Wolfgang Van Halen Honors Dad Eddie Van Halen With New Song ‘Distance’ on ‘Today’

Wolfgang Van Halen honored his father, late guitar icon Eddie Van Halen, with a performance of his debut single “Distance” during a Friday morning Today show appearance. “Distance,” which serves as the debut single for his solo project, Mammoth WVH, is an emotional tribute to Van Halen’s father, who died Oct. 6 after a long battle with cancer. It includes lyrics such as “No matter what the distance is, I will be with you.”

Opening up about the song with the Today co-hosts, Van Halen said those lyrics hold significance not just for him, but for anyone who has lost a loved one. He said that lyric is “almost like a mantra for you when you lose someone, anyone, that plays a large role in your life.” For Van Halen, “that’s kind of my mantra when I think about my dad.” The musician, who said “basically every single thing you hear” on the upcoming album “is a bunch of me’s all playing at the same time,” performed an acoustic version of the song later in the show.

“Distance” is the first solo song from Van Halen, who has played bass with Van Halen since 2007. The song was released just a month after his father’s death at the age of 65 alongside a music video filled featuring old home movies of the 29-year-old with his father. In a statement at the time, Van Halen opened up about the origins of the song, revealing it wasn’t initially meant to be his debut single, admitting he “thought my father would be here to celebrate its release. This is for him.” He was inspired to write the song “as my pop continued to struggle with various health issues,” which forced him to imagine “what my life would be like without him and how terribly I’d miss him.”

“It was tough, you know, a lot of crying,” he said of the song during a November appearance on the Today show. “He was still my dad — and he was incredibly loving — and he was my best friend in many ways…I’m gonna keep going. Because I know that’s what he wanted, just to keep going.”

Just days before performing an acoustic version of the song, Van Halen performed “Distance” with his Mammoth WVH band on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Jan. 11. The performance came just after he announced he Mammoth WVH self-titled debut album, which features “Distance” as a bonus track. The album is set to drop on June 11. According to Rolling Stone, the album opens with a song titled “Mr. Ed,” which is another nod to his father. Proceeds from “Distance,” according to the outlet, support Eddie’s favorite charity, Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation.