SAMMY HAGAR Happy To Let VAN HALEN Remain In The Past

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Sammy Hagar says that nearly a decade after last performing with VAN HALEN, he's happy to let his run in the band stay in the past. On September 24, Hagar releases his star-studded solo set, called "Sammy Hagar & Friends". Among the high-profile guest performers and/or writers are Hagar's CHICKENFOOT bandmates Michael Anthony, Chad Smith, and Joe Satriani, along with Kid Rock, Ronnie Dunn, JOURNEY's Neal Schon, HEART's Nancy Wilson and various members of MONTROSE. The album will feature covers of BOB SEGER's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" and DEPECHE MODE's "Personal Jesus".

Hagar spoke to Rolling Stone and when asked if he would ever consider dueting with former touring partner and fellow VAN HALEN frontman David Lee Roth, Hagar said, "It's so hard! Because, probably, if he came to me, fuck yeah. I'll do anything. But to go to him and put myself in that vulnerable position, I would get probably the wisest fucking crack that ever came out of his mouth. I don't think Dave wants to sing with me. I don't think Dave wants to be in the same room with me, to be honest with you. I don't know if I intimidate him or if I piss him off or if he just flat don't like me, or if he's afraid of me. I don't know what it is, but he and I do not get together. We tried. I gave it every shot I had on that tour. And I could care less. I mean, I'm totally over the guy."

Hagar couldn't let the VAN HALEN subject go, adding: "As a matter of fact, the whole idea of VAN HALEN — people ask me all the time, 'What if Eddie [Van Halen] 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 can't sing it, so what the fuck. 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 [Van Halen] shouldn't be that, someday, in our lives. But until then, it's all fine."

For his new solo set, Sammy Hagar partially revived his early-'80s supergroup with JOURNEY's Neal Schon, with the addition of his CHICKENFOOT bandmates Michael Anthony and Chad Smith — a band which Hagar maintains is a force to be reckoned with. "That band is so good, that we got the first take on 'Goin' Down' and we got the first take on 'Personal Jesus'," he said. "Y'know, we went ahead and took some more, but it was the first take that was fine that was the magic. When you've got musicians like that. . . We even wrote another song, I mean, we just jammed another song that coulda be another song instantly, [laughs] I was just out of time for, y'know, creating new songs. But that band right there, [laughs], which we're calling HSAS, is capable of going in and recording an album in a week and going out on tour, like CHICKENFOOT and putting on a phenomenal show."