In support of his "Brothers" memoir, out next week, Van Halen drum legend, Alex Van Halen, spoke with Rolling Stone in his first interview since the death of his brother and Van Halen bandmate, Eddie Van Halen.
The following excerpt reveals that following Eddie's death in 2020, Alex was hatching plans with David Lee Roth to stage a Van Halen tour, but then Roth refused to pay tribute to Eddie during the set...
There was a moment when it seemed like Van Halen, the band, might survive the death of its guitarist. Rumors of a planned post-Eddie tour, with Alex back on drums behind frontman David Lee Roth, were true. Shortly before the shooting-range incident, Alex and Roth began early rehearsals for that tour, with two musicians from the singer’s solo band serving as “seat fillers.” The idea was to eventually bring in Joe Satriani on guitar, and maybe even original bassist Michael Anthony, who hadn’t played with Van Halen since 2004, after which Alex and Eddie replaced him with Eddie’s then-teenage son, Wolfgang Van Halen. But in those early rehearsals, Alex started feeling numbness, peripheral neuropathy, especially in his feet. He wondered if it was an “omen from above,” a warning not to do the tour.
The plans ended up collapsing anyway, even before his vertebrae did. After several phone conversations with Queen’s Brian May about how that band carries on without Freddie Mercury, Alex came away with ideas about how to proceed. “The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now,” Alex says, “was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig. If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’ And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave fuckin’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
As Alex tells it, Roth simply refused to pay tribute to his brother, found the very idea offensive, for reasons he can’t comprehend. Alex was … displeased. “I’m from the street,” he says. “‘You talk to me like that, motherfucker, I’m gonna beat your fucking brains out. You got it?’ And I mean that. And that’s how it ended.” Alex remains baffled. “It’s just, my God. It’s like I didn’t know him anymore. I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherfucker. It’s not you alone anymore.” (Roth declined to comment.)
Read more at RollingStone.com.
Alex recently shared a clip from the audiobook edition of Brothers. The 4:30 clip can be found at Spotify, and features Alex reading a section of his memoir, titled "Overture".
Alex says in part: "I watched you take your last breath. In that moment, all the stuff you did or made in this world, you can’t take it with you. Since you’ve been gone, I catch myself talking to you, yelling at you, in my head or sometimes out loud. I still have trouble believing you’re gone, and probably for me you never will be. Outliving my little brother? This just wasn’t the plan. As the older brother, I was supposed to die first. Same as always, Ed, butting in line.
"I’ve watched, sometimes with anger, sometimes with grief, and other times with pride, as the world has mourned your passing, and other people have claimed to tell your story. But I was with you from day one. We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800 sq. ft. house, a mom and a dad, and a work ethic.
"Later, we shared the back of tour bus, the experience of becoming successful, becoming fathers and uncles, of alcoholism and spending more hours in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people could only hope to achieve. We shared a last name, and we shared a band.”
Alex recently announced two signing events and a live conversation event in support of his upcoming book.
Alex Van Halen’s deeply candid and insightful book, Brothers, is not like any rock & roll memoir you’ve ever read. Alex Van Halen shares his story of family, camaraderie, immigration, music, and loss, and offers a remarkable tribute to his late little brother and bandmate, Edward, a once-in-a-generation talent and transformed our understanding of what it's possible to do with a guitar.
“I was with him from day one,” Alex writes. “We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800 square foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic. Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming successful, of becoming fathers and uncles, and of spending more hours in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime.”
Tickets for the book signing and live conversation events, as well as book pre-orders, are available now via Van-Halen.com.
Dates:
Monday, October 21 @ 12 Noon – Barnes & Noble – NYC
Tuesday, October 22 @ 6 PM – Books & Greetings – Northvale, NJ
Thursday, October 24 @ 8 PM – Live Talks LA @ the Frost Auditorium in Culver City
In 1962, Alex Van Halen, his younger brother Edward or Ed (never “Eddie”), and their parents boarded a ship in the Netherlands to emigrate to America for the promise and opportunities it held. Ten years later, the boys formed a band and were launched on the path to international rock stardom. Written by Alex while still mourning Edward’s untimely death, Brothers is a candid love letter to a sibling bond that transcended the public stages. Told with acclaimed New Yorker writer Ariel Levy, this intimate portrait of a once-in-a-generation talent goes far beyond the standard rock memoir, sharing a story of family, camaraderie, immigration, music, and loss.
In his singular voice, Alex remembers the brothers’ childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working-class Pasadena, California, where early on they struggled with their outsider, immigrant status. They gained different perspectives on life from their itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian mother. With Edward on guitar and Alex on drums, they would form an eponymous band that went on to sell over 80 million records and play sold-out shows around the world for four decades.
A fascinating story of a legendary band, its talent, and the passion to create, Brothers takes readers deep inside with tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behavior. But mostly Alex’s portrayal of brotherhood, music, and enduring love shines through the drama. Brothers provides the definitive take on Edward Van Halen’s life and death from the one who knew and loved him best.
Publication in the US and Canada will be on October 22, 2024; Harper UK, Australia/ New Zealand will follow on October 24 and October 30 respectively.
The audio book edition of Brothers contains an unreleased song composed by Edward and Alex Van Halen. Titled "Unfinished", it is the last piece of music they wrote together and can be heard as Alex narrates his story.
Alex has shared a snippet of the above-mentioned "Unfinished" via social media. Listen below.
Further pre-order options can be found at Harper Collins.
