Wolfgang Van Halen just released his first solo song with the band MAMMOTH WVH

Wolfgang Van Halen, son of Eddie Van Halen, has just launched his solo career and it is natural that his first release is a song dedicated to his late father.

Multi-instrumentalist, Wolfgang played everything on the album that he prepared only with the help of producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette in a process that took years. "Distance", the first single, was released today and Wolfgang, who played bass for Van Halen , talks about the track:

"'Distance' is a song that was initially written for the debut album, but was going to be held for a later time," Wolfgang added.

He continued: "As my pop continued to struggle with various health issues, I was imagining what my life would be like without him and how terribly I'd miss him. While this song is incredibly personal, I think anyone can relate to the idea of having a profound loss in their own life."

The musician guaranteed that he never expected "Distance" to be his first release, but he also always thought his father would be there to "celebrate the release with me".

You can listen to the song below, accompanied by a clip with images of the family together.

Eddie Van Halen passed away at 65 years old and now we remember the best advice of his life…

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born in Amsterdam The Netherlands on January 26, 1955. Eddie was the son of Jan and Eugenia Van Halen being Alexander, his older brother. Eddie's father was a clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist. His mother was an Indonesian from Rangkasbitung on the island of Java. Music has always been present in Eddie's life. His second name is a tribute to the great German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. The spelling in Eddie's name is the Dutch equivalent of Ludwig. Interestingly, Eddie used the same approach as his father, when he named his son after the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

At the age of 7, Eddie moved with his family to the USA, settling in Pasadena, California. However, even before this change, both Eddie and his brother Alex started to study the piano. His learning continued after the change. Moving again, now to San Pedro, they took classes with an elderly teacher named Stanley “Stasys” Kalvaitis. A curious fact about this is that they hated that and were forced by their mother to continue their classical piano studies, to avoid possible punishment. Eddie himself later revealed that he was never able to read music. He learned to play by watching and listening. “When I did recitals, I improvised” he said in an interview. By the age of 10, he had already won awards for musical performances, especially the annual piano competition at Long Beach City College, where the judges said he interpreted a classical piece in an interesting way, even though he was playing it correctly .

Eddie was not satisfied with the piano, as it did not appear to be a challenge or something he’d be so interested to do. While Alex, his older brother started to learn to play guitar, Eddie migrated to the drums, practicing for hours, every day. Later on, Eddie made the decision to change his instrument and began to learn to play the guitar, keeping it tied to his body and practicing while strolling or being locked in his room for hours.

He was always close to his family so no wonder in an interview when asked about the best advice he had ever received, Eddie revealed that it was one advice from his father.