Wolfgang Van Halen may have descended from one of the greatest guitar soloists who ever lived, but that doesn’t mean he’s tied to the concept of guitar solos. Instead, he has very much his own approach to songwriting – and it’s one that doesn’t see solos as a necessity.
This year, Wolfgang has released two show-stopping singles from his forthcoming album under the Mammoth moniker. Title track, The End tipped its cap to the Hot For Teacher music video with a glitzy guitar solo, but The Spell doesn't quite follow suit in the fretboard pyrotechnics department
As such, he says listeners shouldn’t expect him to light up his fretboard on every song as he outlines the key differences between his and his father’s distinct playing styles.
“I think the songwriter leads more than anything,” he tells SiriusXM (via Blabbermouth). “What makes me happy, what brings me purpose with Mammoth, is writing the songs. That is why I think there are some songs that don't even have a guitar solo.”
He understands that adopting this approach on some of The End’s impending cuts might result in kickback. But he isn’t concerned about the naysayers.
“Whenever there is a song that doesn't have a guitar solo, people are, like, ‘Dude? What?’” he explains. “It’s more about the song and how it is crafted together. Not everything needs a guitar solo. That might be stupid coming from the son of Eddie Van Halen to say, but, for me, that is where I get my most joy from, crafting the song piece by piece.
“There are definitely more guitar solos [on the album],” he develops, before shifting the focus. “But again, that is not what it is about for me. But it is there, and I am going to give my A-game.”
The guitarist, who believes that his dad’s game-changing shredding “kind of ruined” guitar music for a while as a legion of copyists came out of the woodwork, has revealed that parts of The End were tracked on Eddie’s famed Frankenstrat.
During the moments he does let rip, however, Wolfgang always has sage soloing advice given to him by his father.
Mammoth’s third album follows the release of his EVH signature guitar, the SA-126 Special, and a well-received budget version. “The goal was to put together a guitar that didn’t exist yet,” Wolfgang had said upon his signature's release.
