Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography (48 page)

The day after the Reno show, the press reviews were glowing. Writer Jason Kellner for the
Reno
Gazette-Journal
said, “The band was in top musical form, with Eddie ever the astonishing guitarist… Even Roth didn’t hold back, save for a few of the banshee screams that went missing. The band played every song in its original key, evidence that Roth can still hit the highest highs…” Kellner also commented on Ed and Dave’s camaraderie as well as Wolfie’s musical prowess: “Despite past animosity between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen and a couple false starts in the reunion department in the past 10 years, there was no bad blood to be seen on stage. Eddie and Dave both wore genuine grins…” About Wolfgang, he said outright, “The young dude is a fine bass player, great backing vocalist…” The band followed with back-to-back shows in Vegas that were spectacular.

One of the shows was officially a fundraising concert for the Tiger Woods Foundation (this was a good two years before Tiger’s well-publicized indiscretions). Tiger himself was a self-proclaimed longtime Van Halen fan and personally picked the band to kick off Tiger Jam XI. Woods himself personally introduced the band and there are numerous pictures of the famous golfer with the various band members. Noteworthy was the fact that Edward, Dave, Alex, and Wolfgang each gave $100,000 personally to the Tiger Woods Foundation. In an official statement, the band said, “Playing Tiger Jam XI has certainly been one of the highlights of the tour so far. It was an honor to be involved and a pleasure to rock for a cause.”

After Vegas, the band played Cincinnati. For some reason, it would be the last show that Edward would perform shirtless for the tour. For all fifty-seven shows so far, he played without a shirt, often garnishing praise for his admirable physique at age 53. But as of their return date to Dallas on April 24, Ed began wearing comfortable shirts for the remaining nineteen shows of the tour. With a shirt, without a shirt—Edward was beyond the top of his game. What’s more, he was consistently on top of his game for the entire two-month stretch of April and May. His playing was fluid, lucent, and inspired. Near the end of this third leg of the tour, Jed Gottlieb of the
Boston
Herald
wrote on June 3: “There’s nothing wrong with Eddie Van Halen. Nothing. After undergoing a thorough two-hour examination by thousands of people at a nearly sold-out Manchester Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday night, Van Halen has been given a clean bill of awesomeness.”

In early June, Edward gave a brief interview with Brian Hiatt of
Rolling
Stone
. Hiatt asked if the band [read: Dave and Ed] was getting along well on a personal basis. “Oh, yeah,” said Eddie. “We always really have. To me it seems like the press made more of a stink out of shit than we actually did. ’Cause everybody kind of parts ways and tries to find their own niche, you know, or whatever, but no hurt feelings about anything.” After so many years of acrimony, those words rang out like beautiful bells. They were obviously genuine as well.

The tour officially wrapped with an excellent show in Grand Rapids. Respectfully, Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids was renamed Van Halen Arena for June 2, 2008. The
Grand
Rapids
Press
wrote: “The temporary name change involved obtaining special permission from the band, the Van Andel Family and the city. ‘The Van Andel family agreed to the renaming of the arena for the day,’ [Grand Rapids Mayor George] Heartwell said. ‘It’s fitting to celebrate a Dutch name in a Dutch city.’”

Just three days after the Grand Rapids show came a surprise announcement that Van Halen would kick off the Quebec City Summer Festival on July 3.
Blabbermouth.net
reported that the band played in front of 90,000 people, a record crowd for the festival. Even after an unplanned month’s break, the band’s prowess was still at its peak. The ending of “Hot for Teacher” was mind-blowing. The crowd was going nuts and Ed, Wolf, and Al were just hammering away building up to the end. Dave walked over and gestured as if to pull even more out of the three. Dave enticed the audience with his facial expressions, and finally gave a cue to Alex and executed an amazing round-house kick for a 54-year-old man with the band ending the song precisely upon his landing. The Quebec show was a beautiful ending to the greatest ever family vacation across North America, during which the car broke down temporarily, but the family finished out the wild trip in glorious style. The world was better for it.

It was the most successful tour in Van Halen history.
AllAccess.com
reported that the band had made $93 million over the seventy-four shows of the tour; Van Halen’s biggest ever. In comparison, the 2004 tour with Sammy grossed barely over $50 million on eighty shows.

Most fans expected a CD or DVD of the best performances of the tour but that did not come to fruition. It’s possible that with the thousands of fan-captured videos on YouTube, as of 2008 the guys likely had a firm grasp of modern technology and its implications. As of mid-2011, Eddie’s “Eruption” solo performance on December 3, 2007, in Seattle on had been viewed in excess of 2.7
million
times (it is spectacular). With all of the YouTube videos online, a DVD of the tour may have ended up being more trouble than it was worth. As far as a live CD went, Edward’s experience in the past dictated that it was something he likely refused to go through again. He knows how many fan-made videos there are online.

It was practically a foregone conclusion that the recording of a new album would begin in earnest. Unfortunately for the impatient, Edward would move on Van Halen time—which he had previously said was irrelevant to him. About a new album, Edward said that he did indeed plan to record a new album, but qualified that by saying “We’ll cross that bridge when the tour is over.” There were several things to deal with before even beginning to think about the actual process of recording an entire album of new material.

CHAPTER 44 

A New Husband, a New Man

After the conclusion of the wildly successful tour, Eddie confessed to being a couch potato for about five months. Late that summer, while vacationing in Hawaii, on August 4, Janie accepted Edward’s proposal of marriage.
People
reported, “The rock guitarist dropped to one knee and popped the question in a private room at Tiffany’s, [according to] a source close to the couple.” The wedding date was set for June 2009. The source added: “They are happy, healthy, very much in love and looking forward to living life together forever… . They are devoted to each other and to experiencing life in a whole new, positive and passionate way.” A picture of Edward shirtless on the beach in Maui even ended up on the celebrity gossip show and website
TMZ
. Notorious for crucifying celebrities at their worst,
TMZ
gave Ed the tag “Eddie Van Healthy.”

Just days before, Edward was given serious validation by
Roadie
Crew
magazine. It is not exactly your every day coffee table periodical, but the journal did bring together three hundred of the most well-known and influential musicians—to begin listing them here would be absurd—to vote on the top fifty guitarists in rock music history. Jimi Hendrix? Number one, of course. Where did Edward place? Was it #70 as per the snobs of
Rolling
Stone
? No, it was number two—right behind Jimi Hendrix. And that is exactly as it should be, because that is exactly accurate, right, and justified.

The EVH Brand

In January 2009, the culmination of all of Edward’s work improving and perfecting the electric guitar arrived in the form of the EVH Wolfgang.
Business
Wire
reported, “The EVH Wolfgang guitar represents Eddie’s 35 years of experimenting with guitars, over two years of intense research and development, and a full year of brutal road testing during the top-grossing Van Halen 2007-2008 tour.” Edward highlighted the fact that every single last aspect of the guitar was of the highest quality and specificity using only the best woods and metals. “Everything that I’ve built, destroyed, stumbled onto, learned and experienced is in this guitar.” Ed’s partner in the EVH Brand deal with Fender, longtime technical assistant and best friend Matt Bruck, said of the creation of the guitar, “We went through about eighty sets up pickups.” Ed said the guitar was on par with NASA standards.

It was the highlight of the EVH Brand line of products, although because production was kept to a relatively low number, a new Wolfgang would be high quality but hard to come by. On the other hand, the EVH 5150 III amplifiers were readily available in North America and highly sought after. Particularly, Scott Ian of Anthrax is a rabid supporter of the EVH 5150 III.

Sobriety

The same month that Ed launched the new Wolfgang, I launched the new me. By January 2009, I was remarried with a new young child and my drinking was close to killing me. I ended up in the hospital on New Year’s Day 2009, my family intervened for a second time, and I checked into a rehab facility three days later. As I went through rehabilitation for alcoholism, I could not help but think of Edward and look to him for inspiration, and also to help understand just how difficult it could be. If as Ed said, you just get one big bottle and once you drink it, it’s all gone—that’s how it was with me. Once I’d had my last drink, I had my last drink. It was the single-most difficult and important thing I have ever done in my entire life. Had I not stopped drinking that day, I simply may not have survived much longer. I put myself into many situations where intoxication could have very easily caused an accidental death.

My life is a lot different than Edward’s is for sure, so the nature and habits of our drinking are not very comparable. I had to work my drinking into a strict schedule around having a day job and getting the kids to school. Edward’s schedule was fairly wide-open. But the alcoholism is the same. We both have that gene, the X-factor, the genetic predisposition. My uncle died from alcoholism (cirrhosis is a horrific way to go). And it’s not fair, because, man, I loved to drink. And I’m not a big guy but I could seriously put away some beer, more than I should ever have been able to—up to eighteen in one day at my worst. And just like Ed, I started drinking at exactly the age of twelve. I put in a good twenty-four years worth, with the last three to four being off the charts. Alcohol just simply is not part of my life anymore. It is most certainly perfectly fine for people who can handle it—“normal” people. For me and other alcoholics, it’s simply the worst thing imaginable. It is a demon. It is hard to accept that the drug is actually stronger than the chemicals in your own brain, but once you do, you’re on your way.

In the spring of 2009, Ed told
Hustler
:

EVH: I don’t really wanna get into the whole sobriety trip. But I’m just workin’ on a lot of things to get better at being here in the moment and stay clear, ya know? I have been drinking, smoking, and playing guitar since I was 12 years old. I still smoke, and I’m definitely playing guitar better than ever. I guess one of the three had to go. Along with some other shit. But alcohol was the wonder drug for me. It’s a trip to look back and go, “Fuck, I’ve been doing this for over 40 years.” I’m lucky to be alive. I’m healthier and happier than I’ve ever been… . . I have the most insanely gifted, talented, wonderful son (a direct gift from God), whom I love more than he’ll ever know. My brother Alex, who I just love so fucking much, it makes me wanna cry out of joy that I’m so blessed to have him since the day I was born. My best friend Matt, who I’ve known for over 20 years and works with me on just about everything I do. My friend Ryan and a few other people. A great career. And of course my own company, EVH Brand of guitars, amps and accessories. What the fuck more could I ask for? I feel like my life is just beginning.

The interviewer also directly asked about a new album. “First, Wolfgang graduates, and then Janie and I are getting married,” Edward said. “Then we’ll sit down, give Dave a call and ask him if he feels like whooping and hollering a little bit.”

A Thankful Man

In early June,
Rolling
Stone
reported the following significant update on the musical front. “We’re a true band now,” said Edward. “It wasn’t just a reunion one-off thing. I’ve already gone to Dave’s house four or five times over the last month. I’ve got so much music. It’s just trying to figure out what Dave’s into because we haven’t written together in a long time. But it’s great. It feels like we’ve always felt in the beginning. But I’m sober, so it’s different. He’s sober, so it’s different. It’s a wonderful feeling.” About working with Wolfgang, Edward said to
Spinner.com
, “I thank God on my knees that I’m alive and obviously to be sober and to be working with my son. I’m so damn blessed it’s beyond words.”

Shortly before the wedding, Eddie was a major feature on the Spike TV Guy’s Choice Awards on June 22, 2009. Robert Downey, Jr. introduced him by saying, “The man we honor tonight as our first ever Guitar God is a musical genius. He is a virtuoso… . I give you your Guitar God… EDDIE VAN HALEN!” As Eddie emerged from the wings, he looked fantastic and healthy wearing a comfortable black shirt and faded jeans. He embraced Robert before taking the podium. As he stepped up to the podium, before he could even get a word out, the audience burst into massive applause. The applause struck a nerve inside Edward.

EVH: You’re taking me down a little. [He gets visibly choked up.] I didn’t have an idea of what to say on the way over here. [His voice cracked and he was on the verge of tears.] Excuse me, I’m getting a little choked up, here. [He turns away to regain his composure.] When my mom, dad, brother, and I first came to America when I was seven years old, we came here with fifty bucks and a piano. I’m living proof—anything is achievable. [Much applause.] I started drinking when I was 12 years old, when I started playing guitar. I quit a year ago—42 years later. That also shows you anything is achievable. I want to thank my best friend and my son, Wolfgang; my brother, Alex; my friend, Matthew Bruck; Ryan Noto; most of all, my wife-to-be, Janie. They have given me a reason to stop bullshitting
myself
, and that keeps me sober. I don’t do what I do for
this
[the award], but, man… it feels good. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

When Eddie revealed in late June that he finally quit drinking “a year ago”—that is essentially an admission that he had resumed drinking during the 2007-2008 tour, although review of video and the timing of the postponement of the tour made that a foregone conclusion.

Getting Remarried and Getting Surgery

Edward and Janie married in a beautiful ceremony on the grounds of Ed’s estate for a small, private gathering of no more than one hundred guests on June 27, 2009. It was a beautiful and casual affair, with Ed and his best man Wolf decked out in tan suits and flip flops. Ordained minister Alex Van Halen presided over the ceremony, or as his brother calls him, “Reverend Al.” Janie’s mother and her fifteen-year-old Pomerian walked Janie down the aisle. The wedding served only non-alcoholic beverages—no alcohol of any kind to be found at the wedding. Mr. Roth was also not to be found at the wedding, however, Valerie and Tom were there, and Janie and Ed would eventually return the favor. Edward and Janie honeymooned in New York, Germany, and the Netherlands.

It turns out the bandage that we saw on Ed’s hand during the third leg of the tour in Texas must have indeed been a brace to provide some stability for Ed’s left hand. “During the last leg of our tour, I started developing pain in my thumb and my pinky,” he told
Rolling
Stone
. “I didn’t think much of it at the time. It got progressively worse to the point that about three months ago I wasn’t able to play at all. My pinky and my thumb were totally locked up and felt like there was something broken.” Edward sought out the most highly regarded hand surgeons in the world and ended up in Düsseldorf, Germany. One of the doctors there immediately noticed arthritis, but eventually found a bone spur, a cyst in his thumb, and a twisted tendon. “They said the only way to fix it was surgery, which of course scared the shit out of me, but I was told it was the only way to fix it.” By July 23, Ed deemed the operation a success, but that it would sideline him for a good four to six months to heal. At the time of the article, Eddie still hadn’t had his stitches removed. “I am totally jazzed that they found the problem, fixed it and in about four months my hand will feel like I am 18 again. Thank God.”

The
Boston
Music
Examiner
reported in late July: “As far as the band’s future plans, they definitely include both Eddie’s son Wolfgang, or Wolfie, and former singer David Lee Roth. Roth joined his old band mates for a very successful 2007 tour, and Eddie Van Halen says he’s written lots of new songs which they’ll be recording sometime soon, with Roth as the singer and Wolfgang as bassist.” Things were just on cruise control to ensure the successful recovery of Edward’s hand surgery, whose rehabilitation from which may very well have been the single most important factor in the continuance of the Van Halen entity beyond 2010. Without Ed’s healthy hands, there is essentially nothing.

On TV and Still Perplexing Fans

Edward made an unusual appearance on the sitcom
Two
and
a
Half
Men
on September 21, 2009 well prior to Charlie Sheen’s incredibly public meltdown (“
Winning
!”). Executive producer Chuck Lorre actually asked Ed, who was reportedly a fan of the show, to appear while Ed was on his honeymoon. “He was gracious enough to do a cameo, which is really cool,” Lorre said. Eddie’s appearance was fairly silly for the most part, simply offering advice to Sheen’s character on how to break the cycle of constipation. Ed also later appeared on the short-lived
Lopez
Tonight
’s comedic one-hundredth episode celebration and was the highlight celebrity guest of the evening appearing via prerecorded video. He gave one of his signed Wolfgang guitars to Lopez who hilariously closed out his show by pretending to play “Panama” on the guitar.

Other than a few odd television appearances, most fans had not heard anything for months and months. It was not until March of 2010 that Edward was featured in a co-interview with Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath in
Guitar
World
. Post-surgery in 2009, everyone was giving Ed plenty of time to heal. By spring 2010, fans were getting downright antsy. And Edward wasn’t happy about it, nor did he appear to care.