There is clearly no love lost, at least on Alex Van Halen’s side, when it comes to the drummer’s relationship with ex-Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar. Alex left out the entirety of Hagar’s era with the band in his new book, “Brothers,” and literally didn’t even mention the frontman by name.
There have been reports that the rocky relationship is due to a previous bad business venture and/or Hagar’s tell-all autobiography where he detailed the drug/alcohol use of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar responded to being left out of Alex Van Halen’s book and the drummer’s comments that Hagar and company “are not doing the band justice. They can do what they want to do. That’s not my business.” Alex also previously told Rolling Stone: “The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike and me.”
Hagar’s response? “It’s sad,” he said. “I haven’t read the whole book, but I’ve seen all the excerpts, and I heard some of the interviews. It breaks my heart, because if I think what Alex is going through, losing his brother, never played with anybody else in his life, and then his health.”
Hagar also commented on Alex’s health. “When I saw how rickety he is, I realized, ‘No wonder he’s not answering my call when I say, ‘Do you want to go out and play with us?” He can’t. That breaks my heart, because I can only put myself in those shoes and say, ‘What if I couldn’t sing and perform anymore?’ The thing that I did my whole life, the thing I devoted my life to, the thing that made me rich and famous and gave me the most beautiful life on the planet, and all of a sudden I can’t do that anymore? I would feel like I was robbing the fans, to start with. When you put yourself in his shoes, I’m saying, ‘Okay, I feel sorry for him.'”
Hagar continued: “Why he left me out, I would like to hear him explain that someday, because I don’t get it completely. I know that he’s bitter about some things, whatever that is… It’s like, ‘If you don’t want that era, that even gives me more justification to say I own it then,’ because no one else can do it, and he can’t do it even without me. It makes it easier for Mike and I. We’re sitting there going, ‘Okay, I guess we own this,’ and we have the obligation to bring this to the fans to keep this music alive, keep it live and alive. This music is too good to throw away.”
Hagar still hopes to one day make peace with Alex. “It’s on my bucket list that I will not take this to my grave, and I don’t want Al taking it to his grave,” he said. “I’ve put the olive branch out there many times, and I just put it out again to (Van Halen manager) Irving Azoff. I want to be friends. I don’t want to play in a band with Al. I’m not asking for that. I can see that he’s not capable of doing that. If he was, I’d be happy to play with him, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to be friends again.”
Alex was also a recent guest on Talk Is Jericho, where he revealed how much unreleased music remains from his brother.
