Wolfgang Van Halen recently shared his perspective on guitar solos and songwriting, offering a viewpoint that might surprise fans given his legendary father’s legacy, in an interview with SiriusXM.
The Mammoth WVH frontman discussed his approach to songwriting and explained why some of his songs deliberately omit guitar solos.
“I think the songwriter leads more than anything,” Wolfgang Van Halen said. “I don’t know, I think that what makes me happy, what brings me purpose with Mammoth is writing the songs. That is why I think there are some songs that don’t even have a guitar solo.”
He acknowledged the reaction this approach sometimes generates from fans and critics alike.
“Whenever there is a song that doesn’t have a guitar solo, people are, like, ‘Dude? What?’ And it’s, like, it’s more about the song and how it is crafted all together,” he continued. “Not everything needs a guitar solo.”
Wolfgang concluded by acknowledging the irony of his position given his family heritage.
“That might be stupid coming from the son of Eddie Van Halen to say, but, for me, that is where I get my most joy from, crafting the song piece by piece,” he said.
Wolfgang admitted his view on guitar solos might be risky considering he is the son of a guitar legend, Eddie Van Halen.
Van Halen recently won a significant trademark battle to use the Mammoth name, as he wanted to stand on his own. During an interview with 99.7 The Blitz, Wolf said, “It’s just sort of a proper rebirth from what I wanted it to be from the beginning. I think it’s really just that we own the trademark now that we’re able to do so.”
He continued, “I’ve always wanted to be able to stand on my own, and it’s a little tough, you know, having my name plastered on it. So I’m really excited for Mammoth as an entity to breathe as its own without being tainted with having my initials up there kind of in the way.”
Wolfgang has been working on his solo career with his band Mammoth after the passing of his father.
