In a new interview with Audacy Music, Wolfgang Van Halen, who has been fronting his band called MAMMOTH (formerly MAMMOTH WVH) for the past five years, was asked to name his favorite tour that he has been on so far, having already shared the stage with the likes of GUNS N’ ROSES, METALLICA, ALTER BRIDGE, FOO FIGHTERS and CREED, among others. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I wouldn’t necessarily pick, say, a favorite — I think I’m just blown away to be a part of all these — but I think the most insane one was for sure the METALLICA tour. Touring with them for two years — we were the one band who played every building with them on the ‘No Repeat Weekend’ for the 2023 to ’24 dates. They even gave us this plaque where it was, like, ‘perfect attendance’, which was really very sweet of them.”
Elaborating on what made the METALLICA tour so special, Wolfgang said: “I think just the grandioseness of it was so insane. To play not only stadiums, which is such an out-of-body experience, but then in the round, in that insane stage, it was certainly an out-of-body experience, and I can’t believe we did it.”
Asked what was so different about playing “in the round” that made the METALLICA tour so unique, Wolfgang said: “It’s tough because I’ve got a [guitar] pedal board and I’m glued to the mic mainly, so I can’t really move around. Luckily, I had my bandmates running around as much as they could. I know we figured it out at some point where if I just place my mic somewhere else facing in a different direction, I can at least kind of get a look at most of the people. But it was a tough thing to get used to for a bit.”
Back in December 2023, Wolfgang spoke to Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS‘s “New & Approved” show about what it had been like to open for METALLICA on the latter band’s “M72” world tour. He said: “It’s been crazy… It’s been such a pleasure and honor to be a part of such an insane tour. The crew is so kind so wonderful and the band, especially, they’ve been so supportive and kind. They come by the dressing room all the time just to kind of see, ‘What’s up? How is everything going?’ They’re very, very wonderful people. And just to be a part of the most insane, extravagant, hilarious stage in the coolest way — it’s just very odd to be in the middle of a stadium in the round. It’s crazy. But I think after about nine or 10 shows, we’re used to it now.”
Wolfgang added: “They’ve been so wonderful. I can’t speak of them all highly enough. They’re wonderful.”
In July 2023, Wolfgang told Pinfield that MAMMOTH landed the opening slot on the METALLICA tour after seeds were likely planted when he met METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London in September 2022.
“[Lars] was super kind, super nice,” Van Halen said. “We shook hands and talked for a little bit. I had no idea that that would lead him asking us to take part in the tour. I kind of can’t believe that we’ll be opening for them for the whole tour. I think we’re the only opener to be playing every building with them, which is really crazy. [I’m] very excited, very honored to be a part of it. They have a really crazy stage, so it’s definitely a first. But, yeah, very excited and honored to be a part of it.”
Speaking specifically about the “M72” tour’s in-the-round stage design that relocates the famed METALLICA Snake Pit to center stage, Wolfgang said: “Walking into the stadium [to play the first show in Amsterdam], it was just, like, ‘We’ve never done anything like this before.’ We were all just kind of shocked during even soundcheck. We were just, like, ‘This is really what we’re doing here?’ [Laughs] And then you do the show with the actual people there, and that’s when it’s just, like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is unreal.’ It’s the most extravagant form of a concert, of a stage I think I’ve ever played on. Absolutely crazy.”
MAMMOTH played its first concert as the opening act for METALLICA on April 27, 2023 at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Not long before the Amsterdam show, Wolfgang was asked by the Rock 100.5 The KATT radio station if he was looking forward to sharing the stage with METALLICA. He responded: “It’s pretty wild. I don’t know if it’s so much ‘looking forward to’ as it is having a meltdown in my head figuring out how we’re gonna play in the round. ‘Cause I’ve never done that in my life. So that’s gonna be definitely a trip to try and figure out… You can’t really rehearse that until you just do that.”
Asked if he had met the METALLICA guys before, Wolfgang said: “I’ve met Lars and I’ve met James [Hetfield, guitar/vocals], and they were both very wonderful dudes, so it’s an honor for them to have asked us to take part in such a crazy tour. I don’t think I’ve ever known what I was doing two summers from now, but I know that now I am opening for METALLICA next summer, which that’s just kind of a crazy thing [to think about].”
Regarding how MAMMOTH got the gig as the opening act for METALLICA, Wolfgang said: “It could have been in London when I played the Taylor Hawkins tribute show. Lars was there too. And I shook his hand and he was super nice. I don’t know — maybe he was, like, ‘Oh, Wolf has a band. Let’s check them out.’ And then he just decided to ask us to be a part of it, which is crazy.”
Wolfgang Van Halen is the ex-bassist of VAN HALEN and son of the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
MAMMOTH released its sophomore album, “Mammoth II”, in August 2023 via BMG. Wolfgang once again wrote all of the songs and performed all of the instrumentation and vocals himself on the 10-track LP, which was recorded at the legendary 5150 studio and was produced by Wolfgang‘s friend and collaborator Michael “Elvis” Baskette.
Earlier this week, MAMMOTH released a new single called “The End”. The track is expected to appear on the band’s third album, due later in the year.
Source: blabbermouth.net
