Wolfgang Van Halen on A Different Kind of Truth: “The Fact That It Happened at All Is a Miracle”

In a recent interview with Paul Cashmere of Noise11.com, Wolfgang Van Halen reflected on his role in creating A Different Kind of Truth — the final Van Halen album and the band’s first full-length studio release since 1998.

Wolfgang, who joined Van Halen at just 15 years old, played alongside his father Eddie Van Halen from 2006 until the band’s final tour in 2015. He recalled how the 2012 album came together from the ground up:

“It just felt like the right time for Van Halen to release new music,” Wolfgang said. “We’d toured, and the next logical step was to record something. Some of the demos started as early as 2009 — it took years. The fact that the record even happened is kind of a miracle.”

According to Wolfgang, many of the songs were based on unfinished demos from the 1970s, which he discovered and helped bring to life.

“A lot of those ideas were from the band’s early days,” he explained. “It was a great way to get everyone back into that old creative mindset. It was fun — a lot of work, but I’m really proud of what we did.”

Streaming Drama and Band Tensions

The album made headlines again in June 2024 when it finally returned to streaming platforms after nearly two years of being unavailable. In a 2023 interview with Eddie Trunk, Wolfgang revealed the delay stemmed from internal disagreements:

“Some people involved with the record don’t like it,” Wolfgang admitted. “We’ve been trying to get it back up, but it’s not easy. Let’s just say those people were part of the record.”

When Trunk asked if the person “with three initials” — a clear reference to David Lee Roth — was the issue, Wolfgang simply replied, “Probably.”

Shortly after, Roth responded with a tongue-in-cheek YouTube video titled “Family Therapy.” In the skit, he mocked Wolfgang’s frustrations about the album’s streaming issues, even comparing A Different Kind of Truth to Muhammad Ali’s late-career fights, suggesting it wasn’t one of the band’s finer moments.

Wolfgang on Roth, the Band, and His Father’s Legacy

Over the years, Wolfgang has spoken candidly about his limited relationship with Roth:

“We were cordial, but it was very business-related,” he told Rolling Stone. “We were always cool, but we only really saw each other onstage.”

In later interviews, Wolfgang also hinted that Roth’s difficult personality was a major reason why a proposed Eddie Van Halen tribute concert never materialized:

“Some people made it really hard to get anything done when it came to Van Halen,” he said. “The fact that we managed to do three tours, release an album of new material, and a live record — that’s a miracle in itself.”

Wolfgang also set the record straight on how Van Halen operated behind the scenes:

“People love to pin everything on Dad, but Al [Alex Van Halen] was the brain,” he explained. “Dad just wanted to play guitar. The Van Halen philosophy was always: if nothing’s happening, there’s nothing to talk about.”

Eddie Van Halen passed away in October 2020 at age 65, surrounded by family and friends. With the band inactive since its 2015 U.S. tour, A Different Kind of Truth remains a rare and powerful final chapter in Van Halen’s legendary story — and, as Wolfgang says, “a miracle that it even happened at all.”

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