In the media biz, you sometimes get to interview famous folks. You (ideally) have a pleasant conversation, shake hands, and say, “See you around campus,” or something to that effect.
But you don’t hang out with them later. They don’t call you to say, “Hey, what’s going on?” They don’t come to your house and get high. And if the famous person in question is a musician, they definitely don’t ask you if you would like to jam.
Be that as it may, all of it did happen after journalist Steve Rosen met guitar god Eddie Van Halen for the first time in 1977. For over two decades, they had a friendship that transcended the typical writer / artist confines. And that’s what Rosen is ready to tell us about in his new self-published book Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen. And by the way, Rosen is not being formal here. Early in the book, we learn that Van Halen preferred “Edward” to “Eddie.”
Considering that Rosen has contributed for years to magazines like Guitar Player and Guitar World, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Tonechaser is not filled with pages of information on Van Halen’s equipment, examined at the most granular level. “I make it known up front,” Rosen says, speaking from his home in California, “that my book is not going to be about that. I know guitars, I know guitar players, but I couldn’t look at a Les Paul and tell you if it were a ’58 or a ’59.” Instead, Tonechaser focuses on Van Halen the man and the times that he and Rosen shared together.
The cover photo shows a young, almost pensive Van Halen leaning against a table, guitar in hand. Of all the Van Halen photos out there, why did Rosen choose that particular one? “I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted,” Rosen says. “I didn’t want Edward onstage, hands in the air, or jumping in the air or in a famous Ed pose. I didn’t want Ed with a smile. I wanted Ed in a posture that suggested what the title of the book was, Tonechaser. Something a bit more subdued, introspective. And what I really, truly love about it, in its detail, is that his guitar cable runs down and over his shoe. And he just allowed it to linger there. I just thought that was such a great moment.”
Certainly Van Halen was one of those musicians who always had a guitar with him, always at one with his instrument. Rosen first encountered him backstage at a venerable club in Los Angeles where both of their bands played. “The first time I met Ed was at the Whiskey [a Go Go],” Rosen says. “It was a Friday night. I went with my brother to see Cheap Trick. There was so much common ground. We talked about [Eric] Clapton and Cream and [Ritchie] Blackmore. We talked about Jeff Beck. And it was really comfortable.”
Van Halen’s debut album was released shortly after that meeting, and, interestingly enough, Rosen “was not blown away” upon first hearing. “Maybe I was not wanting to recognize how good he was,” Rosen recalls, “because I thought that spelled the death knell for my favorite guitar players, Jeff Beck, Clapton, and [Jimmy] Page. I thought, ‘This is the new generation.’”
Rosen soon came around however and realized the depth of Van Halen’s talent. “I’ve been around the greatest guitar players of all time,” Rosen says. “[Jimi] Hendrix I missed, because I didn’t start writing until after he passed away. But I’ve been around, and I’ve seen Clapton, Beck, Page, Paul Kossoff, [Robin] Trower, John McLaughlin, Steve Vai.
“They’re all extraordinary guitar players. But only a rare, rare few have that ability – it just goes beyond the music. I’m not trying to sound spiritual or cerebral, but there’s just something so profound in what they do. Just they way they hold the guitar. I’m going to cut right to the chase here. Edward had that, Jeff Beck had that. Jeff, in my estimation, was the greatest guitar player who ever lived. Edward, in my estimation, was one of the top five guitar players who ever lived.
“But in my mind, he was the most influential guitar player who ever lived. Because Edward grew up in the digital age, with the internet. His reach was 100 times what Clapton’s or Page’s might have been. So much more exposure. People talk about Edward in such a way that I’ve never heard. Like he was someone they could have met, hung out and had a beer with. And it’s true. It was just such a human thing that came out of Ed’s playing that I think people were attracted to.”
Tonechaser features transcriptions from dozens and dozens of tapes that Rosen recorded over the years to document his conversations with Van Halen. These are annotated with recent comments from Rosen, some of them criticizing his interviewing approaches and/or skills. A portrait of Van Halen emerges, along with one of Rosen. Van Halen seems to run hot and cold, sometimes warm and engaging, other times aloof and distant, all depending on his mood. Rosen craves connection with Van Halen, but he is sometimes held at arm’s length, to his tremendous frustration.
“People talk about Edward in such a way that I’ve never heard. Like he was someone they could have met, hung out and had a beer with. And it’s true. It was just such a human thing that came out of Ed’s playing that I think people were attracted to.”
One of the most important relationships in Van Halen’s life was with his brother Alex, who played drums in the band. “They loved each other unconditionally,” Rosen says. “I think they gave each other a lot of shit growing up, as brothers would.” Rosen goes on to say that Alex and Edward did not always get along well during their adulthood. “It was this jealousy of Alex toward Edward. It was just staggering to me. I saw that a lot. People were jealous of Edward, which turned into a protective thing. They didn’t want to share Edward with anyone. I never did. You wanted him all to yourself.”
In any friendship, there can be moments of friction. Were there any rough moments between Rosen and Van Halen? “A lot, man,” Rosen says. “Edward was a brutally honest dude. There’s a quote from Alex, he said, ‘If Edward had something on his mind, he’d tell you.’ And it wasn’t intended to be hurtful or harmful or to shame you in any way. Because he never did any of those things. It was just, ‘Hey, man, I’m gonna write now.’ And you would think, ‘That’s a little abrupt. That’s a little cold.’ But he just didn’t think like that. 80 percent, 90 percent of the time, the guy was amazing. He was always understanding of me and my insecurities. The guy was great. I loved being around him.”
In the course of their association, Rosen set up several meetings between Van Halen and well-known guitar players. One of these involved ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, the Reverend Willie G. himself. “I knew Billy pretty well, and I heard that ZZ Top was coming to Long Beach Arena. I knew Ed was a big Billy Gibbons fan, so we went down to Long Beach. Before I could even introduce them, they were hugging each other and they were gone, into a separate room.
“So they come out, and Ed is holding a little [guitar] case. When I told Billy I was coming down, I didn’t tell him who I was coming with. Billy said, ‘Oh, I’ve got a little something for you.’ Billy had brought me one of his Chiquita guitars, one of those little mini-guitars. So I saw Ed walking out, and I knew instantly that Billy had given Ed my Chiquita. So what am I gonna do, say ‘Give me my guitar, Ed!’? ‘Billy, what the fuck are you doing? That’s mine!’ So a couple of weeks later, [Billy] sent me one. That’s the kind of gentleman he was.”
Ultimately, Rosen’s friendship with Van Halen came to an end, for a variety of reasons, among them a Van Halen documentary that Rosen had worked on. For years after a blowup in 2003, Rosen attempted to contact Van Halen and mend fences. But it didn’t happen. “There was no road left to follow,” Rosen writes. “Our lives had gone in different directions. Our lives would not end in a Made-for-TV movie.”
Still, Rosen isn’t bitter, nor is he regretful. “It was a hell of a lot of fun,” he says. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t.”
For information on obtaining a copy of Tonechaser, email scrosen@sbcglobal.net.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
