Heavy metal veteran Nick Bowcott of Grim Reaper fame has reflected on his friendship with Dimebag Darrell, and recalled the time Eddie Van Halen promised to personally paint a Charvel EVH Art Series electric guitar for the Pantera titan.
Dimebag’s respect and affection for Eddie Van Halen is well-documented. Not only did he and his brother, Vinnie, recite the words “Van Halen” before shows together, Dimebag also routinely listened to Eddie’s playing before heading out on stage.
Further still, the Pantera guitarist met Eddie at a Van Halen gig weeks before he was killed during a Damageplan concert, and was later buried with Van Halen’s original black-and-yellow-striped Bumblebee guitar, which can be heard onVan Halen II.
It was a fitting tribute: Dimebag utterly adored that particular guitar. In fact, he loved it so much that, during his meet-up with Van Halen, he asked Eddie and his team if he could buy one of the limited-edition Art Series EVH guitars, which were created by Charvel and inspired by the OG Bumblebee.
Eddie agreed, but under one condition: that he personally stripe it himself.
Bowcott – who worked with Marshall and EVH throughout his career – was a friend of Dimebag’s, and as he explains in a new interview with the Van Halen Stories Podcast, Dimebag phoned him up after the encounter to tell him “the whole story about how great Ed was”.
“He tells me this whole story about how he and Vinnie flew out to meet Van Halen at Eddie’s invitation,” Bowcott begins. “Eddie had just done the Art Series. People were putting in preorders and they sold out instantly because there were only a certain amount of each.
“Dime said to me, ‘If you could get one of those, which one would you get?’ I said, ‘It would have to be a black and white one. What about you?’ He goes, ‘For me, it has to be the Bumblebee,’ because Van Halen II was his record.”
As Bowcott relays, Dimebag then told him how he asked Van Halen’s tech Matt Bruck whether it’d be possible to get a Bumblebee Art Series guitar to add to his collection.
“He said, ‘We were with Matt, and I said, ‘I know they’re all sold out, but if someone cancels and there’s no one ahead of me in the queue, is there any chance I could be on that list for one of the black and yellows? I’ll pay whatever. I know it’s a slim chance, but is that possible?’
“Matt said, ‘Yeah, let me speak to Ed. I'm sure we can put you on the list.’”
Not long after, Dimebag reconvened with Van Halen and Bruck backstage, and was given a piece of good news. He wouldn’t just be getting an Art Series guitar – he’d be getting one personally painted by Van Halen himself.
“[Eddie Van Halen] goes, ‘I hear you want to get a black and yellow Art Series?’ Dimebag goes, ‘Yeah, Ed, but I don’t want to jump the queue. I know they’re sold out, but if someone cancels and there’s not someone ahead of me… I'll pay the full list price, because I know it’s collectible.’
“[Van Halen] goes, ‘Number one, you can have one. Number two, you’re not paying for it. Number three, there’s one condition: you have to come to my house and I’ll stripe it for you personally.’”
As Bowcott notes, the exchange tragically never happened. Mere weeks after that meeting, on December 8, 2004, Dimebag was murdered during a Damageplan concert. At his funeral, Van Halen arrived with the original Bumblebee, which was buried with the late Pantera guitarist.
Recently, Guitar World unearthed the final interview that Dimebag carried out with a local school newspaper.
