The Dead Daisies guitarist Doug Aldrich recently had an interview Jeremy White and talked about Eddie Van Halen’s influence on him and told the story of him borrowing equipments from Eddie. Doug set the scene as the producer Andy Johns nonchalantly suggested that they could borrow gears from Van Halen:
“Andy goes ‘We should go to Eddie’s and borrow some gear.’ I’m like ‘What? What are you talking about?’ He goes ‘He’ll lend us some stuff if we need it.’ I’m like ‘Okay…’”
Aldrich went on telling how Andy asked all the equipments Doug needed:
“So we go up there, and I quit smoking years and years ago but at the time I was smoking cigarettes. I was outside 5150 having a smoke. Andy was talking to the studio manager about borrowing some speakers, a power amp and we said ‘Hey, can we borrow a baritone guitar?’ and some other stuff.”
He also told the moment he came across Eddie in front of 5150 Studios, and how he reacted:
“I’m outside smoking, all of a sudden this Range Rover comes up the driveway and there’s Eddie. And he’s like ‘Hey, who are you?’ and I’m like ‘I’m here with Andy, my name is Doug Aldrich, blah blah blah…’ He goes ‘Hey man, you mean Andy’s here? Cool, come on in. Let’s have a beer.’ And he was just super nice.”
In a 2012 interview, producer Andy Johns also mentioned how it was to work with Eddie:
“Working with Eddie Van Halen was magic. I loved him, loved him, loved him, hated him. I would say three parts love, one part hate, because he can be a little difficult. For some reason, I don’t know why, I had been to more Van Halen gigs than any other band in the ’80s. Whenever Eddie picks up the guitar and just starts playing, it’s wonderful. The man is an absolutely fabulous rhythm guitarist.”
You can watch the whole sequence below.
