WOLFGANG VAN HALEN: 'I Could Fall Asleep Listening To MESHUGGAH; It Relaxes Me So Much'

In a new interview with Primordial Radio, former VAN HALEN bassist and current MAMMOTH WVH frontman Wolfgang Van Halen spoke about his love for Swedish extreme tech-metal pioneers MESHUGGAH. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I could fall asleep listening to MESHUGGAH; it relaxes me so much.

"If you're familiar with MESHUGGAH, you probably know the song 'Bleed'.

"MESHUGGAH is just one of my favorite bands," he continued. "They are unbelievably heavy — there's nothing heavier than them — but you get lulled into their rhythm. As a drummer first, I just am in love with rhythmic music, and there's nothing more rhythmic than MESHUGGAH.

"After hearing ['Bleed'], you probably couldn't fall asleep to that, but, man, I could, 'cause I love it," he added.

Last November, Wolfgang told TellUs Rock that he listens to MESHUGGAH when he is not writing, recording and performing. "I love MESHUGGAH," he said. "I tend to listen to, at least recently, more heavier music. Like all the new stuff that's come out. ANIMALS AS LEADERS had a new album come out this year, and so did MESHUGGAH. But MESHUGGAH is one of my favorite bands. [They're] nothing like MAMMOTH."

When the interviewer asked what kind of stuff he draws musical inspiration from for MAMMOTH WVH, Wolfgang said: "On the next album, there actually is some MESHUGGAH-inspired songs — just through the lens of MAMMOTH, though. So it's not as super heavy."

Back in 2021, Wolfgang told RockSverige that he was fans of bands like GOJIRA and MASTODON. He said: "Oh, yeah. I love GOJIRA. And I'm crazy about MESHUGGAH. PERIPHERY, I'm friends with those guys and they're a phenomenal band."

Wolfgang, who played all instruments on the first two albums from his MAMMOTH WVH project, was also asked if he can work out the MESHUGGAH song "Bleed" on drums. "Oh, yeah. I can play it," he said. "As a drummer, MESHUGGAH is just like my favorite because it's like a math problem, as a song. As a drummer, it's really fun to figure out the polyrhythmic stuff going on in each song. It's a treat, and I love it."

Wolfgang attended MESHUGGAH's October 2022 concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California. The following day, he tweeted out a short video of the performance, and he captioned it simply: "MESHUGGAH is therapy".

MAMMOTH WVH will release its sophomore album, "Mammoth II", on August 4 via BMG. The 10-track record was recorded at the legendary 5150 studio and was produced by Wolfgang's friend and collaborator Michael "Elvis" Baskette.