'Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen' Biography Announced

Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen, a new biography of the legendary electric guitar innovator, is set for release next month.

Written by former Guitar World Editor-in-Chief Brad Tolinski and longtime Guitar World contributor Chris Gill, the book is based on more than 50 hours of unreleased interviews with the six-string legend, many of them conducted at the legendary 5150 Studios in Los Angeles.

In addition to the interviews with Eddie, and other members of the Van Halen family, the book also features conversations with some of his closest friends and peers, such as Tony Iommi, Steve Vai, and Steve Lukather.

In addition to charting Van Halen's rise from the mid-70s Sunset Strip club scene to the top of the charts, the book looks into Eddie's challenging childhood in Pasadena, California as an immigrant who struggled to learn English, his personal life – via examinations of his relationships with his son, Wolfgang, his two marriages, and his struggles with substance abuse – and, of course, how he changed the way the electric guitar was played and built.

To that last point, the book features a chapter on how Eddie evolved from building his own custom instruments – the most famous being the "Frankenstrat" – to endorsing Kramer Guitars, then (after subsequently endorsing Ernie Ball Music Man then later Peavey) founding his own guitar gear company, EVH.

Also included in the book is a section of photos titled “Eddie’s Oddities,” documenting some of the more unusual and lesser-known instruments in his collection, complete with personal stories about each instrument.

Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen is set for an October 5 release via Hachette Books.

To preorder the book, head this way.