Sammy Hagar says he’s “disappointed” that he and Michael Anthony have not been asked to participate on Alex Van Halen’s recently announced archival Van Halen project.
Earlier this month Alex revealed that he was working on unfinished songs intended for a new Van Halen album. He stated that the tracks feature himself on drums, guitar from his late brother Eddie Van Halen (who died in 2020) and bass from his nephew and Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen.
Speaking on the Rock of Nations show on Thursday, Hagar and his longtime bandmate and fellow Van Halen veteran Anthony were asked if they are participating in the project.
“No. We haven’t been asked, number one,” Hagar replied, before detailing just how expansive the Van Halen vaults could be. “I can tell you, Mike and I, the day I walked in the studio, in 5150, to basically if you wanna call it an audition, but to meet the guys and to play music, we played for about eight hours at least. And we recorded everything.
“Everything that I ever did, and every time we made a record, we recorded hundreds of hours of jam and music, and then we’d cut ’em up, made songs,” he continued. “That’s the way we did it, right? So there’s so much stuff from Mike and I and Ed and Al in the studio.”
From the sounds of things, a pretty interesting record could be made from the band’s first jam session. “Like I said, just the initial day that I went in there, we got ‘Summer Nights’, we got ‘Good Enough’ and the beginnings of ‘Get Up’ from [the 1986 album) 5150 — three songs that came from that eight-hour jam,” Hagar explained. “And I remember there was a blues thing we did, and I was making up lyrics.”
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Hagar then alluded to the fact that he and Alex have been feuding and non-communicative for over two decades, at least since the “Van Hagar” lineup’s disastrous 2004 reunion tour. “There’s so much stuff that Al could really choose from, if he wanted to include Mike and I. But, obviously, Al’s got a reason, and he’s Alex Van Halen, he can do whatever he wants.”
Anthony, who had shared his own response to the news earlier this week, suggesting it might work best as an instrumental album, added that he would be happy to help out if asked. “If this is material that we jammed on or whatever, I’d have no problem coming in and singing or [playing bass] or whatever. It’s all good there.”
“To me, it’s an Alex Van Halen project, and it’s not necessarily a Van Halen project, but I guess we’ll see if it ever sees the light of day,” Hagar concluded. “But I’m disappointed that Mike and I wouldn’t be invited. It’s, like, what? Are you kidding me? We’re still alive. We’re out here doing it. We’re playing those songs. We can still do it, you know?”
Hagar and Anthony, together with guitarist Joe Satriani, drummer Kenny Aronoff and new keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, will kick off a six-date Las Vegas residency version of their Van Halen-celebrating Best of All Worlds tour on March 11 at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
Hagar is the third Van Halen alumni to comment on Alex Van Halen’s recent announcement, following Anthony’s previous comments and Wolfgang saying he’d be glad to help out. Former singers David Lee Roth and Gary Cherone have yet to weigh in.
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