Sammy Hagar recently talked about his efforts in a recent interview to reach out to Alex Van Halen for their upcoming “Best of All Worlds Tour.” This tour is meant to celebrate their musical legacies together with Joe Satriani on guitar, Michael Anthony on bass, and Jason Bonham on drums. Despite their best attempts, Hagar and Anthony couldn’t get Alex to respond.
Hagar said they tried reaching out to Alex multiple times through emails, texts, phone calls, and even leaving messages, but got no reply. They wanted Alex to join them, suggesting they meet up for meals, play music together, or just have a conversation. However, Alex didn’t show interest in any of these ideas.
Hagar mentioned that he and Alex don’t have a close relationship anymore. When the tour plans were set, they made a final effort to include Alex, but still got no response. Hagar recalled Alex saying they were all getting older, but even with that in mind, Alex didn’t seem interested in joining them for the tour.
“Mike and I reached out to Alex before we did this. We reached out to him a dozen times before this tour, in every way. E-mail, text message, phone call, message on the machine, okay? No response. No response. I mean, we made every offer to get together or to just talk or to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Go to the studio and play. Come to my house or I’ll come to your house. Go ride horses, go sit on the beach. What do you want to do? Let’s just do something. Let’s get together. And nothing.”
Hagar hoped Alex might at least come to a show in Los Angeles, but Alex had reportedly sold his equipment and showed no interest in participating. Despite his disappointment, Hagar understood the situation and accepted that things might not change between them anytime soon.
“When the tour came, the first person we called and left all of the messages, sent all of emails, it was Alex Van Halen. Mike and I said, ‘We’re wanting to do this thing.’ Alex’s famous line to me [was], ‘Sammy, we ain’t getting any younger.’ Mike and I said, ‘Alex, we ain’t getting any younger. We’re going out and playing for the people. We’re going to go honor the Van Halen catalog. Let’s just get together and let’s talk about it. Mike and I, we’re going out, we’re going to do this, Alex. Please join us. Let’s be friends, let’s bury the hatchet, whatever.’ There was no response.”
“I was saying, ‘He’ll come to a show, he’s got to in L.A. or something. I’m sure he’ll come.’ But no, no, he sold all of his equipment. That was his statement. That was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t coming nowhere.'”
Alex Van Halen also didn’t play on the band’s album in case you didn’t know.