SAMMY HAGAR And MICHAEL ANTHONY On EDDIE VAN HALEN's Death: 'It Was Just Like Getting Hit By A Freaking Mack Truck'

October 8, 2020

Former VAN HALEN members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have released a new video message, filmed on Wednesday (October 7) at rehearsals for Hagar's annual birthday bash, which was moved to Catalina Island in California due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the clip, Sammy and Michael talk about the passing of their longtime VAN HALEN bandmate Eddie Van Halen, who died on on Tuesday (October 6) at the age of 65 following a long cancer battle.

"For Mike and I, it was just like getting hit by a freaking Mack truck," Sammy said about learning of Eddie's death. "It kind of took the wind out of the sails. I just wanna say that I'm kind of devastated. A VAN HALEN song never felt so hard to sing and play in my life."

Anthony added: "It was hard. It's very surreal right now. It hasn't sunk in yet."

Hagar continued: "What I felt playing especially a song like 'Right Now' that is so timeless, that I felt, 'Wow, thank God for this.' We'll never play it with Eddie again, but thank God for this."

Anthony said: "We have the music, if nothing else."

The video concludes with Anthony, Hagar and the rest of THE CIRCLE playing the first few seconds of "Right Now", preceded by Hagar asking for a moment of silence.

Eddie and Alex formed VAN HALEN in 1972 in Pasadena, California, with David Lee Roth on lead vocals and Anthony on bass.

VAN HALEN and Anthony had not been on good terms for more than a decade, with Anthony not invited to join the reunion with Roth that began in 2007. The subsequent two tours and studio album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", featured Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass.

Anthony took a pay cut and signed away all of his rights to the band name and logo in order to participate in VAN HALEN's 2004 tour, which featured Hagar.

Hagar replaced David Lee Roth in VAN HALEN in 1985 and recorded four studio albums with the band — "5150", "OU812", "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" and "Balance" — all of which topped the U.S. chart.

VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

Find more on Van halen

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).