Jason Bonham recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. During their conversation, he shares his thoughts on Alex Van Halen and discusses how he prepared for The Best of All Worlds tour.

SiriusXM's Trunk Nation, hosted by Eddie Trunk, airs daily at 3 PM, ET on SiriusXM’s Faction Talk. Audio clips and transcriptions below courtesy of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation.

On Alex Van Halen being underrated:

"Well, at the time when he was around, I don't think he was, I think we all know. I mean, I was hugely honored back in the day to be in a drum, in a recorded performance poll there. He was second and I was fourth, and just to see my name in with him and Bill Bruford in there and Alan White, I was hugely honored to be in the same drum poll. And I think he was regularly, when dad wasn't around I think, and of course then you had the Neil Peart overshadow. But, you know, I think he was definitely up there with the best of them in those days.

"You know, I think he was awarded, but you know, I know what you mean. He's with Eddie Van Halen. It was like when my dad was with Jimmy Page. There's a lot of attention goes that way. I think that the two of them, Eddie and Alex, they had such a unique, the hits, and me and Joe were talking about this, there's the way they play certain parts, it's as if they're having a go at each other. It's as if one of them is making it so awkward that the other one feels awkward doing it. So there was definitely some weird stuff that goes on where I'm going, 'That's not a natural push to push there.' And certainly he said, and Mike would say, 'It's Eddie screwing with Alex, you know, he is making him play something that's weird. You know?' So it's been an eye opening experience to really dig in there and go, you know, 'Hold on. Why, why does it push there? It's not meant to. That doesn't feel right.' And it's the brothers, I mean, that's all he says, 'It's the brothers. It’s their thing. It's just the way they were.'"

On preparing for The Best Of All Worlds tour:

"Well on some of the material things that I played with Sammy now for 10 years, I actually went back and listened to the originals again. And just wanted to make sure I wasn't, you know, the things that needed to be there, you know, the specific songs in the show, which I won't say, but you know, one of the reasons why you need, you know, instead of one Rexton, I need three Rextons because there are the sounds that have to be there for me. It's like when there's a fill, it'd be like trying to play a certain guitar part with two strings. You know, you have to have all of the tools there for the sounds and from the Octabands, even visually to the sound. So, you know, he had such a great sound in a weirdest way.

"And it evolved and changed. And we have the, with the lovers of the 5150 sound, when he went into the Simmons drums, but he was one of the many drummers. I went into the Simmons mode. Phil Collins went into the Simmons drums, Bill Bruford went into the Simmons drums. We all had that moment, for that moment of madness where we had electronic drums. So we love it or hate it, but it was part of the sound of that period. So, you know, we've evolved the sound on the stage. We have some of those, you know, I have six pedals on the floor, so when the kick drum sound changed, I actually just moved my foot over and used another pedal. So, you know, we really thought about it and I really, you know, focused on the sounds and that's been the main thing. I can do my job and now it's just handing it over  up front and hopefully it comes through, especially with the amount of effort that you put into doing those kind of things."

Produced by Live Nation and featuring special guests Loverboy, the 28-date The Best Of All Worlds tour will conclude on August 31 in St. Louis, MO. For tickets and more details, go to RedRocker.com.

Tour dates:

August
9 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
11 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
13 - Spokane, WA - Airway Heights, WA BECU Live at Northern Quest
14 - Ridgefield, WA - RV Inn Style Resort Amphitheater
16 - Wheatland, CA - Toyota Amphitheatre
17 - Concord, CA - Toyota Pavilion at Concord
19 - Los Angeles, CA - Kia Forum
20 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resorts Amphitheatre
22 - Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion
23 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
25 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
27 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
28 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
30 - Noblesville, IN - Ruoff Music Center
31 - St. Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

(Photo - Timothy Morris)