In a new interview with Cutter’s Rockcast, Mammoth frontman Wolfgang Van Halen was asked about his decision to play all the instruments and sing all the vocals on the band’s recordings.
He said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net): “It was initially just a challenge. ‘Cause I had these ideas I was writing on my own, and I wanted to see if I was capable of being able to cohesively play every instrument and have it sound like a band. And so the two years I took to record the first record and kind of discover the process, I found that I really enjoyed it. And it’s just a lot of fun. And that’s kind of just what Mammoth has been. It’s been my escape and my, my own sort of creative thing. I’ve got [producer Michael] ‘Elvis’ Baskette… and he’s my partner, my creative partner in it all. And between us two and then Jef [Moll], our engineer, and Josh [Saldate], Elvis‘s assistant, it’s, like, you just get the four of us in there and about maybe two and a half, three months later, you’ll have a Mammoth record. It’s a fun thing to attack the songwriting from every angle and to kind of put the guitarist hat on, put the singer hat on, put the drummer hat on. It’s a fun challenge. And I’ve done it three times now, and I really enjoy it. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how well it worked, which is why I think I’m still doing it.”
Regarding how he takes care of his singing voice while on tour, Van Halen said, ”It’s tough. It really is. It’s very delicate, ’cause you can’t restring your voice and go on stage. So you have to make sure that you’re hydrated and healthy. And I’m the healthiest I’ve been over the last few years on this tour. So I think it’s been a bit easier overall. I’ve noticed a big, big change in how much easier it is. It’s still a big effort. Like when we’re doing those three-in-a-rows, you just gotta be careful. Sometimes, when I think something’s funny, I laugh really loud and that ends up messing my voice up. So you just gotta be careful. But, yeah, it would be fun to not wear all the hats and to just be a drummer for a tour or something. I would to just focus on that. Yeah. I’m sure there’s a band out there that’d be like, But I’m having such a good time being all in on Mammoth, that it’s been a really, really great time.”
To celebrate the release of Mammoth‘s third album, The End, the band began a fall headline run late last month. The End tour started on October 31st and will run for five weeks before it wraps up on December 7th. Longtime friend Myles Kennedy is the special guest on the run.
Mammoth‘s touring lineup features Van Halen on guitar and lead vocals, Frank Sidoris (Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators) on guitar, Jon Jourdan on guitar and vocals, Garrett Whitlock (Tremonti) on drums, and Ronnie Ficarro on bass.
10 Responses
I’ve seen Wolfie and his touring band perform twice In St. Louis ’23 & Seattle ’24 while supporting Metallica’s 72 Seasons Tour. They played well but the sound was not really good indoors in St. Louis. Not really my groove though, reminds me of 2000’s rock. Great musician and guy.
I get what you’re saying; that first Crossfade record was released in ’04, and I loved that album….I am thinking now everything is in because the new music trend is AI (sad, but true). I think Wolfie just needs to go for broke at this point with his music: he’s already throwing so much into his songs, but there needs to be a synthesis where it just all becomes one tsumani coming at you; Mudvayne does that; you listen to it and hear those chops, but then all of that gets transcended; they take all of it, roll it up into a ball, and just hurl it at the wall.
Mudvayne is a great band. I love how they’re in your face while speaking to deep emotionally experiences. I imagine the late 90’s post grunge era rock did influence him among many other genres. That seems to come through in his music. Will be fun to see where he goes with it all.
Music is the only thing that can take someone living in a tent on skid row, and make them feel like they’re in a different world altogether…you can be dirt poor and still have a good existence with music…and Wolfgang’s music really gets that