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Wolfgang Van Halen is back to work on album No. 2 after receiving the news that his debut single "Distance" has received a Grammy nomination in the 'Best Rock Song' category.
The song, which rocketed to No. 1 last fall, is Wolfie's tribute to his late-father Eddie Van Halen.
Wolfie's Mammoth WVH debut album arrived this past June, some five years after he began piecing together ideas for his solo career. While he amassed many more songs than the 14 on the final version of the album, Wolfie admitted in a recent interview with Spin that he hasn't felt motivated to work on new music for well over a year.
"I found myself in a creative rut ever since the pandemic and Pop," Wolfie explained. "Like early on in the pandemic, like March, April, I was like, 'Ooh, I'm gonna write so much.' And I think I wrote about five ideas that I was happy with. And then just stopped. And then just depression took over, and then it became the worst year of my life."
While the multi-instrumentalist was "hurt" by the Grammy's in memoriam tribute to his father at the last awards show, he says he plans to attend the ceremony this year.
Furthermore, the recognition for his Mammoth WVH work helped improve his headspace and got his music flowing again.
"Honestly, in a really funny way, [inspiration] sort of came back after the Grammy nomination," he said. "When I got nominated, I was just like, 'That's a huge thing of respect that it's a rock song and it's for my songwriting.' So it gave me a little kick in my step. I've actually been writing a bit more and have come up with a couple of ideas."
The ball should get rolling on Mammoth Two sometime in the new year, he added.