Alex Van Halen‘s given his first interview since the death of his brother Eddie Van Halen, talking to Rolling Stone ahead of the Oct. 22 release of his memoir, Brothers.
In the interview, Alex talks about his reaction to his brother’s 2020 death, telling the mag it led to a diagnosis of PTSD.
“I shut down,” he says. “I was yelling and screaming. I was beside myself.”
Alex also dishes a little dirt, blaming David Lee Roth for the collapse of a planned Van Halen tour following Eddie’s death.
“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.’ … And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f*****’ popped a fuse. … The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
Roth did not comment on the accusation, although the mag notes Alex and David are still in touch.
Alex says looking at it now he can’t imagine touring without Eddie. As for former frontman Sammy Hagar playing Van Halen songs on tour with guitarist Joe Satriani, the mag says Alex wouldn’t even say Sammy’s name.
“The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike (Anthony), and me,” he says. Rolling Stone notes the only mention of the Van Hagar years in the book was Alex writing, “We had a lot of other singers over the years.”
Also in the article, Alex tells Rolling Stone that in 2001 they almost got Ozzy Osbourne to front the band, but it didn’t happen because he was in negotiations for the MTV reality show The Osbournes.
Finally, talking about Eddie, Alex says, “I just miss him. I miss the arguments. I live with it every day. And I can’t bring him back. I can’t make things right.”
But he says he feels his brother’s presence.
“He was there this morning,” he says. “He’s fine. Wherever he is — he’s fine.”
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