Wolfgang Van Halen: don’t hold your breath for unreleased Van Halen material, “because you’ll pass out”

Wolfgang Van Halen has told fans of Van Halen not to expect the release of any archived recordings from the band or his late father any time soon.

Speaking to The Oakland Press, Wolfgang discussed the chances of any unreleased music surfacing from the archives: “That’s not gonna happen for a long time,” he said. “I have no idea what’s in there that would be worth releasing.”

He also said that there wouldn’t be much left worth releasing, as: “To a certain extent, my dad released all the good stuff.” On top of this, managing the archived recordings is a long-term project for Wolf: “Even without the intention to release, I want to archive it properly and digitise it, so everything is safe for years to come. It’s going to be an incredibly difficult process and a very long process to do properly.”

He added: “I think when a very important musician passes, you usually see right away the compilations of unreleased music that maybe should have stayed unreleased, and it just seems like a cash grab to take hold of the moment.

“I’ve always disagreed with that, so if we’re ever gonna do anything with the vault, I want to make sure we do it right and do something that dad would be okay with. So I humbly ask the Van Halen fan base to not hold their breath on this, because you’ll pass out.”

Recently, Wolfgang Van Halen has also spoken out against an auction of Eddie Van Halen guitars that he alleged was simply capitalising on his father’s legacy. Following this accusation, a man who identified himself as the lawyer for Cush’s estate, Michael Sohigian, responded to the statement on Twitter. He claimed that the Cush family will be suing Julien’s Auctions and the various parties involved in the hopes of reclaiming the Kramer guitar.

“Your dad [Eddie Van Halen] gave the guitar to Bryan Cush,” Sohigian wrote. “After Bryan died, during the probate of Bryan’s estate, which included your dad’s guitar that Bryan treasured […] one of his brothers sold it on eBay without telling or asking permission.”

That eBay buyer then allegedly re-sold the guitar via Julien’s Auctions. Both the buyer and the winning bidder will also be part of the lawsuit, according to Sohigian.

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