WOLFGANG VAN HALEN On Songwriting For New MAMMOTH WVH Album - "The Things I Experienced Have Certainly Changed The Way I Look At Life And The Way I Operate"

Wolfgang Van Halen, who is currently working on a new Mammoth WVH album, recently spoke with Guitar World about the record while discussing being chosen as one of the publication's Guitarist Of The Year. Following is an excerpt from the chat.

Guitar World: Who were you when you began working on the first Mammoth album and who are you now?

Wolfgang: "I’m a very different person. The person who made the album started working on it way back in 2015, and that Wolfie has been through a lot of shit to become the Wolfie I am today, especially in the last three years. The things I experienced have certainly changed the way I look at life and the way I operate, and I’m sure in many ways that I don’t even realize. It’s weird to be in my 30s. I’ve been through all kinds of stuff since the start of that record and now, so it feels exciting, bittersweet, and all kinds of emotions at once as I get ready to record this next album."

Guitar World: What are your goals for the new album?

Wolfgang: "It sucks to know that Dad isn’t going to be popping in every now and then like he did the first time. So it’s going to be different, but the goal overall is the same, which is to make music I would like to hear and that I enjoy. That’s how I follow my writing process. 

The main goal is to widen the breadth of what the output can be. I like to view it as this sort of cone, if you will, where the left side is the softer songs, the right side is the heavier songs, and everything in between is scaled properly. Songs on the left would be like 'Distance' and 'Think It Over', and on the right would be something like 'Stone', 'You’re To Blame' and 'Don’t Back Down'. The desire I have with this new album is to go further and beyond on both sides."

Photo taken from Wolfgang Van Halen's official Instagram.