Alex Van Halen recently revealed that he’s working on a new Van Halen album built around previously unreleased and unfinished material that his late brother and bandmate, Eddie Van Halen, had been working on before his death.
The project is said to feature Alex on drums, Eddie on guitar, and Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. The only element still missing is a lead vocalist.
Now, in an interview with Rock of Nations, former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony were asked whether they’ve had any involvement in the project.
“No. We haven’t been asked, number one,” Hagar replied, before going on to explain just how extensive Van Halen’s vault of unreleased material is.
“I can tell you, the day I walked in the studio, in 5150, to basically, if you wanna call it an audition, but to meet the guys and to play music, we played for about eight hours at least. And we recorded everything. Everything that I ever did, and every time we made a record, we recorded hundreds of hours of jam and music, and then we cut ’em up, made songs. That’s the way we did it. So there’s so much stuff from Mike and I and Ed and Al in the studio.”
“So there’s so much stuff that Al could really choose from, if he wanted to include Mike and I,” he continued. “But, obviously, Al’s got a reason, and he’s Alex Van Halen; he can do whatever he wants. And, to me, it’s an Alex Van Halen project, and it’s not necessarily a Van Halen project, but I guess we’ll see if it ever sees the light today.”
Hagar did admit, however, that he regrets being left out and would welcome the chance to be involved.
“But I’m disappointed that Mike and I wouldn’t be invited. It’s, like, what? Are you kidding me? We’re still alive. We’re out here doing it. We’re playing those songs. We can still do it, you know?”
Anthony then chimed in, adding: “Yeah. If this is material that we jammed on or whatever, I’d have no problem coming in and singing or [playing bass] or whatever. It’s all good there.”
