Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1980 Interview - Tape 2 (HD Audio)

Our Remarkably Candid Conversation Continues, With Lots of Guitar Playing!

If you haven’t already heard it, you may want to listen to the first hour of our marathon 1980 interview, “Eddie Van Halen – The Complete 1980 Interview - Tape 1 (HD Audio).” The interview you’re about to hear takes up where that podcast left off:

Like on Tape 1, Eddie plays a lot of unamplified Frankenstrat during this second tape. Other highlights include him talking about why he got expelled from school in ninth grade, the appeal of working alongside his brother Alex and bassist Mike Anthony, and the disadvantages of being a so-called “rock star.” He delves into how he records in the studio, how the movement of his body is tied into his playing, and how performing onstage is “like having sex.”

Eddie also talks about his admiration of Allan Holdsworth, what he looks for in a solo, and his favorite of his own solos. He discusses his amplifiers and effects and elaborates on how he boils strings before installing them on his guitar, how he and Mike occasionally tune down a quarter-step, and the pros and cons of tuning a guitar all in fourths. Eddie’s playing throughout this second tape is exhilarating and extraordinary!

Portions of this interview were published in Eddie’s first-ever cover story, in the April 1980 issue of Guitar Player. For more insights into early-’80s Van Halen, see “Van Halen's Michael Anthony: The Complete 1981 Interview (HD Audio).”

A special thanks to engineer/producer/designer Nik Hunt for enhancing the sound of these decades-old master tapes.

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