Cameron Adams from Australia's News.com.au spoke with legendary VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth recently about the band's reunion and new album, A Different Kind Of Truth. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

News.com.au: You're back fronting Van Halen and have made A Different Kind Of Truth, your first album with them since 1984. Was it important not to just tour and play old songs?

Roth: "Nostalgia is a form of denial. I love denial. I like selective amnesia, too. Mix the two and you've got a hell of a weekend. However, in terms of aiming the starship there, nah, retromania is not a great destination."

News.com.au: Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang is on bass now. What's it like being in a band with a 20-year-old?

Roth: "I'm starting to be impressed by the kid. I didn't want to be. He can play the shit out of that thing. He's bringing it. We never changed. We're a '70s hard rock band. We enjoyed our fame in the '80s but all our roots are pre-'80s. That's Van Halen. Old plus new. It's like watching Dragnet on your iPad."

News.com.au: How are you and Eddie getting on?

Roth: "If Ed and I can get along then world peace can have a chance. There's sparks, there's energy, there's a team enthusiasm closer to pirates than little league. There's still some pillaging going on there. You can hear it in the music. There's routinely conflict but there's a lot of laughter. A lot of appreciation for the privilege of the job; compared to some of the other jobs we've all held, this is better. In one of the songs I say, 'I've been rich and I've been poor, rich is better'. It's totally better.'

News.com.au: How do you describe the chemistry between you and Eddie? It's led to you leaving the band a few times.

Roth: "Our form of sparks will be in the first sentence of our mutual obituaries. These are the songs and messages that have brought a smile to a thousand hips.

Maybe that's our only responsibility as artists. You must delight. I don't care if you're running with a football in a screaming stadium or playing a solo violin in a concert hall, you must delight. We treasure that responsibility more than ever. You see it in the handshakes. The smiles are genuine. We individually idle somewhere between pissed off and not too pissed off in terms of anger. When you get too happy that's a different band. That's a vacation."

Read more at News.com.au.

Van Halen performed a dress rehearsal for friends and family at the Los Angeles Forum last night (February 8th). It was to be a secret show but it was one of the worst kept secrets as thousands attended the show. Below is the opening number, the band's classic KINKS cover 'You Really Got Me':

According to Billboard.com, Van Halen might be on its way to a sixth career No. 1 album on the US Billboard 200 chart - unless ADELE's 21 stands in the veteran band's way.

Industry sources suggest that Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth may sell about 180,000 to 200,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, February 12. Under normal circumstances, that would be enough for the recently-signed Interscope act to bump Queen Adele from the top slot.

However, this isn't a normal week. The 54th Grammy Awards take place on February 12, at 8-11:30 PM on CBS - where Adele is scheduled to perform. The artist is nominated for six Grammys this year, and the performance will mark her first since undergoing surgery last year on her vocal chords. Further, Adele will sit down with Anderson Cooper for an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes immediately before the Grammys.

Check out BraveWords.com's glowing review of Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth this location.

Van Halen's video for 'Tattoo' can be viewed below: