The Quiet Van Halen Speaks Of Family, Music, Life, Love And Loss
The band Van Halen share their name with its two founding members. So when speaking of Van Halen sometimes it’s important to distinguish if you are referring to the band or personnel. Frequently it was interchangeable. The band Van Halen or the guitarist Edward Van Halen. Infrequently was the reference to band co-founder Alex Van Halen.
Sitting behind a drum kit for over 50 years made it possible for Alex Van Halen to be in the background rather than the spotlight. It isn’t that Alex Van Halen is or was an average drummer. He is a driving force, formidable and extremely talented.
But when you have a flamboyant front man, David Lee Roth and a Mozart-like gifted brother as guitarist in your band, it’s simpler to stay in the background.
The brother is of course Edward Van Halen, universally considered one of the greatest rock guitarists and composers of all-time.
Some Van Halen fans may know that Alex was the guitar player when they began playing as a band in their early teens. But Alex would eventually switch to drums. Ed’s musical talent on guitar was undeniable.
As Alex writes, “Ed loved Alvin Lee’s song ‘I’m Going Home, ‘ which had a wild guitar solo. One day, Ed was messing around with my guitar and out of nowhere he played that solo, note for note – he nailed that song. It was brilliant. We were blown away. Nobody else could do that, at least nobody we knew. That was the day we realized Ed was a guitar virtuoso.”
Ed was 14.
Brothers Is About Brothers
Alex Van Halen’s Brothers (Harper) 2024, is the story of two young kids emigrating from Amsterdam to California and eventually conquering the rock world.
It’s also a semi-cathartic release of the pain that Alex Van Halen has felt since the death of younger brother Edward or Ed (never “Eddie”) Van Halen from cancer at the age of 65 in 2020. The pain is evident as Alex Van Halen speaks not just to his readers, but frequently directly to his brother. And their bond seems unbreakable – even in death.
Alex writes of their childhood, “There were very few things that we did apart. The assumption was that anything I was doing he was doing, and vice versa, especially when it came to music. Any deviation from that was unpleasant.”
If readers are expecting something deeply revelatory or dirt or trash talk you will not find it here. What Brothers delivers is a explanation of what drove the Van Halen’s to success. It’s a credo of hard work and stick-to-it-ness. It permeated their music and live shows. Van Halen, the band, is as much is a philosophy of doing things your own way rather than following others or trends.
For Alex Van Halen who is almost like Harpo Marx when it comes to public speaking or granting interviews, the book provides an outlet for intelligent and thoughtful reflections.
Who knew?
Alex comes across as observant, passionate, emotional and firm in his convictions. Yet this is not really an autobiography. Alex omits many personal details of his life. The years covered are primarily the 1960s through the mid 80s. Alex barely mentions his first two marriages or what hobbies or pleasures he was partaking in when starting out in music, besides women and booze.
We do learn about the Alex’s relations within the band; David Lee Roth, producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee.
The Van Halen we learn more about is Edward. A genius affected by personal demons.
Brothers covers the early years of the Van Halen family with father Jan and mother Eugenia’s fostering a love of music in the Van Halen children. Jan Van Halen, a professional clarinetist would instill life lessons into his sons that would serve them well as they were forging ahead in their own professional music careers.
The band’s rise to prominence and early struggles is told with candor, as are the temptations of rock ‘n’ roll fame that go along with it. The alcohol, drugs and women synonymous with the rock lifestyle is treated with brevity, but honestly.
For reasons known only to Alex Van Halen there is no mention of Sammy Hagar the guitarist / singer who replaced Roth and led Van Halen into wider pop chart success. Bassist and backing singer Michael Anthony’s dismissal from the band is also unmentioned.
Brothers essentially ends at the 1985 acrimonious break-up of the original Van Halen with David Lee Roth leaving. Brothers concludes with a brief coda with Alex writing to Edward who he will see “on the other side.”
Maybe the story of Brothers ending where it does is because that is when Van Halen reaches the top. After their 1984 album containing Jump (their only number one song), Panama and Hot For Teacher – what accomplishment was left?
Van Halen had everything going for them and it suddenly ended. Alex Van Halen believes the pinnacle was still to come; the continuation of that arc leading to even greater heights.
Though they went on to sell millions of albums with Sammy Hagar, it was never the same.
It certainly helps to be a Van Halen fan to breeze through Brothers 225 pages. But Brothers is a book to enjoy and contemplate even if you are not.
