Italian car engineer Claudio Zampolli, the man who facilitated the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen, died yesterday (July 7th) at the age of 82. No cause of death has been given. Zampoli is best known to car fans as the creator of the Cizeta V16T Supercar, but Van Halen fans will remember him as the man who gave Eddie Van Halen Hagar's phone number back in 1985. At the time, … [Read more...]
Eddie Van Halen News
Billy Gibbons On First Van Halen Concert: ‘That Blew My Mind’
ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons said seeing Van Halen perform for the first time lived up to all of the hype and then some. Gibbons was a guest on Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM show Trunk Nation recently. At one point in the interview the conversation steered towards Eddie Van Halen. Gibbons said he had heard all about Eddie's talents, even had Van Halen's 1978 debut album, but didn't get a … [Read more...]
The Everlasting Impact Of Eddie Van Halen On Today’s Guitarists
The genius of Eddie Van Halen continues to influence and inspire today's guitarists. Guitar World spoke with ten of those leading modern guitarists recently to find out what they learned from "King Edward". Here are some of comments from the article: YVETTE YOUNG How important was EVH’s role in the evolution of guitar playing? I always loved his attitude towards … [Read more...]
Jason Becker Fundraiser: Becker’s Three Most Important Guitars To Be Presented By Guernsey’s Auctions On July 15th
A fundraiser for Jason Becker is set to take place on July 15th with the proceeds to provide for Becker's ongoing battle with ALS. Becker was David Lee Roth's guitarist on the 1991 album A Little Ain't Enough and became a close friend of Eddie Van Halen in the years following his ALS diagnoses. Below is the press release: Legendary guitarist/composer Jason … [Read more...]
The Van Halen Easter Eggs In ‘Mammoth WVH’ Album
Ultimate Classic Rock has been doing some Van Halen Easter egg hunting! A recent video uploaded to UCR's YouTube channel brought attention to a handful of nods and subtle tributes Wolfgang Van Halen gave to Van Halen in his debut Mammoth WVH album and below are the five they came up with. #1) The first Van Halen Easter egg is one the Van Halen News Desk and Van … [Read more...]
Sammy Hagar Apologizes For Exposing Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Dark Side’ In Autobiography
Sammy Hagar said he is sorry for exposing "the dark side" of Eddie Van Halen in his 2011 autobiography Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock. "Because of the untimely and tragic death of Eddie Van Halen, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for exposing his dark side to where I don't think anyone wants to hear that now, and, unfortunately, it's in the book," Hagar said in … [Read more...]
Don Dokken Says Seeing Eddie Van Halen Perform Convinced Him To Give Up The Guitar
How good was Eddie Van Halen? So good he could make a guitarist give up the guitar. Dokken recently recalled the first time he saw Eddie perform live. It was at a venue in California in the 70s when Dokken was the lead guitarist and lead singer of a Los Angeles band called Airborn. "This is before the Dokken days, before I got signed," Dokken said while a guest on the … [Read more...]
Steel Panther’s Satchel: ‘Eddie Van Halen Made It Look So Easy’
If only every Eddie Van Halen video came with a warning - "Guitarists Everywhere: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!" In a recent clip of Dweezil Zappa's podcast Runnin' With The Dweezil, Steel Panther guitarist Satchel admitted to throwing a few guitars in the trash at an early age after failed attempts to recreate them the same way Eddie did. Satchel found out the hard way - just … [Read more...]
Eddie Van Halen Tribute Concert ‘Definitely Should Happen’, Says Wolfgang Van Halen
Credit: Rudy Childs Wolfgang Van Halen said an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert isn't anything planned for the near future but it is something he wants to see eventually happen. In a recent interview on Sirius/XM's Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, Wolfgang discussed the idea of a concert in tribute to his dad. "I definitely think that would be a great thing to do," he … [Read more...]
Neil Zlozower Preparing New Eddie Van Halen Photo Book!
Exclusive: Legendary rock photographer Neil Zlozower reveals to the Van Halen News Desk that he's started work on a new Van Halen coffee table photo book! The upcoming book will be his second on Eddie Van Halen. Zloz tells VHND that he's been raiding his extensive photo vault for never-before-seen shots of "Father Ed" that have never been published, and adding … [Read more...]
Van Halen’s ‘Dreams’ Reawakened Through New Generations Of Musicians
Of the many hit singles Van Halen recorded during their run with Sammy Hagar, there seems to be one in particular that younger generations of musicians prefer most – “Dreams”. In March the synthwave artist Arena recorded a cover of the song. Their recording even received the stamp of approval from Hagar himself. “I wanna tell you guys I love what Arena did with … [Read more...]
Guitar Tech Chet Haun Recalls “Whirlwind Of A Time” Working With Van Halen In 2007
It's a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, summer of 2007. Godsmack guitar tech Chet Haun is enjoying a day off, sitting in an empty Sunset Bar & Grill with a couple of guys from the road crew. He's about to bite into a slice of pizza when his phone rings. "Hi Chet? This is Edward Van Halen's assistant Matt. Edward would like to know if he can speak with you." Haun's life was … [Read more...]