Sammy Hagar autobiography 'Red'

Hagar ( like it seems every other rocker in the universe) as written his autobiography called 'Red' due out soon and has done some interesting interviews and here is an example of one he did recently:


MusicRadar.com recently interviewed singer Sammy Hagar about his upcoming autobiography, "Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock". Sections of the discussion are posted below.

MusicRadar.com: Apparently, Van Halen are recording a new record. Do you think we'll see it soon, or at all?


Hagar: "I don't. No, I don't think... Look how long it's been. They've had every opportunity. Eddie [Van Halen] owns his own studio. His brother's his drummer and lives about a mile away. They have Wolfie [Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen] on bass — they had Michael Anthony for a while, and they had him sittin' on his ass for years and years. And they've had two singers — me and Dave [Lee Roth]. With all of that, they haven't made a record in…who knows when? If it takes that long to make a record…I just… I don't see a new Van Halen record happening. I don't see Dave and Eddie being able to work it out. I've heard stories about what's going on. And I don't see Wolfie and Dave working in the same studio together. I don't know…"


MusicRadar.com: Let's talk about David Lee Roth. When the two of you toured together several years ago, you didn't hit it off. I would've thought that perhaps the two of you might've sat around trading war stories.


Hagar: "I tried. When we did the Sam and Dave tour, that's how I envisioned the it — the two of us getting together after the shows, having some drinks and crackin' up and laughin' about smurf poo. What I really hoped was that it would've forced the Sam and Dave Van Halen reunion, where we all do it together. That would've been a super fan tour. That ain't about me, it ain't about Dave, it ain't about Ed and Al, it ain't about Mikey — that's about the fans. But Van Halen are not friendly towards their fans. All Van Halen have ever done is drive a wedge between themselves and their fans. They've made great music, but they don't do anything for the fans. I'm very different in that respect, as you know. I owe it all to my fans and I never want to have the wall between us.


MusicRadar.com: Did you even get to talk to Dave about doing a big reunion tour with everybody involved?


Hagar: "I'll tell you, Dave's a strange guy. I don't like to talk about him because I don't know him. He is, without a doubt, the weirdest smurfer I've ever met in my life! [laughs] You can't get close to him. He's all fake. It's like there's nobody there. You talk to him and it's like you're talking to a friggin' robot. The guy's got his raps down, and that's that. You do an interview with him and you'll get the 10 answers to every question that he's got prepared, but you'll never get anything else. He doesn't dig in.


MusicRadar.com: You're saying that he's scripted.


Hagar: "All scripted. Dave's the opposite of me. I have never had a script, and I couldn't follow one if you gave it to me. We're so different, and that's why the tour didn't work. I don't even care about that guy. I don't care about him being in the band. He's so off my radar, he's so not in my world, it's like he doesn't exist. He's talented, he's got his thing, he's cool for people who like that show-biz smurf poo. He's fine. But as far as Van Halen making a record…I don't see how Dave and Eddie can spend 15 seconds in a room together. That goes for Al, too. And I heard they don't, so I don't see them making a record."

I hope that he doesn't hold back when it comes to the Van Halen behind the scenes stuff.

I'll be checking it out. Looks like some interesting info.

Rolling Stone dot com has some book excerpts...he doesn't hold back on EVH at all, it seems. You can tell he loves the guy, but he's not pulling punches.

Dave seems like a lounge singer that stumbled into a metal band. Sammy seems like a guy who loves what he does and keeps it real.

EVH and alcohol don't mix... he's a nut when he drinks.

and sounds like he is always drinking

Troublezone wrote:

EVH and alcohol don't mix... he's a nut when he drinks.

EVH and Charlie Sheen should get together to do a TV or Web show - Tiger Blood and Alcohol!!!

TheNazgul wrote:

Dave seems like a lounge singer that stumbled into a metal band. Sammy seems like a guy who loves what he does and keeps it real.

I don't know if that is fair, granted David Lee Roth is no Geoff Tate but he has a good voice, and he was perfect for Van Halen and the man influenced just about every frontman who came out of L.A. in the early 80's, thanks to DLR you could no longer just stand there and sing, you had to be a 'frontman'

Hagar is very talented and I do like the version of Van Halen he lead for over a decade but IMO it cannot touch the DLR era.

I didn't mean he didn't have talent, he just seems drawn to the loungey sounds. He's a great showman and definitely had vocal chops.

TheNazgul wrote:

I didn't mean he didn't have talent, he just seems drawn to the loungey sounds. He's a great showman and definitely had vocal chops.

Well he is like metal's answer to vauldville and I believe he even had a gig at Las Vegas for awhile.

Sammy wouldn't be a multi- milioaire if not for DLR (IMHO) H e does owe him a lil thanks.


I saw every Sammy show that came through Berdoo, Calif. (closest place to his hometown of Fontana) from like 78 to 84. He played one hell of a show. He found some limited success with
a few albums but didn't start making big bucks till he joined Van Halen. A band that was established already. Without Van Halen...He'd never got involved in the tequilla venture and thus no mult-million dollar deal with that Euro booze slinger.

I don't know why anybody says DLR can't sing... his voice was perfect for early VH. You can tell he had a great time on those albums. He didn't take himeself that serious and it worked.

Guitars101.com has the original excerpts from the first book Sammy wrote that never got published. What he says in those two chapters is just a little more brutal than what the new book says. For those who haven't read it yet, here's the link:

http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f77/sammy-hagar-book-excerpts-chapters-19amp20-a-22489.html

Sammy was on Howard Stern the other morning promoting the book. Sounds like it's gonna be a pretty good read. Not being a d!ck and slinging mud per say, just telling it like it is. Or was.

lynch wrote:

Guitars101.com has the original excerpts from the first book Sammy wrote that never got published. What he says in those two chapters is just a little more brutal than what the new book says. For those who haven't read it yet, here's the link:

http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f77/sammy-hagar-book-excerpts-chapters-19amp20-a-22489.html

Reading these excerpts are incredible but I can see why they are not in the book, while I may find the business side very very interesting, I think the most fans want to read are rock bio's that resemble the Dirt or No One Here Gets Out Alive.

Well, if you buy Sammy's new book, everyone can find out about his alien abduction....


http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20110321/pl_dailycaller/sammyhagarclaimstohavebeenabductedbyaliens_1



Oh my....

Sammy probably was drinking too much of his Cabo Wabo Tequila that night.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one.

from an interview with Hagar that I found interesting:


In a brand new interview with Forbes.com, iconic rock singer Sammy Hagar was asked how he decides what bands he should join and which bands to avoid. "I was asked at one time to be in Mötley Crüe," he replied. "I was asked at one time to be in Pantera by their managers. I was asked to be in Velvet Revolver when Scott Weiland quit and went back to the Stone Temple Pilots. I was waiting to be asked to be in Led Zeppelin to say no, since they were the greatest band on earth and no could replace Robert Plant. I was asked to be in Aerosmith and I said no. Certain bands and certain frontman singers are more difficult to replace than others. Steven Tyler and that band have stayed together for forty years and you don't want to walk into something like that. They had one moment years ago, when they replaced Joe Perry, but it's still always been Steven at the front of Aerosmith. You don't replace that. When I came into Van Halen, it was easy because Dave [Lee Roth] wasn't a great singer, but he was a good frontman. In those times, I was selling out the same arenas they were, so it was like the combination of two forces and it worked but it's a rare thing. We were all lucky that the fans accepted it and it got bigger. I would avoid bands that are going to break up pretty soon."


When asked how having a strong band behind him in Van Halen helped him establish his brand, Hagar said, "Certainly the exposure of a band like Van Halen for 10-11 years, we were one of the biggest bands in the world and walked out into sold out crowds every night. The way I dressed and presented myself, the fact that I wrote every lyric in that band, and every song I sang was pretty much exploiting who I am to the audience. The exposure of the band helped promote my tequila company. Lots of people are coming up with tequilas, but you're going to have to come up with 5-10 million dollars a year to promote to break a new brand. If you're not Sammy Hagar or someone on that level who can go out and promote it as part of your job, it's going to cost you a lot of money. If you're me, you don't have to spend a penny on it. I promoted it on tour, saving five million dollars and made money on my shows. It was a great crossover; rolling my brand into my business. It works the best when you're a real person, having a TV show like Jay Leno, or being a rock star playing for thousands of people every night. It's not cheap if you own what you're doing and it's all about you. If you're promoting someone else's product that way, you're cheap. A lot of celebrities endorse products that they don't give a crap about, just trying to pretend like it's theirs. That doesn't work so well. . . If you don't own it, and just endorse it, people can read through that and you become phony. The crazy thing about it is you're spending all that time for a small amount of money and it's their thing, and when they're done with you, they spit you out. That's the way the media is and the way most corporate people think. Probably, my guess is that it would be very hard for me to get an endorsement right now. I'm an aging rock star, over the hill, and they're looking for the young current guy. That's cool and all but it so much better than doing your own thing. It has more value. The biggest stars right now may not have longevity, like Charlie Sheen. If someone representing your brand does something like that, your brand goes down the toilet. It's much better to leave that complicated thing out and start your own business."

Quote :

"I was asked at one time to be in Mötley Crüe," he replied. "I was asked at one time to be in Pantera by their managers. I was asked to be in Velvet Revolver when Scott Weiland quit and went back to the Stone Temple Pilots. I was waiting to be asked to be in Led Zeppelin to say no, since they were the greatest band on earth and no could replace Robert Plant. I was asked to be in Aerosmith and I said no."

Has Sammy been dippin' a little too heavily into his tequila?

Though the idea of Sammy Hagar (!) fronting Pantera =

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

"I was asked at one time to be in Mötley Crüe," he replied. "I was asked at one time to be in Pantera by their managers. I was asked to be in Velvet Revolver when Scott Weiland quit and went back to the Stone Temple Pilots. I was waiting to be asked to be in Led Zeppelin to say no, since they were the greatest band on earth and no could replace Robert Plant. I was asked to be in Aerosmith and I said no."

Has Sammy been dippin' a little too heavily into his tequila?

Though the idea of Sammy Hagar (!) fronting Pantera =

LOL!!!!!


Some of the stories in the book seem like BS to me, still a cool read

I don't know if I believe Pantera...but I could see the others at least being partially true in that most big bands like that explore all options....Hagar may not have been officially "offered" as in "contract is on the table" but I have no trouble believing he'd be at least called/considered for Velvet Revolver, Crue, or Aerosmith...at least as a fill in...

It seemed like everybody and their dog was being "considered" for Velvet Revolver at one time or another... so who knows, maybe they did ask Sammy....

Maybe the Pantera "offer" was pre-Anselmo, when Pantera was still a glammy/party rock band. Otherwise, I can't picture it. The very idea of Sammy Frickin Hagar belting out "F*cking Hostile" makes me giggle like a Japanese schoolgirl. Tee hee!

Dimebag was a huge fan of both Montrose and Van Halen, but I doubt he was ever offered or even considered for the vocal spot in Pantera.

Like I said, Dime & Vinny might have called him or considered him for a project after Anselmo left or something too...pre-Damageplan...so Sammy says "Pantera" the way Jeff Fenholt says "Black Sabbath"...