Eddie Van Halen Once Gave Away an Entire Garage of Music Gear to a ’90s Rock Star
Photo by photo by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Friendship Formed on Tour
A story about Eddie Van Halen’s generosity has resurfaced, shared by Alice in Chains guitarist and singer Jerry Cantrell. The moment goes back to the early 1990s, when Alice in Chains opened for Van Halen on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour. At the time, Cantrell was still early in his career and surrounded by musicians he had admired for years.
Cantrell recalled that he was nervous at first, but the two musicians slowly became friends while traveling together. During that tour, Cantrell talked openly about his love for Van Halen’s guitars and amps, especially the Ernie Ball Music Man EVH model that Eddie helped design.
An Unexpected Offer
Cantrell admitted he eventually worked up the nerve to ask Van Halen if he could get a discount on one of the guitars. Instead of agreeing to a lower price, Van Halen shocked him with a blunt response: “f–k that, dude, I’ll just give you a guitar.”
Cantrell remembered Van Halen explaining his reason clearly. “Everybody gives me everything for free now, when I can totally afford it. When I couldn’t afford it, nobody would give me anything. So let me do that for you,” he said.
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A Garage Full of Gear
After the tour ended, Cantrell returned home, where he was staying with his manager Kelly Curtis and Curtis’s wife, Peggy. When Cantrell arrived, Curtis greeted him and then asked, “By the way, do you think you could clear your s–t out of my garage? I need to put my car in there.”
Cantrell was confused until Curtis added, “Eddie Van Halen filled the garage with gear for you. I haven’t been able to park my car in my garage for months.” The comment stopped Cantrell cold.
Like a Scene From a Movie
Cantrell described opening the garage and seeing guitars, amps, and other equipment stacked inside. He said it felt “like a scene from a movie,” with high-end gear filling the small space. “I’m just trying to process this, like, ‘Okay, Eddie Van Halen just filled my garage with gear,’” he recalled.
Cantrell later shared that he kept two of the guitars Van Halen gave him and still owns them today, calling them meaningful reminders of that moment.
A Guitar Lost and Found
Years later, Cantrell explained that one of the EVH guitars went missing during an Alice in Chains tour. He spent the next 18 years trying to track it down, never giving up hope that it might resurface.
Nearly two decades later, a guitar collector contacted Cantrell after spotting the instrument for sale online. With help from a friend, Cantrell confirmed it was the same guitar and finally got it back, closing a long chapter tied to Van Halen’s unexpected kindness.
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