Talking to Scott Lipps on a new episode of the ‘Lipps Service’ podcast, Jerry Cantrell discussed his friendship with the late Eddie Van Halen.
“Van Halen, they were – You know, we’re big fans of those bands and end up figuring out that you’re kind of similar people. And we fell in with them pretty fast. So, you know, you make lifelong friends,” Cantrell said during the interview.
“But, yeah, Ed and I hit it off,” he continued. “We would spend – He would either be in my dressing room, I would be in his, or we’d be in each other’s hotel rooms or get on the plane to go hang out and play pool. And it mostly ended up with me and him sitting face to face playing guitar, which was great for me. [Laughs]”
When Lipps mentioned how Zakk Wylde used to play Led Zeppelin songs in front of Van Halen, Cantrell recalled, “Yeah, that’s what we used to do. Ed used to call it ‘Name That Riff,’ and we would sit down, he’d throw something at me and I’d see if I could name it. Then, I’d throw a couple back at him, and it always was funny when we could stump each other, you know? ‘Wow, it just stumped Eddie Van Halen.’”
Cantrell formed his friendship with Eddie Van Halen while touring with him both solo and as part of Alice In Chains in the 1990s.
In 1998, the guitarist opened for Metallica and Van Halen during their summer tour to promote his debut solo album, ‘Boggy Depot.’ After the tour, Eddie sent him several guitars as gifts.
One of those, a 1952 Goldtop Les Paul, got stolen during the making of Cantrell’s 2002 album ‘Degradation Trip.’ He managed to recover it years later.
“I just got it back a few years ago – a couple of AIC fans and collectors tracked it down and tried to do a sting on this kid who had it and was trying to sell it,” the guitarist shared with Guitar World in 2021. “He went dark on the first guy, who was from Florida. The second guy was a separate collector from San Diego. Between the two of them, it took about two weeks for me to get that guitar back… after 19 years!”
Cantrell is now preparing for a few shows in 2025 with Alice In Chains. The band is reportedly also working on new music, although there are no official details yet.