KOOL AND THE GANG are opening up for VAN HALEN on March 15th at Montreal's Bell Center and founding bassist Robert "Kool" Bell calls in to Mike Metal from The Metal File to talk about it. Check out the chat at this location.

Gary Graff from Billboard.com, says that Kool & The Gang plan to celebrate plenty of good times on the road with Van Halen in the coming weeks - even if the rest of the world seems to think it's an incredibly odd pairing.

"We're not that worried about it," co-founder Robert "Kool" Bell tells Billboard.com. "We had big hits in the '80s, and so did they. They've been kind of like a party band on the rock side, with their audience, and their audience is 60 percent female and we have songs like 'Ladies' Night' and 'Celebration'... and our audience is at least 80 percent a pop audience. Most of the time we have a crowd that's 80 percent white. Plus we do a lot of international dates with DEF LEPPARD, MEAT LOAF, URIAH HEEP, CHICAGO, ELTON JOHN...A lot of people don't know that 'cause they don't really see it. So I think we'll survive."

Bell says having Kool & the Gang open for Van Halen's North American tour was frontman David Lee Roth's idea. Roth saw Kool and company perform at the 2011 Glastonbury festival and enjoyed it so much that he lobbied the band onto the bill. "I was kind of surprised," Bell admits, "because Van Halen is more on the rock side and we do what we do. I said, 'That's an interesting combination...' It really caught us by surprise. But the more people I mention it to, the more interesting they're saying it is."

Read more at Billboard.com

Upcoming dates include:

March

9 - Buffalo, NY - First Niagara Center
11 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
15 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
17 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
21 - Ottawa, ON - Scotiabank Place
24 - Atlantic City, NJ - Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
28 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center
30 - Pittsburgh, PA - Consol Energy Center

April

1 - Rosemont, IL - Allstate Arena
10 - Sunrise, FL - BankAtlantic Center
12 - Tampa, FL - Tampa Bay Times Forum
14 - Orlando, FL - Amway Center
16 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Veterans Mem. Arena
19 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
21 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum Complex
25 - Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Arena
27 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena

May

1 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
5 - Tacoma, WA - Tacoma Dome
7 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena
9 - Calgary, AB - Scotiabank Saddledome
11 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place
17 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre
19 - Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
22 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
24 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
27 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena

June

1 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
3 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
5 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion At San Jose
12 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center
14 - San Diego, CA - Viejas Arena
16 - Phoenix, AZ - US Airways Center
20 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
22 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T; Center
24 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
26 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena