Wolfgang Van Halen has responded to the rant against him by David Lee Roth, and explained why he thinks the Van Halen member took aim at him.
The conflict between the two came to a head in January, when David Lee Roth took to his YouTube page to post a video titled ‘This Fuckin’ Kid..’.
The video, which featured a radio-style voiceover set to a roll of press photos, began with a skit which involved a conversation between Lee Roth and “Jesus Christ” himself.
“I just want people to know, I got this job because of my talents. I would’ve had this job anyway, even if my dad wasn’t God,” the character of Jesus said, making a snide nod at Wolfgang, the son of late guitar icon Eddie Van Halen. Roth later went on to bash Wolfgang in the video – suggesting that his career was merely a product of nepotism instead of “talent”.
Following the skit, the former Van Halen singer also gave a lengthy, meandering monologue recounting two incidents involving Wolfgang, which occurred during the period he toured with Van Halen, replacing Michael Anthony on bass.
Now, in a new interview with radio show The Morning X With Barnes & Leslie, Wolfgang was asked why he thinks Roth would spew such “vile” comments about him.
Recommended
“I guess I’m honoured he even thinks about me as much as he seems to,” he responded. “I guess you have to take what he says with a grain of salt considering he also said that he wrote ‘Eruption’ [Eddie’s iconic instrumental track] and came up with the Frankenstein [his father’s red-white-and-black-striped guitar pattern]. He said he wrote all the solos that [my] dad wrote.”
“I guess that’s all I can say,” he added. “I seem to have been born into this Van Halen drama that has come way before me. And I guess now that my dad isn’t here to be a target, I guess he went to the next best thing.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Wolfgang also shot down the possibility of taking part in an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert, saying: “I don’t wanna play that music without my dad” (via Consequence).
At time of writing, the guitarist’s band, Mammoth WVH, are currently on the road for their headlining US tour, which sees support from Nita Strauss. From there, a series of US and European dates are lined up, as are supporting slots for Metallica, Creed and Slash. Find tickets to his upcoming shows here.