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Wolfgang Van Halen may have played bass in Van Halen from 2007 up until his dad Eddie Van Halen's passing in 2020, but he still compares covering the material to "selling out." The musician, who fronts his own band Mammoth WVH, spoke about why he'll never cover Van Halen songs during his own shows.
"My dad actually had a quote when Van Halen ended up doing a lot of cover songs. It was on Diver Down, there was a lot specifically on that album. He said, ‘I'd rather bomb with my own material than succeed with someone else's.’ And I feel very much that way," Wolfie explained during a visit to Billy Corgan's The Magnificent Others podcast.
"I could very easily shack up and do ‘Wolf Does Van Halen’ and do that and probably make a decent living at it," he noted. "It's very hollow and astoundingly creatively unfulfilling so I just can't. I feel like it's kind of selling out and I could never do that. That's not satisfying to me. I would rather bomb on my own than succeed with what my dad laid before me."
"I guarantee you there's at least 20% of every crowd at our show that leaves disappointed I didn't play 'Panama,'" Wolfie admitted. "Great song – not a Mammoth song."