Independent publishing house Genesis Publications has form for releasing prestigious boxed set books as collectors items. Recent editions have featured Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Bon Jovi. Now, Van Halen are joining that rarified group. This official chronicle of the band is being published in a limited edition of 1,500. Each numbered copy of the VAN HALEN book will be signed by Alex Van Halen. The Deluxe box set sold out swiftly in the pre-sale but you can still order the Collector boxed set,
Van Halen history
“Ed and I were preparing ourselves for a life in music since we were in our mother’s womb, so it was no mystery how we ended up on stage.”
Alex Van Halen
Alex opened up the Van Halen family archive to contribute to this new VAN HALEN book. An interesting family it is too. In 1962, they emigrated from Holland to Pasadena, California.
Alex actually began as a classical pianist before switching to the drums. The brothers formed Van Halen in 1972 alongside David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony.
Van Halen became one of the best-selling bands in history, selling over 75 million records worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and disbanded in 2020.
“Eddie revolutionised rock guitar with tone, technique, and attitude, while Alex anchored those innovations with sophisticated rudiment-based grooves, syncopated accents, and a jazz-tinged feel that still feels modern decades later. In that sense, the quip “Alex Van Halen is to drums what Eddie was to guitar” captures how both were virtuosic, stylistically singular, and essential to the band’s sound.”
Modern Drummer Magazine
“We had our tour passes printed with the acronym W.D.F.A on them…‘We Don’t Fuck Around’…everybody needs a battle cry.”
Alex Van Halen
What to expect from this special VAN HALEN book
You can expect correspondence, tour memorabilia, album artwork, press material, musical equipment, unpublished photographs and much more for the VAN HALEN book. Alex Van Halen’s original manuscript is drawn from dedicated interviews specifically for this book. There are also archive contributions from Eddie Van Halen and fellow musicians and friends.
Quality photography is paramount for this collection. It will include never-before-seen photos from the family as well as photographs by celebrated photographers. These photos will take us through the band’s early years on the Sunset Strip, their first tours to Japan in 1978, and landmark tour and festival performances in the 1980s.
The first 350 Deluxe boxed sets with a vegan leather hand-signed copy of the book with silver edged pages have already sold out. Those swift, lucky Van Halen fans will also receive an archival art print of Van Halen in front of the collapsed Pier 48 in New York, a vintage silver pin, a 1979 keychain, three replica Eddie Van Halen stage-used guitar picks, six art postcards, and a 7″ vinyl record.
Copies 351 to 1,500 – known as the Collector boxed set of VAN HALEN – will also be hand-signed by Alex Van Halen. The book will be quarter-bound in black vegan leather with silver page edging and will feature a silver debossed Van Halen logo from the 1978 World Tour. It will be presented in a black clamshell box with the Van Halen emblem surrounded by Alex’s iconic burning ring design.
Each Collector boxed set will also include exact replicas of the 1979 Van Halen Productions keychain, three replica Eddie Van Halen stage-used guitar picks, six 6″ × 4″ art postcards, and a 7″ vinyl record.
You can order the VAN HALEN book from VanHalenAnthology.com
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