It was the early evening of December 30, 1978, and Steve Rosen figured he had blown it big time. Big Time.

As a music listener, he was enthralled and captured by the guitar playing of one Edward Van Halen, member of a newish hard rock group that bared his surname, and which was about to release its sophomore album. As a music journalist with guitar-centric interests, he had both met and interviewed Van Halen previously. They were even starting to build a budding friendship.

But their talk on this night ended on a bit of an awkward note. As Rosen—trying to be cool—stammeringly offered his guest a joint to smoke together.

“I really don’t smoke. I just drink. Got anything to munch on?” the guitarist queried.

“Yeah, I’ve got some potato chips,” the writer offered.

“Yeah, could I get some?” the guitarist responded.

Nearly 45 years later, the memory of that night still causes Rosen to wince a bit.

“I’m sure you’ve experienced similar things as a journalist, Bob. But yeah, I was thinking ‘Rosen! You could have had some food for the guy!” he laughs. “I wondered ‘What did I do?’”

The personal anecdote is one of hundreds Rosen offers in his doorstop of a tome, Tonechaser—Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen (580 pp., $35, self-published. Purchase HERE).

Tonechaser was almost a very different book. In 1985, Rosen actually got Van Halen to sign an informal agreement to cooperate on an authorized biography with him.

As the years and decades wore on, though, for many reasons it just never came to fruition. Despite the fact that Rosen had conducted scores of supporting interviews and was even given a $5,000 advance from Van Halen’s skeptical lawyer. Even though the subject’s overall interest in the project often ran from lukewarm to cold.

Then in August 2020, Rosen was looking at shelves that held books containing cassettes of the hundreds of interviews he’d done over the years for magazines including Guitar Player and Guitar World. One battered folder contained more than 50 separate recorded talks between the Rosen and Van Halen, both on and off the record, in formal query sessions and casual conversation.

And when Eddie Van Halen died a few months later, Rosen set to work on what would he wanted to be a tribute to his friend. He also makes an arguable case that his first spring 1978 interview with “EVH”— in an international magazine—was actually the first ever published with the soon-to-be-superstar guitarist.

But Tonechaser is no straight-ahead biography. Nor is it simply a collection of previously-published interviews. Instead, Rosen calls is a “memory journal” that includes his questions and Van Halen’s answers interspersed with his own stories, observations, emotions, triumphs, joys, regrets, and often Monday Morning-quarterbacking and interjections. Sometimes, the prose even veers into gushing hero worship.

“I never set out to make this ‘my’ book, to put myself in the driver’s seat. The word ‘memoir’ always bothered me. There were other excellent books out there more third person, historical, or interview works,” he says.

A friend suggested he write much of Tonechaser in first person, and Rosen took off with that. “At the end of the day, I’d like to think it’s a little different than other books.”

There is absolutely a raw honesty—from both Van Halen and Rosen—contained in these pages, and even a few tears. Rosen elicits thoughts from Van Halen on many of his bandmates (note: fans of bassist Michael Anthony will not be happy), the music biz, and meeting heroes, for some of which Rosen made the introduction to (Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons).

The pair clearly had a close relationship and were together many, many times. Whether it was informal guitar jams at Rosen’s house or visits to Van Halen’s home and 5150 studio. Rosen was even invited to Eddie’s wedding to actress Valerie Bertinelli. She later even challenged the writer to a game of Scrabble at their home (which he says he lost on purpose), and ended up giving him a dog.

So, a big theme of the book, Rosen writes, is just how to behave when in Eddie Van Halen’s company: A close friend? A journalist? A psychoanalyst or sounding board? A coke-snorting party buddy? Some combination of those? And how to handle delicate revelations in the course of their talks that Van Halen may or may not even want to see in print?

“I think you read stuff in my interviews that you didn’t read anywhere else. And there are things we know about him and his story in 2023 that nobody knew then. But I felt that [weight] every single time I was with him,” Rosen says.

An admitted “over-analyzer,” Rosen also didn’t want to be a sycophant—even when he knew that if he and Eddie Van Halen walked into a room at the same time, not a single eye would be on him. He likens the effect to the TV show Entourage.

“It was a quandary, but I was always aware of it. And I really tried not to ask him inside nerd fan questions and go deeper. Though that always didn’t work!” he laughs.

“Sometimes, he didn’t want to be pushed! But he went from playing backyard parties to being the most famous guitarist on the planet, and nobody said ‘no’ to him or ‘that’s enough.’ There’s a lot of power that comes with that insulation.”

Still, one of the biggest takeaways from the book is something in Rosen’s interviews that mostly aren’t found elsewhere. And that is Eddie Van Halen suffered from an almost crippling insecurity about his guitar playing and musical skills and talent. A nagging voice that no amount of “Best Guitarist of the Year” awards, huge record sales, or sold-out concerts could stifle.

“I thought that was unbelievable. But it was also part of his charm. He won every guitar poll, he’s an amazing looking guy, he’s got every woman wanting him, but he’d make those insecure comments about his playing or a performance,” Rosen says. “And if I [complimented] him, it only made him mad. So, I tried not to do it too often!”

The pair were tight for a long, long time. So, it’s sad to read how, in the latter years, Van Halen purposefully pulled himself away from the friendship, for any number or reasons including drug issues, newfound fatherhood, disinterest, or just no concept of time.

And while Rosen to then had a direct line of communication to Van Halen, his newer calls weren’t returned. And he now found himself having to wade through layers of studio personnel and publicists.

During one session of one-on-one round robin interviews with journalist to promote a record, Rosen says Van Halen treated him like a completely generic writer with no recognition of their prior relationship and didn’t even crack a smile or call him by his name.

“Ed changed, and I’m still trying to figure out why. He became a different person. I wanted to use the description in the book like he had Alzheimer’s when it came to remembering me. But I felt that was too mean-spirited,” Rosen says.

“Somewhere, inside of him, he had to know that we were friends. But he consciously chose to not acknowledge it. And that’s what was the most painful…he just really wanted to hurt me. That’s the part I could never quite come to grips with.”

It all came to a screeching and final halt when an angry Van Halen chastised Rosen for taking part in an unauthorized documentary on the band. A move that Rosen tried countless times to discuss with him or apprise him of—even though he says that Van Halen acted like he was blindsided by it.

Rosen writes he knew from others that Van Halen was sick when he was in the early stages of putting together Tonechaser (its title coming from Van Halen’s self-description in one of their talks). And by the time the guitarist died in October 2020 from a stroke after a series of years-long health problems at the age of 65, the pair had not mended fences.

A few years before, Rosen writes how he ran into a then-divorced-from-Van Halen Bertinelli with their young son, Wolfgang, on the street. Trying to get their attention, he then realized that she was possibly purposefully ignoring him by moving faster and not responding. And when he did catch up with her, the interaction was brief and awkward, before she and her son skitted away.

So, we have to ask: If Steve Rosen was sitting across the table from Bertinelli and a now-adult Wolfgang today, what would he say to them?

“Wow. That’s a good one. I hope they’re aware of the book, and I tried to write the most honest one I could,” he says.

“And if they are reading this, I would say that I loved your dad and husband. He loved me. He was the most remarkable guitar player of his generation and influenced more guitarists than anyone in history. And there were only two things in his world: his family—the two of you—and his music.”

“And Valerie, I want to play Scrabble with you! And Wolf, I have the utmost respect for you. Gimme a call!”

For more information on Steve Rosen, Tonechaser, or to order the book, visit Tonechaserbook.com