8 years later, Hagar, Van Halen reunite

By Eric R. Danton
Hartford (Conn.) Courant

Eddie Van Halen plays the final chord of "Jump" during a Van Halen concert in New Jersey recently. Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen have reunited as Van Halen, this time with Eddie Van Halen and Mike Anthony. Associated Press

You know, the Sammy Hagar, the one who fronted your band for 11 years before leaving in 1996 when tensions with your brother, guitar god Ed, became unbearable? The one who toured two years ago with David Lee Roth, the flamboyant first singer for Van Halen? The one with his own brand of tequila? Now he's on the phone, calling to chat for the first time in eight years. What do you say?

"It was like I had talked to him yesterday," Alex Van Halen says from Boston during a tour stop. "It was like we never missed a beat."

The phone conversation led to Sammy and Alex hanging out. Before long, they were jamming with Ed, and then bassist Michael Anthony, in Van Halen's 5150 studio. Next thing you know, they announce a summer tour with Hagar back on lead vocals — singing not only his own songs, but Roth's tunes, too, which Hagar had always been reluctant to perform.

Let's recap: Sammy Hager, back in Van Halen, singing David Lee Roth songs.

What happened here?

"It was a mistake that we broke up," Van Halen says. "We're very tight as buddies, we're good friends. It's one step away from being brothers, and you know what brothers are like. Brothers can sit there and beat the crap out of each other and the next day, it's like it never happened."

Van Halen the band is moving ahead as though the estrangement with Hagar never happened. Not only is the singer back for this tour, the drummer says he's back for good.

"We're in this for the long haul, you know," Van Halen says. "Words can't describe what it's like to make music together and there's a special chemistry that happens between the four of us."

That must come as a relief to fans who never understood why the band hired former Extreme singer Gary Cherone to replace Hagar. Yet for many, the real Van Halen is the band that included Roth on vocals.

"I can't change that, and that's all right. For me, the Beatles really were with Pete Best," Van Halen says, laughing. "For us, Van Halen is Sammy, Mike, Ed and me."