Shedding Expectation With WOLFGANG VAN HALEN From MAMMOTH WVH

Interview by Kris Peters
Music is in the blood. I don't care what you say.
Sure, it can be taught, but if you come from a musical pedigree
chances are that passion and talent courses through your veins and
more needs to be harnessed than taught.
There is perhaps no better example of this than Wolfgang Van Halen,
whose path in life was pretty much pre-mapped for him when he was
born to a great man by the name of Eddie Van Halen.
Living under the shadow of greatness can be too large a cross to
bear for most people, but not Wolfgang who embraced his birthright,
first mastering the drums before moving onto guitar and bass.
Having joined Van Halen as bass player in 2006, Wolfgang spread his
talents by also playing with Tremonti from 2012 to 2016 before
focussing on his solo project Mammoth WVH following his Father's
passing.
He released his debut, self titled album in 2021, playing all of
the instruments and assuming vocal duties.
Not only did this album showcase Wolfgang's immense playing talent,
it also revealed a songwriting narrative that swept the global
music scene and left fans salivating over the thought of a follow
up, which arrives on August 4 under the title Mammoth II.
Once more taking on all vocal and instrumental duties, Wolfgang set
himself a personal task of peeling back even more layers of his
musical psyche, challenging himself in a variety of situations and
removing himself from the comfort zones that had previously carried
him to success.
HEAVY was honoured with a request to speak with Wolfgang in person
to find out more about the new album and what he was trying to
achieve.
"I'm very excited about it," he smiled. "I think it's the sequel to
our first album, but everything turned to 11. It's a really
aggressive, but musically and melodically dense album and I'm just
really excited for people to hear it."
"I'm feeling really good," he continued. "We just announced our
first headlining tour in the States at the end of the year and
we've been to Europe a couple of times. I'm just looking forward to
the opportunity to finally get out to Australia at some point maybe
next year."
We ask Wolfgang to go into greater depth on the musical side of
Mammoth II.
"I came into the whole recording process with a bit more confidence
compared to the first one," he measured, "because I was trying to
figure out what the project was. But with this it had already been
established and I've been touring for the last couple of years I
think I was more certain on what it was and had more of a fun time
trying to figure out how I could test it and evolve it and grow it,
and I think you can really hear that on the album."
In the full interview, Wolfgang talks about the singles released
and how they reflect the rest of the album, how he challenged
himself on the album, bringing in heavier influences, the pros and
cons of doing everything yourself, how this album differs musically
to his debut, settling in to the role of lead singer, his live
shows and what to expect, who he takes with him as a live band,
lessons learnt from playing with Van Halen that he took to his solo
career, future plans and more.