Alex Van Halen stopped by the Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City, California, on Thursday to advertise his newly launched memoir Brothers and focus on his tenure in Van Halen and rising up together with his brother Eddie Van Halen.

You can see just a few of UCR’s unique images and watch snippets of the dialog beneath.

Talking to author Ariel Levy, who collaborated on Brothers, Van Halen mirrored on David Lee Roth’s inauspicious first audition for the band, which occurred circa 1972. “We started playing a song, and by the time we were done, Dave finally took a first word,” he joked. “Which is a slight exaggeration, but he had a real long drawl. When it was apparent that this was not gonna work, the first thing Ed did is he left the room: ‘All yours, Al!’

“Oddly sufficient, I need to say, I had nothing however respect for Dave, as a result of he was there, he gave it his greatest shot, and from my view, he didn’t take it frivolously,” Van Halen continued. “So all I might say was, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry, however I do not suppose that is gonna work.’ So we left on amicable phrases, till the following two years go by. Everybody on the town is both going to school, they exit, no matter they do, [and] there’s just a few folks left who’re really severe about pursuing a life in music — and I imply a life. This is a full-time job.”

READ MORE: Hear the Full Version of Eddie and Alex Van Halen’s ‘Unfinished’

Alex Van Halen Says Van Halen’s Roth Years Were the Definitive Ones

That time, the pairing obviously stuck, and with Roth at the helm, Van Halen went on to become one of the biggest and most innovative rock bands in history. In Brothers, Van Halen refers to the band’s 1985 split with Roth as “essentially the most disappointing factor I’d skilled in my life, the factor that appeared essentially the most wasteful and unjust. Until I misplaced my brother.”

Although Van Halen enjoyed a decade-long, chart-topping hot streak with Sammy Hagar, Van Halen told Billboard that he still regards the Roth years as the definitive ones. “What occurred after Dave left will not be the identical band,” he explained. “I’m not saying it was higher or worse or any of that. The truth is Ed and I did our greatest work each time we performed. We at all times gave it our greatest shot. But the magic was within the first years, once we did not know what we have been doing, once we have been prepared to attempt something.”

Watch Alex Van Halen Discuss David Lee Roth Audition at ‘Brothers’ Book Event

Watch Alex Van Halen’s ‘Brothers’ Book Talk Event on 10/24/24