“I acted the way I did because a guitar that Eddie Van Halen gave me went missing for 18 years”: Jerry Cantrell on the saga of his missing Blue Dress G&L guitar last year
Jerry Cantrell has reflected on the emotional roller coaster he went through during the search for his lost Blue Dress G&L, a saga that had the rock community in a frenzy last year.
After reports of his axe being stolen over the weekend, Cantrell was ultimately relieved to find out it had simply been misplaced, not stolen.
Now looking back, he shares how the experience brought back memories of another guitar that went missing for nearly two decades — a 1992 goldtop Ernie Ball Music Man EVH, personally gifted to him by Eddie Van Halen, that went missing in 2002.
READ MORE: What makes PRS Guitars so special? Well, they’re “really f**king nice”, according to John Mayer
“The reason I acted the way I did was because a guitar that Eddie Van Halen gave me [went missing] for 18 years,” Cantrell tells Guitar World.
“I had a very personal guitar stolen from me during the making of Degradation Trip that somehow walked out the front door of Henson Studios. I was lucky enough to get that back.”
“So, I guess that’s why I was so quick to throw the call out there, just in case ‘Blue Dress’ was missing. Very happy to say I cried wolf, and that I was mistaken,” he adds.
Often regarded one of the most iconic guitars in grunge history, Cantrell’s Blue Dress G&L Rampage has featured on every Alice in Chains record and nearly every song the guitarist has recorded.
Discussing the origins of his treasured axe, Cantrell says: “I bought that guitar in Dallas in 1985, when I was 19 and working at a music store called Arnold & Morgan Music Company; I bought No War a few months after that.”
“I had both of those guitars while I was living out there and jammin’ with bands, right after high school. I’ve had those guitars for 39 years. They’re like a part of me, you know?”
He also reveals his surprise at the support he received after news of his missing guitar broke.
“So many of my brethren and sisters have had really important guitars stolen or disappear,” Cantrell says. “We rarely get them back. Luckily this one was just misplaced for a couple of days. I get to make another record on it. It’s on tour with me right now, and I’m rockin’ it as we speak.”
The post “I acted the way I did because a guitar that Eddie Van Halen gave me went missing for 18 years”: Jerry Cantrell on the saga of his missing Blue Dress G&L guitar last year appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
