Greenbuds
02-16-2007, 05:52 AM
I came across this Sammy Hagar interview from 2001 in Google.
It's quite a contrast from the humble and classy letter issued by Gary Cherone the other day on VH's entrance into the Hall of Fame.
In it, we find Hagar had "fell on the ground laughing" when he first heard VH3 and "It made me feel good" he answered to hearing VH3 barely went Gold.
He also brags, "When I replaced Dave, I knew how bad it was for him. I didn't take any pride in squishing his career and having Van Halen go on to be better" and that he's "had enough fame and fortune for 15 people."
He also tells of his upcoming book "The Long Road to Cabo - It's going to be an uplifting success story" (which never was released), about a "Cabo Wabo Cantina in Las Vegas, complete with a boxing arena" (which also never happened), his long and continued denials of having interest in re-joining VH, "they're not on my mind as far as trying to make something new happen" (which *did* happen), and his thoughts on VH ever getting back with Dave, "it's going to be the ugliest reunion in the history of rock 'n' roll."
Yep, Sammy Hagar, class act all the way.
Remember these words as the Roth reunion sells out everywhere and Hagar is pushed further into oblivion.
===================
Thursday, January 04, 2001
By JOHN SOEDER
THE PLAIN DEALER
Fifteen years after Sammy Hagar and Van Halen scored their first hit together with "Why Can't This Be Love?" there is no love lost between the so-called Red Rocker and his ex-bandmates.
"They're always on my mind because ... we did such great things together," he said. "But they're not on my mind as far as trying to make something new happen. There's not enough water under the bridge."
Before he replaced original vocalist David Lee Roth in Van Halen, Hagar was a member of Montrose and a successful solo artist. After 11 years together, Hagar and Van Halen parted ways in 1996. The hard-rock band announced that Hagar quit; Hagar has maintained all along that he was fired - "totally fired," he reiterated once more for the record.
Chatting by phone last week from NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif., where he was waiting to make an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Hagar had no time for diplomacy or false modesty. He was refreshingly blunt when asked if he took any pleasure in the lukewarm reviews and subpar sales that greeted "Van Halen III," the album that the group recorded with former Extreme singer Gary Cherone after Hagar's departure.
"Absolutely," he said. "It made me feel good. ... When I replaced Dave, I knew how bad it was for him. I didn't take any pride in squishing his career and having Van Halen go on to be better. After I left, I thought, 'What if they do to me what they did to Dave?' I was nervous."
He was relieved when he finally had a chance to hear "Van Halen III," which sold 500,000 copies, according to SoundScan.
"I put it on, I listened to it and I fell on the ground laughing because I knew that record didn't have a chance," said Hagar. His swan song with the band, "Balance," sold 2 million copies.
With Cherone out of the lineup as of late 1999, Van Halen is once again without a vocalist. Hagar isn't interested.
"I'm totally cool with what I'm doing," he said. "I like waking up in the morning and knowing I don't have to do anything I don't want to do."
He said "Ten 13," his third post-Van Halen release, marks his rebirth as a rock 'n' roller. Fittingly enough, the title is a reference to Hagar's birthday, Oct. 13.
"I really got it to sound the way I wanted it to sound, which is dense, thick, powerful and just rocking, you know?" said Hagar, 53. "After all these years, I decided, 'Yes, I am a rocker.' This is what I do. It's not just for fame and fortune. I'm not trying to become something. I'm not trying to make it. I've had enough fame and fortune for 15 people."
Tequilaville
Along the way, he has become hard-rock's answer to Jimmy Buffett, belting out party-hearty tunes inspired by the tropical good life, marketing his own brand of tequila and running the popular Cabo Wabo Cantina in the Mexican resort town of Cabo San Lucas. Hagar goes there whenever the temperature dips below 65 in California's Marin County, where he has a home. Taking another page from the Buffett playbook, Hagar is writing a book, an autobiography tentatively titled "The Long Road to Cabo." "It's going to be an uplifting success story," he promised.
He doesn't have a publishing deal yet. But he is negotiating with a casino developer to build another Cabo Wabo Cantina in Las Vegas, complete with a boxing arena.
Hagar continues to perform a handful of songs by Van Halen (or "Van Hagar," as he put it) with his new group, the Waboritas. "Those were some of the best songs I ever wrote," he said.
As for his old band, Hagar believes the time has come for Van Halen to hang it up.
"I actually wish they would break up, if you want my honest opinion," he said. "If they try to get another singer, it ain't going to work. I don't want to come back. If Dave comes back, it's going to be the ugliest reunion in the history of rock 'n' roll.
"Why doesn't Eddie Van Halen just go out, play instrumentals, have fun with his brother [drummer Alex Van Halen] and not mess with singers? I just hope they don't cheapen the greatness of Van Halen, one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands ever, any more than they already have."
E-mail: jsoe...@plaind.com
Phone: (216) 999-4562
©2001 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission
It's quite a contrast from the humble and classy letter issued by Gary Cherone the other day on VH's entrance into the Hall of Fame.
In it, we find Hagar had "fell on the ground laughing" when he first heard VH3 and "It made me feel good" he answered to hearing VH3 barely went Gold.
He also brags, "When I replaced Dave, I knew how bad it was for him. I didn't take any pride in squishing his career and having Van Halen go on to be better" and that he's "had enough fame and fortune for 15 people."
He also tells of his upcoming book "The Long Road to Cabo - It's going to be an uplifting success story" (which never was released), about a "Cabo Wabo Cantina in Las Vegas, complete with a boxing arena" (which also never happened), his long and continued denials of having interest in re-joining VH, "they're not on my mind as far as trying to make something new happen" (which *did* happen), and his thoughts on VH ever getting back with Dave, "it's going to be the ugliest reunion in the history of rock 'n' roll."
Yep, Sammy Hagar, class act all the way.
Remember these words as the Roth reunion sells out everywhere and Hagar is pushed further into oblivion.
===================
Thursday, January 04, 2001
By JOHN SOEDER
THE PLAIN DEALER
Fifteen years after Sammy Hagar and Van Halen scored their first hit together with "Why Can't This Be Love?" there is no love lost between the so-called Red Rocker and his ex-bandmates.
"They're always on my mind because ... we did such great things together," he said. "But they're not on my mind as far as trying to make something new happen. There's not enough water under the bridge."
Before he replaced original vocalist David Lee Roth in Van Halen, Hagar was a member of Montrose and a successful solo artist. After 11 years together, Hagar and Van Halen parted ways in 1996. The hard-rock band announced that Hagar quit; Hagar has maintained all along that he was fired - "totally fired," he reiterated once more for the record.
Chatting by phone last week from NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif., where he was waiting to make an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Hagar had no time for diplomacy or false modesty. He was refreshingly blunt when asked if he took any pleasure in the lukewarm reviews and subpar sales that greeted "Van Halen III," the album that the group recorded with former Extreme singer Gary Cherone after Hagar's departure.
"Absolutely," he said. "It made me feel good. ... When I replaced Dave, I knew how bad it was for him. I didn't take any pride in squishing his career and having Van Halen go on to be better. After I left, I thought, 'What if they do to me what they did to Dave?' I was nervous."
He was relieved when he finally had a chance to hear "Van Halen III," which sold 500,000 copies, according to SoundScan.
"I put it on, I listened to it and I fell on the ground laughing because I knew that record didn't have a chance," said Hagar. His swan song with the band, "Balance," sold 2 million copies.
With Cherone out of the lineup as of late 1999, Van Halen is once again without a vocalist. Hagar isn't interested.
"I'm totally cool with what I'm doing," he said. "I like waking up in the morning and knowing I don't have to do anything I don't want to do."
He said "Ten 13," his third post-Van Halen release, marks his rebirth as a rock 'n' roller. Fittingly enough, the title is a reference to Hagar's birthday, Oct. 13.
"I really got it to sound the way I wanted it to sound, which is dense, thick, powerful and just rocking, you know?" said Hagar, 53. "After all these years, I decided, 'Yes, I am a rocker.' This is what I do. It's not just for fame and fortune. I'm not trying to become something. I'm not trying to make it. I've had enough fame and fortune for 15 people."
Tequilaville
Along the way, he has become hard-rock's answer to Jimmy Buffett, belting out party-hearty tunes inspired by the tropical good life, marketing his own brand of tequila and running the popular Cabo Wabo Cantina in the Mexican resort town of Cabo San Lucas. Hagar goes there whenever the temperature dips below 65 in California's Marin County, where he has a home. Taking another page from the Buffett playbook, Hagar is writing a book, an autobiography tentatively titled "The Long Road to Cabo." "It's going to be an uplifting success story," he promised.
He doesn't have a publishing deal yet. But he is negotiating with a casino developer to build another Cabo Wabo Cantina in Las Vegas, complete with a boxing arena.
Hagar continues to perform a handful of songs by Van Halen (or "Van Hagar," as he put it) with his new group, the Waboritas. "Those were some of the best songs I ever wrote," he said.
As for his old band, Hagar believes the time has come for Van Halen to hang it up.
"I actually wish they would break up, if you want my honest opinion," he said. "If they try to get another singer, it ain't going to work. I don't want to come back. If Dave comes back, it's going to be the ugliest reunion in the history of rock 'n' roll.
"Why doesn't Eddie Van Halen just go out, play instrumentals, have fun with his brother [drummer Alex Van Halen] and not mess with singers? I just hope they don't cheapen the greatness of Van Halen, one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands ever, any more than they already have."
E-mail: jsoe...@plaind.com
Phone: (216) 999-4562
©2001 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission