Sammy Hagar recently spoke with the Las Vegas Review-Journal about his current tour featuring Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Jason Bonham. The tour, which heavily focuses on VAN HALEN music, comes over two years after Satriani was first approached to participate in a VAN HALEN tribute show.
Hagar addressed whether Alex Van Halen was considered for “The Best Of All Worlds” prior to Bonham‘s involvement, saying: “I reached out to Alex a dozen times, before this tour was announced, and got no response. I mean, I’ve asked him to meet me under any conditions, any circumstances, anytime, anyplace, anywhere. It’s not like, ‘Well, let me think about it.’ It’s like, no answer. Zero.”
Hagar suggested that Alex‘s forthcoming autobiography, Brothers, might shed light on why the drummer hasn’t expressed interest in joining the tour.
Sammy said: “I’m sure when he made his book deal, they said, ‘You cannot talk to Dave [Lee Roth, original VAN HALEN singer], and you cannot talk to Hagar. I guarantee you, that that was part of the deal.”
During a last month’s interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Sammy Hagar discussed his upcoming summer 2024 tour featuring bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani, and drummer Jason Bonham, which will primarily highlight the music of VAN HALEN.
When asked if any efforts were made to see if Alex Van Halen was interested in joining “The Best Of All Worlds” before Bonham got involved, Hagar said: “Mike and I reached out to Alex before we did this. We reached out to him a dozen times before this tour, in every way. E-mail, text message, phone call, message on the machine, okay? No response. No response. I mean, we made every offer to get together or to just talk or to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Go to the studio and play. Come to my house or I’ll come to your house. Go ride horses, go sit on the beach. What do you want to do? Let’s just do something. Let’s get together. And nothing.”
“When the tour came, the first person we called and left all of the messages, sent all of emails, it was Alex Van Halen,” Sammy continued. “Mike and I said, ‘We’re wanting to do this thing.’ Alex‘s famous line to me [was], ‘Sammy, we ain’t getting any younger.’ Mike and I said, ‘Alex, we ain’t getting any younger. We’re going out and playing for the people. We’re going to go honor the VAN HALEN catalog. Let’s just get together and let’s talk about it. Mike and I, we’re going out, we’re going to do this, Alex. Please join us. Let’s be friends, let’s bury the hatchet, whatever.’ There was no response. I was saying, ‘He’ll come to a show, he’s got to — in L.A. or something. I’m sure he’ll come.’ But no, no, he sold all of his equipment. That was his statement. That was like, ‘ah, I ain’t coming nowhere.’”
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