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.
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