Alex van Halen book

[El Vampiro Blanco]

Reading the book now.
It's an OK read, but a lot is just quotes from Eddie van Halen and David Lee Roth interviews or quotes from Dave's book....
I'd have preferred if Alex had used that space for more stuff from himself.
As a Dutch man it is fun to see the sprinkled Dutch words throughout the book.
I wonder how good Alex's Dutch is these days?

[Rocker4Real]

Did he write how he spent his time after VH3 flopped?

[Jason Jennifer Leigh]

How did he spend his time after VH3 flopped?

[BernieTaupson]

It’s a bit half-ass, to be honest. I guess we’re lucky to get a book from him at all.

[jorge]

It's actually a love letter to DLR. I'm not joking. He loves Dave.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

It's actually a love letter to DLR. I'm not joking. He loves Dave.

I wouldn't say it's a love letter, he does criticize Dave or at least indicates where he does not agree with him, but yes, he does express genuine affection and appreciation for Dave.

[BernieTaupson]

Does he mention the other guy’s name once?

[El Vampiro Blanco]

Does he mention the other guy’s name once?

I'm half way through the book and Hagar ahs been mentioned 3 times so far, never as a member of Van Halen though.
Hagar opening up for VH at a festival, Templeman wanting to replace Roth with Hagar for the first album and one other time I can't remember right now.

[Bono Nettencourt]

I'm surprised that bigmouth hasn't popped off about this yet. It's got to be killing him.

[rockker]

I listened to the audio book and over all it is a lot of nothing

[FreddyFender]

Over the last 50 years Alex has said nothing. He wasn't gonna start dishing now.

[RicksPickWrangler]

I sit in traffic 10+ hours a week so audiobooks are a regular listen for me. I prefer the ones narrated by the subject. The Geddy Lee one was fantastic.

Alex's "book" was just OK for me. Like has been said earlier in this thread, lots and LOTS of interview and book quotes. He is very complimentary to the artistic contributions of DLR to Van Halen. And he is also highly critical of the man himself. Michael Anthony is mentioned several times but without any depth. My main criticism is that he essentially skips any band history from when DLR left forward. I feel he left out HALF the story. Clearly he has no love for Sammy (or VHIII for that matter).

I'd be happy with half a refund.

[HueyRamone]

I'm surprised that bigmouth hasn't popped off about this yet. It's got to be killing him.

Bigmouth? Who's that?

Oh, you mean Chubbymouth Van Flapflabb. Yeah.

[Bono Nettencourt]

No, he's team Uncle Al.

I mean this guy:

[El Vampiro Blanco]

No, he's team Uncle Al.

I mean this guy:

But Spammy did go out of his way to find an a Alex van Halen interview from the 80s where Alex said how much Hagar had added to the Van Halen sound. So childish......

[Sleek]

Listened to a few interviews with Alex now...it's weird, because I always thought he was some sort of sub-human caveman...but he's just a guy.

[BernieTaupson]

I sit in traffic 10+ hours a week so audiobooks are a regular listen for me. I prefer the ones narrated by the subject. The Geddy Lee one was fantastic.

Alex's "book" was just OK for me. Like has been said earlier in this thread, lots and LOTS of interview and book quotes. He is very complimentary to the artistic contributions of DLR to Van Halen. And he is also highly critical of the man himself. Michael Anthony is mentioned several times but without any depth. My main criticism is that he essentially skips any band history from when DLR left forward. I feel he left out HALF the story. Clearly he has no love for Sammy (or VHIII for that matter).

I'd be happy with half a refund.

Yeah it’s just okay. If you got it on Audible listen to it a couple times then get a refund and swap it out. Say you didn’t like the narrator, they won’t challenge it.

If you want an awesome audiobook get this.

Really good interviews with Cherone, Mike, even Ray Danniels.



Also almost 11 hours long. Alex’s one is only six hours something. Too short.

Noel Monk’s VH one is awesome as well.

[Bono Nettencourt]

No, he's team Uncle Al.

I mean this guy:

But Spammy did go out of his way to find an a Alex van Halen interview from the 80s where Alex said how much Hagar had added to the Van Halen sound. So childish......

Of course he did. Fucker can't help himself.

[BernieTaupson]

[BernieTaupson]

Other thing I’ve gotta mention about the Red Shocker -

In his book he writes about seeing his second wife’s toes and calls them cheetos and he fell in love with her cheetos. It’s so fucking weird and everytime I see a picture of them together I wonder what her toes look like. So fuck you Sam.

[SterileEyes1]

Brass tacks, yes or no do I even bother with this?

Alex is my favorite drummer of all time. He rarely gave interviews. I spent all year excited for this and I can’t say I’ve read a single positive take on it.

Only through ‘85? Full of already existing quotes? If it’s 200 pages are there even 20 pages of new/useful info worth reading?

[Black Stuff]

No, he's team Uncle Al.

I mean this guy:

Mel Brooks?

[TooOldToCare]

I'm glad I have a small-normal nose and ears. If I make it past my mid-70s, I don't want a big honker like that or elastic ears drooping to my shoulders.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

The looney ex Pyro roadie with the imaginary Ukranian girlfriend has a bit of a different take on Alex and his book:

What’s the matter with Alex Van Halen’s new book “BROTHERS”



I am about to do something I swore I never would, but circumstances change. When I started writing my road stories, I was committed to telling the truth about what really happened and if it made me look bad so be it, it is what it was. I saw a lot weird of stuff on the road and I have no problem telling tales where rock stars did embarrassingly stupid shit, we are all human. However, it was never my intention to really hurt anybody or actually damage their reputations. Some of the stuff I saw was so dark and vile I would prefer to take it to my grave, that is just who I am.

During the 5150 tour I found Alex Van Halen to be a cruel, often drunk, abusive son of a bitch, but that is not the reason I was thoroughly disgusted by him. I had worked with abusive rock stars before, such as Gene Simmons, but Gene was one of the most intelligent human beings I ever met. His jibes were often insightfully humorous and sharp, coming from a need for personal self-amusement in a world he experienced as incompetent and boring. Al on the other hand was not hindered by an exceptional intellect. He was just a mean, abusive drunk.

During the 5150 tour the band transitioned from the old Van Halen to the new Van Halen. Most of the crew was new with only two backline techs staying. Kevin Dugan was Michael Anthony’s long-time Bass tech and Gregg "Big G” Emerson was Alex Van Halen’s drum tech. Gregg and Al had been friends since high school in Pasadena. They had been together through all the early years, the backyard parties, from being an opening act all the way to superstardom with the Roth years.

As the new guys we both respected and feared “Dugie” and “Big G” who were considered Van Halen Royalty. Over time I grew to be friends with both men, especially Gregg. I had so much pyro on the drum kit, thirty-eight individual exploding charges that Greg and I worked closely together every day. I found him to be not just only a really nice guy but also a consummate professional. I liked him very much!



This is what Alex Van Halen writes about him in his new book.

“He missed the moment – story of Gregg’s life.

Stine and I went to see him in 2005 about six months before I got the call that Gregg had shot himself. I didn’t see the warning signs that day. He gave me all of the Van Halen memorabilia he accumulated over the twenty-odd years he worked for the band. (We had to let him go after I got sober in ‘87, I couldn’t have someone around me all the time doing shots and pounding Schlitz, and Gregg wasn’t willing or able to stop.) He handed over a tremendous pile of posters, T-shirts, Polaroids, and backstage posters from the seventies and eighties that day, and we had a good time looking through them together. Talking about everything we had seen and done.

I didn’t think anything of it. But in retrospect. Of course he was settling his affairs, preparing for his big exit.

That’s another guy I miss. See you on the other side Gregg.”

Alex Van Halen



That entire passage is an outright lie!

Gregg was totally professional. The drum kit was always tuned and polished. Unlike the other roadies who got the occasional day off the band techs were also personal assistants on call twenty-four hours a day should their bosses need some task or personal errand accomplished.

While the other three band members treated their guys with respect Al often ridiculed Gregg and if Al was drunk, which was about every day, he was even meaner. It was during this time Al was hanging out with his new best friend and drinking buddy Hank Williams Jr. Al thought he was funny, but he was just a bully. The crew would see this behavior and think “These guys used to be friends?”

Meanwhile Gregg loved his job. He was a loyal and dedicated employee, and it seemed his whole identity was centered upon being a part of Van Halen. Every day, aside from setting up the drums, part of his duties included having a tray of ice on the drum riser holding a dozen 24-ounce cans Shiltz Malt liquor cold and ready for Al’s arrival. He would also be responsible for emptying Al’s piss jar that Al used during the show so he would not have to leave the stage when he needed to go to the bathroom.

As the tour went on Al’s behavior towards Gregg became more extreme. Gregg became the drummer's personal whipping boy and Gregg, always the professional, took it. Some nights when he got on the bus, he looked like a scared puppy who had been kicked and terrorized.

Finally, Gregg asked Al what was he doing that was so wrong? Was Al really that unhappy with his work? As much as his job meant to him Gregg said he would leave and Al ould get someone else if that was what he wanted.

I was standing right there when Al in a cold, cruel, controlled voice told Gregg he was a fuck up and a pussy and easily replaceable and if he didn’t like the way things were to not let the door hit him on the ass on his way out.

Al walked away and Gregg looked stunned and totally defeated. You could see his self-respect draining from his soul. I had never seen such an unnecessary and unwarranted exhibition of cruelty in my life. Gregg collected himself and went about hiring a replacement. He even stayed and trained the new guy. On his last day we had a going away party and Gregg put on a brave face, but I talked to him privately while he waited for his taxi to take him to the airport.

Choking back tears told me, “All I wanted was for Al to ask me to stay, he didn’t even say goodbye!” The last time I saw Greg Emerson he looked like a defeated and broken man.

I lost all respect for Alex Van Halen that day. I never let it interfere with my job, and I continued to do safe and spectacular pyro for him during his drum solo for years more, but if it was not business, I had nothing to say to him from that day on.

Later when I heard Big G has commuted suicide, I was sick to my stomach, but I was not surprised.

So, in his book “BROTHERS” Alex Van Halen is lying when he says, “We had to let him go in 87.” Gregg Emerson left Van Halen’s crew in 1986 halfway through the 5150 tour, and a year before Al got sober! He was replaced by an excellent drum tech named Rob Kern and the band and the crew all know this is true.

Al continued drinking long after Gregg left, and Rob was now responsible for stocking the daily tray of Shiltz. I never once, not once ever saw Gregg drunk or high enough to not do his job/ He was always in control, and I cannot say the same thing about Al. That whole passage about Gregg being a bad influence is bullshit. If Alex was so vulnerable he could not be around anyone drinking, how did he manage to play in a band with Michel, Sammy, and his brother who did certainly did not stop drinking? But Al wants to justify his horrendous behavior making it out to be Gregg’s fault...bullshit!

I didn’t know Al went to see Gregg six months before he died. Al says he missed the signs of Gregg getting his affairs in order when he was given all of Gregg’s Van Halen memorabilia. Maybe so, but more probably Gregg was making a grand symbolic gesture giving all his cherished memories to the person who had stripped all the joy and meaning from the thing that meant the most to him in his life.

It takes a real big coward to disparage the dead when they are not here to defend themselves. I do not care if Alex Van Halen is the second greatest rock drummer of all time (he never will be Keith Moon) he didn’t need to try and make himself look better at Gregg’s expense.

Who knows, maybe Al was in a blackout for a year, and this is the way he thinks it happened, but I seriously doubt it. He was a horrible human being when I worked for him and the way he lies about his onetime friend and employee Gregg Emerson shows he is still a horrible human being! I would never have posted this story if he had been honest or at least kept his big mouth shut but he didn’t, so I hope Gregg’s kids sue him and take all the profits from his book for libeling their father’s memory.

[FreddyFender]

Thanks for posting that - I don't think any of us are surprised.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

The looney ex Pyro roadie with the imaginary Ukranian girlfriend has a bit of a different take on Alex and his book:

Drunk Revisionist History 101.

Especially after 30+ years, I'm sure Al doesn't remember the details. He probably doesn't remember what he said to Gregg. He just remembers that was around the time he tried to get sober. When you drink to excess like Al did, your recollections change.

I have a question about him and Sammy? Did they always hate each other? Or is this a new thing because Sammy and Michael are still touring playing VH songs? It does seem odd that Sammy with his huge Cabo Wabo tequila brand was the singer while Al was trying to get sober! I can imagine there was some hostility there!

[Rocker4Real]

The looney ex Pyro roadie with the imaginary Ukranian girlfriend has a bit of a different take on Alex and his book:

Drunk Revisionist History 101.

Especially after 30+ years, I'm sure Al doesn't remember the details. He probably doesn't remember what he said to Gregg. He just remembers that was around the time he tried to get sober. When you drink to excess like Al did, your recollections change.

I have a question about him and Sammy? Did they always hate each other? Or is this a new thing because Sammy and Michael are still touring playing VH songs? It does seem odd that Sammy with his huge Cabo Wabo tequila brand was the singer while Al was trying to get sober! I can imagine there was some hostility there!

Maybe Alex didn't like Sammy telling stories about how he acted during his drunken years in his book. Sammy would say in some interviews that he regrets some of what he put in the book.

[Bono Nettencourt]

It was a 2-way street - Sammy resented Eddie for tanking the 04 reunion because he was a mess, and he double-resented that the Roth reunion was 100x more successful. So, he wrote his book and dished the dirt to get ppl turning pages, which I'm sure burned the last few slats left on the Van Hagar bridge.

[FreddyFender]

Alex hated Sammy and Mike because he was dumb with money and wanted theirs. The VH brothers took more and more of Mike's cut over the years until they finally cut him out entirely and brought in some free child labor. The VH brothers resentment over Sammy's success with Cabo is well documented... it drove them nuts.

So when Sammy mentions, as he has many times over the years, that Al lost all his money, he does that knowing that it makes Al furious that he was broke while Sammy was worth hundreds of millions. Just putting salt in the wound.... on purpose.

Roth and Hagar let their egos get the better of them more often than not when it came to dealing with the VH brothers. You had to wear child gloves when dealing with the brothers, but that's not how Roth and Hagar were wired.

[Don't Damn Me]

I'd be interested in reading that.

I read Running With the Devil it was a good read and I was surprised how much I didn't know about the band.

Sort of like what Kevin Dubrow did with Randy Rhoads - just kind of assuming the role of lead singer even though nobody asked - is what DLR did. And the brothers just kind of reluctantly went with it. But you get the feeling that they never really liked the guy.

And allegedly it was Dave that was the workhorse that pushed the guys to practice and rehearse and take it all seriously. You also get the feeling that it was Dave that brought that spirit of fun so associated with the band. And in fact, the brothers were usually grumpy or moody.

I think the most gratifying revelation was to learn that these guys really paid their dues. They were together for 5 years before that first album. That's a good length of time for a hard-working band to keep at it without much success.

Also of interest was how commonly they would play backyard parties at large houses in Pasadena and how the parking situation would disrupt traffic and the parties would be shut down by the cops and it wasn't unusual to see a helicopter with a spotlight on the people.

It was also cool to read about guys who were already long in the scene the scene like George Lynch Dave Menniketti and Stephen Pearcy