Sammy Hagar Reveals His Alex Van Halen Wish

11-26-2024

Sammy Hagar is hoping that he can reconcile with his former bandmate Alex Van Halen and is concerned for the drummer's health after seeing the Van Halen legend promoting his recently released memoir "Brothers".

Hagar was able to bury the hatchet with Alex's brother Eddie Van Halen, prior to the legendary guitarist's death, and he is hoping to mend his relationship with Alex as well. The former Van Halen frontman made the comments during an in-depth interview with Rolling Stone after he was asked about not being included in Alex's book, with the drummer stating he believes Van Halen may have carried on, but the group ended when original frontman David Lee Roth left the group.

"It's sad. I haven't read the whole book, but I've seen all the excerpts, and I heard some of the interviews," Sammy responded. "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."

He elaborated, "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.'"

Sammy then responded to not being included in the book, even though Van Halen experiences some of their most successful years while he was frontman, "Why he left me out, 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... 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.

Hagar just spent the summer celebrating Van Halen's legency with Michael Anthony on their The Best Of All Worlds Tour and will launching a residency of a similar name in Las Vegas next year. Sammy believes Alex's attitude towards the Van Hagar year, "makes it easier for Mike [Anthony] 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."

Despite the differences with Alex, Sammy hopes that they can reconcile. He shared, "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 to Irving Azoff [Van Halen's manager].

"I want to be friends... I don't want to play in a band with Al," Sammy explained. "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."