Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1980 Interview - Tape 3 (HD Audio)

Zlozower tries to talk like DLR

Thinking 3/4 size 335. Would Eddie play a 336 or a 339?

I remember reading the article and I MIGHT still have it ,but the audio is the best. A real treat, special. Great putting this out
Thanks. All the best 🎆🎆🎆☮️👍

I'm so glad my brother got to listen to this interview. I just checked his History and before passing he saw this and the previous one. I just wish he would have lived to have heard the Parts 3, 4, and 5.

snort snort

Thank you Jas. Your a lucky man. I’m almost 52. I remember discovering Van Halen in ‘81. This is gold.

Wow, what Ed said about Jeff Beck was so true. He stayed relevant until his death. Crazy that he saw that back then.

💚Thanx 😎

EDDIE IS A SHIT TALKER , EVEN IN 1980....NO WONDER YOU HAD A TURBULENT CAREER

PAT TRAVERS IS FUCKING GREAT ...SHUT UP...HE IS A LEAD SINGER LEAD GUITAR PLAYER......Eddie, you can't even do that !!!!

Microwaving guitar strings? Wouldn't that arc n spark and cause problems?

I remember reading this actual interview back then in guitar player.
"You're not going to print this are you??" (Eddie) 😆.
Yes, Blackmore is an asshole, along with Derringer, Sholtz and Travers isnt any good either!
Hahaha, good stuff 👍. Thanks Jas, can't wait for #4!

Loving these. Great job man !

Did you interview Randy Rhoads?

5lbs of Sinsi..back in the day... what a bunch of dummies !!!

Thank you Jas

This is total fly-on-the-wall conversations you know every rock star has but never gets released. I just love hearing Eddie's honest uncut opinions during the golden age of rock. I cant figure out why Eddie likes the 335 so much over say a Les Paul or SG.

So "Red Zone," not "Act Like It Hurts." They always said ALIH was the working title to "Growth."

Thank you Jas
These are required for every VH Fanatic/ Stalker--- These are so priceless

They were just getting to the good part about the Franky also did not know that the star guitar was a charvel body

Johnny Beane sent me to check out your content since I love Van Halen !

Hey Now Jas, your cousin Johnny Beane sent me over to your video. Very Cool 🤘🏼🔥🤘🏼🔥🤘🏼

JOHNNY BEANE SENT ME

Hey your cousin Johnny sent me

Another gem! I read the original but hearing the conversation is even better. Thank goodness the tapes were saved.

Thank you for this legendary material!

these audio tapes are amazing to listen to! thank you so much for allowing us to hear these! Love ya Eddie ❤

Thank you so much for these interviews. As a kid I wanted to know what his voice sounded like and to know what kind of person he was. Your interviews confirm what I suspected; he was just a good, sweet, honest dude. ❤

Refretted the necks, doubt it

Even more mind blowing than the first two, please tell me there’s more…😎🙏🏻

I love Eddie’s accent in these days - “it’s def’rent” “it’s semple” “don’t man’chun it..”

Going to listen to classical music? Going to play something classical? HMMMMM, sound familiar? Who was trying to copy who??? Lol

Ed went on to create some great BACH configurations after this interview which he integrated into his live solo. You can hear him doing them in the background unamplified. Ed was greatly classical influenced having played Classical Piano & later listening to composers......Its really FUNNY hearing Ed talk about DEBUSSY in his colloquial way though ....lol.......'Goddamn, that f*cker wrote some hot Sh*t ' .........Just imagine Ed's old Ramrod Back Po-faced PIANO TEACHER'S FACE if they could have heard Ed talking about revered classical composers like that ! 😧😧🤣😂🤣

There is a wonderful moment during this interview where Jas asks Ed about whether there is an instrumental solo section on WACF....There KIND OF WAS on the Intro for FOOLS but its too short to really count as a piece of music & is similar to what Ed had done on the first 2 albums....& on here Ed says 'I don't care much about things on guitar which have been done already whereas most players only do what they have seen others do already. They look at the guitar as if that's all its for & don't try to think outside the box for new things'.... & then Gloriously ED goes to Jas ' I don't just want to put on an instrumental for the sake of it....Because Eruption and Spanish Fly were kind of similar things. And what could I do THIS time ? ...what if I FIGURE OUT SOMETHING WITH THE FINGER THING WHICH IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT' ?......And true to his promise what 'New finger thing' did ED come up with within just MONTHS of this interview ?..You can can hear him playing it live at WACF gigs in Spring 1980 ? ....THE F*CKIN' MEAN STREET INTRO !!!!! ....He invented it just after Jas's interview here a year BEFORE it was put on the Fair Warning vinyl in 1981. He was playing it LIVE in 1980.....A FINGER THING TOTALLY DIFFERENT from Eruption & Spanish Fly & Even MORE inaccessible to other players to figure out than Eruption was. If guitarists were all scratching their heads at the vinyl turntable with Eruption in 1978 they were scratching their heads 10 TIMES MORE at the Mean Street intro in Spring 1981...🤔🤨...lol...With just his hands on strings thru an unmodified guitar and Amp he makes the instrument sound like NOTHING we had EVER heard before...Even HENDRIX would have been BAFFLED by it..🤔 I believe that NEVER before in the history of guitar technique has a sound submerged the technique by which its achieved ! ...Personally I don't believe modern guitarists like Vai, Thal or Eklundh have come up with anything as originally different on the guitar as the Meanstreet intro. Ron Thal once said in an interview..(quote)..'I had done all my years of Jazz theory . Then someone put on the MEANSTREET INTRO for me....THAT F*CKED MY SHIT UP.... I never realized you could be that innovative with the instrument (unquote)...With sight & sound study you have copycats on You Tube trying to copy/reproduce it but JUST IMAGINE WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO THINK UP AND INVENT SOMETHING LIKE THAT ?? .....ED was a GENIUS 😲😲😳 WASN'T HE ? ...I mean, c'mon ? ...Think about it ? 🤔😲..Its so difficult to see what influenced him & that's the HALLMARK & SIGN of Great Innovators...Its difficult or IMPOSSIBLE to tell who their influences are. Ask what influenced that intro ? ..He said for the first part the way bass players slap he applied to guitar but that wasn't with notes sounded by the Right hand. & how can ANY influence explain Ed's MAD left hand note, right hand harmonics speed octave intervals ? ...They are just CRAZY ....lol..Involving both open harmonics & relative harmonics ,,hammer/release in a tiny time frame. With just his hands on the strings he makes the guitar sound like a kind of 'ALIEN DEMENTED MACHINE'....lol ..Nobody had done that. Not even Hendrix or even Jeff Beck.

Also...I wonder if Mick Jones knew Eddie thought Foreigner kinda sucked by the time he helped produce "5150". Or maybe those 80s wedding songs turned Ed around? I love the pre-internet "don't print this" get outta jail card. I miss those days.

Guess it's a good thing Joe Perry went back to Aerosmith...instead of washing out 43 years ago lol. Good call, gents!

Ed was incredulous on the accusation that Dwayne Allman was playing out of tune on Layla. The greatness of EVH is that he has perfect pitch, meaning, he can hear all the notes on the keyboard, distinctively. So if EVH can't believe someone would say Layla was out of tune, means it was in tune.

Thank you very much! 🙋🏻‍♂️

amazing i could listen to eddie for hours

Thanks so very much once again Jas! It’s hilarious hearing Zloz’s unmistakeable voice in there!😂

At one point you hear Neil chime in, saying that Eddie has "an interview coming up with (Guitar) Player". Was Neil Ed's pseudo-agent or did he just know that because he was going to be shooting photos for it?

Another nugget and look inside the mind of Mr Van Halen. Nice work Jas.

excellent Jas thanks to you, Neil, and Ed. This was amazing and I'll be listening to this many, many times!!

Ahh JOY !! ....THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS JAS .......God Bless. ❤👍👍👍👍👍

Did He say the Destroyer became the two headed Snake Guitar ?

This article was a guitar Bible for me as a then 15yo guitar punk. Thanks!!