Wolfgang Van Halen points to the sky in salute to his late pop, Eddie Van Halen, after every performance.
The late guitar god passed away following a battle with cancer in 2020, aged 65, and his 33-year-old musician son – who fronts his solo project Mammoth WVH and used to play with Van Halen – has revealed the touching way he honours his dad and hero at his concerts.
Speaking to PEOPLE magazine, he said: “The reason I do what I do is because of my dad. So if I didn’t or at least think about him throughout the process, I’d be doing a disservice to my existence.
“So I think it’s very important to establish that to thank my dad every night, every time I’m on stage. Just to thank my father and to know that he’s always there with me every night.”
Wolfgang recently revealed the reason he refuses to cover his dad’s songs is because it’s important to be his “own musician”.
He played bass in the ‘Jump’ group for four years, but he’s been focusing on his solo project since his death, and revealed why he doesn’t play any of the band’s hits at his shows.
Speaking on the ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast, Wolfgang explained: “I’m happy to be able to prove myself. The important key distinction is that I’m not doing what my dad did, I’m my own person, I’m my own musician … it’s why I don’t play any Van Halen music or have a plan to play Van Halen music during my sets.
“Even my dad hated doing covers back in the day, his quote resonates with me all the time where he says: ‘I’d rather bomb with my own music than succeed with somebody else’s’, and that’s exactly how I feel about playing Van Halen music. I’d much rather fail on my own than succeed heartlessly by playing ‘Panama’.”
However, the rocker – who recently joined Ryan Gosling, Mark Ronson and Slash onstage at the Grammys to perform ‘I’m Just Ken’ from ‘Barbie’ – made an exception last year when he took to the stage at the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts in London and Los Angeles to perform ‘On Fire’, ‘Hot For Teacher’ and ‘Panama’ in honour of the later drummer, who was a huge fan of Van Halen.
Wolfgang said of the decision: “It was wonderful. It was the exception where it was like, this would be the time to do it. Taylor was such a huge fan and to get my own satisfaction of doing a direct Van Halen tribute for dad, it felt like the right thing to do in that moment. I’m really proud of it.”