David Lee Roth Launches ‘The Roth Project,’ an Otherworldly Online Comic Book
David Lee Roth has unveiled The Roth Project, the Van Halen singer's immersive new online comic book that features a slate of five songs co-written with Rob Zombie guitarist John 5.
Encompassing 17 chapters narrated by Roth in a deep baritone, the comic imagines a futuristic world where artificial intelligence has attained the capability to murderously mimic humans. When experiencing the comic, the viewer can choose to watch the action solely with narration, with the music alone, or both.
"What happens when a self-informing A.I. killer begins imitating humans?" reads part of the introduction to Chapter 1. "What if a human being started imitating that end result? What happens when they finally meet? The following documents and transcripts only begin to tell that story."
As noted by Blabbermouth, the online comic's soundtrack contains the group of songs that Roth recorded with John 5 several years ago in Los Angeles. Those include the titles "Giddy Up," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill," "Alligator Pants," "Lo-Rez Sunset" and "Manda Bala."
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill" was released over the weekend with Roth dedicating it to his longtime bandmate Eddie Van Halen. The track can be heard down toward the bottom of this post, after a video tutorial for The Roth Project.
In addition to John 5 on guitar and bass, the comic's credits section lists contributing musicians Gregg Bissonette (drums), Brett Tuggle (keyboards) and Luis Conte (percussion), as Ultimate Classic Rock reported. Otherwise, the score itself was written and performed by Roth.
Five years ago, John 5 recounted the experience of working with Roth.
"I would just go to his house … and I'd write these songs with him," the guitarist told the No Guitar Is Safe podcast back in 2015. "And he would say, 'Let's go into the studio.' So he would go to Henson studio and record these songs. They're so good. They're so good … They're really great songs."
Enter The Roth Project by clicking here.
The Roth Project Online Comic Book Tutorial
David Lee Roth, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill"
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