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Eruption: Conversations With Eddie Van Halen (2021)

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Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill have compiled over 50 hours of interviews over the years (beginning in the late 80s) with Eddie Van Halen and have over the course of 336 pages let Eddie do the talking about all things Van Halen.

Eruption: Conversations With Eddie Van Halen is a fascinating read as you get what Eddie talking shop with Eddie as he talks about the various producers VH has worked with over the years (Templeman, Fairbairn, Johns, Post and Shanks).

And yes there is the fallout with the singers that being David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.

Lots of guitar talk as well but for me the real deal in regards to this book were new interviews with Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone, Ray Danniels (worth the price of the book alone), Steve Lukather and Steve Vai.

Also the book has a bunch of unreleased photos which adds to its value.

By reading what is on these pages you can understand that Eddie was comfortable talking to both Tolinski and Gill as they both wrote for guitar magazines so that helps the vibe in this book.

Must read!

28 thoughts on “Eruption: Conversations With Eddie Van Halen (2021)”

    1. Yeah it is. I did a lot of research on it as I didn’t want to get hosed on a cheap EVH read. The interview with Danniel’s was awesome as he could have tossed Hagar under the bus but didn’t. Sam though has no problem tossing anyone under the bus lol

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      1. Good on you for doing the research as I know there are other Eddie related books out there that are not worth the paper they are printe don.

        Sammy…I’ll never read his Red book again.

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  3. Sounds interesting – and I like that it was from decades of interviews.
    With vintage hockey, I always find it fascinating seeing the pre-game/during-game interviews with players (when we as the audience in 2021 know how the game ends). It imagine it would be similar with this, reading an interview from around 1984, with us now knowing that things were about to change in the band, but it may not be clear in the interview at the time!

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    1. 100% agree with you Geoff. Back in 84 I never knew as a fan that there was all this turmoil in VH which of course by 85 when Dave quit or was canned was common knowledge everywhere.

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      1. Yeah, what a devastating loss to the music world! I mentioned this to a different blogger (it might’ve been Mike), but it’s sad that the fans and the band had no idea it would be Eddie’s last concert ever! They never had a chance to say goodbye.

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  7. I’ve probably got all of the EVH interviews in the Guitar World mags I’ve accumulated since 1986 and the various VH special issues.

    So Ray is on this as well? Interesting as he’s blamed for a lot of things that went wrong with VH

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    1. Yep Ray was blamed but he takes the high road and doesn’t bash anyone. Just gives the deal on what it was like managing VH which by the sounds of it he had his hands full to say the least. Have to respect him as Hagar has always gone on about him…
      Ray said that he cleaned up there recording contracts and kept everyone at a distance as people were always after EVH for endorsements and what not…

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    1. As a cash in not really as there are enough of those books out there. The fact that it was interviews done by the authors makes it more legit. To me that is lol

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