On a recent episode of the ‘Lipps Service’ podcast, hosted by Scott Lipps, Jerry Cantrell shared memories of his friendship with the late Eddie Van Halen.
Speaking about their bond, Cantrell said, “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.”
“But, yeah, Ed and I hit it off. 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]”
During the chat, Lipps mentioned how Zakk Wylde used to play Led Zeppelin songs in front of Van Halen. The guitarist 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.’”
Jerry Cantrell and Eddie Van Halen became friends while touring together for Metallica and Van Halen’s 1998 summer tour. After the trek, the late guitarist gifted Cantrell several guitars, one of which was stolen during the recording of 2002’s ‘Degradation Trip.’
The Alice In Chains guitarist got the 1952 Goldtop Les Paul back around two decades later, as he shared with Guitar World a few years ago, “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. 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!”
Currently, Cantrell is getting ready for a handful of shows with Alice In Chains in 2025. The band is also reportedly working on new music, though no official details have been revealed.
