The Van Halen co-founder and drummer Alex Van Halen recently released the book “Brothers”, which tells the story of him and his late brother, the guitarist Eddie Van Halen, and the first years of their band. However, he decided to tell their story only until 1985, before Sammy Hagar joined the group and in recent interviews he said that the real magic of the band was really between him, his brother and David Lee Roth. He also said that he doesn’t care about the current Sammy Hagar tour which celebrates the “Van Hagar” era and also has the bassist Michael Anthony.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar was asked how he felt about being left out of Alex’s book and those statements.
Sammy Hagar talks about Alex Van Halen dismissing his era with the band
“It’s sad. I haven’t read the whole book, but I’ve seen all the excerpts, and I heard some of the interviews. It breaks my heart, because if I think what Alex is going through, losing his brother, never played with anybody else in his life, and then his health. When I saw how rickety he is, I realized, ‘No wonder he’s not answering my call when I say, ‘Do you want to go out and play with us?’ He can’t. That breaks my heart, because I can only put myself in those shoes and say, ‘What if I couldn’t sing and perform anymore?'”
“The thing that I did my whole life, the thing I devoted my life to, the thing that made me rich and famous and gave me the most beautiful life on the planet, and all of a sudden I can’t do that anymore? I would feel like I was robbing the fans, to start with. When you put yourself in his shoes, I’m saying, ‘Okay, I feel sorry for him.’ Why he left me out (of the book), I would like to hear him explain that someday, because I don’t get it completely. I know that he’s bitter about some things, whatever that is…”
He continued:
“It’s like, ‘If you don’t want that era, that even gives me more justification to say I own it then,’ because no one else can do it, and he can’t do it even without me. It makes it easier for Mike and I. We’re sitting there going, ‘Okay, I guess we own this,’ and we have the obligation to bring this to the fans to keep this music alive, keep it live and alive. This music is too good to throw away.”
“It’s on my bucket list that I will not take this to my grave, and I don’t want Al taking it to his grave. I’ve put the olive branch out there many times, and I just put it out again Irving Azoff. I want to be friends… I don’t want to play in a band with Al. I’m not asking for that. I can see that he’s not capable of doing that. If he was, I’d be happy to play with him, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to be friends again,” Sammy Hagar said.
The current Sammy Hagar tour features Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Kenny Aronoff. Besides performing Montrose and Sammy solo songs, the setlist is quite focused on the Van Hagar era. Alex simply told Billboard recently that they can do whatever they want but they are not doing the band’s justice.