• ARTS & CULTURE •
Author compares Eddie Van Halen to Les Paul By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Pasadena Weekly Executive Editor
J
ournalists Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill knew Eddie Van Halen, having interviewed the late Van Halen guitarist over the course of the musician’s career. Now, the two share their conversations with the legendary guitar player in “Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen.” “This is the first chance I had to step back and look at the entire story,” Tolinski said. “So much of it made so much more sense to me now. However, I curse the fact that I didn’t do this while he was still alive. I would have loved to have had the chance to talk to him about bigger observations.” In “Eruption,” Tolinski and Gill offer an oral history of Van Halen, who died of cancer on Oct. 6, 2020. Since the band Van Halen released its self-titled album in 1978, the axman was hailed as an icon.
“Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen” By Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill hachettebooks.com
Photo by Larry DiMarzio
Eddie Van Halen in his recording studio, 5150 Studios, located in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1991.
“Eruption” is based on more than 50 hours of unreleased interviews Tolinski and Gill recorded with Van Halen over the years, most of them conducted at the legendary 5150 Studios at his home in Los Angeles. “Eruption” is drawn from those talks as well as conversations with family, friends and colleagues, including other major guitarists like Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Steve Vai and Steve Lukather (Toto, Michael Jackson, Ringo Starr, Elton John). “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to write this,” Tolinski said. “I’ve known Ed more professionally than personally. I did know both sides of him. I saw him pretty regularly a few times every year. I had this personal/professional relationship with him. Chris Gill and I thought we were qualified to tell his story in a more definitive way.” “Eruption” chronicles the highs and lows of the rock legend. In addition to discussing his greatest triumphs as a groundbreaking musician — including a dive into Van Halen’s masterpiece “1984” and the story behind playing on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” — the book looks at his early struggles as a young Dutch immigrant unable to speak English. That resulted in lifelong issues with social anxiety and later problems with alcohol and cocaine. Van Halen and his older brother Al and their parents moved to Pasadena in 1962 when Eddie was 7 years old, with less than $50, suitcases and a piano. During the nine-day boat ride over, Eddie and Al played piano for spare change. The boys attended a segregated school in Pasadena and were ostracized because they knew little English. “Eruption” shares his penchant for expressing himself through piano, maintaining a rigorous practice schedule under the watchful eye of his mother. At the age of 12, he applied the same diligence to learning the electric guitar, spending countless hours locked in his bedroom developing the technique. The authors are guitar players, so, Tolinski said, they understood Van Halen’s passion. Tolinski was the editor-in-chief of Guitar World magazine for 25 years. Meanwhile, Gill served as editor-in-chief of Guitar Aficionado. A suburban Detroit native, Tolinski moved from Manhattan to a friend’s summer place in Cape Cod during the pandemic. He spent the time writing “Eruption,” calling it a “traditional old-school writer’s retreat.” Tolinski said “Eruption” is different from other Van Halen books. “A lot of these super gossipy books about Ed and about Van Halen have come out, about all the arguments and struggles within the band,” he said. “Most of the things I read sort of missed the point to some degree. He was arguably the most innovative guitarist since Jimi Hendrix and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century.” To skip that point and only cover the turbulence within the band, he added, is pointless. “It was really when I came to Guitar World that I paid a lot of attention to what Ed was doing,” he said. “It turned into a personal relationship. The one thing he liked about Chris and I was, while we certainly respected him as a guitar player, we didn’t worship him as a god. He saw us as a contemporary. We spoke to him as a musician, as a human being. I think he enjoyed that.” Like many, Tolinski sees Van Halen as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Above and beyond that, he added, “he was important as an inventor. His Frankenstein guitar was made part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian for its innovation. “He’s been this figure, this smiling guy and all-American kid in these videos. But there’s a lot of depth to what Edward brought to this world. He was the Les Paul of the modern era.”
14 PASADENA WEEKLY | 12.16.21
PW-12.16.21.indd 14
12/14/21 3:42 PM
