“He walks in with a guitar not in the case… like a superhero walking up the steps”: Dweezil Zappa on the night Eddie Van Halen showed up at his dad’s home and played Eruption
Imagine being 12 years old, obsessed with guitar, and one night, Eddie Van Halen – decked out in a jumpsuit and rocking his signature necklace – just shows up at your house.
That’s exactly what happened to Dweezil Zappa, son of the legendary Frank Zappa, who recently shared the story of how the late guitar icon arrived one night, looking like a rock ‘n’ roll superhero, and delivered an impromptu performance of Eruption that changed his life forever.
READ MORE: “No one ever told Van Halen, ‘Oh Eddie, you start tapping’”: Veteran rock writer explains why Van Halen were more “organic” than other shred metal bands
Recounting the events of that unforgettable night at a recent Discogs event at W Hollywood’s The Loft, the musician says [via Rolling Stone]: “My mom answers the phone and she’s like, ‘This guy says he’s Edward Van Halen.’ I’m 12 and I’ve never heard him speak before. Never even heard of an interview. I’ve only seen pictures of him on albums and stuff. So he’s saying he wants to talk to my dad.”
“My dad gets on the phone with him. They talk for a few minutes, and 15 minutes later, he’s at our house.”
“And he’s wearing the jumpsuit from the Women and Children First album cover and a necklace with the Van Halen logo and he walks in with a guitar not in the case,” Zappa continues, noting the way the moment had looked like something straight out of a superhero movie.
“He walked up the staircase into the studio. For me, he might as well have been backlit with smoke. [He was] like a superhero walking up the steps,” says Zappa. “Before there was even a ‘Hello,’ I was like ‘Play Eruption’ and I got to see it up close. And that’s the moment I was like, ‘I need to do this.’”
The pair would go on to share a lifelong friendship, with Dweezil even teaching Eddie how to play a Frank Zappa riff he couldn’t do at one point.
“It was a complete role reversal. It was a cool and unique experience,” he says.
The post “He walks in with a guitar not in the case… like a superhero walking up the steps”: Dweezil Zappa on the night Eddie Van Halen showed up at his dad’s home and played Eruption appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
