And we’re talking to him a couple days, three days–I don’t know–after his new record, “Mammoth WVH” came out in all varieties of formats.
It’s been so long that it’s crazy to be on the other side of this.
MR. EDGERS: When you say so long, what people don’t understand is that–I know you don’t call yourself a genius person, but you recorded a lot of this record years ago, several years ago.
You know, you were writing these songs five, six years ago, a couple of them even longer ago, but you did not put out this record.
MR. VAN HALEN: Yeah.
You know, it’s just proud dad talk, but still, you know, I know he meant it.
MR. EDGERS: What I think is notable–there’s a lot that’s notable, and I actually first contacted you a few months ago before I had even heard a note.
I’m a very socially awkward person, but, I mean, in terms of how I grew up, I think my mom just really grounded me.
MR. EDGERS: It was so normal that when you were 16, you went on tour with Van Halen, and that’s when I first saw you.
But, yeah, you know, I think in terms of doing the job, my dad and my uncle and I had rehearsed so much that it was just in our bones.
But here is Wolfgang Van Halen who is 15 or 16, whatever age it was when you called him, calling up and saying, “Hey, Dave, come back,” and suddenly, that tour gets going again, which is pretty remarkable.
It was like–It was like, “I think I should call him,” and we all agreed that that would be the most fun thing to do.
And it wasn’t until, you know, rigorous rehearsals and we had been doing it for months that I felt really comfortable playing everything, and that’s when it started to get serious.
I know there’s still a large dedicated base of people that believe I didn’t even play anything on that first tour and it was just being piped in, which I guess is a really big compliment when you think about it.
MR. EDGERS: What is the–your first instrument, I think, is drums, and, you know, the thing that’s really interesting about this record, which I think the great Vernon Reid, the guitarist and founder of Living Colour, tweeted the other day–and what a great player.
It had always been a dream of mine to try and do something like that, and through the process, I found that it was very, very fun, and I had a really good time doing it, so I’m definitely going to keep doing it that way.
It reminds me of this,” or “It reminds me of this,” and half the time, I’m like I don’t even know what that is, you know.
But overall, you know, I think the album just–it sounds like itself.
If you’re staring and looking at it, you read into it what you want to, and I know over and over again, I said–you know, I was listening to the song, “Don’t Back Down.” I said, “Oh, you must love T.
But the beauty of this, I think, one thing we can say is it doesn’t sound like a Van Halen record, you know.
I really just straight up just tried to be myself on this, and I didn’t want to try and, you know, be the guy to go like, “Hey, if you want to get your Van Halen fix, come here.” You know, if anything, I wanted to do the exact opposite, and I think it’s funny to see now that the album has been out for a couple days, I’ve noticed in some reviews where it’s like, you know, the good, you know, “It’s a cool album,” and then like the bad, “It’s not a Van Halen album.” And it’s like that’s like biting into an apple and going like, “Well, it’s good, but it’s not an orange,” and it’s like, “Well, you shouldn’t have gone there if you wanted the orange,” you know.
MR. EDGERS: Someone wrote me an angry letter after our story, and they said, “Hey, you know his name isn’t just–Van Halen isn’t just the famous one.
Do you ever think about putting out–people use pen names.
I guess I’m kind of wishy-washily doing that to a certain extent, you know.
How about we do that?” So, growing up, I always loved that name “Mammoth,” and it just always stuck with me that when I grew up, I wanted to call my own band that, you know.
MR. EDGERS: The other thing musically that I love is–I try to mention Steve Miller every time I can because I just love Steve Miller because he was a genius guitarist, and you hear him playing at Monterey next to Hendrix, but then he cracked the code of what he wanted to do in the ’70s.
MR. EDGERS: But you do this song, “Distance.” First of all, tell us–I’m going to get to this question, but tell us about “Distance” because that was the first we heard of you, and that came out in November.
And yeah, it wasn’t the first song I planned on releasing, but considering after losing my father, it felt like–you know, he wrote a song for me when I was born, and so it just felt like a very nice, you know, paying the respects to my father in the best way I know how, with music.
MR. EDGERS: Well, it’s a beautiful–it’s a beautiful song, and the video is hard to watch without feeling something.
If you listen to the first song, “Mr. Ed,” it’s like he–it’s like Wolfie is tapping and playing all these blazing things.
But on “Distance,” you have a very specific solo.
They’ll either double down and be even worse, or they’ll immediately apologize because they get a fraction of what they just dealt to you and they don’t know how to deal with it.
I think most people who say that aren’t in the position or haven’t experienced that sort of stuff.
You said, “It’s almost like people keep asking me questions and then I keep answering them.” So, I wrote, I responded to you.
Like, we’ll be driving around, and I’ll be like in my head going like, “Wow! What if I forget lyrics or something?” just like little things like that, and it’s just more things to worry about.
But if someone goes there and they’re expecting you to play “Eruption” or “Jump” or “Jamie’s Cryin'” or why can’t this–you are not going to be playing any Van Halen covers, and explain the reason for that and sort of your dad’s take on that, because you did talk about this.
Just I’m not my dad, you know, so I’m not going to–I want to be myself, and I know the next thing the bitter people will say is like, “Well, you know, Van Halen did covers.” And it’s like that’s great, but I’m not going to.
So, I just–when I go see a band, I want to see their material.
MR. EDGERS: Yeah.
So, if you put me in the studio for a couple weeks, I could get that second album for you really quick.
MR. EDGERS: Just I mean we can’t do what you can do.
You know, maybe I lucked out with this first one, and the second one will just be god-awful.
But in terms of like tonal or inspirational from like certain songs, I think it’s a song-by-song basis, not really an overall, because I recorded so many songs that I don’t think there’s any particular influence that influenced the album in terms of its sound.
MR. EDGERS: Obviously, we both appreciate Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl, and, you know, he made that first record, which is excellent.
Like, at the very least, I want to play–I want to play drums, but since I play guitar too, why not? And it’s like, oh, I play the bass too.
Just work in general is a great distraction and having the distractions surround something that’s creatively my own and something I can fully stand behind that I’m proud of that I knew my dad loved and was proud of makes the process a bit more comforting, I guess, and especially to see how people are reacting, that people are very happy with it, and that makes me happy because it’s all me.
I did it for me, and so to see it resonate with people and to have other people enjoy something that I enjoyed making, it’s a nice process.
MR. EDGERS: Well, you made it for us really, I decided.
But, look, Wolfgang, all the best of luck to you, and I hope we’ll–next time we’ll talk, it will be album two.