Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen haven’t been on speaking terms in 21 years, and the Red Rocker has a couple theories as to why the drummer is upset with him, with one being jealousy.
Hagar recently released the new single “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” inspired by a dream he had about Eddie Van Halen. The singer and his all-star backing band of Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Kenny Aronoff are set to kick off their “Best of All Worlds” Las Vegas residency on Wednesday night (April 30th) at Dolby Live at Park MGM (pick up tickets here).
Back in 2022, Hagar revealed that he’d been completely cut off by his onetime Van Halen bandmate, saying, “Alex has got a stick up his ass about something with me still.”
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Alex then completely ignored the Van Hagar years of Van Halen in his 2024 memoir, Brothers, with Hagar insisting that not mentioning that era of the band was “blasphemy” to Eddie Van Halen’s legacy.
Now, in a new conversation with Rolling Stone, Hagar said, “I dreamt about Alex the other night, man. It was crazy. And it was so friggin’ real. I was saying, ‘What are you pissed off at me about, man? What the fuck? Now just tell me what your problem is. What did I do? Just tell me.’”
When the interviewer suggested that the feud may be because Hagar detailed “the worst period of Eddie’s life” in his own 2011 memoir, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, Hagar dismissed that notion.
“I don’t think that’s it,” responded Hagar, “And I’ve had this conversation with a few people, including [former Van Halen manager] Irving Azoff. I’ve asked him, ‘What’s the problem?’ And some people have said to me, ‘Oh, Cabo Wabo. At one time, Van Halen, when you built it, you guys were all partners in that. And then they didn’t want it anymore when it was losing money, and they gave it to you, and you turned it around and made hundreds of millions of dollars on it. And they’re angry. Alex is angry about that.’”
He added, “To that I said, ‘How the fuck could they be angry about that? They gave me the damn thing, they walked out on me, left me with it. And they made me indemnify them in case I got sued and lost everything. They made me sign off big time.’ And I’m going, ‘I hope it’s not that.’”
For his part, Hagar thinks it has more to do with the fact that he’s still recording music and playing shows, while Alex has been relatively inactive for the past decade or so.
“I think Al’s angry because I’m out doing it, and [bassist] Mike [Anthony] and I are out doing it, and he can’t,” surmised Hagar. “He’s not a singer. He’s not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader. And he seems like he doesn’t want to play drums or can’t play drums anymore, and he can’t go write a new record. Alex wasn’t the songwriter in the band. He was the drummer. Eddie and I wrote the songs. Dave and Eddie wrote the songs, and so we can go out and do them.”
He continued, “I think that really bothers him that Mike and I are still out there doing it. I would feel bad. If I put myself in his shoes, I would feel terrible if I couldn’t do it anymore. But I’m the happiest guy out of all of them. That pisses people off in itself. Being too happy, people don’t like that.”
The interviewer then mentioned that Alex’s bitterness could do with recent health issues that have prevented him from performing, as well as Eddie’s passing in October 2020. Hagar answered, “Yeah, I’d say so. And I’m okay with it. Al, you’re fine. Just leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. Everything’s good. I’m making you money, by the way, Al. I’m out there selling Van Halen records and keeping the name alive, keeping the music alive.”
