In a deeply personal conversation on Talk Is Jericho, hosted by Fozzy frontman and wrestling star Chris Jericho, Alex Van Halen delved into the emotional process of writing his memoir, “Brothers.” The book, described as a love letter to his late brother Eddie Van Halen, serves as Alex’s poignant goodbye following Eddie’s untimely death and the challenges the pandemic posed during his final days.
Reflecting on those painful times, Alex shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Ed and I were tight. We worked together, we played together, we did whatever. But when he was near the end of his life, because of COVID it was very difficult to visit him in person and to see him. There was always either a glass barrier or something plastic surrounding him. The times that we could actually touch him were few and far between. And that really put everything in a strange kind of — I can’t explain it, but it didn’t feel right. So we really had no closure, in that sense, and everything was hurried near the end, again, because of the COVID issue.“
The pandemic restrictions left the family without the closure they desperately needed. Eddie was cremated, and his ashes were scattered without the chance for a traditional ceremony. For Alex, the book became his way of saying goodbye, a sentiment he expressed with raw vulnerability.
“We didn’t really have a ceremony afterward. He was cremated and his ashes were spread. This is my way of saying goodbye to him. And whatever you believe in terms of spiritual pursuits and all that, I think he’s still here, he’s still here with us in one way, shape, or form — not to the point where he’s not allowed to go where he really wants to go. They call it a tether; you don’t wanna tether him to this dimension. So, Ed, whatever you wanna do is cool. We love you. And I just wanted to say that to the point of infinitum, whatever the expression is.“
“It’s hard to describe what it’s like to not have someone in your life that has been there for 65 years. That’s a long, long time, and it wasn’t just a regular — and I’m not giving other people a hard time in terms of ‘my relationship was stronger than yours’. That’s not the point. It’s just that when you have something that’s taken out of your life after 65 years, it’s difficult. And I’m certainly not alone. I’m not saying I’m special or I should get a medal — no, it happens to a lot of different people,” he continued. “And I think one of the side effects of this book has been a lot of people have contacted me and said, ‘Reading this book has given me a different way of looking at the parting with people who I loved.’ And I know that grief can be a common denominator if you will, and that’s not my preference — my preference is the happier times — but with the good comes the bad. And everybody’s gonna go through it.”
Beyond the grief, Alex addressed the tantalizing possibility of unreleased Eddie Van Halen music seeing the light of day. He explained the meticulous process of sifting through the vault of recordings, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the band’s creative integrity.
“I’ve talked about it loosely, and I am rather superstitious, but I can say a couple of things that I’ve mentioned before. We’re gonna go through the quote-unquote, vault and go through some of the musical ideas that were there. On the one end of the spectrum is the fact that little licks don’t make a song. On the other end of the spectrum, some of those licks are so unbelievably powerful, that it’s too bad that they ended up in the back of the vault, rather than being records.“
While there’s a wealth of material — enough for several albums — Alex insists on taking the time to honor Eddie’s legacy properly: “There are so many different variables in a band like ours. We don’t just walk in the studio and plan, ‘Let’s make a record,’ although we have done that to some degree. But it’s not a mechanical process for us. We go in and we play and see what happens, listen to it, invite a couple of people, and then see what happens with that. And then you listen and you evaluate. If the next day, when you come in and listen to it, it doesn’t kick you in the face like it did the first time, then maybe you should move on and do something else. Don’t hold on to an old idea just because it’s there. No. That’s not how we did it. Having said that, there were also a lot of bad ideas. That’s always the risk you run, but if you don’t do that, you will become — it’ll become inert. It’s called inertia, or whatever — entropy. Things will fall off and then you become less and less creative.”
Now, with Eddie’s passing, Alex and Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, are the keepers of an extensive archive of unreleased material. However, Alex made it clear that any potential release must meet the duo’s stringent expectations:” And the other aspect of all of that is that you are in an open marketplace where you are being judged, and if you don’t do well in the marketplace, people are gonna go, ‘Maybe it’s time to do something else.’ And that is a real issue. But now that Ed‘s gone, none of those things are really valid because all I have, and Wolf [Eddie‘s son and Van Halen bassist] has, are all the recordings in the vault. And they will stay there until we figure out how and why and what to do with them. And again, you have to remember, it has to be on the level of where Ed and I, where we used to play. We’re not just gonna shovel it in. We have access to some of the greatest musicians on the planet, and a lot of ’em are more than willing to take a chance on some of the stuff.”
When Jericho probed further, asking if there was more than just a handful of demos in the vault, Alex revealed the staggering extent of Eddie’s legacy. “Oh, yeah. Probably three or four records, if not more. I’m serious. There was some good stuff, some good stuff in there,” he said. He also admitted that rediscovering old recordings has been an emotional and enlightening experience: “Sometimes the really great stuff kind of passes you by. And it’s not until you revisit it going, ‘Whoa, I forgot about that. This kicks ass.’ But that takes time. And you wanna do it right. I wanna do it right.”
Released on October 22 via HarperCollins Publishers, the 384-page “Brothers” book is listed at a price of $32.00.