Wolfgang Van Halen – David Lee Roth Will ‘Always Be One of the Best’
Wolfgang Van Halen had kind words for David Lee Roth this week when addressing the 67-year-old rock singer and fellow Van Halen alum's upcoming retirement.
The subject was one of many floated on Wednesday (Dec. 1) in a joint interview with Wolf — the Mammoth WVH bandleader and the son of late Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen — and Dirty Honey vocalist Marc LaBelle that was arranged by the website Consequence. In October, Roth said he would retire from performing after his Las Vegas residency in January 2022.
Watch a video of the Consequence interview with Wolf and LaBelle down toward the bottom of this post.
When the topic of Roth's retirement came up, Wolf, with a knowing chuckle, called the former Van Halen frontman "very much a one-of-a-kind sort of guy."
Still, Wolf and the singer "don't really talk, if ever," he admitted. "We were always cordial on tour together, but it's not like I've spoken to him at all in the last six years."
But Wolf continued, praising the rocker, "But, I mean, he's fucking David Lee Roth. I'm so happy for him and for everything that he's accomplished. And he's just a phenomenal — he'll always be one of the best."
Wolf and LaBelle appeared together because Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey will head out on the road together in early 2022 for a co-headlining run called the Young Guns Tour. The both recently spoke to Loudwire Nights about the tour while also discussing the "rock is dead" trend and some listeners' seeming anger at new music.
"I think a heavy slice of that is nostalgia about things being better back in the day, and more attention being put on other genres currently," Wolf told Loudwire Nights. "But I think if you say 'rock is dead,' you're wrong. And I think that's a big point of this tour, is that we are the 'young guns' of the genre, and we're here to prove that we can do it just as good as the old guys."
Wolf, after replacing bassist Michael Anthony in 2006, performed alongside his father, his uncle and Roth in Van Halen up until Eddie's death last year. Van Halen then quietly disbanded following his death. Wolf released Mammoth WVH's debut album in June.