06/14/2002 - Updated 10:57 AM ET
Hagar, Roth go on tour together
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
By Nick Ut, AP
David Lee Roth, right, and Sammy Hagar announce they have joined forces for a concert tour.
"If Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth can do a tour together, there could be hope for the Middle East. We could straighten them fools out." So boasts meat-and-potatoes rocker Hagar, who fronted Van Halen for 11 years after the band's bitter split with the flamboyant Roth, who also sees a global mission in the tour season's odd couple. "Bono told me I had to do it for world peace," Roth cracks. "What's more poignant than the word 'unity' today?" More WWIII than U2, this sans-Halen tour will roll across the nation through early September, provided the battle of the bands doesn't turn nuclear. "If we don't run into snags, we could go all summer," Hagar says, quickly adding, "I can't say it's been snag-free. There's some tension building between Dave and me."
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On Tour Roth and Hagar's upcoming concert tour dates
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Audio Listen to Van Halen with David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar
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Ain't talking 'bout love here. Duets? Forget it. Roth, 46, and Hagar, 54, go to their respective corners nightly, each with his own band, set list and grudges. Aside from solo tune Yankee Rose, Roth fixates on Halen hits: Hot for Teacher, Panama, Runnin' With the Devil, Jump. Hagar and his Waboritas band mix solo fare (I Can't Drive 55) and Halen highlights (Right Now, Dreams, Finish What Ya Started). They flipped a coin to determine opening-night slots and have been swapping positions since.
The unholy union of Diamond Dave and the Red Rocker was the byproduct of a Las Vegas casino's scheme to bring Hagar, Roth and Van Halen together for big-bucks stadium shows. Eddie Van Halen nixed it. Roth contacted Hagar to salvage two-thirds of the idea, and the Sam & Dave prizefight was born.
The two agreed to square off (in separate phone interviews) on a variety of topics.
Their reasons for doing the tour
Sammy Hagar: There are always fears that this will look cheap. It's not cheap. It's very cool. If Van Halen were out there playing with another singer, we wouldn't bother. But they've been hiding for so long. Dave and I are giving fans the gift they deserve, and we'll try to blow each other off the stage.
David Lee Roth: This is a bit of Americana. The period I was quarterback for Van Halen is as familiar as McDonald's arches and the Nike swoosh. It was my music, too. I wrote half of every song, half the musical changes and chord patterns, every single title. I designed the show and told you to show up.
Their sales pitch
Hagar: I have 50 people sitting with me on a stage designed like (an upscale) bar. There's a 30-by-40-foot video screen, a set of bleachers and four waitresses and bartenders serving drinks. I'm taking the Cabo Wabo (his Baja cantina) lifestyle on the road.
Roth: Sam's approach is to replicate his club with people having fun on stage. That sounds like a Dr Pepper commercial. How about a mind-roasting, brain-blasting, straight-through-the-church-ceiling, intellectual, slutty, hallelujah Day-Glo chorus show? Dream big!
Their willingness to bury the hatchet
Hagar: Dave's a comical character with a lot of good one-liners, and he dragged me through the coals. He was so sure when he left that they'd shrivel up and die, but we sold 42 million records and sold out every venue for 11 years. It drove Dave nuts because his solo career wasn't so hot.
Roth: I'm the son of Satan and my duties now are largely ceremonial. Sam's just an angel.
Their current ties to Eddie Van Halen
Hagar: I've had zero communication with Eddie. I've avoided finding a reason to make contact, because I know there would be talk of getting back together. And I would feel bad about leaving The Waboritas.
Roth: No communication, pure dysfunction. Any conflicts I had with the guitar player are a moot point. Did I mention I'm doing a porno video with (Van Halen's wife) Valerie Bertinelli?
Their predictions of a Van Halen reunion
Hagar: It's not impossible, but I'm trying to stay away from it. I'm more mature, I'm a better songwriter, and part of me would like to see what Eddie and I could do now.
Roth: Don't hold your breath. There's probably no possibility at this point. If Eddie is guilty of anything, it's wasting time. He's wasted years.
Their thoughts on Van Halen's third singer
Hagar: It didn't work because they picked the wrong guy (Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone, who made his debut on 1998's Van Halen III, the band's worst-selling album). Van Halen III should have been an instrumental record. It would have done just as well and wouldn't have destroyed Van Halen.
Roth: If Roth's not in the band, who cares?
Their shared traits
Hagar: Van Halen became very musical during my era and more serious about our art. We didn't party ourselves to death.
Roth: Any similarities between Sam's reality and mine are clearly coincidental. Sam tries to create a party. I am the party.
Their influence on each other
Hagar: I've learned from Dave what not to do, how not to dress. He used to do one of my Montrose songs, Make It Last, before Van Halen even had a record deal. I've probably had a bigger influence on who David Lee Roth is than he's had on me.
Roth: Sammy who?
Their odds of prevailing in a slugfest
Hagar: I could take Dave in a fight. He even admitted it to Howard Stern. But I'm a lover, not a fighter. We control our animosity through music. The nights he closes the show, my whole premise is to walk off that stage thinking, "Let him try to follow that."
Roth: Everything he's discussing is fist-fighting and boxing. Plug in and shut up, Sam. Stop whining and just play. I'm an instigator, but I'm not a bully.
Their reflections on lessons of the past
Hagar: I wish I had quit Van Halen instead of letting it get really ugly, where Eddie and I were battling every day. As soon as I left, my wings came out. I'm free, I'm rich, I'm famous, I can do anything I want. I had a new album out in six months.
Roth: I've always been academic. I've trained in martial arts since my 12th birthday. I like contact sports, history books and the fine art of ridicule and sarcasm. I can gang-sign the alphabet and I own a Mercury low-rider. I am a black man trapped in a Jewish body.
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