Sammy Hagar revealed in a new interview with Fox News Digital that he and the late Eddie Van Halen were planning on writing new music together before the guitarist’s death from lung cancer in 2020.
After Hagar left the band Van Halen, he and Eddie were on bad terms for many years, but the Red Rocker told Fox News that in the months leading up to Van Halen’s passing, they had reconciled and discussed collaborating again.
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Hagar recalled that Van Halen told him he was working on new material, and he asked him, “‘Ed, what are you working on? … I want to get in there and work with you. Let’s write together again.’”
Hagar said Van Halen responded by saying, “‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Next year, you know, we’ll get together, make some noise,’ and all that stuff.”
Hagar also noted that Van Halen had told him he was experimenting with other instruments besides the guitar.
“He was talking about playing cello and he was playing some wind instruments,” said Hagar.
The Red Rocker was in awe of Van Halen’s musical abilities, calling him a genius who could do things with a guitar Hagar could never dream of doing.
“[H]e had hands that would do what he thought,” Hagar said. “My hands won’t do [what] I think. That’s why I’m a singer … My voice will do what I think, but my hands … they don’t want to cooperate.”
Earlier this month a new Van Halen box set titled The Collection II was released. It features remastered editions of all four chart-topping studio albums Hagar recorded with the band—5150 (1986), OU812 (1988), For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991), and Balance (1995)—plus a disc of rarities.
Hagar told Fox News that he felt that the remastered versions of the first two albums he made with the group sounded the best.
“[5150 and OU812] were recorded in Eddie’s old studio. Completely analog. There wasn’t a digital piece of equipment, and everything had a tube,” the singer said. “Everything had to warm up before you could use it. And it’s so warm. Those records recorded so warm. They were made for vinyl.”
Hagar also lamented a discussed tour that would have featured Van Halen’s original lineup and himself all performing together that never came to fruition because Eddie became too ill to do it.
“Too bad that never happened,” said Hagar. “That was a dream come true for the fans. But you know, who knows? Life has this way of coming back around on you.”
Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy