Wolfgang Van Halen married his longterm partner Andraia Allsop on Sunday (October 15) and has revealed that he chose to walk down the aisle to a track penned for him by his father, Eddie Van Halen.
“[I’ve chosen] the song that my father had written for me, it's an instrumental piece called 316,” Van Halen told People ahead of the ceremony. “It'll be a nice way to include my dad.”
316 is a rare fingerstyle acoustic guitar song that originally featured on Van Halen’s 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, with its title being a reference to Wolfie’s birthday (March 16). The album was recently remastered and reissued.
Alongside the track, the couple paid tribute to EVH and other friends and family they’d lost by displaying key photos and mementos. Movingly, they also saved a chair at the ceremony for the departed guitar hero.
That said, despite Wolfie’s own formidable chops, the couple told People that he had zero intention of picking up the guitar himself – and that they’d opted for a DJ instead.
“People's first impression is like, ‘Oh, are you going to play something?’” says Van Halen. “And it's like, no, that's the last thing I want to do. I'm going on tour in 11 days. I don't want to… [The] last thing I want to think about is playing anything!’”
It seems Andraia very much has Wolfie’s back on the music front, too – and we particularly enjoy the part of the interview where they explain Meshuggah to People magazine.
“The one thing that I want,” says Allsop. “I want Wolfie to have his moment of one of his favorite bands, Meshuggah."
“They're very progressive metal,” adds Van Halen. “I think to anybody, to the non-informed crowd though, it would probably just sound like death metal. Anyone over 40 will be terrified. But you know what? It's my wedding and I'll do whatever I want.”
Allsop says she will take on her partner's surname going forward. Fortunately, despite jokes he would change it to Wolfgang Led Zeppelin earlier this year, Wolfie has opted to keep the family name, too.
Congratulations to the happy couple – and also, Meshuggah – from all on Guitar World.
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