During a recent interview with Andy Greene of Rolling Stone magazine, Sammy Hagar was asked to address his absence from Alex Van Halen’s book “Brothers,” in which the Van Halen drummer wrote that the essence of Van Halen ended, when David Lee Roth left the group.
Hagar said: “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.”
Hagar referenced the fact that Alex has been filmed and photographed walking with a cane while promoting “Brothers” and said: “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.’”
Hagar added: “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. 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.”
Later in the interview, Sammy again said that he is determined to make peace with Alex. He said: “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,” he said. “I’ve put the olive branch out there many times, and I just put it out again to Irving Azoff.” He further explained:
“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.”
Last month, Alex explained his refusal to participate in this past summer’s “The Best Of All Worlds” that focused largely on the music of Van Halen. The trek featured Hagar and Anthony, along with guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Jason Bonham.
