In an interview with The Metal Voice, Kelly Garni remembered the first time he saw Van Halen. The former member of Quiet Riot revealed that although he didn’t care who Van Halen was at first, Eddie Van Halen‘s ‘Eruption’ drastically changed his perception.

A founding member of the group, Garni had issues with his bandmates. He played bass with Quiet Riot for about five years until they fired him for plotting to kill lead singer Kevin DuBrow under the influence. After leaving the band, several musicians filled his place on different occasions. Eventually, Rudy Sarzo took his place and became a permanent group member.

In a conversation, Kelly Garni recently reminisced about his days with Quiet Riot. The bassist remembered when his band shared the same stage with Van Halen, a new band to become one of the legendary acts in rock music. However, they hadn’t achieved their breakthrough then, so Garni didn’t care about seeing them after leaving the stage, except when he spoke to David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony about a technical issue.

However, the former Quiet Riot member admitted the only time he cared for Van Halen. Upon hearing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo on ‘Eruption,’ the musician realized how great they were, which completely changed his prejudice against Eddie Van Halen and the rest of the band.

Here is what Kelly Garni stated:

“The night we played with them, the only interaction I had with them was there was some issue with our stage setup, and a roadie came down to our dressing room and said that we had to come up there intervene, and we went. We talked to David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony. We had a bit of an argument. It got a little testy. I don’t remember who won. I know it was a minor issue that didn’t affect what we did that night.

So we went up and did our show. It was at a college, and our dressing room was the drama department’s dressing room. So there was all this stuff in there. I knew there was a giant party going on after I played. So I headed down there. I went back out and said, ‘Oh, I’ll see these other guys.’ I literary didn’t care. The only time I cared about Van Halen was the first time I heard ‘Eruption,’ and I went, ‘Oh my God! This is great. Now I kind of wish I would have seen him.'”

You can watch the interview below.