12/23: RIP LESLIE WEST

Very sad to hear about the passing of Leslie West. Leslie was a friend who I was in touch with on a fairly regular basis. We last spoke about a month ago when he asked me about contacting Anthrax about a collaboration he was hoping to pursue. Leslie was a massive influence on many guitarists, and in some ways was severely underrated. Guys like Eddie VH, Michael Schenker and many more cited him as a top influence. The music he made with Mountain is timeless, and what you may not know if it had been sampled heavily in recent years by many hip hop artists. I remember seeing Mountain in the mid 80’s on a tour called “The Rock Summit” with Triumph. They sounded huge! Leslie had been on my radio shows several times, always fun to talk to! We also had him on That Metal Show as a guest and for a couple seasons as our announcer, which he loved doing. He was kind enough to give me a signed guitar about 5 years ago that is proudly on my wall. I just posted some photos on my Twitter and IG. He had a lot of long standing health issues, but it never seemed to get him down and I always found him to be full of energy and drive right till we last spoke. Condolences to his family, friends and fans. This awful year has claimed another rock icon. RIP Leslie, you were one of a kind!