Sammy Hagar says his reunion with Van Halen is ‘inevitable’

Fair Warning

Sammy Hagar says his reunion with Van Halen is ‘inevitable’

Reported by Bruce Henne

Published: July 5, 2011. © Rock AAA.

Hagar: Hopeful

Sammy Hagar’s busy with Chickenfoot these days, and Van Halen are busy with original singer David Lee Roth, but Sammy thinks things could change at some point in the future.
“Absolutely,” said Hagar about the possibility of working with VH again. “I’m not predicting it. I just say… someday. We made too good of music together, with Eddie and I in Van Halen, we had such a great thing for a long time.
“When it went sour, it wasn’t just because of us. There was a lot of outside forces. Our manager died and a new guy came in, and he just totally divided the band and conquered us, you know?!
“So I think there will come a time where Eddie’s gonna wake up and go, ‘Hey, man, I miss being friends with Sammy,’ if nothing else, or, ‘I would love to make that music again, or play those songs again.’ ‘Cause they have no choice — they’ve got Sam or they’ve got Dave; they can’t find a new guy — they already tried that and it didn’t work. So it’s inevitable.”
“If Eddie and Al [drummer Alex Van Halen] want to play music for the rest of their lives, someday they’re gonna have to come and deal with me,” continued Sammy. “But right now I’m so happy with what I’m doing with Chickenfoot, I hope they don’t call me next week, I hope they don’t call me next month, because I would have to say, ‘Gee, I’m busy right now; I’m not gonna drop Chickenfoot for anything.’ It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done in my life; I love this band.
“Someday we’re all gonna be sitting around or running into each other somewhere and going, ‘You know, let’s get back together and be friends and make that music again, just play it one time for the big time or whatever.’ So I think it’s inevitable.”
Hagar’s last experience with VH was the ill-fated 2004 reunion tour in support of a poorly organized Best-Of package; it also proved to be the final VH tour for bassist Michael Anthony, who was forced by Eddie to take a pay cut and sign over any future rights he had to the VH name. Anthony and Hagar now make up half of supergroup Chickenfoot, along with guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
VH are getting set to release their first new music with Roth since 1996, with fall tour dates in Australia already announced.

Sammy Hagar – interview
Artisan News Service – July 4, 2011