ARTICLES
Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Mountain and Leslie West
Growing up in California during the 1960s and 1970s, Eddie Van Halen was surrounded by the incredible music being made in the United States. He witnessed firsthand the evolution of the American rock scene, which had been heavily influenced by the British bands that redefined Rock and Roll. Over the years, the late legendary guitarist talked about many of the groups that emerged before Van Halen and shared his opinions on them, including Mountain and Leslie West, their praised guitarist and singer.
What was Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Mountain and Leslie West
Eddie was a big fan of Mountain and Leslie West’s playing, having said that he had an incredible tone. “With Tony (Iommi), it’s the riffs, and the power of the music. And you’ve got people like Ritchie Blackmore, Leslie West. Leslie West has this incredible tone in Mountain. Ritchie Blackmore I liked because of his vibrato bar use on ‘Deep Purple in Rock’. Also, they come out with great riffs. I mean, come on, ‘Smoke on the Water’ is one for the history books,” Eddie Van Halen said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2011.
Curiously, Leslie was Van Halen’s opening act in the 80s and their friendship started quickly after they met each other. He had previously gone to see Van Halen playing after Ronnie Montrose said he had to check out a kid that was opening for them that played guitar like “a Bach organ fugue”. “Eddie Van Halen got me playing the guitar again. When I was in [drug] rehab in Milwaukee, back in 1976, Van Halen were on their first tour, opening for Journey and Montrose.”
“I hadn’t gone to any shows in a long time, I wasn’t playing the guitar at all. And I didn’t want to see a guitar, because I was in really fucked up, bad shape. I was just getting myself back to where I wanted to go to a show, and Ronnie Montrose said to me, you’ve got to see this kid; he plays a Bach organ fugue on the guitar! He said, ‘I’ve sort of seen that before, but I watched Eddie, and I said, ‘I’ve never seen that before!'”
He continued:
“I went up to Eddie and I said ‘Man, you make me want to play the guitar again’. We became friends and have stayed friends for a long time. One day, out of the blue, two (Peavey) 5150 stacks showed up at my house, along with one of Eddie’s Wolfgang guitars. When I met him, there was nothing happening to make me want to play. What I was doing at the time, I didn’t want to play. But I heard him playing some stuff, and he has that… (plays “You Really Got Me’ Van Halen style). I never heard that song like that! Hearing him gave me such a thrill. Still to this day, there’s nothing like him,” he told Andy Aledort in 2007.
10 years older than Eddie, Leslie started his career in 1964 and five years later co-founded Mountain, which would become one of the most influential American bands from the early 70s. He once said that Van Halen impressed him the way Eric Clapton had impressed him years before.
Eddie and Leslie West played together many times
Van Halen and West continued to be friends over the decades and even had the chance to play together many times. They had a jam session once with Alfonson Johnson and Carlos Santana in a hotel room. “Alfonso Johnson, Carlos Santana, Eddie and me were playing in a hotel room one night for an hour-and-a-half without stopping at all. Man, I had the time of my life with those guys. And I’ve learned how to write by myself, too. I spent two years, ’77-’79, working hard with Corky Laing in that. He was a terrific help,” West said.
A few years later, in 1995, West joined Van Halen on stage when Sammy Hagar was still the frontman, to perform “Mississippi Queen”. In 2002, Eddie and West would reunite again at the House of Blues in West Hollywood back in August 2002. About that performance, West said: “At soundcheck, I invited people to come down and play, like American Idol. I said if someone played well enough, they could come up and play on the show with us.”
He continued:
“So, on stage that night, I said, ‘The winner is…’ and I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and said, ‘Edward… uh… Van Halen!’ Eddie came out and played Never In My Life with us. When he plays it, he actually plays the part Felix (Pappalardi – Mountain bassist) played. When he played the solo, I started laughing, because he is the best. There is nobody better than him. There are guys in that ballpark, but they’re not in Yankee Stadium. You know what I mean?” he told Andy Aledort in 2007.
Both of them sadly passed away in the same year, back in 2020. Eddie died at the age of 65 in October and West at the age of 75 in December. Leslie was part of all the albums released by Mountain. They are best remembered for the two first ones: “Climbing!” (1970) and “Nantucket Sleighride” (1971). As a solo artist he released 16 albums, the final one being “Soundcheck” in 2016. He also was part of three albums of the trio West, Bruce and Laing.
