Sammy Hagar has accused Van Halen of lacking chemistry on stage, and he’s described David Lee Roth and co as “a backup band with a guy out in front.”
But he hopes he can settle his differences with leader Eddie Van Halen before one of them dies – even though he’s about to take legal action against his former bandmates.
It’s the latest turn in a war of words that began when Hagar slammed Van Halen album Tokyo Dome Live In Concert, then returned original frontman Roth retaliated by saying there would be a “credibility issue” if the other singer was fronting the band.
Hagar tells Rolling Stone: “There’s just no chemistry up there. They don’t like each other – it’s obvious. It’s like a backup band with a guy out there in front.
“I bet they don’t say five words to each other offstage. Van Halen was always about chemistry in the early days. They were on fire. When I joined the band they had great musical chemistry. We had so much fun it should have been illegal. Now all that’s gone.”
The singer says his ex-colleagues have blocked him from recording material he co-wrote with them during his tenure, and that he’s preparing to fight them in court to overturn what he calls “the lamest thing I’ve ever seen in this business.”
But asked if he’ll ever speak to guitarist Van Halen again, Hagar replies: “I would hope so. That would be really sad if any one of us took this to our graves. I would rather go to my grave with no enemies left.”
But he adds: “It’s not my decision because I was the one they pushed out and tried to fuck over. To me, it’s up to them to say they’re sorry.”
Hagar last week vowed that supergroup Chickenfoot would work together again, after guitarist Joe Satriani had given up on his reunion hopes.
