<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=14aDpc_0vxWibUm00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=14aDpc_0vxWibUm00" width="353" height="500" ><figcaption>Veteran journalist Steve Rosen chronicled his Van Halen experiences in the entertaining and informative book “Tonechaser.” Submitted</figcaption></figure>Edward Van Halen often passed on interviews because the guitarist who changed the sonic lexicon didn’t have to meet the press. Van Halen, the most prominent Pasadena band of all-time, was selling out venues shortly after the release of its second album, “Van Halen II” in 1978.After blowing headliners, such as Black Sabbath and Journey, off the stage, Van Halen became a live legend and a commercial monster. So Edward Van Halen, who failed to show up for Van Halen’s induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, picked his spots when it came to interviews and often played it close to the vest.However, the guitar hero befriended veteran journalist Steve Rosen, who documented their close relationship from 1977 to 2003. Rosen chronicled his Van Halen experiences in the entertaining and informative book “Tonechaser.”“I was urged to meet this fledgling guitarist,” Rosen said. “No one had interviewed Van Halen at that point. They were well known locally, only in Pasadena and West Hollywood. I had seen a picture of Edward but I had never heard Van Halen play. I met him and shook hands. We started talking about Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore.”Van Halen gave Rosen his phone number and their relationship continued. Shortly after Rosen’s initial encounter with Van Halen, Warner Brothers signed the band. The label sent Rosen a copy of their eponymous 1978 debut, which was embraced by critics and became a massive commercial success.However, Rosen wasn’t enthusiastic about the game-changing record upon first spin.“I did some record drops (bouncing the needle to various spots throughout the album) and I thought they weren’t very good,” Rosen said. “I thought Deep Purple and (Deep Purple vocalist) Ian Gillen was much better (than Van Halen and Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth). But I thought I had to be missing something since everyone else who heard the album said Van Halen was amazing.”Rosen listened from top to bottom and was finally impressed. “I realized the guy I met was going to change everything,” Rosen said. “I never heard the kind of guitar tone Edward had. Edward became a legend by the time Van Halen was on its second tour.”Rosen was there to chronicle it all since he had access to the guitar hero of the era. By the time Van Halen released “Women and Children First” in 1980, the group was on a tour of sold out arenas and stadiums. The combination of Edward Van Halen’s guitar pyrotechnics, Roth’s showmanship and humor and bassist Michael Anthony’s extraordinary backing vocals made Van Halen unique and the focal point of a plethora of rock magazines.Van Halen surfed the enormous pop culture wave by delivering catchy, guitar-driven tunes that were delivered with a wink and smile. The combination of Van Halen’s guitar technique and Roth’s party-time approach led to radio airplay and considerable exposure via MTV.Since Rosen, who was living in Culver City during VH’s peak, it was such a short drive to Van Halen’s Coldwater Canyon home for exclusive chats. “I lived just 8 minutes from Edward,” Rosen recalled. “I remember how he never took compliments in a positive way,” Rosen said. “He knew he was a really good guitar player but it was never like ‘Can you believe that solo I did on ‘Bottoms Up?’”Rosen would occasionally jam with the humble Van Halen. “I was a good enough guitar player not to be a bad guitar player,” Rosen said. “The cool thing about Edward is that he just wanted to play guitar. I would play a riff and he would just play along as if I was Mike or Al (Van Halen’s brother, drummer Alex Van Halen).”Rosen shares intimate details about the late guitar wizard, who passed away in 2020 at 65 effectively ending Van Halen. The hot topic throughout the Van Halen run was the group’s tumultuous relationship with Roth, which reached a breaking point during the band’s tour behind its most successful album, ‘1984,’ which was released on New Year’s Day of that year.“Edward told me early on that he and Dave aren’t friends and will never be friends,” Rosen said. “It was obvious that Dave was an important part of the band, part of the look, the graphics. After the band recorded ‘1984,’ Edward couldn’t take the disrespect. No one gave blood like Edward Van Halen.”The friendship between Rosen and Edward Van Halen ended in 2003. How did such a long term union dissolve? “I don’t want to give away the ending to the book but Edward over the course of many years changed,” Rosen said. “We all saw evidence in 2003 and 2004. He was in terrible shape. We saw pictures of him with the torn pants and his teeth had gone black. His marriage and band were not in good shape at that time.”However, Rosen and Van Halen had spent enough time for a book to be written about one of rock’s most beloved guitarists and a band, which was larger than life. That’s so even after the death of Edward Van Halen, “That’s so even after the death of Edward Van Halen, (he might be) honored with a statue in his hometown.”</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

A Friend of the Pasadena Rock: God Steve Rosen’s ‘Tonechaser’ focuses on Edward Van Halen

Edward Van Halen often passed on interviews because the guitarist who changed the sonic lexicon didn’t have to meet the press. Van Halen, the most prominent Pasadena band of all-time, was selling out venues shortly after the release of its second album, “Van Halen II” in 1978.

A Friend of the Pasadena Rock: God Steve Rosen’s ‘Tonechaser’ focuses on Edward Van Halen

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