Wolfgang Van Halen was up for his first Grammy last night (April 3) for Best Rock Song, and while he didn’t win (this time), the multi-instrumentalist still had a great experience.

In a post he shared to social media along with a photo of himself with his girlfriend, Andraia Allsop, and his mother, Valerie Bertinelli, Wolf writes, “We came, we saw, but we did NOT conquer and that’s ok! I got to have a wonderful night with the two most important women in my world.”

He continued, “Such an honor to be nominated for the first song I ever released on my own, in a category with artists I’ve looked up to my entire life. I don’t know if that’ll ever fully set in. Pop didn’t win the first time he was nominated too, so it looks like I’m following in his footsteps quite nicely.”

Wolf concluded, “Who knows what the future holds. All I know is I’m feeling pretty damn grateful. What a wild experience this was. Thank you to @recordingacademy for the recognition, and thank YOU for the support. Y’all mean the world to me.”

17 Times the Grammys Got Record of the Year Wrong