX, which also features such tracks as “Other Side of The Rainbow,” “#Rebel,” and “X Out.” For the recording of the Nuno-produced SIX, the members buckled down at his home studio in Los Angeles. Once again, they channeled the electrifying eclecticism that defined their seminal output with a 21st century twist.

This dynamic affirms the iconic Boston quartet as one of rock’s most unpredictable, undeniable, and unbreakable groups whose songs course through the very fabric of popular culture. They’re the rare band whose music has appeared in an actual cult series a la Bill & Ted as well as the Netflix juggernaut “Stranger Things.” They’ve sold 10 million records, topped the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, packed major venues on multiple continents, memorably performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London, and regularly average over 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify. However, their dynamic approach hits harder than ever on their 2023 full-length offering, SIX.

“With Extreme, there’s always a lot of passion and a little piss and vinegar,” says Gary. “We’re not in competition with anybody else, but we strive to outdo ourselves. There are some moments on this album where we did. We’ve managed to stay together after all of these years. We feel like we have something to prove when we get on stage or in the studio. Because of that, I believe some of these songs are among the best we’ve written.”

“Whatever you think an Extreme album is after two or even three songs, it’s not,” states Nuno. “That goes for every record we’ve ever done. True Extreme fans know to ‘expect the unexpected.’  I feel like we need a good old school rock album. Six is definitely modern, but you can put on headphones and go on a journey from top-to-bottom. It’s like ‘Extreme 2.0’.”

Pre-order SIX here.

SIX tracklisting:

"Rise"
"#Rebel"
"Banshee"
"Other Side of the Rainbow"
"Small Town Beautiful"
"The Mask"
"Thicker Than Blood"
"Save Me"
"Hurricane"
"X Out"
"Beautiful Girls"
"Here's To The Losers"

"Rise" video:

(Photo - Jesse Lirola)