Veteran rock journalist Jas Obrecht has shared another gem of an interview with Eddie Van Halen, this one from December of 1979!
Jas released the complete audio of his interview in HD via his YouTube channel “Talking Guitar: Jas Obrecht’s Music Magazine” along with a complete transcript at his website jasobrecht.substack.com.
Below is what Jas had to say about the interview along with the entire interview on YouTube:
To outsiders, Eddie Van Halen seemed to be sitting on top of the world in December 1979. The first two Van Halen albums had gone platinum, the band had just wrapped up a massive world tour, and he’d been widely proclaimed one of the best – if not the best – guitarist in rock and roll. But behind the scenes Eddie had rapidly discovered that fame had its price. He was irritated with manufacturers who’d cloned his trademark guitar, with big-name players copping his techniques, and with journalists misrepresenting his words.
A few days after recording the third Van Halen album, Women and Children First, Eddie called me at home to see how I was doing. When I mentioned I was working on a Guitar Player magazine article on do-it-yourself guitar kits, he volunteered to give me his insights into building guitars. Since he was largely responsible for the trend’s popularity, I accepted his invitation. Two days later, on December 29, 1979, we had the conversation heard here. Eddie offers a wealth of insight into his homemade guitars, and then shares his feelings about some of the harder lessons he’d learned on and off the road.
