Wolfgang Van Halen is going three for three with the new release of the album track, “Think It Over,” and the one-man-band video for “Don’t Back Down” — both of which serve as teasers for Mammoth WVH's self-titled debut set, which drops on June 11th. The tunes follow the album's lead single, “Distance,” which served as a tribute to his late-father, the great Eddie Van Halen.
Wolfgang spoke about the two new tracks, telling Rolling Stone, “With 'Don’t Back Down,' I really leaned into a fight-song mentality. The kind of thing you hear when you’re at a sports game and you want your team to really f*** up the other team. 'Think It Over' is super-poppy, the most Jimmy Eat World-ish song I’ve got. It’s one of my favorite songs, and it was my dad’s favorite song.”
Regarding the comical video for “Don't Back Down” where he plays all the members of a four-man-band, he admitted, “I always thought it would be a fun thing to do a series of videos, maybe not just this one, where it’s just a whole bunch of Wolfs putting it together.”
Wolfgang spoke about his recent decision to reject the Grammy's proposal that he perform his father's signature standalone solo “Eruption” in tribute during the TV telecast: “It just seemed like kind of a tone-deaf ask. It just didn’t feel right. And I think some people are like, 'Well, you should have just f***ing done it anyway.' And I don’t think they were really thinking about the emotional attachment to it. And just the fact that it isn’t the right thing to do and something I’m not comfortable with.”
He went on to say, “I'll always be here to champion my father and to further his legacy to the ends of the Earth. I’m a little biased, but I think you cannot argue the impact that three guitar players had on the history of the instrument. And that’s Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix, and my dad. And so when something like this happens, you think he would be deserving of a bit more time.”