van halen
17:22 Sunday, 24 September 2023
If you are one of those Van Halen fans who got excited when Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang took to the stage during the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts to play "On Fire", "Hot For Teacher", and "Panama", you better hold on to those memories.
Wolfgang – who recently talked about the deeply emotional nature of those performances – seems adamant to never do it again.
In a recent appearance on the Talk is Jericho podcast, Wolfgang confirmed he wants to prove himself as his own musician and that he doesn't want to succeed by playing other people's music. He also said that his father hated doing covers back in the day.
"It was wonderful. It was the exception where it was like, 'This would be the time to do it.' Taylor was such a huge fan and to get my own satisfaction by doing a direct Van Halen tribute for Dad, it felt like the right thing to do in that moment. I'm really proud of it."
"I'm happy to be able to prove myself," Wolfgang added. "The important key distinction is that I'm not doing what my dad did, I'm my own person, I'm my own musician… it's why I don’t play any Van Halen music or have a plan to play Van Halen music during my sets.
"Even my dad hated doing covers back in the day, his quote resonates with me all the time when he says I'd rather bomb with my own music than succeed with somebody else’s, and that’s exactly how I feel about playing Van Halen music. I'd much rather fail on my own than succeed heartlessly by playing 'Panama'."
Wolfgang's decision might sound bold for many and even infuriating for others, but it's completely understandable. He wants to create his own legacy and not just be known as the son of Eddie Van Halen, and with two albums under his belt at this point, there’s no stopping him. So go back to the Van Halen catalog if you are feeling nostalgic and wanna listen to "Jump" again, but give him a chance by checking out his own music with Mammoth WVH.
