New Eddie Van Halen book to be released

From Loudersound.

As the first anniversary of the death of Eddie Van Halen approaches, Hachette have announced that Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen will be published next month.

The book is written by Brad Tolinski, former Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine, and Chris Gill, former Editor-in-Chief of Guitar Aficionado magazine. It’s based on more than 50 hours of conversations the pair enjoyed with Eddie Van Halen.

The book also includes contributions from family, friends, and colleagues, plus other musicians including Tony Iommi, Steve Vai and Steve Lukather.

According to Hachette, Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen, “highlights his greatest triumphs as a ground-breaking musician, including an unprecedented dive into Van Halen’s masterpiece 1984. It takes an unflinching look at Eddie’s early struggles as a young Dutch immigrant unable to speak English, which resulted in lifelong issues with social anxiety and substance abuse.

“It also examines his brilliance as an inventor who changed the face of guitar manufacturing, as well as his turbulent marriage to Valerie Bertinelli and his relationships with bandmates David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.”

“Our goal was to tell the story of Ed’s entire life though his own words,” says Gill. “We wanted to do it in an entertaining and informative manner for the general music fan while also going deep into Ed’s contributions as a guitarist, songwriter and musical instrument innovator, as well as one of the greatest guitarists and musicians of the 20th century.”

The new issue of Guitar World features an extensive extract from the book, detailing the evolution of Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein guitar.

Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen is published in the US on October 5 and in the UK on October 28. It’s not to be confused with Classic Rock writer Paul Brannigan’s Eruption: The Eddie Van Halen Story, which was published in the UK earlier this month. Brannigan’s book will be published in the US in December under the title Unchained: The Eddie Van Halen Story.