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VINCE Neil has revealed a previous life as a teenage bootlegger of Van Halen t-shirts at the band’s Los Angeles shows – before RECOMMENDING counterfeit Motley Crue merchandise.

Neil at the weekend visited the RokIsland festival at Key West, Florida as a backstage guest, joining Lit on stage (see video below). Before his appearance he conducted an interview with Sirius XM, telling the Faction Talk station his mother would take him to Van Halen shows and support his illegal endeavour.

“What I would do is my mom would drive me to … I remember the Long Beach Arena (when) Van Halen was playing there,” Neil told host Eddie Trunk.

“And I didn’t get in but what I did was I was bootlegging t-shirts. Yeah, I was the kid out there selling t-shirts out of my mom’s trunk.

“I was using my mom’s car. She drove me there.”

Asked if he had printed the tees himself, Neil said: “Yeah. I had them printed.” Asked if he bootlegged other bands, he said: “Only Van Halen.”

The 62-year-old even praised Motley Crue’s counterfeiters in Latin America, saying: “They frown on it but say down in Mexico, South America, the bootleggers, they make the best stuff!

“I’ve got a bootleg, like these boxers … I don’t remember  … but they make these really cool boxers with spikes on them and stuff, they have your logo on it.

“They make everything. If you want to get some really cool Motley stuff, go to the bootleggers next time you’re in South America.”

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Steve Mascord

Author Steve Mascord

Steve came up with the name of Hot Metal magazine in 1989 and worked for the magazine in its early years. He is HM's editor and proprietor in 2022.

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