Wolfgang Van Halen dove back into his father’s catalog on Saturday, teaming up with Mr. Bungle at Graspop Metal Meeting to rip through Van Halen’s “Loss of Control.”
The Mammoth WVH bandleader handled lead guitar duties on the Women and Children First thrasher, as Mike Patton yelped and barked in the spirit of David Lee Roth. You can watch the performance below.
“Had a special guest join us for “Loss Of Control” today @graspopmetalmeeting. Thanks @wolfvanhalen!” Mr. Bungle wrote on Instagram, to which Van Halen responded in a comment, “Thanks for having me, dudes!!!!”
Mr. Bungle has covered “Loss of Control” sporadically over the years and included it on their 2021 live album and video The Night They Came Home. “Mr. Bungle tried to play this song in the ’90s and we scrapped it because we sucked at it,” guitarist Trey Spruance explained at the time. “I think it worked this time for a lot of reasons. My own is that, thanks to the new Raging Wrath [of the Easter Bunny] era, I’ve had to re-approach the guitar like I did when I was 13 and 14. It was all about Eddie Van Halen for me back then, so circling back at this moment felt really natural. Those riffs and lead parts at least are super fun! I’m just glad Scott [Ian] took the palm-mute breaks. Jesus!”
READ MORE: All 75 David Lee Roth-Era Van Halen Songs Ranked Worst to Best
Wolfgang Van Halen’s Recent Van Halen Covers
Wolfgang Van Halen has performed a handful of Van Halen classics live in recent years, covering “Panama,” “On Fire” and “Hot for Teacher” at the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts alongside Dave Grohl, Justin Hawkins and Josh Freese. He joined Foo Fighters again at last month’s Welcome to Rockville to perform “Eruption” and “Hot for Teacher.”
The younger Van Halen told Classic Rock that in lieu of a Van Halen tribute or reunion tour, the Hawkins tributes offered him “a lot of closure because my part of the show was a tribute to my father.” They also inspired him to shred harder on Mammoth II. “I feel like I just had to up it a little bit more, ’cause now people would expect that from me,” he told Rolling Stone in 2023. “I’m still a songwriter first, but I definitely threw some fun songs in there this time.”
Van Halen Albums Ranked
A ranking of every Van Halen album.
Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff
