Wolfgang Van Halen says having a famous surname and father is “a f**ing tightrope to walk, with the shadow I’m under and the expectations”
Wolfgang Van Halen has opened up on how it feels to carry the Van Halen name, and the pressures that come with it.
Wolfgang’s band Mammoth recently dropped his ‘WVH’ initials from the end of their moniker, and according to Wolf, that’s how he always wanted it to be. The band name pays tribute to his father Eddie Van Halen’s first band (also called Mammoth), in which he sang. With Wolf also taking on both vocals and guitar, it felt rather fitting to give the name a new life.
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The band dropped a new single called The End earlier this May, accompanied by a horror-themed video guest starring Slash, Myles Kennedy, and even some of Wolfgang’s closest loved ones. The single marked the first release from Mammoth without the WVH name attached to it.
During a Q&A at WDHA’s Mammoth For Ya’ Mama! event that took place at Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck, New Jersey on the weekend, Wolf recalled how the Mammoth name came to be. “I have early demos for the song Mammoth. It was called Mammoth I, ‘cause it was the first idea I ever wrote that was, like, ‘It’s gonna be for my band Mammoth.’ I think it was in 2013 that I wrote the idea,” he said (via Blabbermouth).
“I didn’t ask Dad [if I could use the name] until, like, 2016. I think we were on that last [Van Halen] tour. And I was like, ‘Hey, Pop, is that cool if I call my band Mammoth?’ And he was like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ I don’t know why I was so nervous to ask him, because, God, he was the most supportive person other than my mom in my life,” he added.
Of the pressures that come with having the Van Halen name, Wolf continues, “Man, is it a fucking tight rope to walk, with the shadow I’m under and the expectations. And it’s, like, I wanna be able to have the opportunity to reference my lineage, but not copy it and just put a flag in it and sit there and play Panama for everybody every night. I wanna be able to be my own person.”
You can watch the Q&A and some live performances from the Mammoth crew in the video below:
Mammoth’s new single, The End, is out now. To view all of their scheduled live shows, head over to the Mammoth website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
