SnapDragon NY
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Pour Some Sugar On Me- Def Leppard
And now Wolfie (Wolfgang Van Halen, not our Wolfie) has co-opted the Mammoth name to form his mediocre band capitalizing on daddy Eddie's name.19 year old Dave Roth (1973) lead singer of a band formed by two immigrant Dutch brothers called:
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Mammoth.
The Van Halen brothers formed their first band, the Broken Combs, in 1964. As they gained popularity playing backyard parties and local high school functions, they changed their name first to the Trojan Rubber Co, then in 1972 to Genesis, later still to Mammoth when they discovered Genesis was already in use by a major-label British band. At this time the band included Eddie on both vocals and lead guitar and friend Mark Stone on bass. They rented a sound-system from Indiana-born Pasadena transplant David Lee Roth for $10 per night. The loquacious, worldly, energetic son of a local ophthalmologist, Roth fronted a local R&B influenced rock band the Red Ball Jets. Roth's uncle Manny owned NYC's Bleecker street Cafe Wha? until 1968. Partly to save money, they now invited Roth to join as their lead vocalist despite previous unconvincing audition(s). Ultimately Roth's charismatic "Jim Dandy" approach would be both an artistic foil to Eddie's circumspect, guitar prodigy talents as well as allowing Eddie to focus his energies on song composition.
In 1973, Mammoth officially changed its name to Van Halen. According to Roth, this was his brainchild. He felt it was a name that held long-term identity, artistic and marketing advantages, like Santana. They continued to play Pasadena, San Bernardino, and Venice at clubs, festivals, backyard parties and city parks like Hamilton, drawing up to 2000 people. Traffic jams and noise complaints to the local police often ensued, as far away as San Pedro. Van Halen subsequently played clubs in Los Angeles and West Hollywood to growing audiences, increasing their popularity entirely through self-promotion, passing out flyers at local high schools. This tenacious self-promotion soon built them an auspicious, loyal, area following.
Just to clarify, Wolfgang isn't bad, I just don't think he's great. Mammoth WVH, in my opinion, would be an indie band recording their own stuff and they would have fans, but they would not be a touring band with a major record label contract if he weren't Eddie's son. Just my opinion. I don't hate them, I just don't think they are good enough to be using any part of the Van Halen name, and think they should have avoided both Mammoth and WVH for the band name. By using his initials and his father's former band name I feel he is trading on his name rather than on his own skills or talent.And now Wolfie (Wolfgang Van Halen, not our Wolfie) has co-opted the Mammoth name to form his mediocre band capitalizing on daddy Eddie's name.
I agree with your opinion on Wolfgang Van Halen. Is he earth shattering and ground breaking or cutting edge with his guitar skills like his dad, I think not. I just listened to one of his solos a few days ago, meh at best. Would I buy his music, um no and probably the only reason I listened to his band video was because of his last name.Just to clarify, Wolfgang isn't bad, I just don't think he's great. Mammoth WVH, in my opinion, would be an indie band recording their own stuff and they would have fans, but they would not be a touring band with a major record label contract if he weren't Eddie's son. Just my opinion. I don't hate them, I just don't think they are good enough to be using any part of the Van Halen name, and think they should have avoided both Mammoth and WVH for the band name. By using his initials and his father's former band name I feel he is trading on his name rather than on his own skills or talent.