Wolfgang and Eddie Van Halen had it all planned out. Van Halen stages the ultimate reunion tour with Mammoth WVH as the supporting act. To top it all off – Eddie Van Halen comes out for an on stage moment with his son.
“The way we figured it, if I were to open for Van Halen, he would come out and play a solo for a song,” Wolfgang told The Washington Post. “That would have been the end-all dream.”
Wolfgang said the EVH/WVH on-stage moment would have been part of the “kitchen sink tour” he and his dad discussed in late 2019. Eddie and Alex Van Halen bring back both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar along with original bassist Michael Anthony for the band’s final tour.
The Van Halen reunion tour not happening paled in comparison, however, to Wolfgang losing his father. In fact, he is still struggling with that reality. He told The Washington Post’s Geoff Edgers that if covid-19 never happened, Eddie may have been able to fly to Germany for more radiation. In late 2017, doctors had diagnosed Eddie with Stage 4 lung cancer and told him he might not make it through the year. But Eddie flew to Germany for treatments and seemed to stabilize, which allowed him to drop by the studio as his son recorded his first album.
As for that Mammoth WVH album, it’s ready to drop on June 11th. Wolfgang offered up some background to a few of the songs on it. He shared demos of “Resolve”, which emerged during a 2015 stop in Buffalo along with “Horribly Right”, which began in a hotel room in New York City during that same tour. He also played an early version of “Distance,” a song released in November with a heart-wrenching video that rose to No. 1.
Wolfgang goes on to talk about his father’s battles with alcohol addiction, Van Halen’s return in 2007 with David Lee Roth, dealing with online critics and more. You can read the entire interview HERE.