According to Alex Van Halen, the only people who really understood Van Halen’s creative mechanics were him and his brother, Eddie.
“All these people are writing books about the band and know nothing of the band’s inner workings,” Alex said in an interview with Modern drummer, presented in August 2020 and recently published as part of the Modern Drummer Legends Vol. 2 – Alex Van Halen book. ‘And Ed and I do not say anything because we do not like bullshitting on the internet and books and all that kind of shit. We just want to play. It’s that simple. ‘
Despite being of his greatest status as one of the greatest orchestras on the planet, Van Halen was notorious in the media years later and gave interviews only in rare cases. Although such privacy helped build the mystique of the group, it also allowed outsiders to make suspicions about Van Halen, which according to Alex was often false.
‘All the people who think they know how the orchestra works, maybe Dave in [frontman David Lee Roth], was not 100 percent there all the time, ”Alex explained, noting that even his other orchestra members were not fully aware of the work the Van Halen brothers were doing.
‘Ed and I are the only ones there day and night. When they leave, Ed and I go back in and work on shit. Of Ed, Wolf [Eddie’s son, Wolfgang] and I go back and work on it. And ‘work’ sometimes just means playing it, or finishing Ed a piece of it. So when we get into the studio to really record it, and there’s friction, it’s easy to say ‘The brothers are fighting again.’ ‘
That ‘friction’ often served as a tabloid feed, and writers often speculated about rifts within Van Halen. Although the group certainly had a great deal of unrest, Alex maintains that he and Eddie have always been on solid ground.
Being in a bond is no different from any other territorial dispute. Everyone is trying to claim a certain piece of territory. The right solution is to play together, to play as a unit. You are much stronger that way, ”the drummer explained. Conflict is good up to a point. Conflict causes friction, causes heat, but once it gets to a certain point, it’s nothing good. ‘
Even in the months after Eddie’s death, Alex remained largely out of the media spotlight. While other former Van Halen bandmates – including Roth, Wolfgang, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony – have been interviewing since Eddie’s death, Alex has released only one quote, a message delivered to the Van Halen News Desk: ‘Hey , Ed. Love you. See you on the other side. Your brother, Al. ‘