Frank Zappa‘s son Dweezil is reminiscing about an interaction he had with Eddie Van Halen during his childhood. On Wednesday night, Dweezil spoke at a Discogs event at W Hollywood’s The Loft, where he talked about some of his favorite vinyl records, including Fair Warning by Van Halen, as he shared an anecdote about a surprise visit from the late Van Halen.
“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,” Zappa recalled. “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.”
Zappa explained that for a second he thought that maybe the voice that says, “Come on, Dave, give me a break,” from “Unchained” might be Van Halen. But no, it was actually producer Ted Templeton.
“My dad gets on the phone with him. They talk for a few minutes, and 15 minutes later, he’s at our house,” Zappa explained. “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.”
“He walked up the staircase into the studio. For me, he might as well have been backlit with a smoke. [He was] like a superhero walking up the steps,” he continued. “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.’”
Zappa — who was at W Hollywood celebrating vinyl records with Discogs — continued by placing Fair Warning on a turntable and playing “Mean Street” for the crowd, describing the song’s intro as “one of the greatest things that’s ever been played on guitar.” He added: “Just the intro alone on this is what made me want to be a guitar player.” (Rolling Stone named it one of Eddie’s 20 Greatest Guitar Solos ever.)
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Dweezil Zappa shared a lifelong friendship with Van Halen, and at one point, even taught him how to play a Frank Zappa riff he couldn’t do. “It was complete role reversal. It was a cool and unique experience,” he said Wednesday.
Wednesday’s Discogs event at W Hollywood also featured Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie flipping through records and sharing stories about his favorite songs.
