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Listen to Distance, Wolfgang Van Halen’s first solo song, dedicated to his father

“While this song is incredibly personal, I think anyone can relate to the idea of having a profound loss in their own life.”

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Wolfgang Van Halen has debuted his first solo song, entitled Distance. It’s dedicated to his late father Eddie Van Halen, who died in October 2020. You can hear the song above. It’s been released through Wolfgang’s solo band Mammoth WVH.

Proceeds will be going towards Eddie’s charity of choice, Mr Holland’s Opus Foundation.

Distance is a song that was initially written for the debut album, but was going to be held for a later time,” Wolfgang explained in a statement about the song. “I never anticipated Distance would be the first song of mine that people would hear, but I also thought my father would be here to celebrate its release along with me. This is for him.”

The track was said to be one of Eddie Van Halen’s “favourites” from the as-yet-untitled album’s recording sessions. Eddie was the song’s main inspiration, as Wolfgang explained: “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,” he said. “While this song is incredibly personal, I think anyone can relate to the idea of having a profound loss in their own life.”

Wolfgang has previously opened up about fan expectation and how it relates to his own solo material, taking to Instagram to say: “I’m not trying to be my father; I’m trying to be me.”

“Being who I am, I think people at least will be interested in what my work will sound like, which is nice. But on the other hand, if it’s not exactly what they want to hear or if I don’t sound ‘Van Halen-y’ enough for them they’ll hate me and won’t give me the time of day.”

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