Alex Van Halen Gives First Interview After His Brother Eddie’s Death

With his memoir, Brothers, coming out next week, Alex Van Halen sat down with Rolling Stone for his first interview after the death of his brother, Eddie Van Halen. Alex tackles quite a few talking points, including that vocalist David Lee Roth didn’t want the Van Halen reunion tour in 2021 to feature a tribute to Eddie. “The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now, 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,” Alex said. “If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’ And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave fuckin’ popped a fuse. The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.” Roth has not commented on Alex’s accusation, though RS noted that the two former bandmates remain in touch. It should be noted that Alex does not elaborate any further on why Lee Roth was destructively against giving Eddie a proper send-off.

He did offer this explanation: “I’m from the street. ‘You talk to me like that, motherfucker, I’m gonna beat your fucking brains out. You got it?’ And I mean that. And that’s how it ended. It’s just, my God. It’s like I didn’t know him anymore. I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherfucker. It’s not you alone anymore.”

Other revelations from the interview (and memoir) include Ozzy Osbourne being in talks to replace Roth as the band’s vocalist before deciding to work on his The Osbournes reality show with MTV instead, and that Eddie and Alex jammed with Chris Cornell shortly before the Soundgarden frontman’s death. You can read the full interview with Brian Hiatt here.