I went to school with Kurt (Tad). He played at more than one back yard party of mine, and I have to say he’s one of the most under rated immensely talented guitarists ever. I miss those days, but I’m glad to hear him doing good and offering up all this great info! Keep rocking brother! 🤘

Even now, Kurt is the ONLY guy who nails Yngwie's solos from the Alcatrazz album. The tone, everything!. Even better than Yngwie himself could nowadays. Amazing!

I saw Kurt with Steeler a couple of times. He nailed Yngwie's solos. Amazing. I think Kurt James knew Joey Tafolla at one time; I seem to remember Joey telling me that. The first Dr. Mastermind shows how great Kurt is. There are so many killer guitarists from that era that no one got to hear or see.

Van Halen hit the world like a freight train. I remember listening to the first VH album at a party with a bunch of surfers and rockers in Santa Monica when the vinyl was still warm off the press. Nobody had ever heard anything like this. Eruption melted faces all over the place. Eddie changed the sound and the dynamics of guitar forever. VH as a band changed our expectations of what to expect of a band. They had it all down. They didn't phone it in like so many bands at the time. They delivered. Eddie also changed the way we players thought of guitars as well. He perfected a kind of minimalism. All you needed was a good humbucker in a strat and a whammy. But he also perfected that simple esthetic as well, working closely with Floyd Rose as he developed the first functional locking trem system and pickup designers like Seymour Duncan raced to keep up with Eddie's demands. Eddie knew what he wanted, unlike most players, and he drove the guitar industry into giving players a higher standard of instrument with more dynamics.

I met Kurt back in 88(if memory serves) at the LA music expo at the Chandler booth, when I was going to GIT. I met one of my favorite guitar players. It was very cool

No better way to start the weekend but with more stories about Ed.💪

Loved your playing with Dr. Mastermind, Kurt - glad to hear you're still about and active :)

I remember seeing Cats & Dogs. They used all of the speaker cabs from a previous Van Halen tour. Mike's brother had that same great background vocal. good band.

Jammed with Tad at his dad's in the early 80s in Costa Mesa and I remember he saved the strings off his acoustic that Eddie had played Spanish Fly on in Laguna Beach. He had the strings hanging off a picture on the wall. Love Tad's work -- just a monster player -- he was playing with Steeler at the time.

Great stuff, love those stories

Awesome interview! Great stories! Thank You Both for putting it out there.

I absolutely love Randy Bachman and Al Di Meola. I know VH is the subject here. Which is why I’m here. However, knowbody picked with such clarity and speed like Al Di Meola during the 70’s Now musically he’s a aquired taste. But his speed and technique, SICK.

I went to college in Pasadena in the 80s and 90s, and the impact VH had on that town and the whole LA area, was still strong...

I saw Kurt back in the early 80's. He is a great guitarist!

Great lesson sound..and memories master.

That was at Saddleback High in Santa Ana, and that dude yelping was Bruce Chavez.

Omg! This is a great interview and the photos are amazing!!! I've sent my friend John Billings a message to see if it was him. lol. And, Roth's 2 note scream is called "Whistle tone," just fyi. I might edit this later because I'm not done watching. But thanks for another killer interview Jeff and Kurt!

I built my first p,a, cabs using those radio shack speakers,using 15s 12s and piesos,I have a red Ibanez V from that era that I played,

Van Halen hell yeah!!! Although that Kurt James is a fucking beast himself I know I play bass & have done a few bar gigs with Mr James & he is quite the bass player...I was also at that Pasadena civic gig & I have a great story about van Halen smoking a tie stick with diamond Dave...John Bosco Padres..thank you

Listened to a lot of B.T.O. 1of my favorite classic rock groups. Underrated

Shout out to Viktor Dewar (Vik Voltage) The blond haired conga player he mentioned that was on stage with Terry Kilgore opening for Van Halen at The Pasadena Civic. RIP

Great show Jeff - though I could have enjoyed more of Kurts Van Halen stories for at least another two hours .

Another great talk. Sounds like a good guy. Alex stealing lunch money ... mean street, so funny.

Randy Bachman was taught by Lenny Breau. There is a lot of jazz stuff in BTO music. He’s a great guitar player.

Whoa Dude! I listened to the whole thing!

I'm from Queens NYC and I'm jealous. All these cool stories. I went to see Black Sabbath in Madison Square Garden NYC 1978. And some opening band comes on...I thought it was a joke...but then boom..boom.boom. beginning of Runjing with the Devil...holy shit. By the time he broke into Eruption..the crowd was in shock! I think I had an orgasm from that sound! The crowd was chanting for Eddie during black sabbath! Lol I felt bad for Ozzie. It was over for them.

Great interview with Kurt (aka Tad). I wish I could've heard this live so I could ask some questions. I first met Kurt at the Reseda Country Club, when I was hanging out with Paul Gilbert. The 2nd time was at NAMM. Paul Gilbert's car was in the shop, so I drove Paul to NAMM. We saw Kurt and hung together for awhile, but then we had to head over to Ibanez to talk with Tom Tanaka and they sealed Paul's endorsement deal with Ibanez. Paul tried to help me get an endorsement deal with Ibanez too, as my band "Redline" was doing well in the L.A. scene, and we usually opened for Racer-X. I've got alot of great stories from back then, but too much to write here. Kurt, I hope you're doing well. Great interview!

The Hunting brothers. Jamie is a great bass player who ended up playing in Dave's band with Terry Kilgore. I've played with him a few times. Fantastic bass player.

I was a huge BTO fan myself. I had all their stuff. The songs were all so rocking an fun kinda songs that were great for jamming in the car while cruising. Kinda like VH. Rarely do you hear much about BTO. It's ashame.

17:46 love these little details, hail 🙇🏻‍♂️🫡

I had never heard those were Radio Shack speakers. Always heard they were JBLs. My mind is blown

Great interview of my buddy, Kurt (Tadshimoy)! Jeff, are you going to NAMM next month?

Any chance of a part 2? Needs to at least touch on the Yngwie/Steeler period...they recorded together for fun on Yngwie's 4 track back then.

I saw another one of Michael Anthony's brothers play guitar one night at the Ice House and I thought he sounded a lot like Michael Schenker.

Nuno played his rig, And he said he sounded like Nuno lol......

I knew where and what was gonna happen, when Kurt James played for Eddie on the 4th of July. You never do that, to someone who is already signed, works behind the scenes, etc.

best tones Ed got was pre 1st album.

though i agree with kurt about there being no JBL’s on vh1 because of the straight/slant cab thing, eddie was not using the radioshack speakers in that live straight cab. though having the aluminum caps, they were 3” instead of JBL’s 4”. radioshack’s speakers also had the rippled cones as opposed to JBL’s smooth cones that you can see clear as day in the photo from 78 of dave sitting on top of ed’s cabinets. 100% JbL’s, but he still didnt record with them..

The Destroyers were made from Asian SEN ASH. Not like the Northern ASH the franky body was made from so i can see why EVH said the Ash destroyers were 🦃 while liking Northern Ash for his strat body.

I agree with Kurt and EVH just used his live rig on the VH I Record. Now that Sunset released those Mic only recording you can hear That it is just a really good 68 Marshall plexi cranked with some minimal outboard stuff like his Mxr EQ. It is the post production that sounds like a "Magical Marshall" so it was Don Landee that was responsible for the end result of that tone. There is nothing special on the Mic only recordings.

Great interview! Question: at 32:06 is Kurt saying Eddie was doing sort of a right hand capo thing or something else?

Are you sure that the guy you're talking to isn't Buckethead?

Kurt seems a little salty,, like, maybe Dave wouldn’t sign an autograph for him or something

Please stop clicking that pen...

THE TADOCASTER 👍👍

17:00 anyone know which Obrecht interview he's referring to? 34:00 must of been before spell check?

I don't understand the concept of what "the bomb" thing guitarists had on stage in the middle of the live show in the 70's was. Carlos from Quite Riot had a manikin as his version of the bomb? What?

I saw lizzy borden with motorhead at the palladium and mixing the two different crowds resulted in a really violent show. people getting beat down and stabbed everywhere you looked.

Alex VH used to hang with us heavies at Victory Park 1969-1970 in East Pasadena. Little Edward was still going to Marshall Junior High and couldn't hang with us at night. Crazy times; Red Mountain Wine. We hung at the Mound at Victory Park near the Tennis courts. We owned the park at night in 1970 and PHS. My girlfriend broke up with me to start dating "Edward la fox." Irritated me deeply at the time. We all have come a long way from those days.

He basically stole eruption, tapping, the logo, the singer, the stripes. Look it up.