WVH's Mammoth makes cool videos - new song

[tommy p]

I really like Mammoth's videos but so far the music hasn't grabbed me.   I want to support the guy/band but the first album sounded like generic 90's angst grunge, and the song is pretty much more of the same.  Killer production; the guitars are HUGE and everything sounds great but I think of the Foo Fighters when I hear most of his stuff.  YMMV.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mammoth-wvh-another-celebration-at-the-end-of-the-world/

[princeofdarkness56]

I liked it. 

[scottcald]

Eh, kid seems nice enough and all, but really, would we look at it if he weren’t EVH’s kid?

I think there was a thought that people could still vicariously see EVH through him.  

I listened to the songs, they didn’t grab me.  But, hey, at least he gets to do it. 

[mathman]

I really like some of the songs on his first album. This one had moments but it didn't grab me.

[RobB]

Imagine the treasure trove of riffs, demos and songs in the EVH tape archive? All Wolf’s gotta do is pick, choose and edit. 

[cynic]

I'll buy that shit all day long.

[Dave Scepter]

Absolutely loved everything about it... awesome song, his singing, the rhythm, solo, video was funny... couldn't find a single flaw🤘

[veatch]

Video was funny and worth watching. I think out of everything, I like his voice the best. 

[cmatthes]

That’s totally a Foo Fighters track.

[bubs_42]

10 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

That’s totally a Foo Fighters track.

I was listing and thought to myself “Sounds like FooFighter with Daughtry Singing”. 

[Disturber]

15 hours ago, tommy p said:

 everything sounds great but I think of the Foo Fighters when I hear most of his stuff.   

Even the video makes me think of the Foo Fighters. Seems to me like "they" (label, director or other) is trying to make Wolf come through as a funny cool guy, like Dave, with humour and a nice guy approach. Nothing wrong with that... But to me this could be a Foo Fighters video.

I like the song though. Much groovier and dynamic than what I remember that the first album sounded like. I still think this drummer overplays and that he is kinda stiff in his playing. And don't mention the drum sound.... But the song is cool. I will give the album a listen when it's out, for sure.

[Biz Prof]

Plenty to like about that effort. I do agree that it's very Foo-like, but that's not inherently bad at all.  Wolf is a solid player and singer, and it's nice to see he has a healthy sense of humor.

I do get weary trying to listen to the hyper compressed, dynamically overwhelming mix on rock songs from the early/mid '90s and beyond. The genre features some excellent composition, arranging, and playing.  There simply seems to be no audio "white space" or dynamic variation in most of these records, and the resulting loudness just wears my ears out.  Now...get off my lawn!

 

[alantig]

6 hours ago, Disturber said:

Even the video makes me think of the Foo Fighters. Seems to me like "they" (label, director or other) is trying to make Wolf come through as a funny cool guy, like Dave, with humour and a nice guy approach. Nothing wrong with that... But to me this could be a Foo Fighters video.

I like the song though. Much groovier and dynamic than what I remember that the first album sounded like. I still think this drummer overplays and that he is kinda stiff in his playing. And don't mention the drum sound.... But the song is cool. I will give the album a listen when it's out, for sure.

It's the same drummer as last time.  It's all Wolf - he plays everything on the album.

[Disturber]

12 minutes ago, alantig said:

It's the same drummer as last time.  It's all Wolf - he plays everything on the album.

Oh. Never liked the drums on the last album. Gave me ear fatigue. Not a great idea to play everything yourself. Unless you are Prince.

[DaveL]

F that kid...  I'm burnt out on all the nepotism in the entertainment industry.         

[cynic]

2 hours ago, DaveL said:

F that kid...  I'm burnt out on all the nepotism in the entertainment industry.         

 

Right?!?!

 

[DaveL]

8 minutes ago, cynic said:

 

Right?!?!

 

I must have missed the part where Jan got them the gigs at the Starwood. 

[BubbaVO]

I was entertained.  Good stuff. 

[LucSulla]

It's pretty rare that FM-style rock grabs my ear and has been for probably 20 years now. I don't particularly like the Foo Fighters either. I don't hate them; "Everlong" is one of my favorite songs, but generally, I know what every one of their songs is about to do. This is mostly the same. I don't think that's objectively bad, I've just heard an awful lot of good, hooky hard rock. There was so many great examples of great, hooky hard rock in so many different contexts from the late-60s until the early 2000s that I don't know what is left. 

Be that as it may, I think this song does a good job at what it's trying to be. Kinda seems unfair to knock something for not being particularly revolutionary that wasn't trying to be in the first place, and I imagine lots of people still enjoy a new popish hard rock song. The video is definitely fun. 

As far as Wolf being a nepo-baby, I guess you could argue none of us would know who the hell he is without is dad and have a strong case. That being said, he is legitimately a good singer and talented multi-instrumentalist. He was already working as a touring drummer prior to the first album being released, and I don't think Clint Lowry wanted because all he had to offer was a famous dad. He also writes as good a song in this genre as anyone else. There are children of the famous like Jaden Smith who don't seem to have any talent beyond being born into a network, but Wolf is actually a top-shelf musician. 

I think with his musical talent, he would have ended up a part of something somewhere as a musician, though probably not opening for GnR right off the bat. The only question to me really, were I to care to ponder it particularly deeply, is whether or not he would have ended up good at so many things without the exposure he had his whole life. Whatever the answer to that, he did have it, and all the nepotism in the world can't make you a good drummer, guitarist, and singer. It might get you an album on a major even if you aren't any of those things, but you can't network your way into being an excellent musician. 

He's doing his own thing, and I'm not going to begrudge him having a bit of contact fame. At least he's putting out a real product. Hell, if my dad had been a guitar great, and I myself had grown up to be a musician, I wouldn't run away from that connection either. Plus, if he was truly going all in on milking the name, he could be touring a new version of Van Halen right now with Alex, Michael, and DLR or Sammy on vocals and probably making a fair bit of change to do it, regardless of how much folks like us would hem and haw. He torpedoed the shit out of that pretty much immediately. 

[alantig]

10 hours ago, LucSulla said:

He's doing his own thing, and I'm not going to begrudge him having a bit of contact fame. At least he's putting out a real product. Hell, if my dad had been a guitar great, and I myself had grown up to be a musician, I wouldn't run away from that connection either. Plus, if he was truly going all in on milking the name, he could be touring a new version of Van Halen right now with Alex, Michael, and DLR or Sammy on vocals and probably making a fair bit of change to do it, regardless of how much folks like us would hem and haw. He torpedoed the shit out of that pretty much immediately. 

A famous name may open doors, but you (probably) won't stay inside if you don't have something to offer.  And Wolf is getting a double-dose of douchery online - if he's not being accused of cashing in on his dad's name, he's taking a ton of crap for not playing VH music and 'carrying on the legacy'.

[Dave Scepter]

On 3/23/2023 at 7:17 AM, DaveL said:

F that kid...  I'm burnt out on all the nepotism in the entertainment industry.         

Pfft... leave him alone, he obviously doesn't need the money, he's just a guy that loves music, trying to express himself 

[LucSulla]

2 hours ago, alantig said:

A famous name may open doors, but you (probably) won't stay inside if you don't have something to offer.  And Wolf is getting a double-dose of douchery online - if he's not being accused of cashing in on his dad's name, he's taking a ton of crap for not playing VH music and 'carrying on the legacy'.

That's the great irony to me. A large subset of the folks saying he's nothing more than a name are largely just pissed off that he's the reason they will never see any version of an official "Van Halen" ever again. So when you get right down to it, he's getting pilloried for being a nepo-baby from that crowd specifically because he WON'T exploit the name and has instead just been doing his own thing with Mammoth. 

I don't think that's the impetus here, but wade through the cesspool that is Twitter, and you see a lot of folks saying he's just living off the "Van Halen" name some weeks are also the one's who were pissed they didn't do a version of Van Halen with him or Satriani or whoever else. 

[cynic]

My only curiosity around his nepostatus is his choice of the name Mammoth.  It's an odd nod for someone that is seemingly determined to stand on his own merit.  

I generally respect his approach though, and especially how he handles his detractors.  He's proven more mature than I at every age he's been in the public eye.

[RobB]

So Twitter and other social medias are throwing shit at WVH for putting out music? I have to ask because HFC message board is as, "social", as I get.

Do people suck? People do.

[LucSulla]

33 minutes ago, RobB said:

So Twitter and other social medias are throwing shit at WVH for putting out music? I have to ask because HFC message board is as, "social", as I get.

Do people suck? People do.

He actually handles it very well. He'd got more than a drop of the same sense of humor I've seen Al and Ed display. 

He took a poll last week over what he should change his name to since using his real name was being a phony. I think you can see the results.