Wolfgang Van Halen has made it well-known that he's a huge Meshuggah fan… but as it turns out, his dad Eddie Van Halen was also impressed with the band.
In an interview with Prog, Wolfgang Van Halen said "my dad approved of [Meshuggah]" and recalled the time he played the classic track "Bleed" for Eddie: "I remember his joke when I showed him the video to [signature song] 'Bleed'. He said, 'The drummer better be paid the most! He's working way harder than anybody else in the band!'"
Wolfgang also notes that he got his uncle Patrick into the band, adding: "Late '22, we took a break from recording [the 2023 Mammoth WVH album] Mammoth II because Meshuggah were in town at the [Hollywood] Palladium.
"We luckily got this cool balcony spot and I got to bring my Uncle Patrick, who was not a fan at all. Every time I played him Meshuggah, he'd be like, 'I don’t get it.' When I brought him to the show, he understood. After seeing it, he was like, 'Holy shit! I get it now!'"
Now if we could only get Wolfgang and Meshuggah together for a particularly shreddy jam, we'd be all set! And who knows what would've happened if Meshuggah and Eddie Van Halen ever got into a room together – talk about mind-melting skills coming together!
Wolfgang previously expressed his love of bands like Meshuggah (and Tool), both of which he feels put on an incredible live show. Which is absolutely correct – they do.
"I never do anything in the studio that I can't do live," said Wolfgang. "Sure, there are tricks that you can do to do stuff that you wouldn't normally be able to do, but why would you wanna do that? 'Cause it's about creating music that you're capable of doing and that you can do live.
"I go to a concert to see bands play the fuck out of their music. Like Meshuggah — that was my favorite concert I'll ever see. Because they just kill it. They just stand there and they just play the fuck out of their music. I don't go to a concert to see a guy going around and be, like, 'How are you feeling tonight?' That's not my shit.
"Like Tool — they stand there and they destroy. That's what I love about music. And that's what we try to do with Mammoth, is that first and foremost, we are playing everything and we're doing it to the best of our ability."
