Wolfgang Van Halen Talks With Zito
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00:00Jeff, you're on with Wolfgang.
00:01How are you, man?
00:02Hello.
00:03Wow, that's a dumb question.
00:05I know I've been – let me just start off by saying this.
00:11I've heard it three different ways.
00:13I've heard it Wolf, Wolfie, and Wolfgang.
00:15What do you prefer?
00:16Wolf is fine.
00:17Okay, Wolf.
00:18Sorry, man.
00:20I'm really excited to talk to you, man.
00:24I watched so much stuff yesterday.
00:27The Stern stuff that made me cry and tear up.
00:32And then just a lot of old stuff with your dad.
00:36And first and foremost, just want to congratulate you on your song because, as you mentioned in the Stern interview, when you talked to your dad about what if my music sucked?
00:48I think a lot of people, they don't know you.
00:52They know you as the son of Eddie Van Halen.
00:55And so when I heard that song, not only emotional, I was very pleased to hear what a great, great song it was and what a great job you did.
01:04Oh, thank you, man.
01:05That means a lot.
01:06Let me ask you this.
01:07Is that the type of song, Distance, that we can expect to hear from Wolf Van Halen?
01:14Is that, like, the direction?
01:17Like, what's the overall vibe of Mammoth WVH?
01:21I think you can expect to hear that vibe in a couple songs.
01:26But overall, it's definitely more of a rock, more aggressive sound type of record.
01:34I think the way I like to describe it is that there's kind of a core sound to Mammoth WVH.
01:40And then, like, over to the left, it gets a little softer with a few songs.
01:44And then over to the right, it gets a little heavier.
01:46But I guess people have to see when the album comes out.
01:49Right.
01:49What about influences for you, Wolf?
01:52Like, obviously, Van Halen.
01:54But, I mean, you know, you're a younger guy.
01:56So, what else were you kind of listening to that influenced you, you think, you know, into your music?
02:02Two big influences for this project alone.
02:05Definitely Dave Grohl and Trent Reznor with Foo Fighters and Nine of Snails.
02:10Just because I love that it started with them as kind of a passion project and just wanting to play music.
02:16And that it kind of evolved from that.
02:18But they're still known as, like, the dudes of the projects.
02:23Right.
02:23And, but, yeah, another band that is one of my favorite bands and biggest influences is Jimmy Eat World.
02:32I really love that band.
02:32Wow.
02:33I remember I just heard the song Bleed America the other day.
02:36And I was like, wow.
02:37Yeah.
02:37This is the first time I ever heard of Jimmy Eat World.
02:40And it's so funny that you brought up Dave Grohl, too, because I was just watching all this stuff with my wife last night.
02:46All these videos and the interviews with you.
02:48And I was like, man, this is just like the first Foo Fighters record, which, in my opinion, is their best.
02:54And Weenie Beanie is probably, like, one of my favorite songs of all time.
02:59But it was Dave Grohl that composed the whole album.
03:03Yeah.
03:04Written and performed.
03:04And you recorded every instrument, correct?
03:08Yeah.
03:08Written and performed.
03:10Wow.
03:11You were just, I mean, this was destined to be your job.
03:14I mean, watching the video for distance, you're sitting on your dad's lap while he's playing piano.
03:19And you're gawking at him as a baby while he's shredding on guitar.
03:24You know what I mean?
03:24It was like you couldn't miss.
03:27This had to be what you did.
03:28Yeah.
03:29Yeah.
03:29It's just kind of I fell into it.
03:32It was never really a conscious decision.
03:34It just kind of happened.
03:36What happened when you were younger, Wolf?
03:37Did you, like, play sports?
03:40Did you, you know, play popcorn or football or like?
03:43Yeah, I played basketball and soccer.
03:46I was a good goalie.
03:47I love playing goalie.
03:49Right.
03:50But, or like baiting, t-ball, baseball.
03:53I remember I stopped playing baseball once the kids started pitching because this one
03:57kid threw a ball at me so many times and it hit me and it really hurt.
04:01So my mom, I like told my mom, please, please pull me out of this.
04:04I don't like it.
04:06When is the album going to come out?
04:07Is the album finished?
04:09Because there was this one interview that I watched.
04:12It was like a really weird one, like a PBS kind of thing where like all these fans were
04:17asking questions and I think you and your uncle were actually in the audience, but your dad
04:21was talking about how, yeah, you got to hear Wolf stuff is coming out pretty soon.
04:27It's a, it's incredible.
04:28It seemed like it was just a few years ago.
04:30So have you been sitting on an album for a while?
04:34No, I recorded way more after that point.
04:37I think I only had a few songs recorded by then.
04:41But I finished for the most part recording what will be on the album in 2018.
04:47But there was a bunch of ideas that kind of fell off the wayside and distance was one of
04:52them.
04:52And I decided to finish it after what happened two months ago.
04:57And, but yeah, it's, I certainly have been working on under, under, working on, on all
05:05this for a very long time.
05:06Did your dad get to hear the song?
05:09Oh yeah.
05:09He, he heard everything and he loved it.
05:11He would count, countless times.
05:13He'd be like favorite album of all time.
05:15The video.
05:16I'm getting emotional.
05:17I don't even know the guy.
05:18Okay.
05:19Um, so I can imagine what's going through your mind.
05:23Have you been able to really watch that video from beginning to end?
05:28Yeah.
05:29I, yeah, I had to watch it about 20 times when we were putting it together and that was,
05:33that was no easy feat.
05:34Um, thankfully my editor Chuck did such a wonderful job putting it all together that
05:39I could really put my faith in him, um, and only need a couple of things tweaked here
05:43and there.
05:44Um, but yeah, it's still, I don't think I've actually watched it fully since we've released
05:48it.
05:48It was so like personal and I thought it was so cool that you let people inside, um, because
05:57they, I, I didn't have to see that like that.
06:00I mean, I was glad I did.
06:02Um, but you know, creepy Van Halen fans or, you know, you didn't, you didn't have to let
06:08people into your world like that.
06:10And, um, I was kind of wondering why you decided to, um, be so personal and, and let people into
06:18your world.
06:19In order for people to understand the pain I'm going through, uh, I think you kind of have
06:24to let them in that closely so they know what I've lost.
06:29Um, and so I think that's why the video seems so personal, almost to a, to a staggering amount
06:36where you feel like you shouldn't be watching it.
06:37Every interview you see what a great guy he is.
06:41What, I mean, just a humble, just a genuinely nice guy.
06:47And it's obviously rubbed off on you, but just to see how caring he was as a father and
06:53telling you, he loved you.
06:55The fricking voicemail at the end of the thing was a tearjerker as well.
06:59Like, I, I thought that was really, really cool for people to see because they might
07:05not know that that's what Eddie Van Halen was like when the lights were turned off.
07:11Yeah.
07:11I think it was important to, uh, to have everybody know that.
07:15I mean, Wolf, this is a father.
07:17This is a best friend, a bandmate.
07:21Wolf was 15 years old when he joined Van Halen, went out on the road and toured.
07:27Tell me some of the experiences that, uh, you had in Van Halen as a 15 year old kid.
07:35Well, I think, uh, they did a really good job at, at, at making sure that it wasn't crazy.
07:41You know, uh, it's not like it was in the heyday, right?
07:44It's just like crazy partying every day.
07:46You know, they're, they're all dads and, and, and older, older dudes.
07:50So, uh, it really wasn't that crazy.
07:52It was just a whole bunch of hanging in my hotel room playing video games.
07:56Well, not to dinner with that or going to a movie or something like that.
08:00All right, Wolf, here it comes.
08:02You got to pick one, Sammy or Dave, who you got?
08:06I prefer both.
08:07I think the war is stupid.
08:09The same, the same guy, the same guy wrote the music.
08:12So when you, when you, when you sit there and go, I hate that other side, uh, you're,
08:17you're basically saying you hate that guy you love so much.
08:20Like you, you owe it to yourself to at least try the other side.
08:25If you're so adamant about listening to one or the other.
08:27Yeah.
08:27I don't know why people get, uh, like it's a competition.
08:30Cause I, I, you know, when 5150 came out, I was the first one to get live without a net
08:35best of both worlds.
08:36You know, one of the greatest riffs in my opinion, but, uh, you know, there are those,
08:41it's a 50, 50.
08:42I mean, there are people, there's a, there's a 50, 50, Dave, 50, 50, uh, Hagar.
08:48And I noticed here in Florida, people lean Hagar.
08:51So listen, man, I don't want to take up any more of your time.
08:55It was a real pleasure, uh, speaking with you.
08:57I'm a giant fan of your dad's and, uh, you know, when I heard your song for the very first
09:04time, um, I had a best friend that died nearly four years ago that I worked with on the radio
09:11and your song dug up a lot of emotions, uh, for me.
09:16So I found it very, like very relatable.
09:18Anybody who's ever had, uh, you know, a significant loss in their life, I think can relate to the
09:23song.
09:23No doubt.
09:23No doubt.
09:24So, um, Wolf, great talking to you.
09:28Mammoth, WVH, Distance is the name of the song.
09:32Uh, you can check out the video up on our website.
09:35All the best of luck to you, man.
09:37Thanks so much, man.
09:38This was a pleasure.
09:38You're a good kid.
09:39Your parents did a great job.
09:41You're a really nice kid.
09:42Thanks, man.
09:43Thanks so much.
09:44Take care, man.
09:45Have a good one.