{"id":1565,"date":"2026-01-30T11:55:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/?page_id=1565"},"modified":"2026-02-08T15:49:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T20:49:02","slug":"bart-walsh-2004","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/interviews\/music\/bart-walsh-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"Bart Walsh &#8211; 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p style=\"padding-top:1em; text-indent:2em;\">You may know him as the founding guitarist of <em>The Atomic Punks<\/em>, or from his time with the <em>David Lee Roth Band<\/em>. Today, he joins us to talk about a lifetime spent behind the guitar. Ladies and gentlemen\u2026 <strong>Bart Walsh!<\/strong>\n\n<p class=\"eller\">Eller: \n       Thanks for being with us. In your own words, who is Bart Walsh?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">Walsh:\n        Just a regular guy who loves his girlfriend, guitars, friends and his\n        family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        Where did you grow up?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">\n        In Winston-Salem, N.C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        Do you have brothers and\/or sisters? Are they and\/or your parents\n        musically inclined?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">\n        I have one brother &#8211; My mom sings like a Bird and my great uncle was a\n        famous pioneer of early country music &#8211; He taught me how to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        Are you any relation to Joe Walsh?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">\n        Nope &#8211; but I LOVE his playing and the Eagles<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        How long have you been playing guitar?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">33 yrs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        Do you play any other instruments?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">Bass<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        At what age did you decide you were going to play music for a living?\n        Were your parents supportive of this decision?<\/p>\n<p class=\"walsh\">\n        At 16 I was playing out and making more money in a night than I did in a\n        week at my dads business &#8211; My pop was cool but mom worried and still does.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        Who are your biggest musical influences?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        My uncle &#8211; Every teacher and student I had &#8211; Van Halen, Rhoades, Many blues\n        and country guys and some jazz cats.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Ever been married?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Never been married and I have no kids. But now I have the most amazing\n        girlfriend ever.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What would people be most surprised to know about Bart Walsh?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        That I donated a Kidney to my brother in 1998.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        If you couldn&#8217;t be a musician, what would you want to be?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        A producer and A&amp;R person.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        When you aren&#8217;t playing, practicing, or otherwise involved with\n        music, what do you like to do in your free time?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Hang with my girl, chill out, and NOT listen to music!<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        How did you meet Scott Patterson?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Scott answered an ad for my band in college, and we ended up playing\n        together for 20 yrs &#8211; I miss him a lot &#8211; best drummer ever.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        In our <a href=\"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/interviews\/music\/patterson-2004\/\">interview<\/a> with him, Scott said he enjoys restoring old\n        muscle cars, and I know that Michael Anthony and several other musicians\n        are also into cars. Do you share in this interest? What do you drive?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        I&#8217;ve always dug BMWs and owned several &#8211; I drive a 4-Runner now and love\n        it!<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        How did you meet\/start working with Ralph Saenz?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        I was looking for a singer because my original band had a record out\n        internationally, but we had problems with our singer &#8211; I swore I would\n        never play in a cover band again, but Ralph sounded so good on The VH\n        stuff that we played a few shows, and people freaked &#8211; Ralph is by far the\n        best rock singer I have ever worked with.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What are some of your other early musical projects\/bands?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Many early original and cover bands:<\/p>\n        <ul class=\"walsh\">\n        <li>Motherlode &#8211; 1978-1981 &#8211; original and covers<\/li>\n        <li>Threshold &#8211; w\/ Scott Patterson &#8211; 1982-1985 &#8211; original band w\/ 1 EP<\/li>\n        <li>Driver &#8211; 1983-1984 w\/ Scott Patterson &#8211; covers and Originals<\/li>\n        <li>Britain &#8211; 1987-1989 &#8211; Originals<\/li>\n        <li>Lancia &#8211; 1989-1994 w\/Scott Patterson &#8211; original &#8211; 1 record<\/li>\n        <li>Atomic Punks &#8211; 1994-1999 &#8211; Covers<\/li>\n        <li>Brett Michaels band -1998 &#8211; Brett&#8217;s songs<\/li>\n        <li>David Lee Roth Band &#8211; 1999-2001- covers<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n        <p class=\"eller\">How did you get the word that David Lee Roth wanted you in his band? Did\n        he call you personally? Were you expecting it, or was it a surprise?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        I had sent him a tape and he called me me 3 years later &#8211; It thought it\n        was Ralph at first &#8211; I was surprised\n        but I had heard they were looking at me as a replacement for John Lowery.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Had you met Dave before you were hired?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        No &#8211; and I never auditioned &#8211; it was 2 weeks into rehearsals before I met\n        him.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What was the first gig you played with Dave?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Paradiso in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Did Dave talk to you or give you any advice\/words of wisdom before\n        that first show?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Lots &#8211; He told me what to wear &#8211; how to move &#8211; where to stand &#8211; He gave me\n        musical freedom except for certain songs &#8211; He insisted I play Eruption and Spanish Fly which I did not want\n        to do, because I KNEW the reaction\n        the fans would have, and I was right &#8211; Those are too much signature Ed\n        pieces and some people did not dig it,\n        although a lot did.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What was it like working with Dave? Was it what you expected? Discuss&#8230;<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        He was cool most of the time and always knew what he wanted &#8211; You always\n        had to be on your toes as there was always a lot of projects going on at\n        once.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        How did it compare to working with Ralph?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Ralph is way more laid back &#8211; The Punks almost never rehearsed &#8211; we just\n        learned the songs at home and went and played them.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        How much did you get to contribute musically when working with\n        Dave? How much influence did you have on the sound?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        He let me do a lot of the musical direction when he wasn&#8217;t around and\n        that was cool &#8211; If he did not like it\n        when he came in then we simply changed it.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What album(s) did you play on with Dave? Talk about your discography &#8211; <\/p>\n        \n        <ul class=\"walsh\">\n        <li>Threshold EP 1984<\/li>\n        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discogs.com\/master\/457003-Lancia-Lancia\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer external\" target=\"_blank\">Lancia<\/a> &#8211; 1993<\/li>\n        <li>Van Halen tribute &#8212; w\/ Ralph Saenz -1997<\/li>\n        <li>Van Halen tribute-various artists-1998<\/li>\n        <li>Forever Mod-Rod Stewart tribute-1998<\/li>\n        <li>Most of the tracks on the David lee Roth BBQ video-2001<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n        \n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What&#8217;s the funniest thing that occurred on tour with Dave?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Every night before a show he would do improv and crack us up.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Same question, but with the Atomic Punks?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">Probably the success and the long-life of the band &#8211; But the band has\n        always been so good through all of it&#8217;s line-up&#8217;s it can&#8217;t be denied the\n        title of the world best VH tribute &#8211; Plus Ralph is so dead on and it\n        fill&#8217;s a void for VH fans.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Does Dave ever lose the &#8220;Diamond Dave&#8221; persona when the cameras aren&#8217;t around?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Only in airports.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Do you still talk to him?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        No &#8211; but I wish him and the band the best of luck.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Does he ever talk about Ed and the boys?&nbsp; If so what does he say?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        He did a little bit, but it was usually about the good times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eller\">\n        Have you heard any of the material that Dave and VH worked on in early\n        2002?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        No.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        If you could interview Eddie Van Halen, what would you ask him?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        I have met Ed several times &#8211; Once he took me out to his car and played me\n        the balance record before it came out &#8211; he is the nicest guy &#8211; I asked him\n        mostly about his childhood and what his exact set up was on VH one &#8211; That\n        is the holy grail of guitar tone to me and I came pretty close &#8211; Brian\n        Young still uses the same rig I designed and built with my tech and Bob\n        Bradshaw &#8211; I sold it to Dave when I left.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Have you met\/played with Eddie or any other members of Van Halen?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Met all members &#8211; only played with Mikey.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What music are you listening to lately? What&#8217;s in your CD player right\n        now?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">Mostly publisher demos-I don&#8217;t listen to a lot of music really because\n        I write and play so much-It&#8217;s like eating too much candy &#8211; I watch\n        VH1,MTV,CMT and watch the charts to stay current &#8211; If I hear something I\n        like, either for production or personal reasons then I go buy it.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Throughout your career, you&#8217;ve met\/played with a lot of big names. Out\n        of all of them, is there one in particular that you still go &#8220;Wow!!\n        I can&#8217;t believe I actually met\/jammed with ________________!&#8221; ?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">Dave Roth.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What have you done since leaving the DLR band? What are you working on\n        now?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        I have produced a wide variety of bands from country to nu-metal -I&#8217;m\n        writing, doing occasional sessions and\n        recording with my girlfriend who is&nbsp; an amazingly talented\n        singer. &#8211; My full time gig is traveling the world a doing guitar clinics\n        for Gibson guitars.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">Can you tell us what goes on at one of these clinics?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        I play along with backing tracks of instrumental music that I wrote as\n        well as a 12 min. rock medley-I talk\n        and demonstrate the guitars. I go over the history of Gibson and the\n        construction of the instrument with a\n        focus on Les Paul&#8217;s. Best gig I have ever had. No band, no singer, no\n        hassles!<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Have you recorded any original music? If so, where can we hear it?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        On my web site when it gets back up and at my clinics-I may do a record\n        sometime in the near future. Also&nbsp; in TV and Films.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        What&#8217;s the next dream\/goal in your musical career?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">To\n        be a full time A&amp;R person and producer.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Where do you see Bart Walsh, 10 years from now?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        In A&amp;R and producing.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Ok, let&#8217;s do a little &#8220;word association.&#8221; I&#8217;ll give&nbsp; you\n        a word\/thought, you tell me the first thing\n        (word\/phrase\/thought\/concept\/reaction\/etc.) that comes to your mind.<\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">David Lee Roth<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Creative Genius<\/span>\n        <\/p>\n        <p><span class=\"eller\">Scott Patterson<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">One of the best rock drummers ever &#8211; Period<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Ralph Saenz<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Amazing singer<\/span><\/p>\n        <p><span class=\"eller\">Russ Parrish<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Funny as hell and an amazing\n        guitarist<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Joe Lester<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">The Kodiak bear-I had some great times with him<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Eddie Van Halen<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Changed the course of Rock Guitar<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Alex Van Halen<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Wild man<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Michael Anthony<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Nice guy and unbelievable singer<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Sammy Hagar<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Montrose<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <\/p><p class=\"eller\">Gary Cherone &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Extreme<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Brian Young<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Great Guitar player<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Jason Becker<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">So talented and tragic<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Gibson Guitars<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">The best<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Billy Sheehan<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Funny guy and super bass God<\/span><\/p>\n        <p>\n        <span class=\"eller\">Ray Luzier<\/span> &#8211; <span class=\"walsh\">Good drummer<\/span><\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Do you have a favorite song to play?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">Nope.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        We&#8217;ve got several guitar players on our site. Would you tell us\n        about your rig?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Right now I just use a POD for a lot of stuff, then Marshalls, Fenders,\n        Boogies or what ever the situation calls for &#8211; As for my rig from the Roth days I used a\n        Peavey 5150 head sent to 2 300-watt Marshall\n        bottoms on stage left and a Custom Audio D.I. &#8211; It was sent to a H and H\n        power amp that powered 2 bottoms on stage right &#8211; A Bob Bradshaw switcher\n        was used for my phase 90 and flanger &#8211; A nanoverb was in the loop of the\n        main head that I used for a little reverb and chorus &#8211; There was a wah\n        loop and a back-up system at\n        the flick of a switch.<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">\n        Is there one Concert\/Performance\/Event\/etc. of your career that stands\n        out in your memory?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">\n        Reunion Arena in Dallas Tx. 1999 &#8211; Texas rocks!!!!<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">Anything else you&#8217;d like to add?<\/p>\n        <p class=\"walsh\">Yeah\n        &#8211; check for <a class=\"isDisabled\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bartwalsh.com\/\" title=\"Site No Longer Active\">my site<\/a> to be back up\n        in the future &#8211; And just want to thank all the fans of the Atomic Punks\n        and DLR for a great 10 yr run &#8211; It was a heck of a ride &#8211; OLD VH\n        RULES!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n        <p class=\"eller\">Thanks, Bart. It&#8217;s been great\n        talking with you.<\/p>\n        <p>As we complete this\n        Interview, Bart is traveling the country doing clinics for Gibson\n        Guitars. Visit <a class=\"isDisabled\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gibson.com\/products\/clinics\/bartwalsh\/clinics.html\" title=\"Link No Longer Active\">http:\/\/www.gibson.com\/products\/clinics\/bartwalsh\/clinics.html<\/a>\n        to see when Bart will be in your area.<\/p>\n        <p>\n        <\/p><address><strong><font face=\"Tahoma\" size=\"1\">Interview Posted 1\/04 <br>\n          <\/font><\/strong>\n        <\/address>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":1416,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1565","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1696,"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1565\/revisions\/1696"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianellergraphics.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}