Just days after saying he was “unaffected” by Eddie Van Halen’s passing, Steven Wilson has apologised to his son Wolfgang for the comments.

In a recent interview with FaceCulture, the former Porcupine Tree man was undiminished by the sad passing of Eddie Van Halen. “Honestly, it didn’t, because I was never a fan,” he admitted. “I know he’s an extraordinary musician, and it’s always sad when an extraordinary artist dies, [but] I was never a fan of the so-called shredder mentality. And I think in many ways, he was the father of that whole kind of movement.

While Wilson was clearly only concerned with Van Halen’s guitar style, it was an ill-timed moment to be dismissive, given Eddie’s passing in October at the age of 65 from cancer.

After Eddie’s son Wolfgang tweeted about his sadness about the comments, Wilson took to Twitter to clarify his position, as per Blabbermouth.

“Dear @WolfVanHalen, apologies, no disrespect was meant to your father, an extraordinary musician,” he responded.

“I personally never owned any @VanHalen records and didn’t ever get into the style of playing, but he was clearly an incredible innovator,” he continued. “So when asked about his passing I couldn’t honestly say I was affected deeply by it, at least not in the way that my heroes [David] Bowie or Prince’s passing had affected me.

This statement was given in honest humility. Forgive me for any offence unintentionally given, and I offer my deepest condolences.”

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Thankfully Wolfgang was forthcoming in accepting Wilson’s apology: “Incredibly kind of you to say, @StevenWilsonHQ. I meant no ill will in my previous tweets. As I said, the internet was exacerbating what you had said, as the internet tends to do. Still very kind of you. Be well, friend”.

A nice end to an unnecessary moment of controversy.