Sammy Hagar claims his former Van Halen bandmates are trying to stop him performing the songs he co-wrote as a member of the band.
He fronted the rock icons between 1985 and 1996, recording four albums in the process. He’s now with The Circle, featuring ex-bassist Michael Anthony, while their supergroup Chickenfoot appears to have ground to a halt.
He’s recently been involved in a war of words with David Lee Roth, arguing that the returned original vocalist isn’t capable of delivering his material.
Hagar tells Eddie Trunk: “We sold 47 million records, whatever it was. We had all those number 1s. Those are great songs – Right Now, When It’s Love, Finish What You Started. They need to be played for the people that supported it during the era.
“If you want to know the truth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen are trying to stop me from being to even play those songs. They’ve had attorneys and people say, ‘No, he can’t play them.’
“They will actually fight legally to try and stop me. I’m going crazy – I’m going, ‘I’m going to break these guys’ necks.’”
Hagar reports that he’s called in his own lawyer. “I’m going to fight these guys to the end,” he says. “Those are my songs. I wrote every lyric and every melody on every one of those songs.”
He’s accused the Van Halens of jealousy, saying: “I’m going, ‘Why would you shoot yourself in the foot like that?’ Just because you can’t do them any more. it’s like they don’t want them to be heard – they want to pretend it never happened because of what they’re doing now.”
Van Halen recently released live album Tokyo Dome In Concert and start a US tour next month:
Jul 05: Seattle White River Amphitheatre, WA
Jul 07: Portland Amphitheater Northwest, OR
Jul 09: Concord Concord Pavilion, CA
Jul 11: San Bernardino San Manuel Amphitheater, CA
Jul 14: Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, CA
Jul 16: Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA
Jul 18: Salt Lake City USANA Amphitheatre, UT
Jul 20: Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre, CO
Jul 22: Kansas City Cricket Wireless Amphitheater, MO
Jul 24: Chicago First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, IL
Jul 26: St. Louis Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, MO
Jul 28: Pittsburgh First Niagra Pavilion, PA
Jul 30: Bangor Darling’sWaterfront Pavilion, ME
Aug 01: Boston Xfinity Center, MA
Aug 03: Cleveland Blossom Music Center, OH
Aug 05: London Western Fair District, ON
Aug 07: Toronto Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, ON
Aug 09: Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
Aug 11: Hartford Xfinity Center, CT
Aug 13: Wantagh Nikon At Jones Beach Theater, NY
Aug 23: Hershey Hershey Park, PA
Aug 25: Darien Center Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, NY
Aug 27: Camden Susquehanna Bank Center, NJ
Aug 29: Washington DC Jiffy Lube Live
Aug 31: Cincinnati Riverbend Music Center, OH
Sep 02: Indianapolis Klipsch Amphitheatre, IN
Sep 04: Detroit DTE Energy Music Theater, MI
Sep 06: Bethel Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, NY
Sep 09: Raleigh, NC, Walnut Creek Amphitheater
Sep 11: Charlotte PNC Music Pavilion, NC
Sep 13: Tampa Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, FL
Sep 15: West Palm Beach Coral Sky Amphitheatre, FL
Sep 17: Birmingham Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, AL
Sep 21: Austin Austin360 Amphitheater, TX
Sep 23: Dallas Gexa Energy Pavilion, TX
Sep 25: Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, TX
Sep 28: Phoenix Ak-Chin Pavilion, AZ
Sep 30: San Diego Sleep Train Amphitheatre, CA
Oct 02: Hollywood Hollywood Bowl, CA
