Former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony were interviewed by Howard Stern on Tuesday morning, and Hagar said that David Lee Roth isn’t a good enough singer to pull off his ‘Van Hagar’ era Van Halen songs. Michael Anthony also confirmed he was contacted about a Van Halen reunion last year, but talks fell apart and never went anywhere.
MarksFriggin.com recapped: Howard said they first album they did was 5150 and he wondered how it went. Sammy said they did a couple of other Van Halen songs and then the whole 5150 album. He said that he had a huge fan base of his own and they all got along. He said it was the greatest time in his musical career. He said they’re having fun with The Circle now. He said they play some Van Halen songs. Howard said he likes the sound of this new album. He said he has every right to play Van Halen songs. He said they’re half the band.
Sammy said that they don’t play his stuff in the Van Halen shows with Dave. He said Dave can’t sing them. He said they play a bunch of different songs from his career. He said it’s so well rounded that they called the band The Circle.
Howard said he loves when Michael Anthony comes in with the background vocals. He said he’s so good. He said that the Van Halens were criticizing his background vocals when they got rid of him. He said that’s mind blowing to him. Sammy said the backgrounds were important to the band even before he joined it. He said that you hear that trumpet voice and he hits that note. He said it’s so identifiable.
Howard said when they get together and record stuff they work out the vocals. Howard said he wants to hear Michael behind him. Sammy said it’s part of the sound. He said it’s not just the bass. He said you get his voice too.
Howard said he wants to hear that famous sound. He asked the guys to start off with ”Finish What You Started.” He said this song is interesting. He said they did this Van Halen song and Sammy plays guitar on this song. Sammy said it was the only song he played guitar on with Van Halen. He said that Eddie came to his house at 2 in the morning one night. He said that he was throwing pebbles at his window. He said Eddie asked him to come down. He said he went out and Eddie smoked outside with him coming up with this song. He said they just wrote this song outside at 2 in the morning. He said that Eddie put some stuff into what he had already. Howard said they could still be doing this stuff together. He said it doesn’t happen when someone joins the band and it works so well. Sammy said that he and Sebastian Bach were talking about it and how chemistry is a rare thing.
