Author's friendship with Eddie Van Halen begets insightful book

[James in New York]

Goldmine Magazine

Author's friendship with Eddie Van Halen begets insightful book
Ken Sharp17 hours ago

Steve Rosen has written the book 'Tonechaser' about his long friendship with guitar legend Eddie Van Halen.


Music writer Steve Rosen lived the dream of not only conducting among the most insightful, informative and revelatory interviews with guitar god Eddie Van Halen but he forged a deep personal relationship that spanned many years —he was even set to write an official biography of EVH.

Rosen's new book, Tonechaser - Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey With Edward Van Halen is an engrossing and intimate memoir of his friendship with Eddie Van Halen.


GOLDMINE: There have been quite a few books on Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen, what makes yours an essential read?

Steve Rosen: I’m working on my book and I see this book come out by Brad Tolinski (Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen by Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill). I knew Brad back from the Guitar World days, and he was actually very good to me back then. And I saw Paul Brannigan’s book (Unchained: The Eddie Van Halen Story) and I looked through his book and he’s an incredibly good writer.

And I thought, You know what, there’s no way that I can write that type of book. Not that it was the type of book that I wanted to write anyway, but I didn’t have that kind of knowledge about Ed. I can’t tell you what pickups he used on the Bumblebee guitar. I can’t tell you what tour happened in ’84. I don’t know that type of stuff. I left that stuff to those guys.

Also, I’d written about that stuff, you know, back when I was doing those Guitar World stories in the mid-‘80s. So, really the thing that sets my book apart is the fact that I had a friendship — a real friendship — with this guy Edward Van Halen that none of those writers ever had. And I’m not demeaning their books in any way because they’re both incredibly good books, they’re both incredibly good writers, those guys and Chris Gill.

But it’s not like they were hangin’ out with Ed every day or going up to the studio or having him come by their house. And it was that insight that I wanted to share with readers. I think that was the thing that was missing from their books. Information-wise, both those books are packed full of stuff. But I don’t think you got a sense of who Edward was.

You know, when he wasn’t onstage or he wasn’t building guitars. I mean, who was this guy? Was he a happy guy? Was he a sad guy? Did he have pressure on him? Did he love the band? You know… was he happy in his marriage? I mean there were so many questions, honestly that I wish I could have spoken to Edward about that I never had the opportunity to. But I thought that’s the kind of book that the fan wanted. And that’s the kind of book that I can write.

GM: What type of soul-searching was done in terms of you deciding to do a warts-and-all book, which was going to be a hard, emotional journey for you as well?

Rosen: That’s a great question man, that’s why honestly it took 17 years for me to get there. You know, after things kind of ended in 2003. Look, there was no way I was going to write a book in 2004 or 2005 or 2010. I couldn’t even think about doing that. And to be honest, I was angry with Ed.

Look, he could keep being friends with anyone he wanted to. He could end friendships with anybody he wanted to. It was just the way that it ended that it was, like, so uh…I just never saw that coming. I never thought that he had that thing in him or at least I never thought he had that much animosity in him towards me.

GM: We can let people read the book for the full details but you know, the “Cliffs Notes” version of how your relationship with Eddie ended.

Rosen: I sensed Edward changing… I could sense him changing, going back to the mid-'90s. And I don’t know if that was because that was the due to the VH III record, you know…I don’t know what it was. I don’t know if his marriage was, you know, unravelling. I don’t know what it was, but I’m telling you, man, I sensed a change in this guy.

Look, I didn’t spend every day with him, but I spent a lot of time with him and if you’re around your buddy and you see, you know, he’s changing, and you say to yourself, Hey man, what’s going on? You’re changing! So, in answer to your question, the “Cliffs Notes” version without giving it away… you know, I had worked on a project that I asked his permission about.

I wanted his “OK,” even though by that time, 2003, we hadn’t spoken. I don’t think we had spoken for about three years. I certainly hadn’t seen him for many, many years. But I still loved the guy and I still respected him and I thought, I owe him this. I want his blessing…I wanted him to say’ “It’s OK. Go work on that.”

GM: And that was the “Van Halen: The Early Years” documentary for a small company…

Rosen: I wanted him to see it! I wanted him to watch it because I was pretty proud of it. So, I called him back, he took my phone call after (me) getting his machine and that kind of thing, and I said “Hey Ed…” and before I could get the words out of my mouth, he just let go on me.

He had heard somewhere about it. My first instinct was he had seen it and he hated it. And even that would have been a fair… that would have been a fair reaction… “Hey (in Eddie’s voice), you went ahead and did this. I didn’t give you my OK!” Forgetting that I had tried to get his “OK” (continuing in Eddie’s voice), “And I thought it was a piece of garbage! Why did you do that?”

Had he been angry, and that would have hurt, but at least, OK, I could understand that, but he never saw it. It was just the fact that I had gone ahead and done it that angered him. There may have been other things that had happened that he was mad at me about and I tried as hard as I could to think what that was. I can’t imagine what it was because like I said we hadn’t spoken for years.

We hadn’t seen each other for years, so it’s like, what could I possibly have done to make him that angry? And, yeah man, that stayed with me for a long time. Getting back to your original question, it took many, many years to get over that and even then I thought, Hey, you know what, I have a lot to say. I think there’s a lot I have to say that readers would be interested in reading, and even then I thought, My God, if I write this book… readers, hardcore fans are gonna read this and they’re gonna go, “This isn’t the Edward we know. He’s not like this. He wouldn’t have said those things to you.” …“Edward wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t have talked about Michael Anthony that way.” And for me, the only kind of book that I could write was an honest one. I was revealing myself as well and that was hard.

GM: To your credit, it’s a very honest book that reveals the flaws of a very talented person, but like you said, you’re also not immune to your own self-criticism and I think there still is a great deal of love that fuels the book. It’s not a “tell-all,” it’s a book that came much more from a place of love and respect than from bitterness.

Rosen: Absolutely, and 99.9% of everybody who has read the book understands that. Had I tried to have gone out to trash him…(in Steve’s own voice) “I’m pissed me off because you treated me like garbage,” yeah, I think that book would have rang hollow with everybody. I just don’t think it would have meant anything.

GM: You were revisiting conversations that were not your interviews, but personal phone conversations between you. What were some of the major revelations hearing this again, not having addressed these conversations for decades?

Rosen: Yeah, to be honest man, virtually everything that came up, I thought, Oh my God, did we really talk about that?! I mean just little things like…there’s that one little conversation we have talking about the draft. And Ed kind of laughs, and I go, “Don’t laugh!” and he goes “No man, I’m nervous!” because at that point, he was actually eligible for the draft!

I mean those kinds of little bits and pieces I had no idea we had talked about. I wish I had pursued those kinds of conversations more. You know, when he was talking about his Dad passing. He initially talks about his Dad, before his Dad’s passing, and he says, “My God, I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” and I said, “Oh no man…you’ll be stronger than that,” and then his Dad passing and him just being absolutely lost. I had no recollection of that conversation and I thought, Oh my God, that is so heavy.

When I was working on the book, I just pulled out one of those what I call “The Twilight Tapes” at random and it fell on that little section of (in Ed’s voice) “Oh my Dad thinks I’m a genius” and that kind of thing and Ed talking about his Dad and that’s when I knew how valuable that stuff was. I never knew that he was really never a fan of Sammy’s writing. I had no recollection of him saying that stuff to me.

GM: Why did the term Tonechaser hit you so profoundly that it had to be the title of the book?

Rosen: One, it was one of the last interviews I ever did. In all the years, all of the thousands of words he had spoken to me, he had never, ever, ever used that term. And it just seemed so eloquent for him to say that because Ed didn’t talk like that. You know, Ed would have said, “Yeah man, I got this new rig, I’ve got some new pedals,” but for him to frame that image of him as a “tonechaser,” chasing after tones, lookin’ for this thing.

And again, I write about that, I don’t think he ever found that. I think that was one of the things that made him great and one of the things that probably made him crazy. But as soon as I heard that, in listening back at that moment, when he says that word in 2003, I don’t think anything of it because I don’t think that’s going to be one of our last conversations.

But in listening again, I go, Oh my God, tonechaser! How fucking perfect is that?! I’ve never heard another guitar player I’ve ever interviewed describe themself that way. I’ve talked to five hundred guitar players, and probably a million words and none of them ever used it. And even more profoundly, in all the interviews I ever heard Edward do or read, after parting ways with him, I never heard him use that word again. I thought, “Oh my gosh, that’s it.”

GM: Let’s go back to the beginning when you became first aware of Van Halen. Initially, you didn’t get the first Van Halen record.

Rosen: You know, it’s funny. I talked to my brother about this, who was actually there that night, Nick was there that night with me when I first met Ed in June ’77 and my brother remembers distinctly hearing, “You Really Got Me” on the radio and he said, “Oh my God! This is a game changer. There’s nothing like this” and it just didn’t hit me that way at all.

I received the first album as part of the Warner Bros. monthly shipment and I put it on and I don’t know if part of me was biased before I put it on, thinking that I somehow was jealous of him. Here was this young guy in a band on the Strip and he’d just gotten this monster deal at Warner's. I was this guitar player playing in these local bands thinking, Oh my God! I would give an arm for that!, so maybe that was part of it when I first put that record on? But I didn’t think it was that good! I was like, “Yeah, he’s a good guitar player… I’ve heard guitar players that were that good,” local guys…

GM: When did that all turn around for you and the lightning bolt finally hit you with how good that first album is?

Rosen: The second day I thought, You know what? I’m missing something here. I need to re-listen and I put it on from track one, “Runnin’ With the Devil” and I listened and I thought, That’s what everybody’s getting. That’s what it is. Oh my God…this…yeah, there’s nothing like this.” This is Jimi Hendrix, I don’t mean stylistically, I mean being influential. This is Jimi Hendrix and this is the first Zep record and this is Truth, the first album by The Jeff Beck Group, yeah, the world is never going to be the same.

I heard some of those influences, even though Edward denies it, but I mean there’s a little bit of the (Ritchie) Blackmore thing in there, not much Clapton. But I thought, Oh my God, the sound of his guitar and his phrasing and it’s a trio…there’s no guitar when he goes to the solo, like the Cream thing. So it was a day sitting and really listening with an open mind and I thought, “Electric guitar is never gonna be the same after this.” (laughs)

GM: You interviewed Eddie very early on. Tell us about that and did you get a sense of connecting with him on a personal level?

Rosen: Well, just briefly, going back to the conversation at The Whisky, I never heard Van Halen. For some reason, I had never listened. I had never seen Van Halen play. So, I didn’t know what he played like. But I can tell you that conversation was so unencumbered by that first meeting of a stranger, man. I thought, God, I really like this guy.

He liked all the same people I did. I think it was about a year later when he came over to my house on Weepah Way — where I was living in Laurel Canyon for the first time — this was right before the second record comes out. I offered to drive to his house because he was still living in Pasadena. I said, “Man, you don’t have to drive out here. I’ll drive out to your place” and he said, “No, man, I’ll drive out there.”

And he comes over and he picks up my guitar and I felt a connection beyond the interview thing. I just felt so comfortable with the guy. Look, I realized who he was, knew what kind of guitar player he was, so don’t get me wrong, being around him was like being around Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton and I thought, This guy is a giant.


GM: Almost yearly, Eddie came over to your house before each Van Halen album came out and previewing it for you to gather your impressions. He treated you like his trusted consiglieri!

Rosen:: That is pretty unbelievable. He would bring over these tracks without any vocals on them, which I always thought was unbelievable as if he really wanted me to hear the guitar playing. I honestly believe that Edward probably almost got as much out of that, me hearing him as him hearing me. I think it really meant something to him.

I really believe that and he knew I’d be honest. I think it was in one of those conversations when there was some particular solo that was just… it was just astonishing. I don’t have the book in front of me, I can’t remember what song it was, but my reaction because I didn’t want to go off the deep end and say, “Oh my God Ed! That was just so f**king great!” He didn’t like that and I learned that early on, so I said, “Yeah man, it’s really good.”

And he goes “Well, didn’t you like it, man?! I thought it was neat!” “Neat” was his way of saying “That’s as great as I could’ve ever done it!” and I thought for him to react to me that way said that he really did put so much emphasis on what I thought about what he did and to me that was such an incredible gift and an honor. And yes, I think he loved coming over and playing the records for me before the stuff came out.

GM: While there, he would inevitably pick up one of your guitars and start playing that too and sometimes you guys would play together.

Rosen: I think about those moments and I have it on tape. I can think back that “I am playing guitar with the f**king best guitar player in the world?” At that point in time, was there anybody who was bigger than Edward Van Halen? You know, Van Halen II?! And like I say, watching him close up, and watching his fingers and I can only romanticize about it.

It was unbelievable... the fact that he would do that or if I picked up the guitar he never would say, “Hey man, I’m gonna play!” or made me feel small because all he had to do was give me a look and I would’ve put the guitar down and shrunk into the corner…and he NEVER did that. And talk about the humility of the guy, for him to feel that comfortable doing that was just amazing. Yeah, those were extraordinary moments. I wish somebody had a video camera at that time!

GM: Was there a pivotal moment where your relationship moved from “trusted journalist” to a friend that he could confide in?

Rosen: I can only write about it in sort of an abstract way. I describe it as a glass of water…you watch it and you find the last drip makes it run over. When does it really happen? You know, you’re kind of waiting. I tried to figure that out because it seems like it happened really quickly. I can’t point to a specific moment.

Coincidentally, Jas Obrecht who did a lot of those fantastic early interviews with Edward — and I write about that at length in the book — he just put up the audio of that very first interview he did with Edward where Ed mentions my name. So this is early ’78. I had only known Ed, God, way less than a year and he says, “Yeah, one of the few guys I’m comfortable with is Steve Rosen.”

So, I don’t know where that came from. Look, as a journalist, what are we if we’re not people who listen? We’re good listeners and we try to respond with questions and comments that are intuitive and insightful and Ed just picked up on that somewhere. I can’t give you one definitive moment. It was just this thing that kind of happened. I try not to think about it, it’s like “Well, why is he hanging out with me? Why does he feel so comfortable?”

GM: I’m a big fan of all the members of Van Halen, especially the original band. I was a bit taken aback by the frank discussion about Michael Anthony where he (Ed) liked him as a person, but professionally he had some issues.

Rosen: What everybody has to understand is that when Ed was telling me these things in real time, he was talking about Michael that way around the second or third record. I thought people were gonna come down on me saying, “Oh my God, we love Michael, why would you say that?” because you have to understand, getting back to your point, how much he loved Michael, how much he loved Dave.

I mean they were his brothers. He loved those guys and nobody was gonna have the work ethic that Edward did. I mean it would have been impossible. No one was going to stay up 24 hours a day like Edward did and do what he did. But I think Ed just wanted a little bit more out of Mike. He just wanted a little bit more. He wanted Mike to come in a little bit more rehearsed. He wanted Mike to come in with some song ideas and that’s a hard thing. Look, I get it… you bring in song ideas to Edward Van Halen and you’re not a songwriter. You know, “What’s Edward going to think of my ideas?”

But with Ed, it was all about the effort, which translated into respect; although Ed never said it, I think Ed was saying, in Ed’s voice hypothetically, “Hey. Mike…Mike doesn’t love this band enough.” You know, to me, that’s disrespectful. I’m putting words into Edward’s mouth there, but there’s a fair grain of truth in that.

GM: Speaking of relationships, from your perspective knowing Eddie and having many professional and personal conversations with him, could you characterize how his relationships with his bandmates changed over time? We’ll start with his brother Alex then move into David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee.

Rosen: With his brother, it was always “Alex and Edward.” Nothing was ever gonna tear those two guys apart.” Who is next on the list?

GM: David Lee Roth.

Rosen: To be honest, and this is probably common knowledge, I don’t think Edward was ever a huge fan of Dave’s singing. But Edward realized early on that they needed a front guy. Edward was certainly not gonna be the singer. Dave brought that “thing” and there was that friction between them like you have in The Who and the Stones, which worked for them.

But I think at a point in time, Dave got a little laissez-faire. Edward was quick to point out that Dave worked really hard, he always came prepared with lyrics, but Dave was going off on these vacations, which again translated into disrespect to Edward that finally just wore on him. With Dave’s solo record and leaving the way he did, I think that was unforgivable.

GM: And the way his relationship evolved starting on a big high and then ending on a “low” with Sammy is quite interesting. Could you trace the arc of that relationship?

Rosen: I mean, again, Ed says he’s no fan of Sammy’s writing for Sammy’s solo stuff, but he recognized Sammy’s voice. Ed realized he could do more as a songwriter because of Sammy’s range and I think it was down to his work ethic early on, and again those same things happened.

You know, Sammy was married and I think he was going through some marital things. Sammy was maybe giving short shrift to some of the music and that finally wore on Edward and it all comes back to respect. Ed sees that as disrespect and I think that once you get on that side of Ed, there’s no coming back.

GM: Well, how about Ted Templeman? How would you characterize how that relationship certainly evolved?

Rosen: We didn’t talk a whole lot about Ted though Ted comes up in the book, obviously. That was a relationship that was hard to understand. At times Edward would say, “Well, you know, Ted just does this…” and other times, Ted was paramount in what they did. I think Ted worked closer with Dave, but Edward would say things about Ted and how he disrespected Ed and Ed was furious.

Then Ed building the studio, that didn’t make Ted happy. Ed would eviscerate Ted verbally and then, yeah, he’d come back years later and work with him. I could never understand it. But, I think at the end of the day, there was something about Ted, obviously, that Edward needed as part of him being a musician. I was never quite sure what it was, but I believe that Ted was definitely critical.

GM: And their longtime engineer who grew very close to Eddie, Donn Landee.

Rosen: Donn was a critical piece. Donn was an unassuming genius who doted on Edward, who knew every single thing there was to know about a studio. He put Edward’s guitar on tape. Donn loved him. I mean, Donn probably spent more time with Edward than maybe anybody else, maybe more than Alex, maybe more than Valerie when they were married. Donn was there constantly.

Donn, according to Edward, maybe he wanted a little bit too much of Edward’s time, and I understand that because I wanted it, too. And Donn didn’t want to share Edward with anybody. Mick Jones comes in and I think Donn maybe was burned a little bit by that. I was shocked when Edward stopped working with Donn. I thought that was a relationship that would last ‘til the end. I could never understand that one.

"I thought it was a side of him in understanding Edward that this had to be included. I thought, If I don’t this, a piece of history gets buried forever, and I couldn’t do that." — Steve Rosen

GM: As a person, stepping away from him as a musician, what were the traits about Eddie as you grew to know him as a friend that you most admired and perhaps traits that later potentially disappointed you as well?

Rosen: There were several things. Edward always seemed so self-aware. I never heard Edward say “Was that a f**king good solo?” There was no “Blackmore sucks!” Look, he didn’t like Ritchie Blackmore because of the way Ritchie had embarrassed him. He’d talk about other guitar players, but there was never any “dissing” them that way. So, he was self-aware of who he was. He knew how good he was, which is why when people would go over the top and just say, “Oh Ed! You’re the greatest!,” he didn’t need to hear that. It didn’t do anything for him. I think in many ways it cheapened what he did. So, he was self-aware. He was so aware of who he was.

GM: And that was a trait you admired?

Rosen: I thought that was unbelievable. My God, to have everybody on the planet telling you you’re the most incredible guitar player in the world?!

GM: But he was very humble, too.

Rosen: He was humble and you have to understand it wasn’t a false humility because I saw some of the things he’d say to me or how he took my opinion so heavily…it’s like to me that’s a sense of humility. I mean, who am I?! You know…he didn’t have to listen to what I said. To me that’s just humility times 10! But, again, on the other side of that, he was highly aware of who he was.

You never heard him say, “Oh man, I could have done better” although he would say that. He knew he was a very good” guitar player. But yeah, he was very humble. He was very centered, which isn’t to say that he didn’t have pressures and could succumb to things. But whenever I was around him then if I was feeling strange or weird then, he would always go out of his way to say some things to make me feel better about myself and that’s pretty unbelievable.

But all that stuff disappeared, which is why when things ended the way they did, it was even more hurtful because I never saw any of that in him. And the things he said to me, and the way he treated me, it’s like none of that ever happened and I thought, My God, did it happen? Was I looking through rose-colored lenses? Was he really this kind of guy? and he wasn’t. So, all of that stuff, it just went away.

GM: What was your take on the family dynamic with Eddie’s Mom and Dad? I always got the feeling that his Dad was the special person in his life that that he always wanted to make proud.

Rosen: I absolutely agree with that. Yeah, his Dad was everything to him. From a young age, both he and Alex would play with his Dad back in Amsterdam. I often wondered had the father not been a musician, would Edward Van Halen be Edward Van Halen? I don’t know. But his Mom actually did play keyboards. He talks about them jamming during Christmas.

GM: You were set to write the only authorized book about Eddie Van Halen. Eddie agreed to it. Obviously it fell apart at some point, but you were doing lots of interviews. You must be very regretful that the planned interviews with Eddie’s parents never happened because that could have been very, very revealing.

Rosen: Those would have been extraordinary. I think about that all the time. I thought about that when I was writing the book, I should have said, “Ed, f**k you. We’re going over to your parents’ tomorrow.” And you know what he would have said? He would have said, “OK.” But it’s one thing for me to say that from afar, it’s another thing to speak to Edward Van Halen that way. I know he would have said “OK.”

I just kept giving him “outs.” For some reason, he never wanted it to happen. So, did he not want it to happen because he never really wanted to see that book come out? Think about it…While Van Halen was still together, was he somehow “shy” about that? I don’t know. He loved his Dad, you’d think Ed would say, “My God, I should have Steve go talk to my Dad,” but that is my biggest regret. I did meet his parents, I met his Dad a couple of times. I met his Mom once or twice.

I think I would have gotten along incredibly well with them. And just one last thing. When Edward says, “Hey, man, yeah, but I’d like to be there.” For him to say that, you talk about that humility thing, as if I wasn’t going to allow him to be there, I mean that’s how he thought and I thought My God, if he was there and his parents talking back then… that would have been a historic moment because now obviously no one’s ever gonna have that.

GM: Having all these “Twilight Tapes,” these personal conversations where you guys are speaking at length sharing personal details and confiding in each other, that must have been the toughest decision, knowing how private he was, to include that in the book. But what pushed you over the top to say, I need to include these “Twilight” conversations”?

Rosen: Man, I thought about that a lot. I thought, Oh my God, if I put this stuff in there… you know and I thought…at first I thought a bunch of things. I thought, Fans are going to go amock! They’re gonna come looking for me! I would be trashed online. Then I thought, My God. Am I hurting the legacy of Edward? Is the family going to be hurt by this? I listened to these tapes and I thought, These tapes are so revealing about him. They’re so honest. I thought they were beautiful. I thought they were amazing and to hear him crying and to hear the things he was going through, to hear when he was so happy…

It’s like “My God, how do I write this book without including this stuff?” It would have been a lie to me. It was just hearing some of those things thinking, No one in the world, no other writer has this kind of stuff. I didn’t do it to be sassy or anything like that. I just thought it was a story, I thought it was a side of him in understanding Edward that this had to be included. I thought, If I don’t this, a piece of history gets buried forever, and I couldn’t do that.

GM: What do you think Eddie would have thought of your book? Would he be happy, or would he have viewed it as a betrayal of friendship, or could it have been a combination of those things?

Rosen: Well, you know we have to frame that question. So, if you’re asking me that question in the framework of how our friendship ended. And so hypothetically Edward is still here and in 2022 this book comes out and we haven’t spoken to each other for 17, 18 or 19 years. By that time and he sees the book and he reads it? I would like to think that he would think, Wow. Steve wrote a really good book. (continuing in Edward’s hypothetical voice) “What an honest book this is.”

I always thought that if Edward would have read it, that that might have been the bridge to mending our friendship. You know, in a perfect world. But I think he would have liked it. Would he have called me up and said, “Wow, man, you wrote a really good book. I miss you, let’s get together…”? I think he would have liked it. Would he have looked at the writing and said “Wow, he’s a really good writer!”? I don’t think it would have impacted him that way.

GM: What do you miss most about him as your friend?

Rosen: Man, that is hard. (pause) Him just showing up at Weepah Way. Him coming in and playing guitar. Him feeling that comfortable that he could just come over and smoke in the house. And he knew I hated him smoking.

GM: Wasn’t he also trying to give you suggestions about one of your songs and you guys were potentially gonna work on one of your songs together?

Rosen: Oh, well, my God. That is just so far beyond the scope of reality, I mean…yeah! Yeah. It happened. It happened twice! I tell the story about how I was working with my buddy Ron and he comes over and he picks up the guitar and he starts playing these parts over it that were just unbelievably incredible. And there’s the other time when I’m over at his house and he picks up the bass and I’m playing one of his guitars and I’m playing this little riff that I had come up with.

And he’s digging it and on the ride home he goes, “Hey, man, what are you doing with this song? Can I work on it?” Yeah, my God, do I miss the chance that he could have actually have worked on one of the songs, that we could have worked on it more, that I could have somehow written a song with him on it? Yeah, but I mean that’s so far beyond the scope of reality, I can’t even think of that. So I think of those moments that were a little more believable and real. You know, just hangin’ out with the guy. He had this energy, he really did. The guy was really special. He was a genius. I mean how many geniuses do we meet in this life?



To get the book Tonechaser send $47.00 to Steve Rosen at paypal.me/Tonechaser. Include your address, send payment as Family & Friends.

[Little Dreamer]

Lots of good stuff. Particularly the part about Ted and Donn.

[James in New York]

Lots of good stuff. Particularly the part about Ted and Donn.

Yes, it's loaded with good stuff!

[Raldo]

Heavy stuff.

[Ineedalogin]

I don't think I'll be getting this book. I have read everything I could about EVH and the band. But after his death, I finally red Val's book and that crushed me. I felt like I had no business knowing what I now knew. I know she shared it openly and honestly. But I really wish I hadn't read her book. It really did cast him in an incredibly bad light...far far worse than Sammy's book did. So when I read in the article the OP posted about how the author's relationship with Ed ended....and how he sensed a change in Ed. Well, I'm kind of worried he'll reveal other things that I have no business knowing. Maybe that sounds weird to many of you. But I almost feel like I'm invading his privacy. Ed didn't share these details, other people did. There's a difference when you write an autobiography and when someone else tells secrets behind your back.

[Dave's Dreidel]

I only read parts of Val's book that got posted in bits and pieces online, and it made me think less of Val, not Ed.

[Dont disturb my Paradise]

I only read parts of Val's book that got posted in bits and pieces online, and it made me think less of Val, not Ed.

Same. She’s done herself no favours. She hasn’t had contact with Al in a cuppla years either, for these very reasons.

[Bad to the Bone]

I've thought for a long time that the problems Ed appears to have developed with some of his long time friends and bandmates. it all comes down to if Ed thinks he is being taken advantage of. the VH early days stuff can be seen that way, the issues with Roth, Hagar and Anthony can be see that way. you can call it disrespect or whatever you want but if Ed felt you were taking advantage or him (especially in regards to his music) you were done.