According to scientists mankind is around 200.000 years old. Chances to grow up in the same generation as Eddie van Halen are not that high, so I guess I’m just an extremely lucky guy!

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I remember driving by the small record store every day, on my way to school, staring at all the album covers in the window. Suddenly there was ‘Women & Children First’ in the window. This was the first Van Halen release I actively awaited and witnessed. First time I heard Van Halen was after the release of their second album and I was totally blown away. So imagine how excited I was when ‘Women & Children First’ came out. It took me a few weeks to collect the money and buy the album, in the meantime staring at the cover every day! I was the luckiest guy in the world when I walked out of the record store with the album in my hands. I still cherish it until today. I spelled every pixel of the cover art, and all I wanted was to be like Eddie. He was an amazing player, went beyond everything where anyone had been before and he completely redefined guitar playing.

The first time I saw Van Halen was at the Monsters of Rock festival in Karlsruhe (D) in 1984 where they shared the stage with AC/DC, Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Mötley Crüe and Accept (can you imagine what a line-up!!). And Van Halen killed it, one of the most intense experiences I ever had in my life seeing Eddie this close live in action!

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His passing away in 2020 was shocking. In the days after his death I realized that I had never really trusted myself to analyze and play Van Halen songs, as if they were something sacred, something you keep your hands off. Still, I analyzed some of his songs, the chords, the melodies. And that is where the outlines of ’Shake me to the floor’ emerged.

Later the song further developed and became a more autonomous song. Keith wrote the vocal melodies and lyrics and put a lot of his personal touch and skills in it. To us this is not a Van Halen song, we don’t try to sound like Eddie or Van Halen, I know that I can’t even come close to his shadow. We just want to honor Eddie's legacy! 

Below is also a link to a video where Eddie is interviewed. He is so kind, modest and humble, you have to see it to believe it! Eddie, we love you, you are the greatest of all times!