Eddie Van Halen and Fred Durst approached music from completely opposite sides of the spectrum, so it’s rare that you’d ever hear the two names muttered together in the same sentence.
But in a book published by author Andrew Bennett in 2020, the two apparently had a run-in for the history books. Bennett was hired by Van Halen to spend a few years photographing the band, and during his time with them, came out with some pretty batshit insane stories.
But the one involving Fred Durst goes like this:
Apparently, Eddie and Fred Durst were both hanging at a party around the time that Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland first left the group. Knowing Durst was in the market for a new guitarist, a record executive suggested EVH.
To which Durst apparently responded: “That would be hilarious. The greatest guitar player ever plays with the worst band ever.”
But Eddie responded back incredulously with, “Fuck it, let’s jam.”
The two did meet up according to Bennett, with Van Halen lugging his guitar and gear over to Durst’s place to jam. While things started off decently, Eddie apparently bailed quickly into the session because there was too much weed smoke around him.
The next day, Van Halen apparently tried to contact Durst to get his guitar and amps back. But after 24 hours of no response, the legendary guitarist apparently got heated and decided to take matters into his own hands. Per Bennett:
“Eddie once bought an assault vehicle from a military auction. “It has a shine gun mount on the back and is not legal. Eddie drove that assault vehicle through L.A., into Beverly Hills, then parked and left it running on the front lawn of the house Limp Bizkit was rehearsing in. He got out wearing no shirt, his hair in a Samurai bun on top of his head, his jeans held up with a strand of rope and combat boots held together by duct tape. And he had a gun in his hand.”
“That asshole [Durst] answered the door,” Bennett recalled Eddie Van Halen saying: “I put my gun to that stupid fucking red hat of his, and I said, ‘Where’s my shit, motherfucker?’ That fucking guy just turned to one of his employees and starts yelling at him to grab my shit.”
Bennett concludes the tale by saying: “Eddie Van Halen stood on the front lawn of a residential home in Beverly Hills in broad daylight, smoking a cigarette while holding a gun on Fred Durst as he went back and forth from the house to the assault vehicle, lugging amps and guitars.”
A truly insane tale, involving two musical legends in their own rights. Rest in power, EVH!