Wolfgang Van Halen says social media is a “pile of negativity and awful, awful things”
The Mammoth WVH leader said last year that his mental health had “never been any lower” due to online trolls.
Credit: Gus Stewart/Redferns
Wolfgang Van Halen has had his share of run-ins on social media – and even said last year that his mental health had “never been any lower” due to online trolls.
And now, in a new interview with Baltimore’s 98 Rock radio station, the multi-instrumentalist has doubled down on his views on social media, calling it a “pile of negativity and just awful, awful things”.
“The thing that bothers me more than just people straight-up being mean – ’cause that’s sort of the status quo; you kind of phase that out – is just people being dumb and getting things wrong that are worth correcting,” he says. “And so if I have the opportunity to do that while also being funny, I go for it because it’s fun.”
He adds that while he’s out on tour with Mammoth WVH, he’s not on social media as much, but admits that as a musician in 2023, you need to “at least be semi” into it.
“I have gravitated further and further away from it over the years,” he continues. “You begin to realise how much of a little bubble it is and not how much of an overall example of everything in the world is.
“I think more and more, as time has gone on, more of the terminally online, so to speak, are kind of there while everybody else is kind of living their life.”
Back in December, Wolfgang said: “When it comes to dickheads on the internet, that’s always there. Everyone deals with it. Sure, it hurts a lot when it’s directed toward you, but you’ve got to realise the place it’s coming from. I like to pick my battles.”
But while trolls are sadly often the loudest on social media, Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth WVH output has been well-received by most – so much so that he’s currently gearing up to release the band’s second full-length, Mammoth II.
And for the die-hard Van Halen fans: one track, Take a Bow – which arrived earlier this week – sees Wolfgang penning a tap-heavy solo using his father’s iconic Frankenstein electric guitar.
“I played the solo on the original Frankenstein guitar and through Dad’s original Marshall head and one of the original cabinets,” he said. “It’s straight up what he used on the earliest Van Halen records. It makes me happy to capture some of dad’s history on this song forever.”