Sammy Hagar recently discussed his strained 21-year silence with former VAN HALEN drummer Alex Van Halen in a new Rolling Stone interview. Alex notably avoided naming Sammy in his memoir, Brothers, and when asked about the lack of contact, Sammy explained: “I’ve had this conversation with a few people, including [former VAN HALEN manager] Irving Azoff. I’ve asked him, ‘What’s the problem?’ And some people have said to me, ‘Oh, Cabo Wabo. At one time, VAN HALEN, when you built it, you guys were all partners in that. And then they didn’t want it anymore when it was losing money, and they gave it to you, and you turned it around and made hundreds of millions of dollars on it. And they’re angry. Alex is angry about that.’ To that I said, ‘How the f**k could they be angry about that? They gave me the damn thing, they walked out on me, left me with it. And they made me indemnify them in case I got sued and lost everything. They made me sign off big time.’ And I’m going, ‘I hope it’s not that.’”
Hagar then brought up his 2011 autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock, in which he had strongly criticized Alex Van Halen‘s brother, Eddie. His book described the guitarist as unkempt, hunched over, frighteningly thin, drinking directly from wine bottles, and missing part of his tongue and several teeth due to a cancer scare. Sammy continued by saying: “The book has been brought up. The book was honest. It was well documented that Eddie was a mess on that tour. But I don’t want to drag Eddie through no coals now. That’s just water under the bridge.
“I think Al‘s angry because I’m out doing it, and Mike [Anthony, former VAN HALEN bassist] and I are out doing it, and he can’t,” Sammy continued. “He’s not a singer. He’s not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader. And he seems like he doesn’t want to play drums or can’t play drums anymore, and he can’t go write a new record. Alex wasn’t the songwriter in the band. He was the drummer. Eddie and I wrote the songs. Dave [Lee Roth] and Eddie wrote the songs, and so we can go out and do them. And I think that really bothers him that Mike and I are still out there doing it. I would feel bad. If I put myself in his shoes, I would feel terrible if I couldn’t do it anymore. But I’m the happiest guy out of all of them. That pisses people off in itself. Being too happy, people don’t like that.”
When interviewer Andy Greene pointed out Alex‘s genuine health struggles and potential reasons for bitterness, Sammy responded: “Yeah, I’d say so. And I’m okay with it. Al, you’re fine. Just leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. Everything’s good. I’m making you money, by the way, Al. I’m out there selling VAN HALEN records and keeping the name alive, keeping the music alive.”
Source: metaladdicts.com
