Ever since his acrimonious departure from Van Halen in 2004, Sammy Hagar has flip-flopped on the subject of rejoining the band if he was ever asked, and he’s done it again in a new interview to promote his forthcoming solo record, “Sammy Hagar & Friends”.
Just four months after telling Vegas Rocks magazine that he would return to the group if the opportunity came up (here), the Red Rocker has changed his tune.
“The whole idea of Van Halen,” he tells Rolling Stone, “people ask me all the time, ‘What if Eddie called you up and asked you to be back in that?’ I just hope he doesn't do that. I'm so past it, and I'm so happy and proud of what we did, I wouldn't want to tarnish it again like that '04 tour. And now what they're doing, acting like I was never in that band, just playing all that early material . . . How can they do that?”
“But Dave [David Lee Roth] can't sing it, so what the f,” continues Hagar. “It is what it is, and I'd just as soon let it be. Let them finish it off in their own way, and whatever happens, it's all good. I would love to be friends with those guys. Michael Anthony is one of my dearest friends, and I don't see why Ed and Al shouldn't be that, someday, in our lives. But until then, it's all fine.”
“I don't want to go backwards anymore,” Sammy explains. “At my age, I have a hard enough time rehearsing and playing those old songs at a rehearsal. And I certainly can't go back and listen to them. I just want to keep moving forward, and I'm so anxious to play my new songs in the set that the thought of going back and playing with a band that hasn't recorded since 1994 or something like that – ewww. That sounds painful to me.”
Van Halen released “III” in 1998 and “A Different Kind Of Truth” in 2012.
Due September 24, “Sammy Hagar & Friends” marks the rocker’s first solo project in five years and sees him team up with a variety of artists, including Kid Rock, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Ronnie Dunn (Brooks & Dunn), Neal Schon (Journey, HSAS), Chickenfoot pals Chad Smith, Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani; Montrose bandmates Bill Church and Denny Carmassi, his solo band The Wabos and more.
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