Alex Van Halen will release a memoir titled Brothers in the fall, its publishers announced.
Scheduled for Oct. 22, it’s to be available as a 384-page hardcover, a 720-minute audiobook and an ebook. No further details were revealed by HarperCollins, although the preview displayed the alternative titled The Brothers Van Halen.
It’s likely the book will focus on drummer Alex’s relationship with younger brother and bandmate Eddie Van Halen. As kids they’d started out playing each other’s instrument before swapping permanently, and put their first band together in fourth grade.
They went on to form Mammoth in 1972, before David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony arrived two years later and the group changed its name to Van Halen. Alex and Eddie were the only members to feature from the beginning until Eddie’s death signaled the end in 2020.
“After we honed our skills, you learn the connection between the people and the music,” Alex said in a 2021 interview. “Playing live, there should be no dead space. Never turn your back on the audience and never insult them. They are equal to you.
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“That line that separates the audience from the stage, that’s not a line. That’s just to keep them from puking on your shit! You’re there to make the audience feel good.”
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He added: “There’s nothing left in the music business. It’s a bunch of ones and zeroes. In the old days you’d get a dollar a record, and now you get 50 cents for 275,000 streams. It’s insane. It’s wrong. Now the only thing you have is playing live, which is ironic, because that’s how it all started.”
Earlier this year Sammy Hagar touched on why Alex had decided not to be involved in previously-discussed tribute shows in Eddie’s memory, saying: “You know, he, I guess, just doesn’t like playing without his brother. Don’t blame him. God bless him.”
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