The joke credit that Wolfgang Van Halen put on his new album
It’s been a full two years since Wolfgang Van Halen, the only son of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, released his solo debut Mammoth WVH. Now, the younger Van Halen is prepping his follow-up, Mammoth II, and everyone wants to know who’s playing on the LP.
According to Van Halen himself, fans assume that some of his father’s famous friends, or even some of his former band members, are breaking down the door to collaborate with him. In reality, Van Halen records all of the music himself and remains reluctant to let others in on the process. However, for the new LP, Van Halen did call on one of his family members to contribute musically… just not the one most people would assume.
“The one thing that I did do was like a fun little joke,” Van Halen told Guitar Interactive Magazine. “The song ‘I’m Alright’, for that solo with the wah, I kind of got bored with the operation of it, so I had my uncle Patrick do it.”
“You’ll see on the back of the album, ‘All songs written and performed by Wolfgang Van Halen, except for wah operation on solo of I’m Alright by Patrick Bertinelli,'” Van Halen said. As it turned out, Van Halen’s joke turned out to be a bit of a pain when logistical issues regarding album credits came up. Bertinelli wasn’t a typical musician, so in order to be credited, some extra work had to be put in.
“While I thought it was a funny joke, it actually held back the approval process for the album cover by one day because we had to sign a work-for-hire and pay him $1,” Van Halen added. “So my manager was a bit upset at me for that dumb joke. But I thought it was pretty funny.”
“I so badly wanted to do that at one point with Dad, have him play piano or cello or something that wasn’t guitar,” Van Halen also revealed in the interview. So is Wolfy completely closed off to the idea of letting one of his famous family members join him in the studio? Definitely not, although the situation would have to be appropriately comedic in order for Van Halen to go for it.
“I may have to have Al [Alex Van Halen] play the glockenspiel on a track or something,” Van Halen joked.
Check out the first preview of Mammoth II down below.
