As he begins another year of touring with his band, Mammoth WVH, Wolfgang Van Halen says “he didn’t expect to be where we are this soon in our career. I didn’t see it coming. I feel very lucky to be where we are.”

That seems … odd?

The 32-year-old son of the late Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli is as sincere as his viewpoint is surprising.

He did, after all, start his performing career playing to sold-out arenas as Van Halen’s bassist from 2007 to 2020, and alongside that was part of Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti’s solo band. He was a known commodity by the time Mammoth WVH released its debut album in 2021, hitting No. 1 on three Billboard charts and launching a pair of No. 1 Mainstream Rock hits in “Distance” and “Don’t Back Down.”

Last year’s “Mammoth II,” meanwhile, also debuted atop the Hard Rock Albums charts, and the band found itself playing to stadiums opening for Metallica. And Van Halen himself was part of the award-nominated “I’m Not Ken” the “Barbie: The Movie” soundtrack.

Wolfgang Van Halen performs at Ford Field in November 2023. (Photo courtesy of Mike Ferdinande)

It’s a lot of good stuff, and it seems that with his experience and his lineage, Van Halen would not be surprised.

“Well, it’s a bit different when it’s your thing from its inception,” Van Halen explains via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles, where he also helps to run his father’s EVH Gear company. “It’s this baby you’ve cradled yourself from the very beginning. It’s such a close thing to my heart because I’ve poured everything into it. So to be able to see people appreciate that, it feels nice … and better than I expected it to be at this point.”

While he does have a touring band, Mammoth WVH is 100% Van Halen in the studio, playing all the instruments and doing all the singing with only producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette and recording engineers alongside. It’s a testament to Van Halen’s DNA and drive, of course. He started out playing drums, then moved on to other instruments, and at this point, he’s comfortable as a one-man band, at least when recording.

“From its inception, it’s been my artistic expression or whatever,” says Van Halen, who married longtime girlfriend Andraia Allsop in October. “And at the end of the day, it’s just plain fun. I have a good time playing everything. Could I see bringing the live guys in at some point? Sure, but I just have such a good time doing it (alone). I’m not ready to give that up.”

And, he adds, being the master of his own musical domain means he can follow his muse in any direction.

“I view it in a way as expanding the scope of Mammoth rather than creating something else,” Van Halen explains. “Mammoth II, I think, skewed in a different direction where there were some heavier things and stuff that wouldn’t have fit in the first album. There are certainly ideas that feel more left field that I’ve come up with lately that are like, ‘Y’know, this would be another cool notch in the belt, another direction Mammoth can go to.’

“So I’m just focused on Mammoth being, I guess, a one-stop shop for any type of vibe I want.”

The “Barbie” involvement, of course, was an unforeseen fork on the creative path. Van Halen was invited on the Ryan Gosling-sung “I’m Not Ken” by Mark Ronson after meeting at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in September 2022 — where Van Halen played a selection of Van Halen band songs. He played guitar on the track, which was a Top 5 hit on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and Alternative charts and was nominated for Golden Globe and Academy Awards.

“I’m just honestly happy to be part of it, to have the opportunity to play a super small part in it,” Van Halen says. “I spent two days in the studio and we just kind of played around with ideas, and it was a really good time. I knew (the movie) was good just from being involved in it and seeing what I was able to see, but to see how much it, specifically the song I played on, blow up as much as it did was pretty crazy.”

The only dark cloud in all this silver lining is haters, who have let their opinions be known since Van Halen controversially replaced original bassist Michael Anthony 17 years ago in Van Halen. Some — who obviously don’t listen to the music — slam Van Halen for coasting on his father’s enormous coattails and fill social media with potshots. And Van Halen is more aggressive than most at slapping back at the most egregious comments.

More recently he faced the ire of former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, who in a lengthy video diatribe referred to Van Halen as “this f***in’ kid” and a “schlemiel kid” and accused him of kicking some of Roth’s guests out of the backstage area during shows. “I’m honored he thinks about me as much as he does, I guess,” Van Halen says with a smirk, adding, “I would sure love to not have to be part of some sort of Van Halen drama at all, so I think I’m just gonna continue to sit in my no-comment zone … ’cause at the end of the day, it’s just not worth it.”

However, he continues: “It’s one thing when there some dude on Twitter being a (jerk), saying a lie about me. But when there’s other people trying to lie about me and make me look bad, it’s just like you can believe whatever you want, I guess. The people who hate me are gonna continue to hate me and I’m just gonna be over here doing my thing.”

As far as Van Halen is concerned, he’s more than proved that his “thing” is nothing less than valid.

“It’s tough and a bit stressful to have so many expectations on you and people having so many opinions on what I should be doing or whatever,” he says. “But I’m confident that just my existence is an honoring of my dad’s legacy, and the fact I am chasing my own musician dreams and doing my own thing in music. … He was very proud and I think he’d be proud to see where everything is now.”

Mammoth WVH and Nita Strauss perform Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-961-8961 or saintandrewsdetroit.com.

While he does have a touring band, Mammoth WVH is 100% Wolfgang Van Halen in the studio, playing all the instruments and doing all the singing with only producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette and recording engineers alongside. (Photo courtesy of Bryan Beasley)

Producers of streaming and cable series seem to be throwing an awful amount of money at certain series these days. Sometimes it’s all for naught. Case in point, Amazon Prime’s “Citadel” series, an action-packed six-parter whose budget reportedly ballooned to nearly $250 million.

The results might have been better if the budget had made room for a more refined screenplay.

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We don’t know how much producers spent on FX’s/Hulu’s new take on “Shōgun,” but we can see via our own eyes that it probably cost a bunch. And it was money well spent, given the source material.

Bookworms of a certain age know well that you didn’t merely read James Clavell’s epic 1975 novel, a 1,152-page classic, as much as you devoured it. Didn’t matter if you were going to work or school or on a hot date — all plans got shoved aside so you could power through this mesmerizing, multi-pronged narrative about a power struggle in 1660s Japan. The tale, based on a true story, brings two unlikely figures together — a wise but imperiled feudal lord and a brash, crass British pilot whose ship got washed ashore. They didn’t exactly strike up a let’s-do-brunch friendship, but learned to respect and learn from each other, and stare down enemies in the process.

Clavell was a masterful storyteller and this, his third novel, sold millions upon millions and then got turned into one of TV’s first “event” miniseries, airing on ABC in 1980. It starred “Seven Samurai’s” Toshiro Mifune and Richard Chamberlain, and the ratings shot through the Nielsen roof. That nine-hour series, along with the book itself and the ensuing computer games and even Broadway musical spurred, a deep dive into Japan’s fascinating and rich history, culture and lore.

Now, the husband-wife duo of Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo have created their own 10-episode interpretation of the durable Clavell classic (his daughter Michaela Clavell serves as an executive producer), and they’ve crafted something better, more daring and ferociously gripping than the popular 1980 version. They also showcase its Japanese cast first and foremost, rather than telling the story predominantly from a White man’s perspective. Most of the dialogue is spoken in Japanese with subtitles.

This version balances such jaw-dropping spectacles as an earthquake and a bloody cannonball attack with its story lines full of cultural clashes and multi-pronged political strategizing.

It is just as gripping as Clavell’s words, and is guaranteed to be one of the best limited series you’ll see this year.

The casting choices be much better, each actor is in perfect sync with the complicated people they are portraying. Hiroyuki Sanada gives a seamless understated performance as sage-like Yoshii Toranaga, the lord presiding over the Kanto Region and a ruler who is dangerously at odds with major players at Osaka Castle, including the cunning Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira). Sanada is ingenious here, able to convey with just one glimmer in his eye a sentiment that would take most actors a protracted monologue to deliver. He’s magnificent.

When Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) — dubbed the Barbarian and later the Anjin (or pilot) — arrives after a distressed vessel deposits him on this new land, the ever-aware Toranaga seizes on the opportunity to reap the benefits of this hot head’s knowledge base. The impatient Blackthorne can’t understand or appreciate Japanese culture and rituals, a stance that softens once Toranaga assigns Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) — who’s dealing with disgrace of her own along with a brute of a husband — as a translator.

Jarvis and Sawai wisely temper how their evolving connection develops, never revealing what we know is going on underneath. Jarvis previously co-starred in 2016’s “Lady Macbeth” and 2022’s “Persuasion” and continues to excel at being a fearless actor. He never soft pedals who Blackthorne is — an uncouth, short-fused blowhard — and still manages to make him likable. It’s a historically appropriate approach given how Blackthorne represents European ideals and actions, those at odds with Eastern ways of being. His Blackthorne is also resentful of what he sees as Jesuits interference and power plays. Sawai’s performance only deepens and intensifies as her backstory gets revealed. She’s stunning in the part, as are so many others in this vast Japanese cast.

“Shōgun” is a stirring and meaty historical series that matches its spectacle and scale with its emotion and intelligence as it ponders deep philosophical discussions about life, sacrifice, valor and death. It’s epic, in the very best way.

Details: 4 stars out of 4; episodes are 7 p.m. (PST) Tuesdays on FX with each episode available to stream on Hulu. Final episode drops April 23.

“Monolith”: Wily is the best word to describe Matt Vesely’s genre nonconformist, a brainy piece of work that fools you once then fools you again and again. Lily Sullivan is the only actor on-screen throughout its entirety, and she is riveting — and the major reason that the film actually works. She portrays a scandal-plagued journalist holed up at her parent’s posh, remote home in Australia. It’s there where she pursues a new podcast searching for answers or truths out of mysteries or unsolved phenomena. But can truth be subjective and shaped by the person investigating it? Those questions pop up as Sulllivan’s nameless looks into an anonymous email about a black brick. Is it tied to a conspiracy? Or something else? And will the “truth” – whatever that should be – win out? Lucy Campbell’s risky screenplay isn’t afraid to look at bigger pictures in an industrious indie that defies its genre conventions every step of the way. Sound designer Leigh Kenyon deserves special attention along with director of photography Michael Tessari.

Details: 3 stars, available to rent now.

Find of the week

“Trust:” A matriarch’s suicide reunites three neurotic siblings for an awkward funeral and then the reading of a shocker of a will. The brief amount of time that nursing student Kate (co-writer Jennifer Levinson) spends with recovering alcoholic Josh (Heston Horwin) and hypochondriac diva Trini (Kate Spare) — the trust’s executor — is for the best since these meet-ups only collapse into bitter screaming matches. Director/co-writer Almog Avidan Antonir’s debut feature, receiving a world premiere, does cover familiar terrain but “Trust” sports a fearless attitude and is never dismissive about the issues at hand or the festering problems this family and its disowned father (Linden Ashby) have failed to work through. The cast is first-rate in this gutsy indie with a strong message about how it sometimes is best to uproot from a dysfunctional family tree in order to maintain your own sanity.

Details: 3 stars; available to rent or stream on Apple TV,  Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube Movies and more.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

MIDDLETON, Wis. — A pair of three-goal flurries was enough to give defending champion New Richmond a shot at a second straight state hockey title.

The top-seeded Tigers gained control with three goals in just over a minute in the second period en route to an 8-4 victory over Tomahawk in the Division 2 semifinals of the Wisconsin boys state tournament Thursday morning.

New Richmond (17-9-2), ranked No.1 in Division 2 in the state coaches poll, advances to Saturday morning’s title game against the winner of second-seeded Fond du Lac Springs (18-9) and No. 3 seed River Falls (14-13) at the Capitol Ice Arena,

After a wild 3-3 opening stanza, Steven Chapman slipped a defender and closed from the right side, punching it past Trevor Seliskar to put the Tigers up 4-3 at 4:05 of the second period.

Zaylin Sweet scored just 17 seconds later to make it 5-3. Brody Jackson scored from just outside the crease to push the lead to 6-3 at 5:16.

“I think that really kind of got us situated and settled in,” New Richmond coach John Larson said of three-goal spurt. “I would attribute a lot of the first period to nerves. Just everything, the first game of the tournament.”

Caleb Dickens brought the Hatchets to within 6-4 with an unassisted, short-handed goal at 15:32 of the second period.

Catcher Langeness regained the three-goal margin for New Richmond with a goal 1:07 into the third period and then tallied the final score at 12:50.

“I thought we played with them, we just ran out of a little bit of depth at the end,” Tomahawk coach Dewey Reilly said. “But when you look at those first couple of periods, you couldn’t ask for a more exciting state game.”

Junior Ryan McGillis had 13 saves for New Richmond, while Seliskar had 26 stops for Tomahawk, making its first state appearance since 1991. New Richmond outshot the fourth-seeded Hatchets 34-17, including 11-3 in the decisive second period.

Tomahawk (18-9) jumped in front 1-0 just 2½ minutes in when Jonah Dickens punched it past McGillis from the left elbow.

“I think it helped our team, actually,” Langeness said. “We’re coming in pretty cocky with a one seed going against a four. So when we got shot in the face, it almost opened our eyes and made us play to our level of hockey that we should be.”

The Tigers answered with three consecutive goals for a 3-1 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the opening period.

The Tigers trailed for just over a minute before Bjorn Bahneman tied it from just outside the right post.

“Just getting that goal, I think, was big for us to kind of settle, just responding,” Larson said. “We took one early, a turnover, but I thought it was a good response and then it kind of snowballed.”

Jackson gathered in a pass from Gage Fox and punched it in from the left side to put New Richmond up 2-1 at 3:43. Jameson Unger’s power-play goal pushed the lead to 3-1.

Tomahawk regained momentum a minute later when Logan Seymour backhanded it in from the right side. Dickens pushed it up the right side and tied the score with an unassisted goal from the right circle at 13:13.

“Give Tomahawk a lot of credit,” Larson said. “They battled back and certainly made it interesting. But I was proud overall, especially in the second period and into the third where we simplified our game a lot.”

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