New Book Says Van Halen Once Held A Gun To Fred Durst’s Head After Limp Bizkit Audition

(TMU) –  According to a new book by Andrew Bennett, Eddie Van Halen once held a gun to the head of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. Bennett reportedly recalled the encounter for the new photobook, “Eruption in the Canyon: 212 Days & Nights With the Genius of Eddie Van Halen.”

In addition to short stories about the band, the book also features photos from Van Halen’s studio recording time and tours between 2004 and 2007. 

Bennett says that Van Halen was a potential replacement for former Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland.

At the time of the incident, Borland had recently left the band and they were looking for a replacement. Durst and Van Halen were reportedly introduced at a party where a record-label executive suggested they work together.

Bennet says that Durst thought the suggestion was funny because Van Halen was so overqualified.

“That would be hilarious. The greatest guitar player ever plays with the worst band ever,” he allegedly said.

Van Halen was willing to at least play together once and see how it went, so the pair organized a jam session at a house in Beverly Hills. The meeting quickly went sour because there were so many people smoking cannabis in the house, which is something that Van Halen had a problem with.

He left abruptly without taking any of his gear with him, and then tried to recover it the next day, but didn’t immediately hear back. After waiting about a day, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

“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,” Bennett recalled in his new book.

According to his retelling of the story, Van Halen told him, “That asshole answered the door. I put my gun to that stupid f***ing red hat of his, and I said, ‘Where’s my shit, motherf***er?’ That f***ing guy just turned to one of his employees and starts yelling at him to grab my shit. … 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.”

The story does sound outrageous, and it is important to note that the band has previously taken Bennett to court because they were unhappy with his work.

Van Halen passed away this Tuesday at the age of 65, after years of battling throat cancer. He lived with the illness for years but his condition rapidly declined in the days before his death, family, and friends told the media.