Wolfgang Van Halen reacted to a recent rant in which David Lee Roth verbally attacked him over incidents that allegedly occurred when they were both in Van Halen.
In January, Diamond Dave posted a video on his YouTube channel that essentially served as a long voiceover monologue insulting Wolfgang. The clip began with Roth suggesting that the son of the late Eddie Van Halen benefited from nepotism, and then accused the young musician of trying to kick Roth's guests out of Van Halen's shows. Throughout the entire rant, Roth continually referred to Wolfgang as “this damn kid.”
In a new interview with the radio program Morning X with Barnes and Leslie (as transcribed by Talkative), Wolfgang was asked why he thinks Roth would spew such “vile” poison at him. He responded, “I guess I'm honored that you think of me as much as you seem to. I guess you have to take what he says with a grain of salt considering he also said he wrote [Eddie’s iconic instrumental track] 'Eruption' and he came up with Frankenstein [Eddie’s red-white-and-black-striped guitar pattern]…He said that he wrote all the solos that [my] “Dad wrote.”
Wolfgang went on to say, “I guess that's all I can say. It seems like I was born into this Van Halen drama that preceded me. And I guess now that my dad isn't here to be a target, I guess he went for the next best thing.”
In the same interview, Wolfgang ruled out the possibility of participating in an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert or tour, explaining, “I don't want to play that music without my dad.”
Get tickets to Mammoth WVH here
That said, Wolfgang will be on tour with his band Mammoth WVH for much of 2024. He's currently wrapping up a US headlining tour supported by Nita Strauss, but a UK tour will launch in a couple of weeks. United States and Europe, followed by another US tour with Intervalos starting in May. From there, Mammoth WVH will support Metallica once again this summer and open for Creed in the fall. Tickets for upcoming shows are available here.
Meanwhile, Sammy Hagar pays tribute to Van Halen with his upcoming “Best of All Worlds” tour, featuring a backing band consisting of Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham. Collect tickets for that exit. here.
Watch Wolfgang Van Halen's conversation with Morning X with Barnes and Leslie below, followed by her video chat with Nita Strauss for Consequence“Two for the road” series.
thanks to our partners at consequence.net