SAMMY Hagar and his band are working on a song which pays tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen and which will be released as a single.
The former VH singer made the revelation in a wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone in which he also addressed Alex Van Halen’s seeming antipathy towards him and discussed the controversial departure of drummer Jason Bonham from his line-up for an upcoming Las Vegas residency.
Discussing the new composition, he said: “Joe (Satriani) and I have written a song … which I won’t go into too much about it, but we’re going to record a new song for this residency. I said ‘let’s take 5150, let’s take this, let’s take that, the essence of all these things’ and he crushed it with me.
“I mean, it was like this could be a song that Eddie and I would’ve written. It’s not copying nobody but it’s like I said, because he knows where Eddie was coming from and now he knows his style. When you hear the intro on this song, you’re going to shit, man. It’s just as iconic as anything I’ve ever been involved with.”
It’s not know if Aussie multi-instrumentalist Rai Thistlethwayte – who plays keyboards and guitar as well as providing backing vocals in Hagar’s band – will appear on the recording.
“It’ll be a single, I guess,” Hagar continued.
“We’re working on it right now. Mike (Anthony) and I just finished the bass and the background vocals. I took a shot at a lead vocal, but I don’t know if it’s done yet.
“Joe’s got his parts done. Kenny (Aronoff) played drums. I gotta tell you, it was emotional singing it, because the song, it’s about Eddie. That’s the best I can put it. It’s a thank you to him and it’s a ‘thank you’ to the fans and it’s a ‘thank you’ to that era.”
Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, was not invited to take part in the residency after he was forced to return to England because of his mother’s illness shortly before the Nashville show which we reviewed. Instead, replacement Aronoff kept his place – something which the Englishman said he found disappointing.
Writing on the Instagram account of New York rock station @104.3, Hagar said: “Scheduling is very difficult when you have musicians that have other bands and agendas.
“Having Kenny in Joe Satriani’s band takes away a major scheduling problem for next year 2025 . If Joe is available, Kenny is available.”
Drummer Alex Van Halen is dismissive of Hagar in the new book Brothers, barely mentioning him. “I will not take this to my grave, and I don’t want Al taking it to his grave,” Hagar commented on what appears a one-sided feud.
Hagar says he encountered Alex’s nephew Wolfgang at the Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony on October 19 and the pair got on famously.
Of Alex’s claim in Brothers that a planned EVH Tribute tour was canned because singer David Lee Roth refused to pay tribute to the late guitarist, Hagar told Rolling Stone: “Yeah. Pure fuckin’ ego.’This show’s about me. What are you talking about?’ That’s so wrong.”
HEAR OUR INTERVIEWS WITH DOZENS OF ARTISTS VIA OUR PATREON PAGE. EAVESDROP AS WE TALK TO SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN ROCK AND METAL – FROM 1987 TO THE PRESENT!
Features:
Audio interviews:
