Let’s talk about a rock legend who didn’t just shred guitars but also generously handed over a piece of his legacy. Yes, Eddie Van Halen, the maestro behind some of the most iconic riffs in rock history, once gave away the name of his original band. Intrigued? You should be.
Back in the early ’70s, before the world knew the name Van Halen, Eddie and his brother Alex were part of a band called Mammoth. It was raw, it was loud, and it was the breeding ground for what would become a rock dynasty. Fast forward a few decades, and Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, decides to embark on his own musical journey. But instead of riding solely on the coattails of his father’s fame, he wanted to carve out his own identity while paying homage to his roots.
So, in 2016, during what would be Van Halen’s final tour, Wolfgang mustered the courage to ask his father for permission to use the name Mammoth for his solo project. On May 11th, during a question-and-answer session at WDHA’s “Mammoth For Ya’ Mama!” event at Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck, New Jersey, Wolfgang Van Halen spoke about his father’s response.
I was nervous. I have early demos for the song ‘Mammoth’. It was called ‘Mammoth I’, ’cause it was the first idea I ever wrote that was, like, ‘It’s gonna be for my band Mammoth.’ I think it was in, like, 2013 that I wrote the idea. And I didn’t ask Dad until, like, 2016. I think we were on that last [Van Halen] tour. And I was like, ‘Hey, Pop, is that cool if I call my band Mammoth?’ And he was, like, ‘F**k, yeah.’ And I don’t know why I was so nervous to ask him, because, God, he was the most supportive person other than my mom in my life.”
Circling back to why his band is now called just Mammoth, Wolfgang said: “Man, is it a f**king tight rope to walk, with the shadow I’m under and the expectations. And it’s, like, I wanna be able to have the opportunity to reference my lineage, but not copy it and just put a flag in it and sit there and play ‘Panama’ for everybody every night. I wanna be able to be my own person.”
