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
This guy is underrated as one of the biggest whack jobs. Every other month, there is a new headline from him where his tone or message with regards to Van Halen is completely different from the previous one. What is wrong with this guy? He can’t feel the same way about them for 2 consecutive months. I wish the media would just ignore what this guy says. Next month, he’ll talk about how much Eddie Van Halen has done for him. It wasn’t long ago he thought a tour with Roth and the entire band is possible. Now, the tone of what he wants to get across is something completely different. Go away…
It’s just never alright to do what Eddie Van Halen did to Michael Anthony. No matter what you now think about someone, you should always acknowledge what they gave in the past and show some class when moving on even if you think they aren’t. You don’t do it like they did; even removing his image from those past albums on the website at that time. So beneath such a great player that Eddie is…
Having just read the Snake Sabo article, I can sympathize with the same old interviews. I don’t think I can knock the guy for answering the same questions over and over. I really don’t think he’s bitching because he’s got a gig that’s working for him.
Jon Bon Jovi the other day said Sambora is long gone. Van Halen needs a California tour, fire it up then get in the studio hot.
Roth doesn’t say hi to a roadie in 1980 & he’s a dirtbag. Gimme a break. I waited on Robert Duvall in ’96 in Atlanta & he was a douche. Who cares? As Depeche Commode once sang, People are people…