Sammy Called Alex on his Birthday and Dave for a Car Show

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SAMMY HAGAR: I Reached Out To ALEX VAN HALEN On His Birthday

June 27, 2018 0 Comments
SAMMY HAGAR: I Reached Out To ALEX VAN HALEN On His Birthday

Sammy Hagar says that he recently attempted to reconnect with his former bandmate in VAN HALEN, drummer Alex Van Halen. "I reached out to Al on his [65th] birthday [on May 8]," Sammy told SiriusXM radio host Eddie Trunk. "I sent him a nice text and an e-mail and a phone message, saying, 'Hey, Sammy here. Missed you, buddy. Hope you're doing good. Happy birthday. And if you ever wanna get together and talk, be buddies, be friends, here's my e-mail, here's my text, and here's my house phone number…' Nothing. Oh, and I said, 'How's Ed doing? I hope he's healthy. And give him my love.' Nothing. Nothing! Ooooh! I mean, that's, like, wow! I guess no waters went under that bridge. And when I looked at the bridge, it was dry. There's not a drop that comes down underneath that bridge."

Hagar also revealed that he asked original VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth to join him at his inaugural "High Tide Beach Party & Car Show", set to take place on Saturday, October 6 in Huntington Beach, California. "We invited Roth, offered to hire Roth to come and jam with my band at the festival," Sammy said. "And you know what his guy said? 'Oh, sounds interesting. We'll run it past Dave.' Then radio silence. [Laughs]"

Last November, Sammy said that he had lost hope there will ever be another VAN HALEN reunion, explaining that Eddie and Alex Van Halen do not want to reconnect with him as friends.

During an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation", Hagar revealed that he didn't hear from the Van Halen brothers on his birthday, which he interpreted as them having no interest in rekindling their friendship.

Hagar and Roth actually toured together in 2002, when neither one of them was in VAN HALEN, although Hagar told The Pulse Of Radio at the time that they weren't exactly pals.

Hagar, who exchanged tweets with Eddie Van Halen in January 2016, hasn't made music with Eddie or Alex since his final tour with VAN HALEN back in 2004.

In 2007, the Van Halen brothers, Wolfgang Van Halen and Roth announced they would be hitting the road for a reunion tour. Bassist Michael Anthony later told Music Radar that he "found out about that tour like everybody else did — in the press."

Anthony has played primarily with Hagar in the thirteen years since he last performed with VAN HALEN, in groups like CHICKENFOOT and THE CIRCLE.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sammy-hagar-i-reached-out-to-alex-van-halen-on-his-birthday/

[Terry]

Yeah, well, while I have no idea if Hagar has actually even physically spoken to either of the Van Halens since the 2004 tour ended - who knows for sure what goes on behind the scenes - I'd tend to guess he hasn't. Mostly because Hagar being who he is, if he had talked with either Ed or Al he would have publicly said so.

And Hagar's most recent public comments above are just the latest in a semi-frequent just plain weird series of interview comments Sammy has been making on the subject of a potential future re: Van Hagar for the last ten years since his autobiography came out. It's just this odd passive-aggressive stance Hagar has toward Van Halen not taking him up on his public reunion offer combined with amnesia on his part as to why the Van Halens aren't dealing with him: did Sammy Hagar forget what he had to say about Van Halen in his book?

I mean, it's no secret that Eddie was in dreadful shape for the 2004 tour, and that tour was shambolic as a result. The tour photos of Eddie along with all the youtube clips of those shows confirmed those suspicions while the tour was taking place in realtime, well before Hagar gave his inside take on those events in his book. It wasn't like the Hagar book was a revelation on that topic in general terms: some inside dirt on some particulars of Ed's behavior to be sure, but everybody knew Ed was fucked up. What Hagar's book did was squarely - and possibly even fairly - put the majority of the blame for that shitty tour on Ed's shoulders. Even assuming that was an accurate assertion to make, the feeling I got from reading those passages of the book was that Hagar had an agenda of making sure everybody knew it was all Eddie's fault and that Hagar didn't have a viable option (due to the nature of the contract he signed) of bailing on the tour (and saving the paying concertgoers from seeing a shitty performance) despite being aware that Eddie was too fucked up to play properly because Hagar would have been on the hook for millions of dollars for breach of contract.

So, Hagar kept his mouth shut at the time of the tour, went onstage, did the shows, took the money and fucked back off to his solo career after it was over.

Instead of just remaining silent about it, or perhaps making a brief comment in a post-tour interview if asked about the nature of that tour along the lines of "clearly, Eddie was struggling at times" and just leaving it at that, Hagar went into a detailed blow by blow account in his book of all the dirt behind the scenes...possibly in no small part to boost the sales of the book, then he went out and proceeded to do countless interviews promoting the book where he publicly blamed Eddie and held back nothing in terms of the details as to how fucked up Eddie was.

Now, let's leave the lack of common sense Hagar displayed in signing the tour contract after already having seen firsthand how fucked up Eddie was when they were recording the BOBW tracks to one side, as well as lack of character Hagar displayed in doing the tour knowing full well how fucked up Eddie was, pocketing the money and then going on to blame Eddie for all of it for profit a la his book.

Put all of that to one side.

Rightly or not on the part of the Van Halens, if you were in their position, would you ever want to reunite with Hagar again, much less remain friends? From what I gather, after the 1996 breakup, Hagar and the Van Halens hadn't seen each other prior to 2003. And they haven't been in contact with each other since 2004. So, in the last 22 years, they spent a total of one year together doing a few tracks and a tour that was fairly unpleasant for everybody involved. And Hagar has simultaneously publicly shit on them while putting the feelers out for another reunion every chance he gets. The small amount of time Hagar and the Van Halens have spent together in the last 2 decades - and the shitty quality of the brief time they DID spend together - doesn't leave me with the feeling that there IS any great friendship there to repair or rekindle. If I can understand that, why is Hagar having so much trouble getting it? If Hagar had such a shitty time as he publicly claimed over and over again touring with Roth in 2002, why is it a shock to Hagar that Roth has no interest in making a cameo appearance at The Red Rockers Jammin' Beach Jamboree or whatever the fuck it is?

You can't publicly - and repeatedly - burn your bridges with people then sit there and wonder why they don't want anything to do with you...unless you're the type of asshole who thinks it's everybody ELSE that has the problems and everything you've done is without fault.

[Terry]

Fuck, it wouldn't matter to me one bit now if Dave gets booted out and Van Halen tours with Hagar again. It's not 2003, when I was annoyed that the Van Halens were wasting time diddling with Hagar when Roth was ready to work with them. I got no real interest in what the band are doing going forward with Dave in terms live work if it comes to actually paying money to see it, because what Dave is bringing to the stage with the band isn't worth the money to me anymore.

It's just this incessant, repeated whining over the last decade from Hagar about wanting to "be friends" with the Van Halens and wanting to tour with them again...like, STFU already, dude. Doubtless the Van Halens know you want to play with them again. EVERYBODY knows you want to play with them again. They've got no interest in dealing with you. You've got plenty of money. Enjoy your life. Shit, Hagar had a 40 year plus career that most professional musicians would define as successful, at least in commercial terms if nothing else. I mean, no sarcasm there, either. Be satisfied with what you accomplished.

Nothing less attractive than somebody who has had a level of success most would gladly take a fraction of complaining because he didn't get everything he wanted out of life. The lament of the entitled, I guess: boo-fucking-hoo, every single little thing I wanted out of life didn't come my way.

[ZahZoo]

There comes a point in life where the "high road" is no longer an option... Sammy Hagar... you've arrived.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

What a moron, really... Mentioning such private and unimportant stuff publicwise as birthday wishes is so absurd.

Who the fuck cares? The first dude who called him Spammy was extremely inspired.

[Terry]

What a moron, really... Mentioning such private and unimportant stuff publicwise as birthday wishes is so absurd.

Who the fuck cares? The first dude who called him Spammy was extremely inspired.

I think Hagar has to make whatever sentiments he has about the Van Halens public because he probably no longer has direct access to either of them in terms of phone numbers or whatever. So, he has to say these things in interviews as that's the only chance either of the Van Halens will learn of them. While I think Wolfgang might be paying attention to that stuff, I tend to doubt Eddie either knows about these interview comments unless someone is telling him what Sammy said, much less cares what Sammy has to say about anything these days.

I mean, Sammy basically spent a decade with the band...maybe 12 years total if you count the reunion tour. His first stint with the band ended on a sour note, and his brief second stint seemed like a bummer. Ed shitcanned him in 1996, then Hagar came back in 2004 and Ed was a full blown, head-case wack job to deal with: doubtless when Sammy first joined the band in 1985 the first several years were great in terms of everybody getting along. It ended badly, twice. Which naturally begs the question as to why Sammy wants back in with the band so bad: why would you go back to a situation like that even if asked, much less publicly lobby for it? Hagar is right when he says he doesn't need the money. So, what the fuck is it? To get one last tour in to make up for the 2004 tour? Because Hagar genuinely wants to patch things up with the Van Halens? Fair enough if that's what he wants, but if the Van Halens have no interest in making that effort, it's just a waste of time.

And, as you say Jerome, I'm sure Hagar could find a way to reach out privately to the Van Halens (maybe through Mike Anthony via Alex) rather than in an interview.

Maybe Sammy's reaching the effective end of his touring days and wants to go out doing a gig bigger than his annual, self-thrown Cabo Wabo birthday party. I dunno. Publicly criticizing the Van Halens (and on a personal level, from what we know about the Van Halens, they both frankly come off like a pair of assholes - talented musicians - but assholes nonetheless) for the better part of a decade just seems an odd way of trying to get back in.

Sammy just needs a hug...and all that jive...

[Seshmeister]

whatever the fuck it is?

You can't publicly - and repeatedly - burn your bridges with people then sit there and wonder why they don't want anything to do with you...unless you're the type of asshole who thinks it's everybody ELSE that has the problems and everything you've done is without fault.

Exactly and for why, he really really didn't need the money from the book. I think at this point things are so sour in that well that the biggest problem the Van Halen's have with Michael Anthony is he is friends with the twat.

[Nitro Express]

Listened to an interview with Dave's uncle Manny that he did before he passed away. He said him and his wife saw a Van Halen show at the Staples Center when Dave was back singing with them. They went backstage to see Dave and Manny thought it was odd Dave wasn't allowing his friends to hang with him backstage. Dave said things with him and Eddie were touchy and he didn't want to have a bunch of his people back there because it might rub Eddie wrong. Sammy seems like quite the attention whore. He has to be the center of attention. In fact, Dave does a better job of disappearing than Sammy. Sammy is like Hillary Clinton. He just won't go away.

[ZahZoo]

Exactly and for why, he really really didn't need the money from the book. I think at this point things are so sour in that well that the biggest problem the Van Halen's have with Michael Anthony is he is friends with the twat.

That's the key... so sour... especially where Hagar is concerned. In order to reconnect, Ed would have to deal with or at least come to terms with most likely the worst period of his public and private life. 1996 thru 2006... Hagar split up, Cherone failure, marriage split up, cancer, divorce, 2004 reunion, massive substance abuse, etc...

Taking all that shit into consideration, plus all of Hagar's public, humiliating commentary... I can easily see where there's no value in Edward Van Halen wasting any of his remaining life engaging with Sammy Hagar. Why go back there if you don't need or want to..?

[Nitro Express]

That's the key... so sour... especially where Hagar is concerned. In order to reconnect, Ed would have to deal with or at least come to terms with most likely the worst period of his public and private life. 1996 thru 2006... Hagar split up, Cherone failure, marriage split up, cancer, divorce, 2004 reunion, massive substance abuse, etc...

Taking all that shit into consideration, plus all of Hagar's public, humiliating commentary... I can easily see where there's no value in Edward Van Halen wasting any of his remaining life engaging with Sammy Hagar. Why go back there if you don't need or want to..?

I would say Eddie Van Halen is retired. He looks pretty good these days. A big smile of shiny dental implants and he looks like he works out. He's riding a very ugly custom motorcycle around. Ed doesn't give a shit about Sam or Dave or whoever. I don't know what the EVH brand is bringing in but I imagine it's pretty successful. The Van Halen's are studio wankers and reclusive. They just get off playing music for themselves. They need someone else to drag em out and market them. Sammy likes the limelight and attention. He's like Mitt Romney. Doesn't need the money but loves the attention.

[Terry]

I would say Eddie Van Halen is retired. He looks pretty good these days. A big smile of shiny dental implants and he looks like he works out. He's riding a very ugly custom motorcycle around. Ed doesn't give a shit about Sam or Dave or whoever. I don't know what the EVH brand is bringing in but I imagine it's pretty successful. The Van Halen's are studio wankers and reclusive. They just get off playing music for themselves. They need someone else to drag em out and market them. Sammy likes the limelight and attention. He's like Mitt Romney. Doesn't need the money but loves the attention.

I'd tend to agree that on a personal level at this point it doesn't matter much to Ed who sings for Van Halen. I haven't gotten much of a sense that the Van Halens look at what they have been publicly doing for the last ten years as much else beyond a guaranteed revenue source. In that vein, at least for the last two tours Eddie has treated the job with an acceptable level of professionalism and has consistently provided well-rehearsed performances that (unlike 2004 and the 2008 part of the first Roth reunion tour) aren't an embarrassment to watch and provide value to the consumers/customers. Not that this level of professional capability is a bragging point, but at least Eddie is willing to maintain that minimal standard. A standard that I honestly thought he wouldn't be able to reach given the 2004 tour, his befuddled displays at the NAMM show in 2006 and his relapse in 2008.

I mean, what Eddie is doing now isn't inspiring. He is merely serving up what somebody (Wolfgang, Azoff) told him people are willing to pay to see: him playing the CVH catalog in a competent manner with Roth at his side. I'd also agree that left to their own devices the Van Halens probably would be content to just "noodle" around in the studio and just jam, probably without even having any singer involved at all. When Ed took over the creative direction of the band 100% in 1996, we got Van Halen III out of it, followed by several years of nothing, followed by some half-assed Van Hagar tracks, followed by some Patented Eddie Van Halen Trans Trem Mega Sustainer Whammy Bar Harmonic shite for a porn flick "soundtrack" and a bunch of red/white/black Franky stripes slapped on nearly anything and everything under the sun.

It wouldn't be a surprise to find out that the Van Halens are somewhat bored yet resigned to the prospect of future touring. Shit, I'm not particularly excited at the notion of another CVH Greatest Hits jaunt, even if Mike Anthony IS there. Funny, but for all of Eddie's talk in 1996 of not wanting to be a nostalgia band like KISS, that's exactly what the band are now. They serve up the same setlist of hits tour after tour, throw in a few deep cuts here and there, then bugger off with their loot. Good work if you can get it. Replentish the coffers every three years, then back to the studio and hidey-hole mode. Because hidey-hole studio mode is good: nobody telling them they need to have a particular singer in the band, no expectations from a record label any more in terms of what music should be produced, no pressures or deadlines.

[Nitro Express]

I'd tend to agree that on a personal level at this point it doesn't matter much to Ed who sings for Van Halen. I haven't gotten much of a sense that the Van Halens look at what they have been publicly doing for the last ten years as much else beyond a guaranteed revenue source. In that vein, at least for the last two tours Eddie has treated the job with an acceptable level of professionalism and has consistently provided well-rehearsed performances that (unlike 2004 and the 2008 part of the first Roth reunion tour) aren't an embarrassment to watch and provide value to the consumers/customers. Not that this level of professional capability is a bragging point, but at least Eddie is willing to maintain that minimal standard. A standard that I honestly thought he wouldn't be able to reach given the 2004 tour, his befuddled displays at the NAMM show in 2006 and his relapse in 2008.

I mean, what Eddie is doing now isn't inspiring. He is merely serving up what somebody (Wolfgang, Azoff) told him people are willing to pay to see: him playing the CVH catalog in a competent manner with Roth at his side. I'd also agree that left to their own devices the Van Halens probably would be content to just "noodle" around in the studio and just jam, probably without even having any singer involved at all. When Ed took over the creative direction of the band 100% in 1996, we got Van Halen III out of it, followed by several years of nothing, followed by some half-assed Van Hagar tracks, followed by some Patented Eddie Van Halen Trans Trem Mega Sustainer Whammy Bar Harmonic shite for a porn flick "soundtrack" and a bunch of red/white/black Franky stripes slapped on nearly anything and everything under the sun.

It wouldn't be a surprise to find out that the Van Halens are somewhat bored yet resigned to the prospect of future touring. Shit, I'm not particularly excited at the notion of another CVH Greatest Hits jaunt, even if Mike Anthony IS there. Funny, but for all of Eddie's talk in 1996 of not wanting to be a nostalgia band like KISS, that's exactly what the band are now. They serve up the same setlist of hits tour after tour, throw in a few deep cuts here and there, then bugger off with their loot. Good work if you can get it. Replentish the coffers every three years, then back to the studio and hidey-hole mode. Because hidey-hole studio mode is good: nobody telling them they need to have a particular singer in the band, no expectations from a record label any more in terms of what music should be produced, no pressures or deadlines.

In rock and roll years Ed Van Halen is very old. He's lucky to be alive. We shouldn't expect much if anything from the guy at this point. He left behind some great work. Ed sprayed his graffiti all over the world and we still have it. Frankly. He's probably enjoying a domesticated life. One he didn't have when being a rock and roll musician and having the pressure to produce new music and tour all the time. He probably just wants to eat his wife's pancakes in the morning and bury his face in her tits after playing with the dog.

[Terry]

In rock and roll years Ed Van Halen is very old. He's lucky to be alive. We shouldn't expect much if anything from the guy at this point. He left behind some great work. Ed sprayed his graffiti all over the world and we still have it. Frankly. He's probably enjoying a domesticated life. One he didn't have when being a rock and roll musician and having the pressure to produce new music and tour all the time. He probably just wants to eat his wife's pancakes in the morning and bury his face in her tits after playing with the dog.

Which, truth be told, aren't bad things (pancakes, tits) to want.

While I knew Ed was getting up there, for whatever reason he never struck me as OLD old until that Smithsonian thing a few years ago.

To be sure, Ed had already cemented his legendary status in rock and roll by the time 1985 rolled around. Kinda sucks that he has basically been coasting off it for the last twenty years, but that's his right: nobody is forced to buy what he has been selling.

[Nitro Express]

Which, truth be told, aren't bad things (pancakes, tits) to want.

While I knew Ed was getting up there, for whatever reason he never struck me as OLD old until that Smithsonian thing a few years ago.

To be sure, Ed had already cemented his legendary status in rock and roll by the time 1985 rolled around. Kinda sucks that he has basically been coasting off it for the last twenty years, but that's his right: nobody is forced to buy what he has been selling.

Ed has EVH Gear which is always coming out with new stuff. He’s now a pretty substantial player in the guitar and amp market. He did that smart by franchising his brand to other manufactures. I’m sure that is a profitable business. Then who knows what else he owns. He could own commercial real estate which he’s getting the rent on. Once you have the money the smart people put it to work. The reason Van Halen isn’t out there is they don’t need the money. One manager joked and said the main thing behind these reunion tours is the band members need money. Other than that they don’t want to see each other. Kind of like seeing your ex wife or people from high school you couldn’t stand. Meet them at the 30 year reunion and find they still are the same pricks they were in high school.

[78/84 guy]

Yeah, well, while I have no idea if Hagar has actually even physically spoken to either of the Van Halens since the 2004 tour ended - who knows for sure what goes on behind the scenes - I'd tend to guess he hasn't. Mostly because Hagar being who he is, if he had talked with either Ed or Al he would have publicly said so.

And Hagar's most recent public comments above are just the latest in a semi-frequent just plain weird series of interview comments Sammy has been making on the subject of a potential future re: Van Hagar for the last ten years since his autobiography came out. It's just this odd passive-aggressive stance Hagar has toward Van Halen not taking him up on his public reunion offer combined with amnesia on his part as to why the Van Halens aren't dealing with him: did Sammy Hagar forget what he had to say about Van Halen in his book?

I mean, it's no secret that Eddie was in dreadful shape for the 2004 tour, and that tour was shambolic as a result. The tour photos of Eddie along with all the youtube clips of those shows confirmed those suspicions while the tour was taking place in realtime, well before Hagar gave his inside take on those events in his book. It wasn't like the Hagar book was a revelation on that topic in general terms: some inside dirt on some particulars of Ed's behavior to be sure, but everybody knew Ed was fucked up. What Hagar's book did was squarely - and possibly even fairly - put the majority of the blame for that shitty tour on Ed's shoulders. Even assuming that was an accurate assertion to make, the feeling I got from reading those passages of the book was that Hagar had an agenda of making sure everybody knew it was all Eddie's fault and that Hagar didn't have a viable option (due to the nature of the contract he signed) of bailing on the tour (and saving the paying concertgoers from seeing a shitty performance) despite being aware that Eddie was too fucked up to play properly because Hagar would have been on the hook for millions of dollars for breach of contract.

So, Hagar kept his mouth shut at the time of the tour, went onstage, did the shows, took the money and fucked back off to his solo career after it was over.

Instead of just remaining silent about it, or perhaps making a brief comment in a post-tour interview if asked about the nature of that tour along the lines of "clearly, Eddie was struggling at times" and just leaving it at that, Hagar went into a detailed blow by blow account in his book of all the dirt behind the scenes...possibly in no small part to boost the sales of the book, then he went out and proceeded to do countless interviews promoting the book where he publicly blamed Eddie and held back nothing in terms of the details as to how fucked up Eddie was.

Now, let's leave the lack of common sense Hagar displayed in signing the tour contract after already having seen firsthand how fucked up Eddie was when they were recording the BOBW tracks to one side, as well as lack of character Hagar displayed in doing the tour knowing full well how fucked up Eddie was, pocketing the money and then going on to blame Eddie for all of it for profit a la his book.

Put all of that to one side.

Rightly or not on the part of the Van Halens, if you were in their position, would you ever want to reunite with Hagar again, much less remain friends? From what I gather, after the 1996 breakup, Hagar and the Van Halens hadn't seen each other prior to 2003. And they haven't been in contact with each other since 2004. So, in the last 22 years, they spent a total of one year together doing a few tracks and a tour that was fairly unpleasant for everybody involved. And Hagar has simultaneously publicly shit on them while putting the feelers out for another reunion every chance he gets. The small amount of time Hagar and the Van Halens have spent together in the last 2 decades - and the shitty quality of the brief time they DID spend together - doesn't leave me with the feeling that there IS any great friendship there to repair or rekindle. If I can understand that, why is Hagar having so much trouble getting it? If Hagar had such a shitty time as he publicly claimed over and over again touring with Roth in 2002, why is it a shock to Hagar that Roth has no interest in making a cameo appearance at The Red Rockers Jammin' Beach Jamboree or whatever the fuck it is?

You can't publicly - and repeatedly - burn your bridges with people then sit there and wonder why they don't want anything to do with you...unless you're the type of asshole who thinks it's everybody ELSE that has the problems and everything you've done is without fault.

I'm kinda amazed at this point people will put this much passion into talking about these guys anymore. Shit Terry you should write a book. The life of a frustrated Van Halen fan ! LOL ! I just can't bother with it much anymore. Release the vaults please, or something new that's decent. I think there was like another 20 demos recorded for A.D.K.O.T. ? If it's not Roth at the mic it's not worth my time. And I have zero interest in a $ 15,000 striped guitar. Or yoga pants. Fucking embarrassing man......