In a new interview with the Springfield, Missouri radio station Q102, former VAN HALEN bassist and current MAMMOTH frontman Wolfgang Van Halen was once again asked for his opinion on the use of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in music, particularly when it comes to the creative process. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I think generative A.I. is really stupid. I just think it’s dumb. I think it’s a waste of time. I think A.I. should be putting mufflers on cars, not doing art for us. But other people feel differently. That’s how I feel. I think it’s dumb. I think it’s just — I don’t know. It’s not my thing.”
After the interviewer noted that “a lot of [record] labels are diving into” the use of A.I., Wolfgang said: “Yeah, it’s lame. Well, you know why? ‘Cause it allows you to pay less people. All the people at the top see the line go up because they’re paying less people to do more work with less money. It’s kind of the way — every industry is, unfortunately, like [that] at the end of the day, which sucks. It’s never really about what’s being made. It’s how quickly you can make it and shovel it out to people.”
Wolfgang previously discussed the use of A.I. in music in an August 2023 interview with Primordial Radio. He said at the time: “I think when aiding in creation, sort of like that ‘intelligent’ drummer thing [from Logic], [it] can be helpful. But overall, when it comes to creative merits and creative processes, I really just don’t think A.I. can compete. The only way it competes is by plagiarizing a combination of everything else that we’ve already done. So without us, it couldn’t be. So when it comes to creating original sort of things, no chance.”
Two months earlier, Wolfgang told Finland’s Chaoszine that he could get behind what Paul McCartney did that year by employing artificial intelligence to “extricate” John Lennon‘s voice from an old demo so Paul could complete what McCartney called “the final BEATLES record”.
“I think that was a big misconception in this day and age with social media one-liners where you can’t really tell the whole story,” Wolfgang said about the initial reports about what Paul was attempting to do. “I think that whole thing that came out with Paul McCartney using A.I. on this new BEATLES thing, everybody was trying to make it seem like he was using generative A.I., making a fake John Lennon sing, which wasn’t what they were doing. They were using a thing to separate his vocals from an old demo. But, of course, nobody reads the article; they just read the tweet and they get pissed off without even informing themselves. Big surprise. But I think in applications like that, it can be helpful. But it can’t replace our brains and our creativity. They wouldn’t exist without us. So the only thing they can do is just take what we’ve done and shuffle it up.”
MAMMOTH (formerly MAMMOTH WVH) will release its third album, “The End”, on October 24 via BMG. The 10-track effort clocks in at 39 minutes and showcases the evolution of Wolfgang and his songwriting since he launched his solo career in 2020. Recorded at the legendary 5150 studio, the album was produced by friend and collaborator Michael “Elvis” Baskette.
MAMMOTH‘s touring lineup features Wolfgang on guitar and lead vocals, Frank Sidoris (SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS) on guitar, Jon Jourdan on guitar and vocals, Garrett Whitlock (TREMONTI) on drums, and Ronnie Ficarro on bass.