Dweezil, thanks so much for the update. I have enjoyed every episode that has been released, and although I may have been frustrated by the delays, I continue to await further content. We know s**t happens, and life gets in the way.
Besides as a 50+ year old, life long fan of all things Van Halen, I’m used to long waits between updates/new products. LOL
It is true that I have not been here on the site for a while. I understand how frustrating it is to feel disconnected and unable to have answers to your questions. Within the RWTD community there has been a healthy debate about the status of the podcast and people have voiced their concerns about the podcast being over promised and under delivered.I think that is a fair representation of the situation to a point. I definitely agree that Season 2 has been under delivered in terms of episode frequency and timeliness. That has been the most challenging part of this endeavor because of extenuating circumstances. On the other side of the coin, I do believe that that the episode content has been and will continue to be worthy of the described premise of the show.
I have just written a blog and email to all of the RWTD group which will hopefully answer your questions. I know that there are people in this group who are beyond disappointed with the delays and as I have mentioned I agree that there is validity to that frustration. The episodes have been taking way too long to complete. It's not because I've forgotten about any of you or that there is a commitment to creating the content. Please have a look at the blog or the email you will receive for further understanding of the circumstances that have caused the delays.
Hey Dweezil, im not seeing an email. Have you sent it yet? And i understand life is busy. Curious what the ETA of the Balance episode is? Thanks and love the podcast!
You rock Dweezil! Thanks for everything--looking forward for what's to come! Until then we have all of your fantastic episodes and plenty of the epic music that VH has bestowed upon us over the decades.
Guys, it's all good. Your lives are not being made worse in any way because you didn't get a rig preset or a podcast. Who knows what Dweezil is dealing with (you may have seen the recent news about the FZ catalogue getting sold, which surely has been a distraction and given their family history, a sure source of stress), and it should be abundantly clear that he is a good dude. The stuff will come when it will come. Meanwhile, go play yer guitars and keep smiling. <goat horns>
Sorry, but this isn't how you treat paying customers. No excuse. Bad enough what was promised hasn't been delivered, but not addressing the issue is disrespectful. Period.
First, let me say I am so thankful for what Dweezil has provided so far. It’s been both fascinating and healing. However, he clearly over promised and people are clearly frustrated by it. I understand life gets in the way and it is a significant project, but I think this really needs to be addressed in some way.
Regarding future episodes, in the interest of expediency perhaps consider cutting out all the post audio effects (which frankly pull the listener out of the experience) and just post them as is (EQ and editing aside).
Regarding the presets (which I’ve been dying to get from the beginning) consider providing a deadline for delivery (by the end of 2022?).
Appreciate all you’ve done, Dweezil. Hope this can be resolved.
Sorry, this is b******t. I paid $51.50 for this podcast and the deliverables have not been fulfilled. And it's been over a year. And no regular updates. Poor excuses all around.
Please remember that Dweezil makes nothing from doing Runnin' With The Dweezil on top of his regular job and life. All the money from this goes to the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. I understand the frustration, but I always remind myself of this before complaining in a public forum. The amazing access and content that these episodes contain is worth the wait. Thank you for doing this Dweezil!
But if I take the same approach with my customers (advertise X things, invoice X things, but don't deliver these X things, the customer have all the rights to complain, I'm sorry but that's how it works).
Under promise and over deliver is usually better this way around.
And trust me, I never complain online. But I'm just annoyed and disappointed like many here about the situation. That's all. (and this doesn't question the great quality content already out and that everyone paid for here too)
freak6767 When he started this, it was during Covid quarantine or lockdown. Dweezil probably had a lot more time to do this stuff. Now that’s over, he probably doesn’t paying the bills comes first and he’s underwater with a lot of this. I understand your frustration and totally agree with your comments.
Just a point of clarification: "Runnin' With Dweezil is proud to donate a portion of the proceeds directly to The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF)"
Everyone who is frustrated has 100% the right to be, IMO.
This is a classic example of over promising and underdelivering.
It's one thing if this project came out of gate with big aspirations and then had to pivot to promise and deliver less, updating the product page with the features one could expect from their money. I think if that happened, most members of this community would be mostly accepting and understanding based not only the complexity of delivering on the promises but also the circumstances of the past couple years.
The project still promises live listening sessions (I think there was one poorly executed), bonus episodes and presets. Whether or not any of these will ever been delivered is TBD, I guess. If you support the project today, you're supporting what amounts to false advertising. You're assuming the presets are available, that you'll receive a link to special episodes, etc.
At this point, Dweezil is not only adversely affecting his own brand, he's also affecting Premier Guitar and Walrus Audio due to their involvement with the project. But mostly he's affecting himself.
Honestly, it's hard for me to buy Dweezil's "making a podcast is hard" message. For someone who has spent his entire life surrounded by the creation of, the business of and the performing of and distribution of music, delivering on the promises made had to (or should have been) known risks to making this the quality product it could have been.
Having said that, if Dweezil came out with a little more transparency and admitted to the faults and revised what will and won't be made available with this project, I'd be totally fine with it. Right now, if feels like a waiting game of when will my customers get tired of their own frustrations and quit asking about it, and that is quite disappointing.
Lastly, I'll say the majority of what has been delivered is great. It's just that so much more was promised and as of yet no actions have been taken to resolve or course correct on those initial promises.
I didn’t realize that a portion of this went to MHOF. I misunderstood and thought all of it went to them. Like I said, I agree with all the comments, but the rest of the stuff still applies with Dweezil’s career, life and time he had durning CoVID quarantine. Hopefully, he comes up with a solution and some answers soon to rectify this situation.
What makes it more frustrating is that he has been releasing his audio documentaries with reasonable regularity, yet we are left hanging here. I think this is dead in the water to be honest.
I noticed that too. I was trying to justify this in my head when I responded, but the more I think about it I think you are right. The party might be over on this deal.
Hi Dweezil. You don’t remember me, but we spoke at length about Van Halen in Kansas City outside of your Hendrix Tribute tour bus right after ADKOT came out. Your podcast has been amazing, and I appreciate that you are prioritizing quality over timeline for everything included in the 5150 package. I know it would be easy to just quickly record some interviews and post some half-assed guitar presets for AxeFX and Helix, but why do that when so many others already have?
I do share some of the same frustrations as others who have recently posted comments asking about deliverables. An update from you addressing the current state of deliverables and setting new timeline expectations would be helpful and would probably go a long way towards keeping members’ confidence levels up.
I would like to respectfully suggest you remove the following text from this page:
8 bonus episodes that are exclusively available in the 5150 Bundle, including an in-depth "Reverse Engineering The Brown Sound!" Episode.
Also included, a handful of Van Halen inspired custom guitar presets for Fractal Audio Axe Effects III made by Dweezil himself.
Custom presets for Line 6 Helix, and Kemper platforms made by other top guitarists, round out this all-inclusive package. If you've always wanted to get as close as possible to signature VH sounds, this package is for you!
It was the custom presets and "reverse engineering the brown sound" that initally attracted me to buying the $51.50 package. I made my order in May 2021, so it's safe to say that I have been patient waiting on these, and they still aren't here over a year later. The way your site reads, to me at least, make it seem as though these goodies are already available, which they aren't.
I am enjoying the episodes so far, but have been overall quite disappointed. I appreciate you're busy, as we all are, with other things going on in life. You have to appreciate how disappointing it is when someone advertises something, only for the buyer to discover the advert has misled them.
As much as I like Dweezil, I unfortunately have to agree with the comment above.
I purchased the 5150 bundle on November 20th; and still no signs of the Fractal presets and reverse engineering episode.
While the episodes are all great, I have never seen so many reasons/excuses on all the delays there have been in almost 2 years.
As Gareth R. mentioned it above, could you please either clearly clarify the situation regarding these items we paid for the 5150 bundle once and for all?
Hey Dweezil, when you get to III you should consider broadening it a touch to the tour as well, as it was pretty great, with old Dave songs alongside Sammy songs. It was the closest there's ever been to a full catalog live performance from the band. I saw the last rehearsal and first two gigs -Ed was sober and playing great, and did this very cool 'Close Encounters' quote during his solo with a sustainer that i ripped off and played onstage for years. Even cooler was watching Ed noodle on a piano with wolf alongside in a hotel bar after the gig -just improvising, more Jarrett or Stravinsky than anything we heard him do on record. Sadly it was before smartphones...
While I’m (not so) patiently waiting for the next episode I’m going back and listening to the entire collection again…probably my 4th time through. I love listening to them and getting something different from them each time. These episodes give me a much needed EVH fix.
I just discovered VHIII last year. I never really listened to it, because some friends of mine said it wasn't worth my time, and that it sucked. In the last year I listened to it a ton. While it's very raw sounding, there are a lot of gems on it, like the slide solo in "Ballot Or The Bullet" is insane!! Also Eddie's command of feedback around this time is amazing! I always think that Hendrix tried to control feedback and Edward learned to control it and make it musical.
Whenever I think about this era I think of Ed on the cover of Guitar World wearing a black t-shirt with white letters that read “WHO THE F**K IS EDDIE VAN HALEN?” What a badass.
Aside from finding his “musical soulmate” in Gary, what do you think it was about the writing and recording of this album that made Ed so on fire creatively?
Is VH3 most akin to Fair Warning in the sense that Ed was really taking control over what was going to be on these records?
This album features the most varied guitar tones across a VH record. What is your theory on why that is? Do you think the overall dryness of the guitar was a conscious reaction to the sounds he was using on F**K and Balance?
Michael Anthony supposedly only played on three songs. Where do you think his vocals and bass playing would have fit in to make certain songs better or more like “classic” Van Halen?
Do you think the album’s less than perfect sound started on the engineering end, during mixing, or both? In your opinion and with your experience why do you think the band and label were content with the production? Do you think these tracks are technically demos?
For all of its supposed flaws I really do love this record. It is RAW. I'm curious to hear what you think about his leads on "Without You", "Once", and "A Year To The Day".
Josephina is pretty cool IMO. As you say, lots of interesting playing on VH3 - Eddie got creative with this Transtrem guitar on Fire In The Hole, and also the tune Primary, with some kind of Sitar-like instrument.
Do you happen to know what Ed is doing in the end of Pleasure Dome at around the last 40 seconds of the song it sounds to me like he is tapping. I have never seen Ed play this live. He has played some of Pleasure Dome live but not this part. You Tube has many playing this part not tapped but it sounds tapped to me? Your take?
Hello Dweezil. This is non EVH related but I’d really love to hear you and Warren Demartini go through his criminally under appreciated solo album Crazy Enough To Sing To You with this same treatment It is a record that I listen to a couple times a month. It’s one of those that, for me, every note, effect and arrangement is perfect.
Dweezil, thanks so much for the update. I have enjoyed every episode that has been released, and although I may have been frustrated by the delays, I continue to await further content.
We know s**t happens, and life gets in the way.
Besides as a 50+ year old, life long fan of all things Van Halen, I’m used to long waits between updates/new products. LOL
Wow-I paid $3. per episode for stuff I would have given my left nut for when I was 10.
Epic content !
If I never hear another second of interviews, what I have heard confirmed the genius of Ed
Thank you Dweezil!!
Hello Everyone,
It is true that I have not been here on the site for a while. I understand how frustrating it is to feel disconnected and unable to have answers to your questions. Within the RWTD community there has been a healthy debate about the status of the podcast and people have voiced their concerns about the podcast being over promised and under delivered.I think that is a fair representation of the situation to a point. I definitely agree that Season 2 has been under delivered in terms of episode frequency and timeliness. That has been the most challenging part of this endeavor because of extenuating circumstances. On the other side of the coin, I do believe that that the episode content has been and will continue to be worthy of the described premise of the show.
I have just written a blog and email to all of the RWTD group which will hopefully answer your questions. I know that there are people in this group who are beyond disappointed with the delays and as I have mentioned I agree that there is validity to that frustration. The episodes have been taking way too long to complete. It's not because I've forgotten about any of you or that there is a commitment to creating the content. Please have a look at the blog or the email you will receive for further understanding of the circumstances that have caused the delays.
DZ
^
Hey Dweezil, im not seeing an email. Have you sent it yet? And i understand life is busy. Curious what the ETA of the Balance episode is? Thanks and love the podcast!
You rock Dweezil! Thanks for everything--looking forward for what's to come! Until then we have all of your fantastic episodes and plenty of the epic music that VH has bestowed upon us over the decades.
I paid over 50$ and was overpromised and underdelivered. This website is a mess. Where are all of these cool presets?
Guys, it's all good. Your lives are not being made worse in any way because you didn't get a rig preset or a podcast. Who knows what Dweezil is dealing with (you may have seen the recent news about the FZ catalogue getting sold, which surely has been a distraction and given their family history, a sure source of stress), and it should be abundantly clear that he is a good dude. The stuff will come when it will come. Meanwhile, go play yer guitars and keep smiling. <goat horns>
Sorry, but this isn't how you treat paying customers. No excuse. Bad enough what was promised hasn't been delivered, but not addressing the issue is disrespectful. Period.
Ditto, Archon L.
See, we are not even given a reply from DZ on these many customers comments...
That speaks volume about the whole thing, 101% uncool if you ask me.
Agree with all the comments below
First, let me say I am so thankful for what Dweezil has provided so far. It’s been both fascinating and healing. However, he clearly over promised and people are clearly frustrated by it. I understand life gets in the way and it is a significant project, but I think this really needs to be addressed in some way.
Regarding future episodes, in the interest of expediency perhaps consider cutting out all the post audio effects (which frankly pull the listener out of the experience) and just post them as is (EQ and editing aside).
Regarding the presets (which I’ve been dying to get from the beginning) consider providing a deadline for delivery (by the end of 2022?).
Appreciate all you’ve done, Dweezil. Hope this can be resolved.
Sorry, this is b******t. I paid $51.50 for this podcast and the deliverables have not been fulfilled. And it's been over a year. And no regular updates. Poor excuses all around.
Please remember that Dweezil makes nothing from doing Runnin' With The Dweezil on top of his regular job and life. All the money from this goes to the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. I understand the frustration, but I always remind myself of this before complaining in a public forum. The amazing access and content that these episodes contain is worth the wait. Thank you for doing this Dweezil!
I agree.
But if I take the same approach with my customers (advertise X things, invoice X things, but don't deliver these X things, the customer have all the rights to complain, I'm sorry but that's how it works).
Under promise and over deliver is usually better this way around.
And trust me, I never complain online. But I'm just annoyed and disappointed like many here about the situation. That's all. (and this doesn't question the great quality content already out and that everyone paid for here too)
freak6767 When he started this, it was during Covid quarantine or lockdown. Dweezil probably had a lot more time to do this stuff. Now that’s over, he probably doesn’t paying the bills comes first and he’s underwater with a lot of this. I understand your frustration and totally agree with your comments.
Just a point of clarification: "Runnin' With Dweezil is proud to donate a portion of the proceeds directly to The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF)"
Everyone who is frustrated has 100% the right to be, IMO.
This is a classic example of over promising and underdelivering.
It's one thing if this project came out of gate with big aspirations and then had to pivot to promise and deliver less, updating the product page with the features one could expect from their money. I think if that happened, most members of this community would be mostly accepting and understanding based not only the complexity of delivering on the promises but also the circumstances of the past couple years.
The project still promises live listening sessions (I think there was one poorly executed), bonus episodes and presets. Whether or not any of these will ever been delivered is TBD, I guess. If you support the project today, you're supporting what amounts to false advertising. You're assuming the presets are available, that you'll receive a link to special episodes, etc.
At this point, Dweezil is not only adversely affecting his own brand, he's also affecting Premier Guitar and Walrus Audio due to their involvement with the project. But mostly he's affecting himself.
Honestly, it's hard for me to buy Dweezil's "making a podcast is hard" message. For someone who has spent his entire life surrounded by the creation of, the business of and the performing of and distribution of music, delivering on the promises made had to (or should have been) known risks to making this the quality product it could have been.
Having said that, if Dweezil came out with a little more transparency and admitted to the faults and revised what will and won't be made available with this project, I'd be totally fine with it. Right now, if feels like a waiting game of when will my customers get tired of their own frustrations and quit asking about it, and that is quite disappointing.
Lastly, I'll say the majority of what has been delivered is great. It's just that so much more was promised and as of yet no actions have been taken to resolve or course correct on those initial promises.
I didn’t realize that a portion of this went to MHOF. I misunderstood and thought all of it went to them. Like I said, I agree with all the comments, but the rest of the stuff still applies with Dweezil’s career, life and time he had durning CoVID quarantine. Hopefully, he comes up with a solution and some answers soon to rectify this situation.
What makes it more frustrating is that he has been releasing his audio documentaries with reasonable regularity, yet we are left hanging here. I think this is dead in the water to be honest.
I noticed that too. I was trying to justify this in my head when I responded, but the more I think about it I think you are right. The party might be over on this deal.
I recall 5% going to the foundation.
Well, it's frustrating that we dont even get a reply from DZ on the questions below anymore...
Im usually not the type of person to complain at all, but the level of frustration for a product we actually paid for is real.
Regards, J
Hi Dweezil. You don’t remember me, but we spoke at length about Van Halen in Kansas City outside of your Hendrix Tribute tour bus right after ADKOT came out. Your podcast has been amazing, and I appreciate that you are prioritizing quality over timeline for everything included in the 5150 package. I know it would be easy to just quickly record some interviews and post some half-assed guitar presets for AxeFX and Helix, but why do that when so many others already have?
I do share some of the same frustrations as others who have recently posted comments asking about deliverables. An update from you addressing the current state of deliverables and setting new timeline expectations would be helpful and would probably go a long way towards keeping members’ confidence levels up.
Hi Dweezil,
I would like to respectfully suggest you remove the following text from this page:
It was the custom presets and "reverse engineering the brown sound" that initally attracted me to buying the $51.50 package. I made my order in May 2021, so it's safe to say that I have been patient waiting on these, and they still aren't here over a year later. The way your site reads, to me at least, make it seem as though these goodies are already available, which they aren't.
I am enjoying the episodes so far, but have been overall quite disappointed. I appreciate you're busy, as we all are, with other things going on in life. You have to appreciate how disappointing it is when someone advertises something, only for the buyer to discover the advert has misled them.
I actually just thought I couldn’t find this stuff that it was hidden or maybe would be sent by email?
Definitely love the episodes so far. Love to hear even more about the first few albums! Just saw at Guitar Cntr VH1 on vinyl for $26 dang inflation!
As much as I like Dweezil, I unfortunately have to agree with the comment above.
I purchased the 5150 bundle on November 20th; and still no signs of the Fractal presets and reverse engineering episode.
While the episodes are all great, I have never seen so many reasons/excuses on all the delays there have been in almost 2 years.
As Gareth R. mentioned it above, could you please either clearly clarify the situation regarding these items we paid for the 5150 bundle once and for all?
Thank you
Also how do I retrieve the subscription to the magazine?
Jody L., I think you maybe have the email them or something like that. I didn't take up the opportunity to subscribe.
Any updates on the Balance episode? Working on 3 months since the last one? Thanks
Hey Dweezil, when you get to III you should consider broadening it a touch to the tour as well, as it was pretty great, with old Dave songs alongside Sammy songs. It was the closest there's ever been to a full catalog live performance from the band. I saw the last rehearsal and first two gigs -Ed was sober and playing great, and did this very cool 'Close Encounters' quote during his solo with a sustainer that i ripped off and played onstage for years. Even cooler was watching Ed noodle on a piano with wolf alongside in a hotel bar after the gig -just improvising, more Jarrett or Stravinsky than anything we heard him do on record. Sadly it was before smartphones...
While I’m (not so) patiently waiting for the next episode I’m going back and listening to the entire collection again…probably my 4th time through. I love listening to them and getting something different from them each time. These episodes give me a much needed EVH fix.
I just discovered VHIII last year. I never really listened to it, because some friends of mine said it wasn't worth my time, and that it sucked. In the last year I listened to it a ton. While it's very raw sounding, there are a lot of gems on it, like the slide solo in "Ballot Or The Bullet" is insane!! Also Eddie's command of feedback around this time is amazing! I always think that Hendrix tried to control feedback and Edward learned to control it and make it musical.
Nice to hear some love for "Ballot Or The Bullet". It sounds like Michael Anthony doing the high harmonies but can anyone confirm?
Hi Dweezil…I haven't been on here for a while...I’ve enjoyed everything so far, including the recent Satch episodes. Thanks!
What's the latest word on the 'Brown Sound' episode, and the Fractal, Kemper presets/profiles??? Thanks in advance for an update.
…A reply from Dweezil to my question is all I’m looking for. Thanks anyway, Jeff G.
Hey Dweezil,
Back to VH3...
Whenever I think about this era I think of Ed on the cover of Guitar World wearing a black t-shirt with white letters that read “WHO THE F**K IS EDDIE VAN HALEN?” What a badass.
Aside from finding his “musical soulmate” in Gary, what do you think it was about the writing and recording of this album that made Ed so on fire creatively?
Is VH3 most akin to Fair Warning in the sense that Ed was really taking control over what was going to be on these records?
This album features the most varied guitar tones across a VH record. What is your theory on why that is? Do you think the overall dryness of the guitar was a conscious reaction to the sounds he was using on F**K and Balance?
Michael Anthony supposedly only played on three songs. Where do you think his vocals and bass playing would have fit in to make certain songs better or more like “classic” Van Halen?
Do you think the album’s less than perfect sound started on the engineering end, during mixing, or both? In your opinion and with your experience why do you think the band and label were content with the production? Do you think these tracks are technically demos?
For all of its supposed flaws I really do love this record. It is RAW. I'm curious to hear what you think about his leads on "Without You", "Once", and "A Year To The Day".
Thanks Dweezil.
Josephina is pretty cool IMO. As you say, lots of interesting playing on VH3 - Eddie got creative with this Transtrem guitar on Fire In The Hole, and also the tune Primary, with some kind of Sitar-like instrument.
"Josephina" is a great deep cut! They must have been really excited about it to put it on the album instead of "That's Why I Love You".
Dweezil,
Do you happen to know what Ed is doing in the end of Pleasure Dome at around the last 40 seconds of the song it sounds to me like he is tapping. I have never seen Ed play this live. He has played some of Pleasure Dome live but not this part. You Tube has many playing this part not tapped but it sounds tapped to me? Your take?
Dave
Hello Dweezil.
This is non EVH related but I’d really love to hear you and Warren Demartini go through his criminally under appreciated solo album Crazy Enough To Sing To You with this same treatment
It is a record that I listen to a couple times a month. It’s one of those that, for me, every note, effect and arrangement is perfect.
Thank you for all you share here.
Aloha,
Jay