David Lee Roth

Hey there, Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew just dropped the needle on something a little off the beaten path, a power-pop punch from a trio of Indianapolis smart-asses who know how to write a hook that sticks in your head like a Van Halen riff. The song is "David Lee Roth" by The Fuglees, pulled from their album Indiana, and it is pure Hoosier love letter mixed with a knowing wink at the whole Van Halen circus. These guys, Andy Kuhn on bass and vocals, Erich Anderson on guitar and vocals, and Tom Knapp on drums and vocals, have been knocking around the Indy scene for years, turning out tight, hook-filled tunes that blend the catchy with the cheeky. Indiana, their second full-length, came out in the early 2000s and showed they were more than just a bunch of wise guys with funny song titles. Nearly every track, from the Prozac ode to the heavy metal girl anthem, packs those harmonies and melodies that make you want to crank it up and sing along, even when the lyrics are taking a dig or two.

What makes this particular cut a conversation starter is how it found its way back into the orbit of the man himself. David Lee Roth, the original Van Halen frontman and Indianapolis native, ended up posting the track on his own YouTube channel under the title "Where Is David Lee Roth Directors Cut," and from what folks could see at the time, without any credit to the band that wrote and recorded it. The lyrics give him plenty of ammunition. Lines like "Sammy Hagar's not the same / You can drop that singer from Extreme / But no matter where you walk around / There's a little David, everyone" sit right there in the middle of the song, and Roth used the whole thing as a little jab in the long-running back-and-forth with Hagar and the other singers who stepped into that Van Halen spotlight. Comments on older live clips of the band tearing through the tune at the Melody Inn in Indianapolis noted that Roth had been using it for his TV show videos too, and some listeners swore the band got listed in the end credits on at least one version. Either way, it is the kind of rock-and-roll cross-pollination that feels both surprising and perfect, a local Indiana band writing an ode to a local Indiana rock star, only for that rock star to turn around and broadcast it years later when the old rivalries heat up again.

The Fuglees built their reputation the old-fashioned way, gigging hard in the Indianapolis clubs, landing spots on local radio like X103, and even catching some national airplay on the Bob and Tom Show. They were finalists in the Patio/Benchmark Battle of the Bands and became known for those high-energy live sets where the crowd would sometimes pelt the stage with marshmallows while the band, occasionally suited up in orange jumpsuits, balanced the laughs with real musical chops. Anderson's guitar work leans heavy and seventies-influenced, while Kuhn and Knapp lock in the low end with the kind of tightness that only comes from years of playing together. Kuhn once described the three of them as musical triplets who share a secret language, and that chemistry shows up in everything from the studio tracks to the rare reunion gigs after Kuhn moved out west. Indiana itself was recorded at The Pop Machine in Indianapolis, mixed and mastered with care, and it made the case that these guys could write songs as strong as any of the power-pop acts they grew up on. Tracks like "Crazy Girls" and "Get The Fuck Off The Stage" lean into the humor, but "David Lee Roth" sits right in the middle of the record as that affectionate, slightly irreverent tribute that only a hometown band could pull off.

As for how the whole thing got rolling, you have to start with Andy Kuhn, the bassist, singer, and also the guy who handled a lot of the artwork and design on the records. Kuhn has been drawing comics professionally since the early nineties, working for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, and just about every other publisher you can name. He co-created the Firebreather series with writer Phil Hester, and that one even got turned into an animated movie for Cartoon Network. Comics are his day job, but music has always been the other love that would not let him go. He has played in a stack of bands with the same core guys, including an earlier project called The Jack Webbs with Knapp and another guitarist, and those long-running partnerships are what make The Fuglees feel like a family outfit rather than a temporary gig. When Kuhn moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be with his fiancée, he did not quit the band. He just started commuting back for shows, booking a run of gigs every couple of months, flying in, playing the rock for the kids, then heading home again. In interviews around the time Indiana dropped, he talked about the grind of that travel but also about how much fun it still was, and about the band trying to take the next step with major-label interest and airplay beyond the local stations. The name The Fuglees itself comes from that old saying about something being "butt fugly," which fits the irreverent, self-deprecating humor that runs through their material. They are a live-action cartoon in a lot of ways, Kuhn has said, and the same odd creative spark that feeds his comic work also drives the songwriting.

Listening to "David Lee Roth" now, years after it first hit the streets, you can hear all of that local pride and rock-and-roll affection baked right into the arrangement. It is not a cover of a Roth song, it is an original that celebrates the high kicks, the little yell, the pretty women, and the sense that no matter who else steps up to the mic, there is still something of Diamond Dave in the DNA of that whole era. The band kept going after Indiana, putting out another album called F-Bomb a few years later, and they still get talked about as Indianapolis music legends whose rare appearances remain legendary. For Zoo Freaks who dig the deep cuts, the stories behind the records, and the way a song can travel from a Midwest club stage all the way to a rock star's YouTube channel, this one is a keeper. You can catch more of that freeform album-rock spirit and the artist backstories that go with it right here on THE ZOO.