Just by calling their next album ‘Van Weezer’ and announcing that there will be “many guitars” on it, you knew who Rivers Cuomo credited for the inspiration.

If that wasn’t enough, the riffage on the first two singles from the album, “The End of the Game” and “Hero” gave it away completely.

With the news of Eddie Van Halen‘s death, the band released a statement regarding the album via their twitter account..

We’re saddened to hear of Eddie Van Halen’s untimely passing today. Given the news today, we want to dedicate our album Van Weezer to Eddie as a thank you for all the incredible music that soundtracked our youth and inspired the record. RIP EVH. pic.twitter.com/plb9WIuo64

— weezer (@Weezer) October 6, 2020