SAMMY HAGAR Says EDDIE VAN HALEN Claims He Cured Himself Of Cancer

According to The Pulse Of Radio, in Sammy Hagar's new memoir "Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock", which will be released on March 15, he talks frankly and candidly about his former partner, Eddie Van Halen. In the book, Hagar points out some of the more outlandish displays from Eddie in recent times, recalling in 2004 when the pair met at Eddie's house to discuss the VAN HALEN reunion tour with Hagar, "He finally invited me over to this giant, extravagant house that he and Valerie (Bertinelli) had built before she split. It looked like vampires lived there. There were bottles and cans all over the floor. The handle was broken off the refrigerator door. There were spider webs everywhere. . . He told me he cured himself by having pieces of his tongue liquefied and injected into his body. He also told me when he had his hip replacement, he stayed awake through the operation and helped the doctors drill a hole. What a fruitcake."

Hagar was asked by Rolling Stone whether he believes that VAN HALEN will ever release a new album with David Lee Roth. "I hope so, but I don't have a lot of faith in those guys' work ethic," he said. "It just seems like they've had every opportunity in the world to make a record. They've had two singers, and three singers if you want to count Gary (Cherone). . . They've had Dave or me these past few years. If they wanted to be reasonable either one of us would have done a record with that band. I love that band. Eddie's got his own studio, his brother lives about two miles away, plays drums, Eddie plays guitar, bass, keyboards. . . Why wouldn't they make a record in all that time? Something's really wrong. So to think that that's fixed now all of a sudden. . . I have a hard time believing that."

When asked if he can see Eddie and David Lee Roth hunkering down and writing what will amount to the first new VAN HALEN album by any lineup since 1998, Hagar admitted, "Nah, I can't. They took a long time to get it back together. They aborted about 20 reunions, as we all know. But the last one, I was betting against that too. I thought, 'Oh this will never happen.' After I went out and did some shows with Dave and said, 'Wow, now I understand why these guys can't get back together.' You know, they're both quirky. They did the reunion, they finally got that done so maybe they'll finally get a record out. It would be great — the fans deserve some new VAN HALEN music. And as great a musician as Ed is, he really needs to be more prolific because we need more great music out there. There's a lot of bad music out there. We need guys like Eddie Van Halen."

Hagar went on to say: "I will make one statement that you will love: If they do make a record, it better be fucking good. We've waited a long time and it better be fucking good, man. Do not make a mediocre record, folks. Because if you do, not only am I gonna be on your ass, but everybody else is too, because it's been a long time, you've had time to put together something great."

Hagar recalled that back in 2004 when he and current CHICKENFOOT bandmate Michael Anthony recorded three new songs for VAN HALEN's "Best Of Both Worlds" compilation, the pace that the band was working at was far to slow for him. "We tried to make a record, but, y'know, it just was taking so long we only got three songs done, and not 'cause of me, I'll tell ya straight up," he said. "If anyone ever says anything like that I was the problem on that record, they're crazy. I had my stuff totally together. I went in, I knocked my stuff out, and then Eddie would take months to do a guitar solo or something. It was just way too drawn out. I can't work like that."