Alex Van Halen was furious with David Lee Roth for disrespecting Eddie and wanted to beat him up.
“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,’” the drummer told Rolling Stone, sharing his thoughts on the all-star Van Halen tour that never happened.
Van Halen continued, “And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f*ckin’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable. I’m from the street. You talk to me like that, motherf*cker, I’m gonna beat your f*cking brains out.”
“You got it?’ And I mean that. And that’s how it ended. It’s just, my God. It’s like I didn’t know him anymore. I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherf*cker. It’s not you alone anymore,” Alex added.
After his brother Eddie died in 2020, Alex planned a tour with Roth but it didn’t happen. The drummer also revealed he couldn’t have toured anyway due to a 2022 back injury that left him unable to move for a year. He also said that playing old songs wouldn’t truly honor Eddie, as no one could replace his brother.
In April 2022, Jason Newsted said Alex approached him about joining a project about six months earlier. Newsted agreed to jam with Alex and Joe Satriani in California but later felt it would be impossible to honor Van Halen’s legacy.
Wolfgang Van Halen mentioned that ‘drama’ within the band has stopped an all-star Van Halen tribute project from happening. Wolfgang played three Van Halen songs at tribute concerts for Taylor Hawkins but stated he is no longer interested in organizing a tribute event for Eddie.
The rocker noted, “I think I already did it with the Taylor Hawkins tributes. I feel a lot of closure because my part of the show was a tribute to my father.”
Eddie died in October 2020 at 65 years old in St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. Alex’s new memoir, ‘Brothers’ will be released on October 22 by HarperCollins Publishers.