Wolfgang Van Halen appeared on comedian Bill Burr’s podcast for a laid back, laugh-filled discussion of many topics including the greatness of Alex Van Halen, social media, classic rock and even more of the greatness of Alex Van Halen.
Burr, a self-proclaimed “drum geek”, began by asking Wolfgang about Alex Van Halen’s drumming on Van Halen’s classic track from ‘Fair Warning’ – “Mean Street”.
“I always wondered if Alex played ‘Mean Street’ — if he played that high hat with one hand or two,” Burr asked Wolfgang. “I got a buddy of mine [who] claims the studio version was one hand. I’m like, ‘How could you play it that fast?'”
Wolfgang answered, “I’m pretty sure the studio [version] is one hand. Every now and then I think it’s just depending on how his hands feel does he do either way, but I think on ‘Fair Warning’ it’s with one hand.”
“You answered my drum creep question, which I was gonna save until the end,” said Burr.
Wolfgang replied, “Ask away.”
Burr did ask away and Wolfgang had fun answering questions about learning guitar lessons from his famous dad Eddie, social media, the upcoming release of his Mammoth WVH album (due out June 11th), stage fright and his approach to guitar solos.
Burr couldn’t resist on returning to his his fascination with Alex’s drumming, a topic Wolfgang was more than happy to continue.
“I think he’s one of the most underrated drummers of all time,” said Burr. “It’s just simply because everyone was so [into] watching your dad.”
“Yeah, it’s like, ‘Just look over here for a second and you’ll see how fuckin’ great he is, see how amazing he is,” responded Wolfgang.
After Burr praised Alex’s playing on the songs “Finish What Ya Started” and “Jump”, Burr and Wolfgang both shared their love of Alex’s classic drum intro to “Hot For Teacher”. They even broke into an Alex Van Halen air drum moment (at the 36:28 mark of the video below if you just can’t wait!).
Burr concluded the interview by asking Wolfgang if he is optimistic about the vaccine putting an end to COVID-19 by the end of the year and allowing bands to go back to performing in concert.
“I would really hope so man,” said Wolfgang. “Inject me with those nanobots. Let Bill Gates know where the fuck I am. I wanna get out there.”
You can watch the entire interview below: