Heart’s sibling bandmates, Ann and Nancy Wilson, paid a visit to SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show on April 10. During their interview, the sisters shared their recollections of touring with Van Halen, and in particular, of their interactions with that band’s own sibling duo, Eddie and Alex Van Halen.
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The Wilsons discussed the Van Halen brothers’ volatile relationship and their having alcohol intake, and they also recalled an interesting incident where Eddie and Alex proposed that the sisters get sexually involved with them.
Howard Stern brought up the fact that he’d heard a story that Eddie and Alex “thought it would be a good idea to have a sexual relationship with you guys, because you’re sisters and they’re brothers.”
Nancy responded by commenting, “Sounds like a publicist’s kind of dream,” while Ann added, “Strange reasoning.”
Stern then asked Ann and Nancy if they recalled how the Van Halens brought up the topic.
“I think just during a long night of reveling,” Ann said.
Added Nancy, “Yeah, one of many bad ideas one night, you know, kind of thing.”
Stern then joked about how the Van Halen brothers might have phrased the proposition: “Wouldn’t it be great. We mate and we make future rock bands. It would be amazing!”
The Wilson Sisters Recall the Van Halen Brothers’ Heavy Partying
Nancy also noted that Heart had opened for Van Halen “a bunch” back in the day, and while on tour, she and Ann got to witness the brothers’ hard-partying ways.
“[T]hose Van Halen brothers, they were nuts,” she said. “They were really imbibers, and they were always in the bag, like way in the bag.”
Nancy also recalled that sometimes when Eddie and Alex would get drunk at a bar together, things would devolve into “fisticuffs.”
“They would just start fighting,” she remembered. “And then they’d be like, ‘Oh, I love you, man.’ And then they’d be hugging.”
Reflecting on getting to see the Van Halen brothers interact while Heart was on tour with them, Nancy noted, “[I]t was something to see.”
She added, “[T]hey were really solid brothers and cool people and musicians, and it was fun to know them and be part of the circus with them.”
Stern also asked the Wilson sisters if it shocked them that the Van Halens would get as drunk as they did, sometimes even before a concert.
“It kind of blew my mind,” Ann said. “I could never do that myself. … I’m not saying that I never imbibed back then. I did, but I always waited till after.”
Nancy concurred, “We waited till after the show.”
Heart’s 2024 Tour Plans
As previously reported, Heart will launch the Royal Flush Tour 2024 on April 20 in Greenville, South Carolina. The trek is plotted out through a December 15 show in Las Vegas.
The North American dates of the tour will feature Heart supported by various opening acts, including Cheap Trick, Bachman-Turner Overdrive with Randy Bachman, and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening. Heart also will play a series of U.K. concerts in July with Squeeze as its support act.
In addition, Heart will open for Journey and Def Leppard at stadium shows on July 30 in Cleveland, August 2 in Toronto, and August 5 in Boston.
Tickets for the Heart’s concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub.
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