Fans have a tough time imagining David Lee Roth and Sammy Haggar in the same room, let alone doing something together with surviving members of Van Halen. The failed “reunion” or “tribute” event, which should have featured Jason Newsted and Joe Satriani, most likely never happen. Aside from Newsted spilling the beans, it seems that there are at least two factors preventing the whole thing.
No progress has been reported on a possible Van Halen tribute show since April when former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted revealed to The Palm Beach Post that he was approached by the Van Halen drummer about six months earlier about playing bass for the project.
Sammy Hagar opens up on David Lee Roth
As Sammy Hagar revealed in a recent chat with Eddie Trunk, it’s not just David Lee Roth holding it up but also Alex Van Halen. Asked about the whole thing, he replied:
“As far as I know, [there has been] nothing. There was that talk everybody heard about Jason being the bass player and Joe Satriani playing guitar and Alex and all that. Then I got the call from the management, I got the call from Irving Azoff, [who] said, ‘Hey, you wanna do, you and Mike and Al with a superstar guitar player?’ I said, ‘I’ll do anything with Al and Mike and play music with people, but it’s not gonna be Van Halen. There is no Van Halen; I don’t care what anyone says. Wolfie is Van Halen, okay?”
He also added:
“And he doesn’t wanna be the Van Halen copy band. I don’t blame him; he’s doing a great job on his own stuff, and it’s very cool when he jams a little bit here and there. He’s Van Halen, and if he wanted to play guitar with Al and Mikey and myself, I would love to do that.
“That would be just one time for the big time. Not like, ‘Okay, let’s go out and tour the world and make records.’ No, no, no, no. There is no Van Halen, but to play with Al and Mike and a great guitar player for some event — almost like the event that Dave Grohl put on for Taylor [Hawkins], something like that would be fantastic. But other than that, no.”
Eddie Trunk then reminded Sammy of Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s son, mentioning recently how it’s Roth who’s holding it back, to which he replied:
“It ain’t just one guy. Alex Van Halen and I don’t talk. I reached out to Alex. I’m gonna tell you right now — I reached out to Alex again recently. Mikey [Anthony] had a sad thing happen in his family, and I reached out to Al, and he wouldn’t return my call or my e-mail. And so I said, ‘You know what? Fuck it.’ It’s not on the top of my list, my agenda. I think Eddie deserves, definitely, a tribute… And the whole world would show up and the whole world would do it.
“I don’t know why people put it on Roth. I don’t talk to Dave. And if he did it, he’d wanna do it without me. I’m sure that’s part of the dysfunction that Wolfie’s talking about. I’ll make a statement that I don’t know is true or not, but what do you wanna bet that he goes, ‘I will only do it if Hagar’s not there.’ And if that were the case, that’s typical Roth, and that’s part of the dysfunction. It’s not like he controls it; it’s just [that] he doesn’t play well with others. And like I said, if Alex came to me and wanted to do it, I’m in. Absolutely — let’s go [and] do it somehow. But Alex has got a stick up his ass about something with me still, and he’s gonna take it to his grave, I guess. [I made peace with Eddie before he died but] I don’t think I made peace with Al. And I don’t think I’m going to unless he reaches back out to me. I’ve done it about five times now.”
