Undone by the loss of his brother Eddie, Alex Van Halen looks back in a new memoir: NPR

Brothers Alex (above) and Eddie Van Halen in an undated photo.

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Then guitarist Eddie Van Halen died of cancer in 2020, his older brother Alex was overwhelmed with grief. With only a 20-month age difference, they had grown up together as “a yin and yang…the two halves of a whole,” says Alex.

Raised by a Dutch father and an Indonesian mother, the brothers emigrated from the Netherlands to the US when Alex was 8 and Eddie was 6. In California they learned to play music – mostly classical and military marches – but their focus once shifted to rock. they started to listen The Beatles and The Dave Clark Five. They formed the band in 1974 Van Halenwith singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony.

Initially, Alex was the guitarist in the family, but he discovered he “had no connection with the instrument,” he says. “I just didn’t feel it.” His brother’s bond with the guitar, on the other hand, felt like fate. “The fact was, when Ed played, he made that instrument sing. It was incredible. (I said,) ‘Ed, you play guitar. I want drums.’ “

Known for their extravagant, energetic performances, Van Halen would produce twelve studio albums and singles, including “Runnin’ with the Devil,” “Hot for Teacher” and the 1983 anthem, “Jump.” some famous line-up changes (mainly singers) throughout the career, but Eddie and Alex are the only members of Van Halen to have played on all those albums.

In the new memoir BrothersAlex looks back on his relationship with Eddie and the decades they made music together. “We left a lot unfinished,” he says. “Obviously, every time I hear some of our music, I go right back there.”

Interview highlights

Brothers, by Alex Van Halen

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About how Eddie Van Halen found his voice as a guitarist

He played guitar from the moment he woke up until the moment he went to sleep. And it was just his way of communicating or finding peace with himself and the earth. … It’s just that Ed had a sensitivity that was very difficult to describe. … The problem with Ed was that he could play anything. So the hardest thing for him was to find his own voice. And he spent a lot of time on it. When he finally found it, that was it. Big smile.

About setting his drum kit on fire during performances

For me, fire represents temporality – that only the moment counts. I mean, the flame is there and poof, it’s gone. So it’s life, right? So to me that represented that. And there was an element of danger because we were doing it at such an amateur level. … My favorite memory from all of that was, we kind of got it down to a science. And as we do it during the performance, the lighter fluid starts to flow down my arm. And then I look over and see that my arms are on fire. So I think: that can’t be good, can it? So I look at (my tech) Greg, who in theory is there with a fire extinguisher. So I look at him and he looks at me and he gives him a thumbs up. “Looks great, dude!” I will never forget that as long as I live.

It turns out that the average male brain doesn’t fully mature until age 27. I’m still waiting.

On the This is Spinal Tap mockumentary satirizing a heavy metal band

That wasn’t funny at all. Ed and I saw it and we said, “That’s what we experienced!” That’s really how things happen. It’s mind-blowing. The audience actually has no idea what’s happening behind the scenes. And I’m certainly not going to burst the bubble. But that film had many elements that were more true than parody.

About the band getting mad when Eddie played guitar on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”

If I remember correctly, he (us) consulted and we said: No. I wanted to kick his ass because our model was actually Led Zeppelin. The way they structured their business, the way they structured how they played, who they played with. You couldn’t get Jimmy Page anywhere else. You can only get it on Led Zeppelin. Come to the performance. That’s it. You don’t come into contact with Michael Jackson. But Ed violated that. And it created a whole cascade of bad, bad vibes.

About David Lee Roth’s departure from the band in 1985

(Eddie’s collaboration with Michael Jackson) wasn’t actually the only thing, because things were already starting to unravel. When we named the album 1984it had nothing to do with the year. It had to do with George Orwell and the dystopia of what was going on. This band was so broken that we hardly ever played together anymore. And unfortunately, MTV became the main way to convey all of this. And Dave, the visible man, of course opted for more visual things. I don’t blame him for it, but it’s just a shame (because) we were on the cusp of something really, really big. … No one fights better than friends.

Therese Madden and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Jacob Ganz adapted it for the web.