Iconic vocalist Sammy Hagar was recently asked by VH1 Radio Network‘s Dave Basner if he still keeps in touch with his former bandmates?
Hagar responded (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “I figure [former Van Halen bassist] Michael Anthony and I are the other half. Ed [Van Halen, guitar] and Al [Van Halen, drums] are always going to be Ed and Al. [I] love the guys, [but] we don’t get… I can’t say ‘we,’ [because] I get along with Al, but I can’t get along with Ed.”
He continued: “That last reunion tour was just a horrible experience for me. I wrote about it in my book, and I’m not sorry I said all those things. I was kind, in my opinion, to what really happened on that thing. It was really a bad deal.”
Sammy added: “Those guys, I hate to just say it, but I gotta say it, those guys fucked me around about four times and that’s it. I mean, how many times are you going to let somebody just fuck you? Look at what they did to Mikey. I mean, come on, they didn’t even tell him that he was out of the band; he reads it in fricking Rolling Stone [magazine] or something that Wolfie [Van Halen] was the [new] bass player in VAN HALEN. The guys that do that, it’s just not cool, and I don’t care to be around people like that or play with them, so we don’t have a relationship.”
Despite Hagar’s harsh words, he still remains proud of the albums he recorded with the band.
“To say anything bad about the body of work, not a chance,” Hagar said. “To say anything bad about the musicianship, not a chance. [They are] great, great guys on their instruments and we wrote some great songs and we had about nine years of some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life in any band or in any situation. We partied, we loved it, we had a blast and had so much success, but they turned on me, man. I don’t know what happened.”
Hagar’s current band, The Circle, also includes Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and Vic Johnson.
45 Responses
“I waved at Stevie Wonder once – he didn’t wave back…jerk!”
LOL
After reading many rock biographies, one thing is clear…most all bands have at least one huge ego in the band. Some have more. I have a family member that works in the entertainment industry and she will tell you that a lot of famous people forget how to be human. They are catered to and praised so much that they start believing that they are “never wrong.” They start developing the “I’m better than you,” mentality. This may be the case for Eddie VH, I’m not sure, I don’t know the guy. Just something t think about.