SAMMY HAGAR: EDDIE VAN HALEN Is Playing Better Than Ever

Sammy Hagar has confirmed during an appearance on "The Howard Stern Show" Friday morning (March 26) that he has been working with VAN HALEN for a couple of months on new material that will be included on a compilation disc due this summer.

The following is a synopsis of this morning's show, as reported by MarksFriggin.com:

"Howard came back from break and brought up the VAN HALEN reunion with Sammy Hagar. Howard wanted Gary to call Hagar and find out if this is really going to happen. Hagar was on the line a minute later. Howard couldn't believe that he was getting back together with them after all of the stuff he said.

"Sammy asked Howard to go easy on him this early in the morning. He played tape of Sammy saying that he would only go back if he needed money. Sammy was laughing as he heard his own comments. During that old interview Sammy said that he thought that the band really burned him.

"Sammy said he was being honest back then and this reunion has nothing to do with stuff that happened in the old days. Sammy laughed as he told Howard that he's out of money. Howard played another clip where Sammy said that Eddie was drunk from the first day he met him. Sammy said that he tried to get Eddie to stop drinking but they kept bad mouthing him after they fired him. Sammy was laughing once again as he heard this old tape. Sammy was talking about how he found out he was fired in the clip.

"Howard asked Sammy how he had a complete change of heart after all of that stuff was said. Sammy told Howard that he has no explanation for that stuff... it's a rock and roll band. He said he started talking to Alex (Van Halen) first and had lunch with him one day. He said it was great to see him and he always stayed friends with Mike (Anthony). That led to Eddie wanting to call Sammy and they eventually agreed to get back together. Sammy told Howard that they didn't do any apologizing to one another, they just got back together. Howard said that would be like him getting back together with his wife or something. That will never happen.

"Sammy said he went and visited the guys and Eddie had some new stuff he was working on. He said the music was extremely inspiring and they started writing songs again. Howard asked him if it was uncomfortable to be in a room with guys who fired him on Fathers' Day 8 years ago. Sammy said they've been playing together for about 3 months now and they've gotten over a lot of stuff. He said he was very nervous to be with them again but he loves VAN HALEN's music and always has.

"Howard asked him if he knows that he's not Eddie's 'bro' when he's jamming with him in the studio. Sammy said he's really not mad at Eddie at this point. He said it's far beyond that at this point. Howard wants to go back stage and see the tension in the room. Sammy said he would set him up with a room so he could hang out with them to see for himself.

"Sammy said that Eddie is healthy and playing better than ever. He told Howard that the first song they're releasing is 'It's About Time' and it's great. Howard says he thinks Sammy will have a restraining order against Eddie by the first show they do. He also wondered if this is a Clear Channel tour they're doing. Sammy said that it's a mix of a bunch of stuff. He thought that Howard would patch things up with Clear Channel if he was out of money one day. Howard said he would never do that because Clear Channel is making him go to court to get his money.

"Sammy invited Howard to come to all of their shows to check them out if he wanted. Howard said he might have a lot of free time soon if the FCC has their way.

"Howard took a few phone calls for Sammy and let some guys kiss his ass and bash him as well. One caller asked Sammy what his favorite VAN HALEN song was that he did with the band. Sammy said his favorite has to be 'Dreams'. Howard couldn't believe what he was hearing as far as the band getting back together. He asked Sammy who Eddie is banging these days since Valerie Bertinelli is out of the picture. Sammy said Ed is banging a lot of chicks and Howard would be proud of him.

"A woman called in and told Sammy he was an idiot for going back to the band after what happened. She seems to think that the band is going to crap all over him again. Sammy said he should go into hiding while all of this is going on. Howard said he sees what Sammy is doing and he's probably doing it because it's part his band too and he shouldn't have to give it up. Sammy said things feel better now than it ever did and he's beyond all of that other stuff.

"Sammy told Howard he doesn't care if this thing goes for 100 more years or 15 minutes. The songs they've written in the past 3 months are great and he thinks the time is right to do this. Howard thought that they should call Eddie and fire him from the band. Sammy told Howard to call him.

"Howard wanted to talk to Sammy about being abducted by Aliens when he was 19 or 20 years old. He read something that Sammy wrote about being abducted way back in 1968. He admitted that he sounded like a nut talking about aliens but he thinks that the aliens downloaded all of the information from his brain. He said they called them 'The Nine' because they're from the ninth dimension. Sammy said he wasn't doing drugs back then either. Sammy told Howard that they downloaded his brain information and loaded it into his brain, that's why he is who he is. Sammy told Robin that he couldn't see the aliens because they were just energy. He believes that the aliens gave him information for everything he's done in his life.

"Howard took a call from an Alien researcher from a group called MUFON. He wanted Sammy to do an interview with them. Sammy told the guy to just print what Howard had just gone over. He couldn't book an interview at this time. Howard thanked Sammy for picking up the phone and talking to him. He was going to let him go because he was out on the West Coast and it was only 6:15 in the morning. Sammy also apologized to the guys in the band for the conversation because Howard had just caught him.

"Howard and Robin both said they're looking forward to seeing the band again. They both like the band a lot. Howard played some of the VAN HALEN stuff that Sammy has done in the past. He also played the clips of Sammy talking about how he wouldn't go back to the band unless he needed the money while 'Right Now' was playing in the background. He went to break after that."