Alex Van Halen says reunion tour axed because David Lee Roth refused to pay tribute to Eddie

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A proposed Van Halen reunion tour was scrapped after singer David Lee Roth refused to pay tribute to the band’s late guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his brother says.

The group’s 71-year-old drummer Alex Van Halen made the revelation in a new interview with Rolling Stone.

“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,” Alex explained. “If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage’ (of late singer Freddie Mercury). And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f***in’ popped a fuse … The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”

Roth and Eddie had a tumultuous relationship over the years, but Alex said that he expected the band’s frontman to honour his brother, who died in 2020 following a battle with throat cancer.

When Roth refused to do so, reportedly finding it “offensive,” the reunion tour was nixed permanently. 

“I’m from the street,” Alex told Rolling Stone. “‘You talk to me like that, motherf***er, I’m gonna beat your f***ing brains out. You got it?’ And I mean that. And that’s how it ended.”

Roth’s steadfast refusal to craft a show that would include a remembrance of Eddie left Alex confused.

“It’s just, my God. It’s like I didn’t know him anymore,” Alex said. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherf***er. It’s not you alone anymore.” 

Alex said that he and Roth were eyeing Joe Satriani to play guitar and were considering bringing back Van Halen’s original bassist Michael Anthony for the shows.

But Alex, who recently wrote a book about his relationship with Eddie, titled Brothers, said that he was happy in a way that the tour never happened.

“It’s too bad on one hand, but it’s fine on the other,” Alex said. “Because now, in retrospect, playing the old songs is not really paying tribute to anybody. That’s just like a jukebox, in my opinion … To find a replacement for Ed? It’s just not the same … The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike, and me.” 

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Earlier this year, during an episode of The Roth Show posted to his YouTube channel, the singer lashed out at Eddie’s son Wolfgang, who replaced Anthony as the band’s bassist in 2007, repeatedly referring to him as a “f***in’ kid” and implying that he only got the job in Van Halen because of his dad.

Wolfgang later dismissed Roth’s rant, telling The Morning X, “You have to take what he says with a grain of salt.”

“He also said that he wrote Eruption and came up with (Eddie’s custom guitar) the Frankenstein Strat,” Wolfgang said.

In his conversation with Rolling Stone, Alex, who said he’s still in touch with Roth, said that the frontman’s insults towards his nephew should be taken as a compliment.

“To me, it’s a sign of respect,” Alex said. “That he actually thinks that Wolfie’s on the same level as the old master Dave, right? The other thing is that Wolf can easily take care of himself. It’s not a problem.”

In a separate interview with Billboard, Alex spoke about his decision not to rejoin this summer’s Best of All Words Tour with Van Halen’s second singer, Sammy Hagar, who completed four studio albums as part of the band — 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance — before leaving after Eddie recruited Roth for a track on the band’s first Greatest Hits package in 1997.

“I’m not interested,” he said of the trek, which also featured Anthony on bass. “They’re not doing the band justice. They can do what they want to do. That’s not my business.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com