Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar revealed how he knocked out his Monrose bandmate at a show in the new book No Encore by Drew Fortune. Dave Grohl leaked a Van Halen rehearsal video with himself playing the role of Alex Van Halen yesterday.
“We had a really good relationship with Bill Graham, and he gave us our first big shot. We played a couple clubs just to get our shit together, made a record, and then Bill puts us on at Winterland, opening for Humble Pie. I had a microphone stand that I had gold-plated with my advance money. I thought it was just the coolest thing in the world. I was a big fan of Rod Stewart, and I loved the way that he used to take his three-legged microphone stand, twirl it around, and throw it up in the air. I had never done that because I had never been on a big enough stage to try it. The ceiling where we used to rehearse wasn’t even tall enough for me to jump fully in the air, so I had literally never even experimented with microphone stand acrobatics.
At soundcheck, day of the Winterland show, I didn’t even practice my mic stand moves, but I knew I was going to do it during the show. We get on stage and, during the very first song, I flipped the fucking gold-plated mic stand into the air. The heavy end of it came right down on our bassist Bill Church’s head, and it fucking knocked him out cold. I’m talking unconscious, with blood rushing down his face. The stand broke the headstock of his Fender bass, the instrument that had been on all the Van Morrison records.”
Hagar’s The Circle bandmate Michael Anthony released an emotional homage to Eddie Van Halen over the weekend. A Van Halen reunion tour has been rumored with Anthony returning to the band. The excerpt is from Louder Sound.
NDL gave an interesting on Hagar in a new VHLinks.com post: ‘Would Sammy Have Been Better Outside Of Van Halen As A Solo Artist?’
“This isn’t a topic that many people have touched (at least to the extent that I have noticed). Hopefully this won’t turn into a DLR vs Sammy debate: would Sammy have been a better artist outside of Van Halen, as if he had never joined the band? Hear me out: Sammy’s last work before 5150 came in the form of HSAS, and Through The Fire was a pretty solid record.
One of my chief complaints about Van Hagar is that many, (though certainly not all), songs lack EVH’s “raw” guitar work. What’s kind of ironic – and I know that some will disagree – if you listen to Sam’s solo material, it’s a bit less melodic, and a little “harder” than what is his work in Van Halen.
Would Sammy as a solo artist have produced harder hitting material than what Van Hagar produced? I don’t know. I spent a day in the hot Carolina sun, and It’s past midnight…maybe I am rambling. Maybe not.” Sammy Hagar reacted last week to a claim that he is balding after a new photo surfaced.