“I was with him from day one”: Alex Van Halen's forthcoming memoir Brothers promises to offer “the definitive take on Edward Van Halen’s life and death from the one who knew and loved him best”

Alex Van Halen, Brothers
(Image credit: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images | HarperCollins)

Alex Van Halen will share "his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love" in his forthcoming memoir Brothers, scheduled for publication on October 22 via HarperCollins. 

Described by the publishers as both an "intimate and open account, nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you've ever read" and a "love letter to his younger brother Edward", the 384-page book with written in collaboration with New Yorker writer Ariel Levy and promises to bring readers "a story of brotherhood, music, and enduring love."

A press release from the publishers quotes the 70-year-old drummer saying, "I was with him from day one. We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800-square-foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic.

"Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming famous, of becoming fathers and uncles, and of spending more hours in the studio than I've spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime."

Alex Van Halen promises that the book will "set the record straight on Edward's life and death."

"This book is a fascinating story of a band – and so much more: it’s also a chronicle of family and talent and the passion to create," says the book’s editor Sara Nelson. "It is the definitive take on Edward Van Halen’s life and death from the one who knew and loved him best."

Brothers is available now to pre-order from the publishers, or via the excellent Van Halen News Desk site, which is promising an exclusive collectible to everyone who places an advance order for the book.

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.