Wolfgang Van Halen Explains the Sweet Story Behind His New Series ‘Song Cake’

For more than three decades, Later… with Jools Holland has been a fixture of British music television—admired for its outstanding live performances but often criticized for Holland’s offhand interview style. Now, a new show is stepping up to offer something fresher and more focused.

Breaking Down the Music

The upcoming series Song Cake promises to take musicians and their craft more seriously. Hosted by Jason Perry, frontman of the British alt-rock band A, the show invites artists to break down their songs using a mixing desk. Together, Perry and his guests dissect the layers of each track—isolating instruments, vocals, and effects—to reveal precisely how the music was created.

The first episode features Wolfgang Van Halen, whose project Mammoth WVH released its third album, The End, on Friday. In the debut clip, Van Halen and Perry joyfully play with the faders as the album’s title track runs, cutting instruments in and out of the mix.

“This is cool!” Van Halen says with a grin. “I’ve never really done this with my music before.”

A second segment shows Van Halen demonstrating two distinct finger-tapping techniques on guitar—paying homage to his legendary father, Eddie Van Halen—and explaining how the various sections of The End came together in the studio.

A Human Approach to Music-Making

According to the show’s creators, Song Cake will feature “some of the biggest names in music” as they “push up the faders on the mixing desk while we chat about the sounds, stories, and the magic behind the music.”

Executive producer Matt Willis of Busted and writer-host Philip Wilding, a regular contributor to Classic Rock and Prog magazines, are among those behind the show.

“With AI coming for our art, Song Cake aims to show the human side of creating music,” says Wilding. “Real people, real struggles, the highs and lows, heartbreaks and triumphs.”

Filmed before a live audience of 200 at London’s Olympic Park, the show has also recorded an episode with Coheed and Cambria. And, thankfully, there’s not a trace of boogie-woogie piano in sight.