SINGER SAMMY HAGAR ON HIS CURRENT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE VAN HALEN BROTHERS, “THEY CERTAINLY HAVEN’T MADE AN EFFORT TO BE FRIENDLY WITH ME”
Sammy Hagar was a recent guest on Eddie’s, Trunk Nation, Sirius/XM show, discussing his current relationship with his former Van Halen bandmates, Eddie and Alex Van Halen. Quotes from the interview appear below, as per blabbermouth.net.
Hagar said:
“”I have no idea. I’ve done a few things to reach out and be friends, like saying… being honest and saying — after all these guys [rock legends like Glenn Frey and David Bowie] are dying around the globe — ‘Man, I don’t wanna take any enemies to my grave. We’ve gotta be friends [again] at some point.’ But, you know, they probably take it wrong, they probably think, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s trying to get back in the band.’ I don’t know what those guys think.
To be honest with you, I wished Eddie a ‘happy birthday’ on his birthday and I wished Al a ‘happy birthday’ on his birthday, and they don’t return the birthday wishes; they’ve never said ‘happy birthday’ to me on my birthday, or to Mikey [former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony]. So their camp is… I don’t know… They’re just kind of shut down. Obviously, there’s a lot of anger over there and resentment against Mike and I, and I don’t know what we did. And we always sit around scratching our ass, going, ‘What? Do you remember doing anything to piss those guys off? I don’t.’ [Laughs] We were just kind of good guys having fun. I guess that pissed them off. We were having too much fun.”
He continues,”…Honestly, I don’t care… I mean, I care at a friendship level, but I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea and think that I am trying to beg myself back into that band, because I’m not. I’m a very happy person right now with my band The Circle, or Chickenfoot,, if I wanted to do that, or just do nothing, I’m in a good place…I don’t want to be miserable and I don’t wanna be arguing with guys and all that stuff ever again in my life…So, I don’t know… It doesn’t sound like they’re very friendly right now. [Laughs] They certainly haven’t made an effort to be friendly with me, or Mike.”
In related news, the singer recalled the very first time he was contacted by guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He tells the cable TV show, Jay Leno’s Garage, “I was just coming home from my tour and this car [1982 Ferrari, estimated to now be worth $350,000] was getting its first major tune up. It was sitting in the shop and Eddie comes in with his Lamborghini and he goes, ‘Whose car is this?’ They said, ‘It’s Sammy Hagar’s – you should call him and get him in the band’ – because David Lee Roth quit a day or two before.
“And Eddie says, ‘You got his number?’ He goes into the damn office, picks up the phone and calls me right from there and says, ‘I’m looking at your car right here, man – why don’t you come down and let’s jam and join the band. After five minutes with those guys, and I went, ‘Yeah, this is good.’”
Hagar would go on to appear on Van Halen albums 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance before being replaced by Gary Chorine.
additional source: Classic Rock via teamrock.com
when I heard those three vh songs, I threw “up my breakfast”.
Correction, Gary Cherone 🙂
Gary thanks you…..
Remember when Sammy and Dave went on tour together, and Sammy was trying to be friendly with Dave, and Dave avoided Sammy’s advances like the plague??
I think Dave is obviously counseling the Van Halen brothers about Sammy…
It’s a shame they cannot get along for the sake of their fans…
Sammy and Mike made the Van Halen brothers a ton of money, and brought fame that Van Halen needed when Dave left them high and dry….
The least they could do is acknowledge Sammy and Mike, however, understandable that Eddie is separating himself from Sammy and Mike, since Eddie no longer drinks, Sammy and Mike still do…that could be the catalyst in the present day situation….
All in all, I wish the best for Sammy, Mike, Dave, Eddie, Alex, and especially Wolfie, Wolfie deserves positive recognition in all of this, since he stepped up to the plate like the man, and musician he is.
Signed,
A longtime Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar fan!!
Drinking is the catalyst? Hagars book, his badmouthing of EVH and him threatening to ‘kick EVH’s ass’ has nothing to do with it?
Jason, thanks for that, I should have presented that one as well
So sad “Wolfie” doesn’t have even 1/2 the talent as his father. I got a great idea, lets do a VH reunion tour minus Michael Anthony and call it a “reunion.” Sounds all too familiar……..Just not the same band without Mr. Anthony. Lucky gig to land the bass spot because of blood line, sad he can’t measure up to Anthony’s stage presence and talent. Miss the real ORIGINAL VH chemistry.
I find the most vocal of the anti-Hagar fans wouldn’t admit to any good Hagar/VH songs, so the point is moot.
The only thing worse than VH fans are Metallica fans. It’s like it’s a pissing contest, only they’re pissing into the wind.
The 3 songs of The Best of Both Worlds are pretty good. Certainly more listenable than Dave’s croaking on the new live album.