It looks like Wolfgang Van Halen's side gig might be getting a little less part time. In a new interview, Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti says he'd like to see the young bassist join his band permanently.

The 21-year-old musician joined Tremonti on the road in September after his usual bassist, Brian Marshall, couldn't commit to a run of dates in support of the guitarist's recent solo album 'All I Was.' It was intended as a fill-in gig while his father, legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, recovered from emergency surgery after a life-threatening bout with diverticulitis, but Tremonti tells Metal Express Radio, "We're talking about doing this arrangement for good."

That doesn't mean Van Halen need to start looking for a new bass player. Wolfgang has no intention of leaving dear old dad high and dry. “Van Halen will always be his priority, whenever they are touring," Tremonti explains (quote via Van Halen News Desk). "When he’s not touring, he’ll be with us. He will write and play on the records and, if he is on tour with Van Halen, we will find somebody that he is comfortable with filling in his shoes.”

Eddie Van Halen is expected to be able to resume touring in 2013, and in the meantime he has no problem with his son's new job. In fact, the guitar pioneer and Tremonti have been friends for years, since Creed opened for Van Halen. Wolfgang was "just a wee lad" at the time, Tremonti says with a laugh. “I remember seeing him when he was just a little older than Austin, my son," the guitarist recalls. "Eddie came out to our show in Kansas City, and it means the world that he would trust us as a group to have his son be a part of this. Van Halen is a very tight-knit group. It means a lot that he trusts his son with us.”

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