Sammy Hagar doesn’t think Alex Van Halen is ‘user-friendly.’
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, the singer said he would be happy to work on the tapes Eddie Van Halen left behind but Alex is hard to convince:
“I don’t think Alex is user-friendly. I don’t know why, but he’s just not. If Al were user-friendly, I would get with Al, and Wolfie and go in there, go through it, pick the pieces I could make a song out of, and write the lyrics and melody and make a song out of it, and piece it together. And yeah, get Mikey on board and go in there and we can have a Van Halen record. I guarantee you Eddie’s got a ton of stuff.”
Hagar continued:
“But Alex would have to be involved. And of course, Wolfie would be user-friendly; Wolfie’s got no angst against nobody. He should be the happiest kid in the world right now, I’m so happy for him right now I can’t tell ya.”
Hagar’s Earlier Words On Unreleased Van Halen Material
Still, Sammy previously seemed against releasing any unreleased Van Halen recordings from his time with the band. In an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Hagar was asked about the possibility but didn’t support the idea:
“Van Halen didn’t have many songs that were completed that didn’t come out. Maybe there’s some stuff we could add background vocals to, or that I could write new lyrics for. But I’m leery about doing that. Because the legacy of Van Halen is so great, and, prior to me joining the band, the legacy is pure greatness: Eddie’s guitar work, the band’s playing, the songs.”
The vocalist added:
“Anything left over wasn’t good enough to be on those records. I don’t care what anyone says; putting out [unreleased music] wouldn’t do anything, other than make someone a little money. But I know Eddie had a ton of jamming stuff he made on cassette tapes because that’s how we wrote songs… So, maybe. Who knows what they could put together?”
In 2020, Wolfgang Van Halen said it would take some time before he went through his father’s vault of unreleased recordings. He couldn’t provide a timeline and mentioned it wouldn’t happen in the near future.
