WOLFGANG VAN HALEN MAMMOTH WVH
Mammoth WVH mastermind Wolfgang Van Halen talks freak-outs, emotional honesty and the long road to releasing his debut album, Mammoth
What’s the worst thing about being in a band?
“The waiting. There’s a whole lot of waiting: on the bus, for the show… playing music is such a small aspect of what we do.”
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? “My father was told by his father and then told me, that if you make a mistake, do it twice so that people think you meant to do it.”
When was the first time you felt like a rock star?
“I don’t think I ever have. Even playing with Van Halen, it was just excitement to play with my dad and my uncle [Wolfgang’s father was the late Eddie Van Halen]. With my dad, he wasn’t like this huge rock star – he’s ‘dad’.”
What’s been your worst experience on drugs?
“I was on tour with my friends in Tremonti and we were in Amsterdam, so you can assume what was happening! I don’t do it much, but when in Rome! After I’d been partaking Mark Tremonti comes over – and it was real funny because he knows
I’m an anxious person – so he comes over to the back of the bus and looked at me and goes, ‘Dude… are you OK?’ and just kept repeating it until
I freaked out!”
When was the last time you cried?
“I cry almost every day since October. Since my father passed a good cry is something I’ve found I can’t hold back and I just need to deal with those emotions. You’ve gotta let it go when it comes – it’s not worth giving in to the toxic masculinity of the past that says you should bury your emotions deep, deep down until you become an angry person.”
Mammoth’s been a long time coming! “Yeah! We started recording in January 2015 and finished in 2018. We weren’t recording the whole time of course – it was based around my producer’s schedule and all the things I had on, touring and whatever. Every time I’d go out, I’d come back with 10 new ideas so it was always back to the drawing board. There were a lot of ideas that didn’t make the cut that I think might make the next album, but as of 2018 this is the culmination of all my plans.”
What inspired the stylistic direction?
“I like to think if you threw Foo Fighters, AC/DC, Jimmy Eat World, Tool, Alice in Chains and Queens Of The Stone Age into a blender, you’d get this.”
You debuted Mammoth WVH live playing Distance as a tribute to your dad on Jimmy Kimmel. How was that? “It was really good but nerve-wracking! There were a lot of emotions. The song was written before he passed, but we’ve dedicated all proceeds from it to my dad’s favourite charity,
Mr. Holland’s Opus, a foundation that helps put instruments in the hands of underfunded school programmes. My dad loved it very much and was very passionate about it.”
What does the future look like for Mammoth WVH?
“We’ve got dates in September and October over here in the US as things start to be safe. Knock on wood, it won’t be too long before we make it over to your neck of the woods and play some shows in the UK. As for a second album… well, it won’t take as long as the first, that’s for sure!”
What do you hope is people’s biggest takeaway from Mammoth?
“That I’m my own person, which seems like a tall ask for a lot of people that follow me! Just in terms of my life in general, I don’t think people should use my dad’s life as a barometer for what I can do. I want to go to the ends of the earth with this thing; I’m nervous as hell to play live fully, but I’m nervous about everything! It’s a new thing –
I’ve toured in many different ways but this is the first time where it’s material I’ve written that means something to me. To be able to share that with a crowd is going to be really special.”
“PEOPLE SHOULDN’T USE DAD’S LIFE AS A BAROMETER FOR WHAT I CAN DO”
MAMMOTH IS OUT NOW VIA EX1 RECORDS