In a new interview with UCR, author Andrew Bennett looked back on spending 212 days in the Van Halen camp.
On Wolfgang joining the band, he said:
“I was more nervous about my summer jobs mowing lawns than this kid was about joining Van Halen.
“Wolfgang really enjoyed being there, he was having a great time. You would think a teenager would be like, ‘I can’t believe I’m about to join Van Halen and play stadiums, I’m nervous about the big crowds.’ But Wolfgang was just like, ‘Nah, man, let’s do this.'”
He added:
“Eddie reached out and said, ‘I’ve kicked Michael Anthony out of the band, I’ve replaced him with my son, I want you to come up here and film this.’
“What was supposed to be one day turned into three, turned into a month, turned into months. I was there from day one, I was there for Wolfgang’s first rehearsal, I filmed it.
“My understanding was that he had rehearsed the catalog on his own for a month or two, and then he showed up for rehearsal and just nailed it.”
“If you could see the footage, the look on Ed’s face is priceless. He was excited. Now here he is with his brother and his son, not just like f*cking around or noodling around, instead this kid is some kind of a savant.
“It was so cool to see Eddie so happy and so into it. Usually, he just stands still, he doesn’t move around in rehearsal. But there were days where he was so excited with Wolf right there, you would see him doing these little stage moves. It was fun to see him happy like that.”
On reunion with David Lee Roth, he said:
“Wolfgang just brought it up. Rehearsal ended one day and he said, ‘Hey dad, you know what we should do? We should call Roth, see if he wants to get back together and go on tour.’ And Eddie says, ‘Sure, f*cking call him.’
“So he sat there and wrote out this script with pen and paper. He was really nervous, and then he picked up the phone and called Roth, got his voicemail.
“He says, ‘Hi Dave, my name is Wolfgang Van Halen, I’m the new bass player in Van Halen. We’ve been jamming lately and we’re wondering if you might want to come jam and maybe go on tour. Give me a call…”