MAMMOTH WVH played its first concert as the opening act for METALLICA last night (Thursday, April 27) at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.
In a recent interview with the Rock 100.5 The KATT radio station, MAMMOTH WVH frontman Wolfgang Van Halen was asked if he was looking forward to sharing the stage with METALLICA. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s pretty wild. I don’t know if it’s so much ‘looking forward to’ as it is having a meltdown in my head figuring out how we’re gonna play in the round. ‘Cause I’ve never done that in my life. So that’s gonna be definitely a trip to try and figure out… You can’t really rehearse that until you just do that.”
Asked if he had met the METALLICA guys before, Wolfgang said: “I’ve met Lars [Ulrich, drums] and I’ve met James [Hetfield, guitar/vocals], and they were both very wonderful dudes, so it’s an honor for them to have asked us to take part in such a crazy tour. I don’t think I’ve ever known what I was doing two summers from now, but I know that now I am opening for METALLICA next summer, which that’s just kind of a crazy thing [to think about].”
Regarding how MAMMOTH WVH got the gig as the opening act for METALLICA, Wolfgang said: “It could have been in London when I played the Taylor Hawkins tribute show. Lars was there too. And I shook his hand and he was super nice. I don’t know — maybe he was, like, ‘Oh, Wolf has a band. Let’s check them out.’ And then he just decided to ask us to be a part of it, which is crazy.”
Wolfgang Van Halen is the ex-bassist of VAN HALEN and son of the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
MAMMOTH WVH will release its sophomore album, “Mammoth II”, on August 4 via BMG. Wolfgang once again wrote all of the songs and performed all of the instrumentation and vocals himself on the 10-track LP, which was recorded at the legendary 5150 studio and was produced by Wolfgang‘s friend and collaborator Michael “Elvis” Baskette.
The debut single from “Mammoth II”, “Another Celebration At The End Of The World”, came out last month. The accompanying music video showcases a frustrated Wolfgang firing the other Wolfgangs from the “Don’t Back Down” clip and replacing them with his live band featuring Frank Sidoris (guitars),Jon Jourdan (guitars),Ronnie Ficarro (bass) and Garrett Whitlock (drums).
MAMMOTH WVH‘s debut album was released via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.
MAMMOTH WVH‘s first single, “Distance”, reached No. 1 on the MediaBase and BDS Active Rock Radio charts. A tribute to Wolfgang‘s father, the song was not originally intended to be on MAMMOTH WVH‘s debut album, but due to the overwhelming response to its accompanying video, which has been viewed over six million times on YouTube, it was added as a bonus track. All of Wolfgang‘s proceeds from “Distance” are being donated to Mr. Holland’s Opus.
“Distance” is an open letter to Wolfgang‘s father, declaring “no matter what the distance is, I will be with you.” The video for the song is created from a collection of family home movies through the years and offers an inside look in to one of music’s most notable personalities. Chronicling the family through the years, the video ends with a touching voicemail left from Eddie to his son.
In November 2020, Wolfgang confirmed that he asked his father for permission to use the MAMMOTH WVH band name for his solo project. MAMMOTH WVH is a nod to family history — Eddie and Alex Van Halen‘s band was called MAMMOTH when singer David Lee Roth first joined it in 1974.
Last November, MAMMOTH WVH released a digital deluxe edition of the debut album via EX1 Records. The new digital deluxe features the bonus track from the Japanese version of the album, “Talk & Walk”, as well as two previously unreleased tracks, “As Long As You’re Not You” and “Goodbye”.