Brothers

At 71 years old, Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen has said a lot of goodbyes. But none of them hit as hard as the loss of his brother – Eddie Van Halen. Released last month, Brothers is the latest book about the band, is the first published by Alex, and is definitely the most personal. Clearly written as a way to cope with his brother’s death, Alex bleeds all over the pages. While stories of the band are definitely there, he spends a large portion of the narrative talking about how he and Eddie were raised, the strong bond he had with his brother, and how he still carries their parents’ words with him.

Brothers is the fourth Van Halen book I have read, but it is different than the others for many reasons. While Eruption: Conversations With Eddie Van Halen (2023) was published by two journalists who pieced together hours of interviews, Van Halen Rising: How A Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal (2015) is a comprehensive history of how the band went from playing backyard parties in Pasadena to selling out arenas around the world. Both are well-written and meticulously researched by professionals. Conversely, Crazy From The Heat (1997) is David Lee Roth’s memoir in which his ego is on full display through his stream of consciousness writing. One aspect that all the books reiterate is that DLR was a showman, a performer, and the ultimate frontman (the best I’ve ever seen for sure). Juxtaposed with the musicianship of the Van Halen brothers, at their height, the band was the biggest ticket in town.

Although each book provides a different perspective, a lot of the information overlaps so I was wondering what new knowledge I would gain from a book written by Alex (with the help of New Yorker writer Ariel Levy). Here is what I learned (or was I reminded of) from Brothers: 1) Alex Van Halen misses his brother so much. His sadness is palpable. 2) Eddie and Alex were best friends – even when they weren’t. 3) There are many sides to every story. 4) Eddie was sensitive and didn’t handle criticism or acclaim well. “The world just got right to him.”

My favorite parts of Brothers are the three sections that feature Alex talking to Eddie beyond the grave because they are so genuine. He misses his brother deeply and my heart broke for him as I read. Overture: “You couldn’t filter out criticism – or adulation, for that matter; everything just got right to you.” Interlude: “Dad always told us, you have to have your own sound – when you hear the first few bars of any Van Halen song, you better know you’re hearing Van Halen. We achieved that. It’s something to be proud of…But looking back on it, it doesn’t mean as much to me without you here to share it.” Coda: “I’ll never say goodbye.”

Overall, people who read Brothers are either going to love or hate all the quotes Alex uses from other books – including the ones I mentioned above, Nothin’ but a Good Time, and Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music. Some are going to appreciate that the author did his homework and others might feel like he made up for writing original content by inserting content from the aforementioned books. As a journalist and author, I like that Alex “lets them do the talking” rather than speaking for his bandmates, manager, label head, etc. More specifically, I think Alex’s take on the Eddie quotes I had previously read in other books is fascinating because, going back to the many sides to every story point above, it shows how people remember the same story very differently. Another interesting aspect is that while the author frequently defends DLR (“We knew enough to know that a guy like Dave with his ego and charisma would give us more space to be who we really were”), he also points out his faults – especially when DLR decided to leave the band at the height of their success.

The overarching main points Alex drives home in his book are: 1) Musicianship was everything to both him and Eddie because that’s how they were raised. 2) Hard work was most important and drilled into them by their dad. 3) Their mother wanted them to wear suits and to have more “respectable” jobs. That comes up A LOT. 4) In terms of the band, Alex and Eddie’s focus was putting on the biggest and best shows because, as Alex mentions repeatedly, audiences remember how the band made them feel more than the songs that were played.

Van Halen fans will enjoy the book because there’s nothing like a firsthand account and no one knew Eddie better than Alex. That being said, I think fans will notice the same two things I did: very little is said about Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar is only mentioned in passing (fine by me), and the narrative abruptly ends after DLR quits. I think Alex designed it this way because the book is not about Van Halen – it’s about family. “All Ed and I can hope to leave behind are our children and our music. Our sons and our songs.” At his age, Alex Van Halen is living his life for his wife and sons. He is proud of what he and his brother and the band did and thinks about his brother every day. Even after all the millions of records sold, the fame, and the fortune, family is everything to him and always has been.

Quotes:

“[Our mother] was hoping for concert pianists playing Carnegie Hall, not Van Halen with the Monsters of Rock.”

“As a musician, your sound is your identity.”

“[Our dad] had records from every composer that you could possibility imagine, and all these books about them – he knew the history of all these people. And that bled into how we saw the world.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve never been able to tolerate, it’s unearned, arbitrary authority.”

“Music is a viral way of spreading emotion.”

“There was no such thing as ‘hard rock’ or ‘heavy metal’ at that point, but whatever sound we were going for, Van Halen was its name.”

“Camaraderie was part of our job.”

“A band is a gang: you’ve made a commitment to each other and you’re going to do whatever it takes until you reach the end, and that provides the energy and the camaraderie to get you there.”

“It takes a long time to sound like you.”

“Furious and focused. That was us.”

“Creativity is an argument among friends. And we never fought better with anyone than we did with Dave.”

On Fair Warning: “The music on that album had some menace to it.”

Throughout the narrative, Alex makes it clear multiple times that “Van Halen is NOT a heavy metal band.”

New facts I learned: 

Alex and Eddie’s first concert was Eric Clapton with Derek and the Dominos in Pasadena in 1970. Even though they sat in the sixth row, “Ed brought binoculars so he could see every detail of what Clapton was doing.” That anecdote made me smile.

The jet engine sounds in the intro of “Runnin’ with the Devil” were made using horns the band members took out of their cars. Their literal and figurative DIY sound, that stitched together sound, helped set the band apart.

After getting signed by Warner Bros., the band was told to stop playing clubs. They were paid $83.83 a month for six months.

The band brought 36 tons of sound, lighting, and stages wherever they went.

Their dad played on Diver Down.

Alex is still mad that Eddie played guitar on “Beat It” – especially since that if it wasn’t for Thriller securing the number one spot on the chart for so many weeks, 1984 would have been number one.

1984 is the record he is most proud of and listens to the most.

DLR was the first person Alex called after Eddie passed away.