Wolfgang Van Halen Joined Mr. Bungle For “Loss Of Control” Performance

On Saturday, Wolfgang Van Halen delved back into his father’s musical legacy, joining forces with Mr. Bungle at the Graspop Metal Meeting to perform Van Halen’s “Loss of Control.”

Taking on lead guitar duties for the high-energy track from Women and Children First, the Mammoth WVH frontman shredded alongside Mike Patton, who channeled David Lee Roth’s distinctive yelps and barks.

“Had a special guest join us for ‘Loss Of Control’ today @graspopmetalmeeting. Thanks @wolfvanhalen!” Mr. Bungle shared on Instagram, with Van Halen replying in the comments, “Thanks for having me, dudes!!!!”

Mr. Bungle has occasionally covered “Loss of Control” over the years, even including it in their 2021 live album and video The Night They Came Home. Reflecting on the song, guitarist Trey Spruance explained:

“Mr. Bungle tried to play this song in the ’90s and we scrapped it because we sucked at it. 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 are super fun! I’m just glad Scott [Ian] took the palm-mute breaks. Jesus!”

Wolfgang Van Halen Revisits Van Halen Classics

In recent years, Wolfgang Van Halen has embraced his father’s legacy through several notable performances. At the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts, he teamed up with Dave Grohl, Justin Hawkins, and Josh Freese to cover Van Halen classics like “Panama,” “On Fire,” and “Hot for Teacher.” He also joined Foo Fighters at Welcome to Rockville last month to perform “Eruption” and “Hot for Teacher.”

In an interview, the younger Van Halen shared that the Hawkins tribute concerts provided him with “a lot of closure because my part of the show was a tribute to my father.” These experiences have also influenced his work on Mammoth II. He told Rolling Stone in 2023:

“I feel like I just had to up it a little bit more, ’cause now people would expect that from me.
“I’m still a songwriter first, but I definitely threw some fun songs in there this time.”