The man behind the painstakingly crafted Van Halen documentary that charted Eddie Van Halen’s pre-Frankenstein electric guitar journey is back with another free-to-view doc – and this time, he's focussed in on the development of Van Halen's revolutionary tapping techniques.
The mini-documentary is the sixth short film to be masterminded by EVH obsessive and filmmaker Simon Alkin, offering a comprehensive insight into the writing of the band’s 1978 self-titled debut album. The newly-released part puts its game-changing track, Eruption, under the microscope.
As with all his films, Alkin utilizes old interviews from Eddie Van Halen, the rest of the band, and super producer Ted Templeman, sourced from far and wide, to tell the story through the words of those who were a part of it. The move, Alkin says, is “to make it as truthful and impactful as possible”.
The 16-minute film starts in 1977, with Eddie Van Halen discussing how the band “wouldn't take no for an answer” in their quest to earn a record deal. Templeman, meanwhile, says he encouraged Warner Bros. to sign the band “because of Ed”.
“I didn't care about anybody else,” Templeman says. “I just wanted that genius to be recognized by the world.”
It also takes in the young band’s ignorance, and how they signed “the worst deal for us you could ever imagine”, with David Lee Roth joking that “Ted still makes more money than I do on those first two records”.
The band had recorded the album in five days, and only overdubbed backing vocals. Of course, that means Eruption was a live, single-guitar take.
Of his tapping discovery, Eddie's words take viewers back to August 1971, when he saw Led Zeppelin at The Forum in Inglewood, California. During the show, he watched Jimmy Page play legato with his picking hand high in the air, and he realized: “Wait a minute, I can use my finger as a capo,” with the fingers on his right hand becoming “an extension” of his fretting hand.
Notably, Eddie asserts he didn't invent the technique, with the origins of two-hand tapping the topic of much debate. The discourse includes Harvey Mandel and Rocky Athas, the latter of whom unwittingly introduced the technique to Brian May.
Speaking of his father’s impact on the guitar world, which was immediate upon Eruption’s release, Wolfgang Van Halen says his dad “kind of ruined” the 1980s guitar scene. All of a sudden, originality was thrown out the window, he says, as an army of Eddie impersonators vied for the world’s attention.
The film is beautifully put together, and one that Alkin says is “a significant step up on anything I've made previously”. He adds that, with no official Van Halen content out there, his work helps “fill the void” for the band’s devoted fanbase.
Alkin has also been unscrupulous with his fact-checking, and has thanked Guitar World contributor and Van Halen expert Chris Gill – “an absolute authority on the subject” – for his help with the film. Gill co-wrote the book Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen and also granted Alkin access to previously unheard audio.
Alkin has also credited author Steve Rosen, who let him lift limited amounts of his Tonechaser interview with the late virtuoso.
The documentary’s release comes after hours of unseen B-roll footage, captured for a canned documentary on the band during the 1980s, was released on YouTube.
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