Former Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen has explained why his planned tour with David Lee Roth failed to materialise following Eddie Van Halen’s death.
In 2020, Eddie died following a lengthy battle with cancer. Following his death, the Van Halen story came to an end as they seemingly decided it wouldn’t be possible for the band to continue without the iconic guitarist in the group.
However, in a new interview, Alex has now revealed they initially planned to continue before his relationship with Roth turned fractious, which brought things to an immediate halt ahead of any dates being announced.
If Van Halen had performed without Eddie, Alex believed that the band should have made a point by addressing the elephant in the room, which his bandmate, Roth, allegedly disagreed with. Alex had also discussed his plans with Queen’s Brian May over the phone, who explained how his band dealt with the loss of Freddie Mercury.
The drummer told Rolling Stone: “The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now, was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig. If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’ And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave fuckin’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
That hostile conversation marked the end of their relationship, as Alex recalled, “I’m from the street, ‘You talk to me like that, motherfucker, I’m gonna beat your fucking brains out. You got it?’ And I mean that. And that’s how it ended.”
The drummer said that he felt “like I didn’t know him anymore” following the conversation, continuing, “I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherfucker. It’s not you alone anymore.”
However, on a positive note, Alex believes that a Van Halen reunion would have been a disaster and remains thankful it was averted, stating, “It’s too bad on one hand, but it’s fine on the other. Because now, in retrospect, playing the old songs is not really paying tribute to anybody. That’s just like a jukebox, in my opinion.… To find a replacement for Ed? It’s just not the same.”
