Audacy Check In: Wolfgang Van Halen

Audacy Rock

New music from Mammoth is here. Now we have "The End," another scorching eruption of Rock, featuring furious fretwork and another sky-high solo. Here to talk about it is Wolfgang Van Halen for an Audacy Check In with Abe Kanan.

Transcript

00:00frederick durst van halen how about that

00:03that would be hilarious

00:06dave cannon it's an odyssey check-in wolfgang van halen and there's a new song called the end

00:15it's so badass it it the way it starts out just the guitar uh it's my it's it's my favorite

00:24wolfgang song i know you have two albums this is your third album this is my favorite song that

00:28you've done thank you that's that's high praise thank you so much it's it's so great like the

00:35guitar like what made you decide to do that just like it just it like kicks you in the face when

00:39the song starts yeah i you know i i had this idea a while back and i felt like maybe it was a little

00:44too over the top uh but then i came back to it and i thought it would be fun to try and make it into a

00:50song and uh it was a fun little process that you know having this it was a tough thing to balance

00:56where it's like the centerpiece of the song is this sort of soloy uh thing but i think the

01:01aggressiveness and over the top of it the over over the top ness of it is sort of what makes it so

01:07exciting are you feeling that guitar is really prominent again in rock like i feel like the

01:12guitar like kind of went away for a little bit like people were like not doing solos and now i feel like

01:17bands are really embracing the guitar again oh definitely definitely i think and even you know in pop you

01:22see you know they have full bands with you know guitar and everything so it's i think you know it's

01:27definitely on its way back for sure if it was you know comparatively to where it was you know say 10

01:32years ago and you're like one of the greatest guitar players in the world like you are one of the best

01:37really i mean that's making new music you you are one of the top guys like if you think about it you

01:42go back to all the greats like you're one of the current greats that's very kind of you i may not

01:48necessarily agree with that but that that's that's again high praise thank you very much if

01:52you look at rock bands there's not many bands guitar players that could do what you do it's it's

01:58not that difficult it's it's i think tapping sounds fancier than and more complicated i'm not talking

02:05about that i'm just talking about your overall general guitar play that's very that's very sweet

02:10thank you so okay so tell me about the new album is it do you have a name for it is it do you know

02:16when it's coming out yet we we have the song the end which is great but what about the album yes we

02:20have a new song out i don't know if i can speak on any future music necessarily uh right now but i do

02:27know that if you keep your ear and eyes to our uh you know mammoth socials uh you may hear something

02:34in the next you know month or two about what is it and is this your favorite album that you've done

02:39so far i'm very happy with what uh i mean especially with with the end uh so far i'm very

02:46excited with uh the direction that everything's headed in for sure did you play all the instruments

02:52on this song too because i know under other stuff you did everything yeah yeah that's you know why

02:56why fix what isn't broken you know it's it's i just have such a fun time playing in the studio

03:01playing everything that uh now i've just uh gotten used to it so yeah that's kind of what it is in the

03:06studio so it's kind of like how trent resner is nine inch nails wolfgang van halen is mammoth

03:11sure yeah absolutely is it hard then to like teach people like your band then like this is how you do

03:17that is i my band my live band is they're they're they're badass so it's always just we get you know

03:23they listen to it they got it we get together and we play it and it's awesome so you've been a part

03:28of some awesome tours you were on the guns and roses you played with metallica foo fighters

03:32def leppard like what's your favorite tour that you've been on that you've opened because you have

03:36a tour coming up where miles kennedy will be opening for you yeah you have the creed tour also

03:42with uh three doors on but tell me about all these tours that you've been on what's your favorite one

03:47that you've been on i it's hard to i wouldn't necessarily pick a say a favorite i think i'm just

03:53blown away to be a part of all these but i think the the most insane one was for sure uh the metallica

04:00tour touring with them for two for two years we were the one band uh who played every building

04:06with them on the no repeat uh weekend for those for the 2023 to 24 uh dates um they even gave us

04:15uh this plaque where it was like you know perfect attendance which was very sweet of them um and uh

04:22yeah it was i think just the the grandioseness of it was so insane to play not only stadiums which

04:30is such an out-of-body experience but then in the round in that insane stage uh it was certainly an

04:36out-of-body experience and i can't believe we did it what do you find different about the in the round

04:40that you just have to pay attention to everyone i guess it's tough because it's like i have a guitar

04:45pedal you know i've got a pedal board and i have to i'm glued to the mic mainly so i can't really move

04:51around luckily i had you know my my bandmates running around as much as they could um uh you know i know

04:57we figured it out at some point where if i just place a mic somewhere else facing in a different

05:00direction i can at least you know kind of get a look at most of the people but uh it's it's a

05:06tough thing to to get used to for a bit you can't just get a platform that spins like around like

05:11every two songs no i don't think we could fit that in the budget i don't know if i could use any

05:16of lars's uh spinning drum kit stance so i'm sure tons of people have asked you about this but i have

05:21to ask you you're gonna be on the black sabbath final show and do you know what you're doing yet

05:26i mean are you i i would love to see you play like a randy road solo that would be so i don't know if

05:32you're doing something like that but that would be so awesome yeah you know well because i i did play

05:37uh crazy train at the rock and roll hall of fame uh induct induction for for aussie so yeah it was

05:42i think you know there's so there's so many moving parts involved in this that i think every

05:47right now it's a little loose and it's coming together uh but uh i'm excited to see what's

05:52going to happen you know i'm still a little uncertain but it's going to be uh it's going

05:57to be really exciting whatever it turns out to be because tom morello is like the music director

06:01director right so he's putting like this whole thing together and it's going to be like everyone's

06:06there it's the craziest lineup i've ever seen yeah just to be like oh tool oh mastodon oh gojira oh

06:13like it's even that alone under you and then metallica and then black sabbath it's like

06:18it's dumb man it's ridiculous it's crazy and on top of that there's surprises they said i'm like

06:24suppose who's left yeah i i'm no you say that yeah there is like what what is left like you have

06:33i think the greatest name of all time wolfgang van halen is the most badass and like if you ever

06:39have i i know you're married but i don't know if you plan on having kids or whatever but if you

06:43have kids then like it's it's going to be hard to name your kids because what are you getting like

06:48beethoven van halen like what would you name what would you name your like beethoven van halen would

06:54be a badass name but what would you name if you i don't even know if you want to have kids or even

06:58if you have a dog or a cat like what do you name like it's hard for you to live up to your own name

07:03frederick durst van halen how about that that would be hilarious do you remember uh september 27th

07:142007 cute does that date ring a bell is that the very first show the very first show in charlotte

07:20north carolina i was there i drove to charlotte you were i think you were like what 15 or something

07:26i was what is that 2007 i was 16 i was 16 so what could you just walk me through what that was like

07:35you played with van halen uh you were 16 years old your first show it was and i'm telling you

07:41the show was amazing everyone sounded david lee roth sounded amazing that night like the whole thing

07:48was so great can you just walk me through what that was like for you it was in the works for so long

07:55like i'd been rehearsing since i was 14 so it was like a lot of growing up happened in the process of

08:01putting everything together so i think i i almost wasn't as nervous as i should have been i i think

08:07we had rehearsed so much you know uh you know in our in our heyday of of rehearsing for tours and

08:13everything you know al dad and i would we'd be playing like every day you know for months at a time so

08:21it just became like so in your bones like it was boring so you could you could you didn't even have

08:27to think about it and so i think by the time we got to that show we were just kind of able to take

08:33it in and just have a great time with with the moment i think it was just fun to have it all back

08:38i was gonna say what was it like like to be in high school when you were in van halen but you've

08:42always been wolfgang van halen so yeah it was not cool it's not a cool thing in in high school

08:48not at all like uh in fact i was when i came back from the first tour there were people who

08:53like i wouldn't call it bullying it was more like you know uh light ribbing but it was like oh look

08:58there's a bass player for van halen you know like and somehow turn that into a not cool thing which

09:04is you know that's that's high school yeah exactly anyone to figure out that it's not cool to be in

09:10van halen that's just the ultimate no matter what you do at that point they're gonna hate on you

09:14yeah if you say a thing in a funny voice that just that's that's that's all that matters you

09:18know it doesn't matter what the substance of it is uh but yeah no i mean uh it was nice because you

09:24know it was it was nice to be able to go back to my high school after that because i missed my 11th

09:29uh grade year uh so i so i but it was nice to be able to go back uh for my senior year to be with

09:36all my friends and it was like it never happened it was great i'm really excited about this new song

09:41to end i i'm telling you if people haven't heard it yet it's it's it's my favorite song that you've

09:45put out i'll wait till you see the video man wait till you see the video what could you talk about

09:51that at all oh man i i don't want to spoil it but uh we were able to work uh with robert rodriguez

09:58and greg oh my god video so uh when i'm very excited to to hear what you think when it comes out

10:04it's called the end great song i love it people are gonna be so excited i can't wait to hear the rest

10:09of the music what do you i would like to end these interviews by just saying you have some

10:12really hardcore fans what do you want to say directly to your fans man just it's kind of

10:17crazy to think that the band has hardcore fans uh so i'm just thankful to have that opportunity

10:24that's why i'm so excited to you know it's it's fun to open you know do crazy things like opening

10:29for metallica that's always an insane thing but where it's really the most fun is is the headline shows

10:35you know where people are there to just to hear their favorite song from us and that's that's

10:39always you know and we can't have that without these fans so if i'm speaking to them directly just

10:45thank you i love you right back and you have miles kennedy opening your tour i'm literally wearing a

10:51miles kennedy shirt right now i i can't wait to my like i'm gonna have to bring my a game because

10:57sharing the stage with uh the amazing singer and guitar player that he is i gotta make sure i don't

11:03mess up well wolfgang you're a great guy and like i said i love the new song and thank you so much

11:09thank you dude thanks for having me it's a pleasure

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