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Wolfgang Van Halen

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In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Halen, not Halen.
Wolfgang Van Halen
Wolfgang Van Halen in 2021
Wolfgang Van Halen in 2021
Background information
Birth nameWolfgang William Van Halen
Also known as
  • Wolfie
  • Wolf
Born (1991-03-16) March 16, 1991 (age 33)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.[1]
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
Instrument(s)
  • Bass guitar, vocals
Years active2004–present
Websitevan-halen.com, mammothwvh.com

Wolfgang William Van Halen ([ˈʋɔl(ə)fxɑŋ ˈʋɪlijɑɱ vɑn ˈɦaːlə(n)], born March 16, 1991) is an American musician. The son of guitarist Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli, he performed alongside his father as the bassist for the rock band Van Halen from 2006 to 2020. He also performed with the heavy metal band Tremonti from 2012 to 2016. After his father's death in 2020 led to the disbandment of Van Halen, he began to focus on his solo project Mammoth WVH, in which he performs all instruments and vocals. His project's self-titled debut was released in 2021.

Career

Early life

Van Halen had an indirect effect on his father's career from the very beginning of his life. The instrumental "316" (from the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge) refers to his birthday. For a 13-year period ending in 2004, Eddie Van Halen collaborated with Peavey on a line of guitars, the Wolfgang series, named after his son.[2] In 2008, his father named a custom guitar after him, the Fender EVH Wolfgang.[3][4]

Wolfgang started his musical career as a drummer. He often watched his father rehearse, and at times would try to play his uncle Alex's drum kit, whereupon the latter would give him a few lessons. Wolfgang started playing drums at the age of nine, mostly self-taught with only few lessons from his uncle, and got his first drum set from his father as a present for his tenth birthday. Some time later he moved on to guitar and bass. He can also play keyboards and "figure things out by ear".[5] Wolfgang later began actively participating in Van Halen, the band. He also made guest appearances during some dates of Van Halen's 2004 tour, appearing during his father's extended guitar solo spot and playing "316" with him.

Van Halen

In late 2006, in an interview with Guitar World, Eddie Van Halen confirmed that his son would replace Michael Anthony as Van Halen's bassist.[6] Wolfgang first toured with Van Halen in his new capacity in 2007.[7] In August 2010, Van Halen announced that they would record a new album, with Wolfgang playing bass.

In early 2008, Van Halen appeared on the cover of the April issue of Guitar World with his father, in the magazine's first father-son issue.

He recorded his only studio album with Van Halen, A Different Kind of Truth, in 2011. The album was released on February 7, 2012.[8]

Tremonti

On September 10, 2012, Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti announced that Van Halen would be filling in for Brian Marshall as bassist for the first tour of Tremonti's eponymous band.[9] Tremonti's first album, All I Was, was released on July 17 of that year. Van Halen became an official member of Tremonti in 2013, replacing previous bassist Brian Marshall.[10] He appears on the band's 2015 studio album Cauterize and its 2016 follow-up Dust.

Recent work

Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery revealed in a June 2019 tweet on Twitter that Wolfgang would play on his solo debut. "[Wolfgang] will be playing drums, maybe some bass," he says. "I'll do the rest. Just not good enough on the kit myself to pull it off in [the] studio."[11]

Musical style

Van Halen started playing the bass as his father started asking if he wanted to play with him. Van Halen first viewed bass as "an easier version of guitar, but as soon as I started playing it I realized how wrong that was", but stated that his experience with a guitar made it easier for him to deal with the instrument. His style was described by Eddie as a "rhythm bassist, like I'm a rhythm guitarist and a bassist put together." When he first began playing bass, his inspirations were Les Claypool of Primus and Justin Chancellor of Tool. He also enjoys Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, John Entwistle of The Who, Jack Bruce of Cream "and all of the classic players".[5]

Wolfgang's musical style mainly consists of the hard rock, alternative rock, and heavy metal genres. However, he has also released a few pop songs under the Mammoth WVH name, namely "Think It Over" and "Distance".[12]

Personal life

Named in homage to the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he is the only child of Dutch-Indonesian American guitarist Eddie Van Halen and American actress Valerie Bertinelli, and the nephew of Dutch-Indonesian American drummer Alex Van Halen. Bertinelli is said to have given her only child such an elaborate name rather than a usual one (aka “Bob Van Halen”). Wolfgang has said that he did not know his father was a famous musician until he "started picking up CDs and saw his father's [Eddie's] picture on them".[5]

Following the completion of the 2007–2008 Van Halen tour, Wolfgang returned to school. Planning to graduate by the summer of 2009, he would graduate in 2010. Wolfgang Van Halen appears as the bassist for Van Halen in Guitar Hero: Van Halen, even replacing Michael Anthony in the band's past incarnation.[13] Wolfgang remained in Van Halen until 2020 when the band disbanded following his father's death.[14]

Discography

with Van Halen

with Tremonti

with Mammoth WVH

as a featured musician

References

  1. ^ "Van Halen names son Wolfgang". Rome News-Tribune. Associated Press. 1990-03-18.
  2. ^ "Peavey Parts With Edward Van Halen". Mix. 2004-12-29.
  3. ^ "Eddie Van Halen launches the all-new EVH Wolfgang Guitar". International Business Times. 2008-12-16.
  4. ^ della Cava, Marco R. (2009-01-09). "This hand-crafted guitar is Eddie Van Halen's baby". USA Today.
  5. ^ a b c "Interview: Wolfgang Van Halen Talks Bass, 'A Different Kind Of Truth' and More". Guitar World. July 30, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  6. ^ Bradley, Simon (2006-12-12). "Van Halen: Anthony Out, Wolfgang In…". Music Radar.
  7. ^ Rodriguez, Brenda (2007-08-13). "Valerie Bertinelli a 'Proud Momma' at Van Halen Reunion". People.
  8. ^ "Van Halen Announce Album Release, Tour Dates". rollingstone.com. 2012-01-06.
  9. ^ Whitaker, Sterling (2012-09-12). "Wolfgang Van Halen Joins Mark Tremonti as Touring Bassist". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  10. ^ Graff, Gary (2013-03-06). "Wolfgang Van Halen Joins Tremonti, Says Van Halen Working on New Music". Billboard.
  11. ^ Trapp, Philip. "Wolfgang Van Halen to Perform on Sevendust Guitarist's Solo Album". Loudwire. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  12. ^ Wilkening, Matthew; Rolli, Bryan (March 26, 2021). "Mammoth WVH's 'Think It Over' Shows Off Wolfgang's Pop Smarts". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  13. ^ Eddie Van Halen considering New Tunes with David Lee Roth, 2009-02-02, www.spinner.com.
  14. ^ Hiatt, Brian (16 November 2020). "Van Halen Considered Reunion Tour With Both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 November 2020.


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