Sammy Hagar has told RollingStone.com in a new interview that he would be open to rekindling his friendship with the Van Halen brothers, but has made it clear that he will not be the first one to reach out.
“It would be misinterpreted,” Hagar said. “I know the way those guys think. ‘Oh, he wants something! He wants back in the band. He must be broke.’ I’m sorry, but unless they’ve changed drastically, which when I’ve talked to people that do know them it sounds like they haven’t changed at all, it would be misinterpreted. I also don’t want to provoke that. That’s not what I’m looking for in my life now.'”
Hagar added that he would be receptive to meeting with his former bandmates if they got in contact. “I’d say, ‘Fuck yeah, let’s get some coffee,'” he said. “If I did it myself, I’d be way too vulnerable. I’d be in a room with the guys like, ‘No, no. You don’t understand. That’s not what I’m talking about. I just want to be friends. And once we’re friends, we can do anything. Until that is proven, I can’t be in a band with you guys, or whatever.'”
Hagar also insisted that he would never even consider a reunion with VAN HALEN unless Eddie and Alex Van Halen also agreed to bring back original bassist Michael Anthony. “There’s no scenario I’d do it without Mikey,” Hagar said. “Absolutely not. I would do a solo album with Ed. We can call it the SAM AND ED SHOW or the ED AND SAM SHOW. But there’s no such thing as a VAN HALEN reunion without Mikey. I think they just proved that.”
Rumors that VAN HALEN’s original singer David Lee Roth could possibly once again be succeeded by Hagar have become more persistent during the band’s current hiatus.
Hagar sent a tweet to Eddie Van Halen in January wishing him a happy birthday — and got a cordial response — despite the bad blood that has existed between the two of them since 2004. Hagar later said that part of the reason he did it was because of the recent deaths of rock legends Glenn Frey and David Bowie.
VAN HALEN has been quiet since completing a North American tour last fall and putting out a concert set called “Tokyo Dome: Live In Concert”.
Source: Blabbermouth
