Over the past two months, I’ve had the privilege of learning more about the life of one of my favorite rock and rollers through the eyes of journalist Steve Rosen in his 2022 release Tonechaser. Steve’s initial idea for the book came in 1985 and was set out to be a comprehensive biography of Edward’s life, complete with numerous interviews from people who had come across the great rock guitarist over his gigantic career and his life story told by Edward himself. This book never got to see a final release, but what Rosen did accomplish was what I read: a book that chronicled the 26-year-long relationship and friendship between Edward Van Halen and himself. It provided insight to Edward’s personal life in a manner that has never been replicated by any other journalist, presenting engaging behind-the-scenes stories about numerous musical collaborations and meetings, Van Halen dramatics, and a plethora of short stories that created a holistic image of Edward Van Halen. In this article, I seek to communicate what I considered the successes and shortcomings of that 26-year-long story.
First the shortcomings:
Throughout my reading, there were three things that slightly nagged me as I accompanied Steve and Edward on their journey. First and foremost, the book was an absolute monster of a read. The introduction contained some information that would reoccur later and caused that section to draw out. Also, while some of the shorter stories throughout the book gave a sense of brevity in between some of the lengthier and arduous interviews, there were a few that felt out of place and slowed the book down.
My second criticism was that throughout the book, after a mistake or mis-queue during an interview or conversation, Steve would rag on himself for a couple of paragraphs. It would occasionally take me out of the moment instead of allowing me to further enter Rosen’s headspace. He stated when interviewing, “I was like a guitarist jamming and sometimes I’d stumble across some mad cool riff and other times I’d trip over my own fingers or more poignantly, my own tongue,” (Rosen 277-278). I felt this was a poignant way to explain the mistakes made during interviews and I believe Steve had a parallel sense of imposter syndrome about his relationship with Edward that Van Halen had in regard to his guitar ability.
The last criticism of mine is that there were many moments in which Steve would go into great detail about how much Edward meant to him and the love between the two. When you read all of it in context, you can understand that the love shared was more akin to brotherhood and that both Edward and Steve were affectionate people, but the paragraphs worth of his feelings caused him to occasionally come across less impartial. It would have been less overbearing had he just established the general feeling of the relationship initially and included all the “Love Yous” exchanged naturally over the years, but then only referred to the relationship in depth as it grew or waned. This would display the importance of the meaningful 26-year-long relationship and build up Steve’s credibility.
Now, here are the successes:
Tonechaser gave me an incredible insight into everything I have ever wanted to know about Edward Van Halen. In those five hundred and eighty pages I got in-depth explanations of most of the Van Halen albums and the band’s dynamics from a very personal point of view. The book presented what very well could’ve been first reactions of most of their work told in relatable human stories, like Steve hearing a vocalless out of order version of Van Halen Ⅱ in Edward’s 700-dollar car before it was released. Having to catalog that moment from memory, being without a notebook or recorder, solely by aspects of the instrumentation. Edward picking up his guitar and hammering out phrases that we cherish today in Steve’s living room or hearing riffs waiting to be fully imagined during trips made up 5150. Learning about what went into writing the songs and how those dynamics changed based on the personnel switches within the band. How Ed described the guitar solos in Fair Warning being “sleazy” and “slimy sounding” not knowing where they might go (Rosen 443). He just hoped you’d “fall down the stairs and hope you land on your feet” while listening (Rosen 443). I enjoyed learning about personal stories of jamming with a great guitarist. This personal insight touched me as a lifelong Van Halen fan and was one of the most engaging aspects about the book.
I enjoyed the stories of chaos and serendipity that ensued on trips taken to meet other guitar greats after their live events, awards events, and at NAMM shows. It presented Edward as just as much of a fan of guitar legends, like Eric Clapton, Brian May, and more, as the rest of us are. Reading about how disjointed it was to try and work out plans with a rockstar, and how most of the time remarkable situations occurred by happenstance, made me want to pull my hair out in the best way possible. Steve set up meetings with Edward and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, and Les Paul. The latter was a wonderful meeting of the two craftsmen as they leveled together about how they viewed the construction of a guitar and dished on some of the displeasures about working with corporations to mass manufacture them. This book gave me the same feeling of reading as I do every time I watch my favorite film, Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, as I engage in the second hand experience of life in the world of music, and more specifically, the heart racing havoc of Rock and Roll.
There were moments where I was able to engage with the psyche of Edward Van Halen. Steve highlighted Ed’s remarkable humor when he responded to being considered heavy metal by countering with, “the more leather and studs you wear, the more heavy metal it is. So, I wear funny striped clothes,” and discussed how he lit up a room with his million-dollar smile (Rosen 214). I read about the guitar great’s humility when Steve posed the many ways in which Edward was humble in the context of his legacy, and how he reacted to compliments or accolades with his go-to response of “It’s neat.” I was able to bear witness to late night chats in which Ed discussed his inner feelings and troubles and read about his cocaine addiction and path to enlightenment and sobriety. I learned about his relationship with his wife and his son, and the joys and pains that came from both. This side of the story of their friendship engrossed me because it showed me more than anything else that just like us, Edward Van Halen was human. It made all the stories about the music, the meetups, and the mayhem whole because I knew the emotional impact that corresponded with those moments.
So in the end, the successes towered over and pummeled the short-comings, because it was always the wonderful stories shared throughout their relationship that mattered most– The relationship had me hopeful all the way until the end and is a story that I would be a fool not to give my full endorsement to. I strongly encourage any fan of music, Van Halen’s or otherwise, to give Tonechaser a read and would like to express a great deal of gratitude to Steve Rosen for helping these stories see the light of day.
