‘Van Halen Doesn’t Exist Anymore,’ Says Wolfgang Van Halen

Wolfgang Van Halen has said in a new interview that his late father Eddie Van Halen‘s rock band Van Halen “doesn’t exist anymore.”

When asked about playing a tribute concert in honor of Eddie Van Halen, his son said he has already done so by performing at two Taylor Hawkins tribute shows last fall.

Wolfgang recalled that by participating in the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in 2022, he got an opportunity to pay tribute to Taylor but at the same time pay tribute to his father.

“And that was it for me and it’s over – that was me having that moment and being able to do it myself, outside of all the bullshit that the Van Halen duff gets muddled in with,” Wolfgang said in an interview with The Messenger. “I think I was able to put that to rest and not say goodbye, because I hate to ever speak in absolutes, but for the foreseeable future, Van Halen is not what I’m focused on in any way.”

“It’s out of love and how many people my father’s writing and playing touched around the world. But life isn’t written to have a happy ending – some things just suck. And if I have to figure out how to have a life without my father in it, I think people can figure out how to live without Van Halen, because it can’t happen,” he continued. “Dad’s not here, Van Halen doesn’t exist anymore as far as I’m concerned. The music and the legacy are there, and I’ll be here to push that forth, through things like dad’s guitar and amp company, and help in every single way.”

“The unfortunate thing in comparison to what Dave Grohl was able to pull off with the Taylor Hawkins tribute, is that the Foo Fighters have a very friendly thing going on. There wasn’t a lot of animosity between members to get it done and Van Halen is quite the opposite. I don’t know, maybe it’s just ’80s bands – there’s something about ’80s bands where it was the cool thing to be dicks. But some things just don’t work out and it seems like this is one of them,” added the Mammoth WVH frontman.

(Photo: PFA Media)