Hachette Books has set an October 5 the release date for the new 336-page hardcover book "Eruption: Conversations With Eddie Van Halen" by music journalists Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill.
"Eruption" offers a new look at guitar legend Eddie Van Halen via a groundbreaking oral history composed of more than 50 hours of interviews with Eddie, his family and friends.
Published to coincide with the first anniversary of Eddie's death from cancer, the book highlights his greatest triumphs as a groundbreaking musician, including an unprecedented dive into VAN HALEN's masterpiece "1984". It takes an unflinching look at Eddie's early struggles as a young Dutch immigrant unable to speak English, which resulted in lifelong issues with social anxiety and substance abuse. It also examines his brilliance as an inventor who changed the face of guitar manufacturing, as well as his turbulent marriage to Valerie Bertinelli and his relationships with bandmates David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.
As entertaining as it is revealing, "Eruption" is the closest readers will ever get to hearing Eddie's side of the story regarding his extraordinary life.
Highlights include:
* Details of his childhood struggles as the son of biracial and immigrant parents
* Eddie's battles with social anxiety, which encouraged later problems with alcohol and cocaine
* His impact on the guitar industry, including how he built his own guitar with spare parts, known as "Frankenstein," and created a trend that eventually changed the way electric guitars were made, revolutionizing the guitar industry
* His often-stormy relationships with VAN HALEN's trio of singers David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone
* His long and complicated marriage to Valerie Bertinelli; his close relationship with his son/bassist Wolfgang Van Halen; and his marriage to second wife and publicist Janie Liszewski, who helped him recover from substance abuse and supported him through his many cancer treatments
* Details of his 20-year cancer battle and death
Official book description: When rock legend Eddie Van Halen died of cancer on October 6, 2020, the entire world seemed to stop and grieve. Since his band VAN HALEN burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut album in 1978, Eddie had been hailed as an icon not only to fans of rock music and heavy metal, but to performers across all genres and around the world. VAN HALEN's debut sounded unlike anything that listeners had heard before and remains a quintessential rock album of the era.
Over the course of more than four decades, Eddie gained renown for his innovative guitar playing, and particularly for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique. Unfortunately for Eddie and his legions of fans, he died before he was ever able to put his life down to paper in his own words, and much of his compelling backstory has remained elusive — until now.
In "Eruption", music journalists Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill share with fans, new and old alike, a candid, compulsively readable, and definitive oral history of the most influential rock guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. It is based on more than 50 hours of unreleased interviews they recorded with Eddie Van Halen over the years, most of them conducted at the legendary 5150 studios at Ed's home in Los Angeles. The heart of "Eruption" is drawn from these intimate and wide-ranging talks, as well as conversations with family, friends, and colleagues.
In addition to discussing his greatest triumphs as a groundbreaking musician, including an unprecedented dive into VAN HALEN's masterpiece "1984", the book also takes an unflinching look at Edward's early struggles as young Dutch immigrant unable to speak the English language, which resulted in lifelong issues with social anxiety and substance abuse. "Eruption: Conversations With Eddie Van Halen" also examines his brilliance as an inventor who changed the face of guitar manufacturing.
As entertaining as it is revealing, "Eruption" is the closest readers will ever get to hearing Eddie's side of the story when it comes to his extraordinary life.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
There's been a bit of chatter on Vhlinks.com about this forthcoming book. It sounds like it might be far more informative and in depth than the many other books written about EVH....Especially as it sounds like much of what it contains are intimate details spoken by the man himself.
Aside from the Van Halen band drama we've all read and heard about, I'm most curious about his later life as a guitar builder and manufacturer and his early life as an immigrant in southern California.
There's been a bit of chatter on Vhlinks.com about this forthcoming book. It sounds like it might be far more informative and in depth than the many other books written about EVH....Especially as it sounds like much of what it contains are intimate details spoken by the man himself.
Aside from the Van Halen band drama we've all read and heard about, I'm most curious about his later life as a guitar builder and manufacturer and his early life as an immigrant in southern California.
It sounds like from the podcast they are hitting on everything. I too, am interested in the gear from all phases of his career.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@jszfunk In the near future I read; a ratings poll on rock era guitar players will be released and to my surprise number one is not expected to be Eddie Van Halen. It's going to be Jimi Hendrix.
Blues guitar apparently is going to Eric Clapton rather than B. B. King or Albert King.
But we all know Jack Pearson, who continues to play bars and small clubs mostly around Nashville, deserves to be number one:)
Eddie is apparently okay with Hendrix being the best. Thinks Clapton was good when he was a heroin addict:) But EC is not as good at the blues as BB!!
Wow Clapton is the only one of these men being discussed still living.
EVH stated in various interviews over the years that he didn't believe any one guitarist was "the best" but that there were many great players and that the greatest of these many great players were, in his opinion, those that created their own distinct style and sound.
He was a huge Clapton fan but also has stated that he didn't like Clapton's sound and tone nearly as much once he began playing Strats primarily. For EVH, Clapton's pinnacle tone and sound were in the Cream days....Or so he stated in an interview from many years ago.
@chain Well in the above clip Eddie thought Clapton was his best when he was a heroin addict. He, he. When I saw Cream Clapton was playing a SG. Before Cream broke up Hendrix was invited to jam and Clapton apparently eventually left the stage. Jack Bruce said when he got back there Clapton looked as if he had seen a ghost and Clapton was struggling with shaking hands to light a cigarette and said to their manager "Why didn't you tell me he was that (blank) good?" It wasn't long after this happened in London that Clapton switched to the Brownie Strat but he didn't use the whammy bar and Jimi did. A lot.
Eddie also was big on Richie Blackmore who plays Strats so it must not be the Strat but how Clapton sounded with his.
I've seen two interviews that talk about Eddie meeting Richie Blackmore. Blackmore was playing in LA with Rainbow and Eddie and Gary Moore got back stage and were standing around talking to the band when Blackmore came walking up and someone said "Richie can I introduce you to Gary Moore and Eddie Van Halen?" And Blackmore said nothing and stormed off until it was show time. As Blackmore was walking away Eddie said " Oh no! What did I do?" Gary and Eddie had just told guys in Rainbow what big Blackmore fans they were.
There is a new Joe Bonamassa interview and Joe says that after he and other long time guitarist agree, after 30 years of playing suddenly having all these guitars and amps ( Joe had a SG with him and revealed he owns 30 Gibson SGs) doesn't move the meter anymore. Joe said in recent years when he wants to change up his tone and sound, he can play a Fender guitar or a Gibson guitar and their various models, LP, ES-335, SG, Strat, Tele, Nocaster....and different amps: Fender, Marshall etc, it doesn't really move the needle anymore!!! Joe says he basically sounds the same. Not enough of a difference anymore to make a darn... so he has all the guitars, amps, pedals and now no matter what I drag out I still sound the same.
"Joe Bonamassa: “I can play a Fender amp and a Fender guitar, it sounds like me. I can play a Gibson amp and a Gibson guitar. It sounds like me. Moving the needle isn’t happening anymore“ | MusicRadar" https://www-musicradar-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.musicradar.com/amp/news/bonamassa-gibson-fender?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16309677505730&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.musicradar.com%2Fnews%2Fbonamassa-gibson-fender
Eddie is introduced to Blackmore and Blackmore storms off:)
Eddie is introduced to Blackmore and Blackmore storms off:)
I have heard variations of that story.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@jszfunk What? That Blackmore didn't snub Eddie Van Halen and Gary Moore? That would directly contradict this and another interview I read earlier today. But maybe it didn't happen like they said.
Pretty much Blackmore snubbed him , but just told different ways. I have heard it for years....
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Well here is Blackmore showing live that he is better than Eddie and certainly anyone who has been in the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd!! And showing how much better a Fender Stratocaster is than a Gibson Les Paul. How could one play such a beautiful and melodic piece on a Les Paul?? You can't do it.
A friend's grandson just sent me this video and this man is the absolute BEST electric guitarist on the planet and Eddie, Blackmore, Vai, Gary Moore, Joe Satriani, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks can't touch this guy technically and neither can Hendrix or Clapton. This guy is the best ever technically. No clams, never out of tune and smokes the strings and fretboard!
I must confess I've never liked this kind of playing and do not own any of this player's records. But after watching there is no question what he does on this Strat is perhaps the best TECHNICALLY I've seen. But I tire of the heavy lightening fast stuff rather quickly.
Also since he obviously doesn't play that particular Strat anymore...I wonder if it's for sale. Sounded like a good one while it still had a neck!:)
"Johnny Marr wields a nine(!)-pickup Strat on his new "electro soul anthem," Spirit, Power And Soul!
Well Johnny Marr has a Strat I imagine Eddie Van Halen would have loved!! It has NINE PICKUPS!!!
With the nine pickups one can make this guitar sound like a Strat or a Super Strat for heavy metal or a Tele for country music or a ES-335 for jazz or a Les Paul for ABB or Zeppelin style music or an acoustic guitar for a Billy Strings sound. Also the nine frets or a combination of any of the nine can give you the sound of an accordion for songs like Lady of Spain or a Tuba for polka music or bass drum for use in a marching band. A solar panel on the back of the headstock provides the power for the guitar while playing when walking across a football field. Wow what an all purpose guitar!!
I was a little tongue in cheek above. Just being silly and I'm bored today.
A friend's grandson claims a lot of young guitar heads love these shredders. Too wild for me.
I was joking about the tones one can get from the 9 pickup Strat. I haven't a clue what all those pickups do.
And Blackmore's solo I posted is not beautiful and melodic:) hehe.
