Wolfgang Van Halen Calls Rock God Dave Grohl His Hero, Says He’s “Who I Want to Be When I Grow Up”

For Wolfgang Van Halen, the Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl remains a personal hero. Van Halen cites Grohl as an inspiration when it comes to his own career.

Speaking with Amoeba Music, Van Halen said he’s recently been listening to the band’s album But Here We Are. Van Halen has connected withe Grohl over a shared type of grief. Grohl lost his bandmate and drummer Taylor Hawkins. Meanwhile, Van Halen has been dealing with the grief of losing his dad Eddie Van Halen.

“This is a very emotional album,” Van Halen said. “I love the Foo Fighters and if anyone is familiar with my music, Dave Grohl is who I want to be when I grow up… and I’m 33. I guess I’m not grown up yet. Everything I did on my first album on Mammoth WVH, I played everything on it, just like he did on the first Foo Fighters album and so he’s always been an endless inspiration. Then losing Taylor, which has been the worst, this whole album has been incredibly emotional.”

Both Grohl and Van Halen have been swapping songs as a way of processing their grief.

“He sent me a video in his car and on his radio my song ‘Distance’ was playing,” Van Halen continued. “He told me it was a beautiful song about losing someone, and he actually sent me his song ‘The Teacher’ and said that music is such a healing way to go through trauma. Just like my music was a way for me to navigate a lot of trauma, you can hear that in this album. I really love it.”

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Wolfgang Van Halen Calls Dave Grohl a Rock God

Speaking with BBC’s The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker, Van Halen has previously called Grohl a rock god. He feels inspired by the way Grohl has been able to build the Foo Fighters as a band.

He said, “I’ve chosen Dave Grohl because he just inspires me infinitely – in songwriting and capability as a musician. I really admire how he came from Nirvana, and then after that sadly ended, how he was able to build his own thing with Foo Fighters.”

Van Halen sees a common theme in himself as well, trying to carve his own path amid his father’s legacy.

“It’s how I mirror a lot of my experience, so where I’ve come from and what I’ve tried to do myself. So he’s just everything I aspire to be,” he said. “I first became aware of him, gosh, when I was… It was when [Foo Fighters’ fifth album] In Your Honor [came out] and [I heard] Best Of You. I remember that song would always get stuck in my head.”

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[Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]