Sammy Hagar says the late Eddie Van Halen deserves a tribute – but he’s no longer on talking terms with Alex Van Halen.
There have been talks of varying lineups performing in honour of the late Valen Halen axe-slayer, but nothing concrete as of yet.
Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted had recently let slip that guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Alex Van Halen were in talks to put on a special show.
And while the band’s former frontman – who was the singer from 1985 to 1996, before returning in 2003 until 2005 – would love to be a part of a tribute, he admits he’s been ghosted by drummer and Eddie’s younger brother, Alex.
Speaking to Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM, Sammy said: “As far as I know, [there has been] nothing.
“There was that talk everybody heard about Jason [Newsted] being the bass player and Joe Satriani playing guitar and Alex [Van Halen] and all that. Then I got the call from the management, I got the call from Irving Azoff, [who] said, ‘Hey, you wanna do you and Mike [Anthony] and Al with a superstar guitar player?’”
However, he told them: “There is no Van Halen. I don’t care what anyone says.”
Sammy says Alex has a problem with him that he believes he’s gonna “take to his grave”.
On his failed attempts to contact him, he said: “I reached out to Alex. I’m gonna tell you right now – I reached out to Alex again recently. Mikey had a sad thing happen in his family, and I reached out to Al, and he wouldn’t return my call or my e-mail.
“And so I said, ‘You know what? F*** it.’ It’s not on the top of my list, my agenda. I think Eddie deserves, definitely, a tribute … And the whole world would show up and the whole world would do it.
“But Alex has got a stick up his a** about something with me still, and he’s gonna take it to his grave, I guess.”
Sammy insists he does not wish to be at loggerheads with the sticksman.
He said: “I’ve done it about five times now. I’m not trying to start a feud between the two of us. I love the guy, and I love Van Halen, what we did together.”
He also doesn’t talk to David Lee Roth, who Eddie’ son Wolfgang Van Halen recently suggested was the reason why a tribute show hasn’t happened.
Without giving any names, the 31-year-old musician – who ended up playing bass for his dad’s band – alleged that there are some people in the Van Halen camp that make it hard to plan anything.
When asked if “a certain singer with three initials” is “the main problem”, which is David Lee Roth, not willing to single anyone out, he replied: “I would say, ‘Do your research on the history of Van Halen, and come to your [own] conclusions.'”
David quit the heavy rock group in 1984 to pursue a solo career, despite them being one of the most successful bands of the time, and Sammy was hired by the group in a bid to reinvent their career.
David reunited with his bandmates in 2007, and appeared on the 2012 LP ‘A Different Kind of Truth’.
Sammy said: “I don’t talk to Dave.
And if he did it, he’d wanna do it without me. I’m sure that’s part of the dysfunction that Wolfie’s talking about.”
Eddie passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer in October 2020 at the age of 65.