In a recent 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.
This tour will take place more than two years after Satriani disclosed that he had been invited to join a VAN HALEN tribute show with David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen, a project that ultimately stalled, reportedly due to delays caused by Roth.
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.'”
In a recent interview with Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar, Michael Anthony was asked about whether he remains in touch with Alex Van Halen and his thoughts on why the VAN HALEN drummer might be reluctant to continue performing music.
“I haven’t spoken to Alex in a while, probably about a year,” Anthony responded. “And I actually texted him on his birthday this month [May 2024], and I didn’t hear anything back from him. But yeah, I was pretty surprised when I heard about this auction [via Backstage Auctions] that he’s going to be holding in the beginning of June. Somebody had sent me the link to it, and it appears like he’s selling everything right down to his last drumstick. So, I don’t know. I really couldn’t tell you. I know that he continues to grieve today over Eddie‘s [Van Halen] passing. And basically, Eddie was the only person that he actually ever played music with.”
“I never really knew Alex to be a person to go out and jam with other people or other bands,” he continued. “Unless Eddie was a part of it. Maybe he feels that… Since his brother’s gone, he doesn’t feel the desire to go out and play anymore. But I can only speculate. When I found out about this auction and started checking it out, it is pretty sad, because it truly means that it’s the end of anything that that could have been as far as tribute-wise, you know?”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.