WOLFGANG VAN HALEN: Why I Love MESHUGGAH

Wolfgang Van Halen is featured in Amoeba Music's "What's In My Bag?" segment in which the MAMMOTH WVH frontman talks about some of the records he is into. The first LP he picked was "Immutable", the latest effort from Swedish extreme tech-metal pioneers MESHUGGAH. He said about it (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "MESHUGGAH is my favorite. It's funny — there was a story that came out where it [quoted me as saying], like, 'MESHUGGAH puts me to sleep,' and that was taken out of context. I said I can fall asleep listening to MESHUGGAH, which is a compliment, because it relaxes me. It brings me peace. It brings me zen.

"As a drummer first, I tend to intake music in a more rhythmic manner," he explained. "I'm all about rhythm, and MESHUGGAH is rhythm. It's like dinosaurs fighting."

The former VAN HALEN bassist named 2002's "Nothing" as "probably my favorite MESHUGGAH album. It's where they really started getting sort of groovy and sludgy with their sound," he said. "A lot of people like the one before, [1998's] 'Chaosphere'. An amazing album too. It's more thrashy, but I really like their groovy sort of sludgy aspects, and this one ['Nothing'] is all sludge and groove."

Van Halen also picked MESHUGGAH's 2012 LP "Koloss" and called it "just another great album."

When Wolfgang, the 32-year-old son of VAN HALEN legend Eddie Van Halen, married his fiancée Andraia Allsop last October at their home in Los Angeles, the wedding playlist included MESHUGGAH.

Wolfgang explained: They're very progressive metal, I think to anybody, to the non-informed crowd though, it would probably just sound like death metal. Anyone over 40 will be terrified. But you know what? It's my wedding and I'll do whatever I want."

In July 2023, Wolfgang told Primordial Radio about his love for MESHUGGAH: "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.

In November 2022, 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 released its sophomore album, "II", last August via BMG.