Previously Unreleased Song from Alex and Eddie Van Halen to Premiere in Audiobook of Alex’s New Memoir ‘Brothers’

Alex Van Halen will publish a new memoir, Brothers, on Oct. 22. The audiobook version will include a special treat for fans of the legendary rock band Van Halen. It will feature the last bit of music written together by Alex and his brother, Eddie Van Halen.

Titled “Unfinished,” the composition has not previously been heard in any capacity.

Published by HarperCollins, Brothers will feature never-before-seen photos from Alex Van Halen’s personal archives, detailing the lifelong bond that he and Eddie Van Halen shared as brothers and, eventually, globe-trotting rock stars of the highest degree.

Here’s a bit more about the scope of Brothers, per its official description:

In this intimate and open account, nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read, Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music, and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and bandmate.

Told with acclaimed New Yorker writer Ariel Levy Brothers is seventy-year-old drummer Alex Van Halen’s love letter to his younger brother, Edward, (Maybe “Ed,” but never “Eddie”), written while still mourning his untimely death.

In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the brothers’ childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working-class Pasadena, California, with an itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian-born mother. The kind of mom who admonished her boys to “always wear a suit” no matter how famous they became. A woman who was both proud, practical, and nonchalant about taking a doggie bag from a star-studded dinner. He also shares tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behavior. But mostly his is a story of brotherhood, music, and enduring love.

“I was with him from day one,” Alex writes. “We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800-square-foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic. Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming successful, of becoming fathers and uncles, and of spending more hours in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime.”