Wolfgang Van Halen says that he became a less spiritual person after the death of his father, guitar legend Eddie Van Halen.
Talking in the new issue of Metal Hammer, the singer and multi-instrumentalist of hard rockers Mammoth reveals that Eddie’s death left a “black hole” in him, and that the fact he couldn’t feel his father’s presence afterwards led to a spiritual struggle.
Wolfgang tells us: “I was a spiritual person, but after I lost my dad, I became less so. Our connection was so special, I would probably be able to feel him if he weren’t here anymore, and I don’t.”
Talking further about the notion of the afterlife, he continues: “It’s comfortable to think things like that, but when the worst happens and you lose people close to you and you don’t feel that connection anymore, it’s easy to lose grip on those feelings. It leaves a black hole in you.”
Eddie died at the age of 65 in October 2020, following a stroke. He had been hospitalised in 2019 after living with throat cancer for five years. Wolfgang, Eddie’s wife Janie, and Eddie’s ex-wife and Wolfgang’s mother, actress Valerie Bertinelli, were all present when he passed away.
While speaking with Hammer, Wolfgang also shares one of his favourite final memories with his father, remembering when he took him to see progressive metal luminaries Tool.
“The last concert I went to with my dad was in 2019,” he says. “I took him to a Tool show. It was really cool to see him get it, you know? He turned to me and was like, ‘Dude, that fucking bass player!’ I remember showing him Gojira and Meshuggah, and the one thing he said was, ‘The drummer better be getting paid the most!’”
Wolfgang joined his father and his drummer uncle Alex’s band Van Halen in 2006, at the age of 15, and he toured and recorded with the lineup until they ceased activity in 2015. In 2021, he released the self-titled debut album from Mammoth (originally named Mammoth WVH due to trademark issues). The project’s third album, The End, came out last month.
Wolfgang has revealed that he struggles to listen to Van Halen following his father’s death, and he seldom plays the band’s material in public. One of those rare occasions was when he covered Hot For Teacher and On Fire at a tribute concert to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022. Talking to Hammer in September, Wolfgang said that messing up Van Halen material live would “ruin [his] life”.
He explained: “I don’t think I would have ever been able to live it down – with how many people who hate me and say, ‘You’ll never be good enough and you have to play Van Halen to be relevant’ – if the one time I played Van Halen on my own, I ruined it and messed up. In my mind, it would have ruined my life had I messed up. I took it very seriously.”
Mammoth are currently touring North America and will play at the Agora Theater & Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio tonight (November 18). The band will perform at Download festival in the UK in June.
As well as the interview with Wolfgang, the new Hammer contains a blockbuster celebration of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, 10 years after the metal legend’s passing. Order your copy online and get it delivered directly to your door.
