Sammy Hagar on Van Halen tribute tour woes: "Alex has got a stick up his ass about something with me still"

Van Halen
(Image credit: Ann Summa/Getty Images)

Remember that mooted Van Halen tribute tour that can't get off the ground? Well it looks like there's a new twist; there's even more obstacles to it than fans initially presumed. And Sammy Hagar has lifted the lid on it in a new interview with Eddie Trunk.

"I don't know why people put it on [David Lee] Roth," Hagar told Trunk for the latter's Sirius FM show yesterday [Wednesday 2 November]. "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 [Wolfgang Van Halen] talking about." But as the singer reveals, there's actually another thread of dysfunction in the camp.

"It ain't just one guy," Hagar revealed [as transcribed by Blabbermouth]. "Alex Van Halen and I don't talk. 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? Fuck 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."

I'm not trying to start a feud between the two of us

Hagar is absolutely right there, but it doesn't look close to happening with the current situation between the musicians vital to any tribute events. And despite his transparency on the situation, Hagar is wary of causing further strife in the Van Halen camp.

"I'm not trying to start a feud between the two of us," he says of Alex Van Halen. "But I love the guy, and I love Van Halen, what we did together… Al is the most stubborn Taurus. He's a Taurus, and he's the most stubborn Taurus. Tauruses are known for [being] stubborn. He's a Dutch Taurus, and he is the most stubborn, hard-headed guy you'll ever meet in your life. And he is tough to [break] down and to let go. Nope — he's holding on to something. And I just wish he wasn't like that. I love the guy. 

"Like I've said a million times, Alex and I actually got along better than Ed and I at times," Hagar continued. "Through the hard times, Alex and I still got along. But I don't know what happened. Somebody poisoned him. Somebody told him something. Maybe he still doesn't like my book, which was the most honest thing I've ever done in my life. Some people just don't think that that should have been done."

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Rob Laing
Reviews Editor, GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars

Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.