Alex Van Halen has said that Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have not not been doing Van Halen "justice".
While in conversation with Billboard to promote his new memoire, Brothers, the Van Halen sticksman explains why he refused the invite to join his former bandmates on the road for The Best Of All Worlds tour this year, which focused on The Red Rocker's time within the legendary band.
"I'm not interested", he affirms. "They're not doing the band justice. They can do what they want to do. That's not my business."
The Best Of All Worlds tour featured the aforementioned ex-Van Halen members, alongside Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham, and followed highly-rumoured yet unfulfilled plans for a Van Halen tribute project.
Speaking of Brothers, which excludes Hagar's decade-long tenure within Van Halen
from 1985 to 1996, as well as their following three-year collaboration with Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone, the drummer continues, "What happened after Dave left is not the same band. I'm not saying it was better or worse of any of that. ...But the magic was in the first years, when we didn't know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything."
Elsewhere in the interview, Van Halen opens up on his decision to not include any negative gossip within the book: "It's not about the dirt. If I start throwing dirt, it'll never end.
"I think some people would like that; that's how projects are sold nowadays. I think it divides the audience, and we're not here to divide."
Back in August, Hagar told the Las Vegas Journal that he had tried to contact Alex on numerous occasions in hope of him joining the trek. “I reached out to Alex a dozen times, before this tour was announced, and got no response,” Hagar said. “I mean, I’ve asked him to meet me under any conditions, any circumstances, anytime, anyplace, anywhere. It’s not like, ‘Well, let me think about it.’ It’s like, no answer. Zero.”
Alex will host book-signing events for Brothers in the US, starting with an appearance in New York City's Barnes & Noble tonight on October 21, followed by Northvale's Books & Greetings on October 22. In Los Angeles on October 24, the drummer will additionally be hosting a live conversation event at the Frost Auditorium in Culver City.
