“My dad isn’t around – so he just went for what’s still there”: Wolfgang Van Halen on why David Lee Roth keeps throwing shade at him
Wolfgang Van Halen has given his thoughts on why former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth verbally attacked him earlier this year.
In February, Roth uploaded two YouTube videos attacking Wolfgang, ex-Van Halen bassist and son of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. And in a new episode of WTF with Marc Maron, the now-Mammoth WVH leader implies that Roth went after him as he could no longer direct his frustrations towards Eddie, who died of a stroke in October 2020.
READ MORE: Eddie Van Halen “ruined the musical landscape” of the 1980s according to his son, Wolfgang
“He basically just said a bunch of stuff that was true to him, I guess,” Wolfgang says [via Blabbermouth]. “It doesn’t matter if it’s not true because the people that are going to listen to it will believe it and use it to hate me anyway. So you’ve just gotta move forward.”
Wolfgang continues: “I think the big thing, one of the bigger things is that my dad isn’t around. So I think he just went for what’s still there to kind of point at.”
Roth fronted Van Halen from their 1974 founding until 1985, then again in 1996 and from 2006 to 2015. Wolfgang joined the band in 2006 aged only 15, replacing longtime bassist Michael Anthony. The two appeared on one Van Halen album together, 2012 swan song A Different Kind of Truth, and performed with the band up until their last concert in 2015.
In the two February YouTube videos, Roth called Wolfgang a “fucking kid” and said that Wolfgang accused Roth of “not paying enough attention to him” on tour. Roth also seemingly took swipes at A Different Kind of Truth, saying to a stand-in for Wolfgang during the second video, “Your album was DOA. Son, commercially speaking, you got your ass handed to you.”
A Different Kind of Truth was removed from streaming services in 2022. Wolfgang alleges that this was due to Roth’s dislike of the album. “I’d love to have the record back up there,” he told Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk last year, “but he [Roth] doesn’t like it and he’s not working with us to get it back up there.” Wolfgang laughed: “So I hope people who like it have a physical version of it.”
Wolfgang released the self-titled first Mammoth WVH album – where he performed vocals, guitars, bass, drums, percussion and piano – in 2021. Its follow-up, Mammoth II, again featured Wolfgang on all instruments and vocals, and was released last year.
The Mammoth WVH live band are currently touring North and Central America opening for Metallica. They will play more North American shows with Creed and 3 Doors Down in November and December.
For a full list of dates and tickets, head to the official Mammoth WVH website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
