Beforehand unreleased footage of a jam session between Eddie Van Halen and Mountain’s Leslie West has surfaced on-line, courtesy of Lightyear Leisure.
The six-string showcase came about on the Hollywood Home of Blues on Aug. 10, 2002, the place each guitar legends tore by Mountain’s 1970 monitor “By no means in My Life.” You possibly can watch the efficiency, together with an interview with West by which he discusses his friendship with Van Halen, under.
“I used to be going to rehab in Milwaukee,” West recalled. “And I ended taking part in for six months. So I met Ed, and I launched myself. After I noticed him, it acquired me taking part in once more. [He was] kicking me up a notch. So I known as up Randy Bachman and I mentioned, ‘How would you want a rhythm guitar participant for nothing? I simply need to get on the tour.’ He mentioned, ‘Nice.’ And I went out on the tour, and Eddie and I performed each evening within the room afterwards, and we grew to become buddies.”
READ MORE: Eddie Van Halen Broke a Band Rule to Play on ‘Beat It’
Leslie West Discusses Eddie Van Halen’s Impression on His Taking part in and Pop Music
West additional praised Van Halen for revitalizing his personal taking part in and serving to to raise a sure pop star. “I simply suppose the world of this man. I can not clarify it to you,” he enthused. “Eric Clapton was my authentic affect in that first tier. However then when Eddie got here alongside, he breathed new life into my taking part in. I imply, I believe he is singly liable for making Michael Jackson cross over to the white viewers with ‘Beat It.’ Quincy Jones requested Eddie to play that solo, and that is a motherfucker of a solo, man. It made that document.”
“There may be no one else, I am telling you proper now, that comes near what he is aware of on the guitar,” West added. “He would not even understand it. He is so gifted.”
Van Halen died in October 2020 at age 65. West died two months later at age 75.
Eddie Van Halen Yr by Yr: 1977-2017 Photographs
You may see him with lengthy hair, brief hair, quite a lot of his most well-known guitars and all three of his band’s lead singers.
Gallery Credit score: Matthew Wilkening
