Alex Van Halen Rolling Stone interview

[FreddyFender]

second, Sammy is obnoxious for many reasons, but I don't think Alex bemoans (or should be able to) the Cabo deal since my understanding is both brothers wanted OUT. Sammy couldn't have forced them to sell their shares. They did so willingly.

The problem is that Sammy can't opening his mouth without lying about something. If he tells four stories, three of them are going to be 99% bullshit.

So it was really hard for the Van Halen brothers to believe that just by coincidence, once Sammy bought them out, his new business partners wife happens to become head of tourism in Cabo and the place becomes a license to print money overnight.

Jon Taffer says Sammy didn't do it intentionally, it really was just a coincidence. I believe him, But the VH brothers never bought it.

And if Sammy cared about having a relationship with the guys he wouldn't have, knowing it was a HUGE sore spot, got that fucking Cabo Wabo tattoo ahead of the reunion tour as a clear middle finger to them.

[Bono Nettencourt]

First of all, Alex sounds weird as fuck in that interview. Both the VH brothers seem extremely odd to me.

They were abused children, products of an alcoholic father and a domineering mother that were saved by their musical talent.

[AliceManson]

Not only the Cabo Wabo business deal, where Sammy pocketed around $91 million without the Van Halen bros, but now with making his own tribute tour with Mike and Joe (Al's original idea), I'm not sure Al will ever speak his name again.

The books showed it losing money. Ed and Al wanted out and pretty much just gave it to Sam. Not long after they were out, it started to rake in the dough. They were pissed and thought the books were doctored and they got ripped off, not long after they found out about all of Ed Leffler and Scammy's side deals.

[Gibsonite]

Can't even mention Sammy by name but that bitter cunt would be about one notch up from Bobby Blotzer in the "where are they now" file rght now if Sam never joined the band when he did.

And Sam would be Ted Nugent with aliens instead of politics if he didn't get the job in VH.

This is probably also true

[SterileEyes1]

Sammy lies about a lot of things and maybe he’s exaggerating, but Wolfie would not abide him straight up lying about something as heavy as making amends with Ed at the end.

C’mon. This place lights up every time he goes after someone on social media. You really think he’d just let something like that slide? It’s not like he’s ’keeping the peace’ so he can appear at the tribute tour or something.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

First of all, Alex sounds weird as fuck in that interview. Both the VH brothers seem extremely odd to me.

They were abused children, products of an alcoholic father and a domineering mother that were saved by their musical talent.

Can’t remember where I read it but the mother was like mentally ill as well. Explains where the two nut job sons got it.

That was in Noel Monks book.
She was deadly afraid of a certain religious group, can't remember which.
She would tell Noel they were siting in the trees waiting for their chance to kidnap her...

[Tommy2Tone84]

This is disappointing. I wasn't expecting him to fully unload on Sammy the way Sammy did on them in his book, but I don't know how you write a memoir about your brother and skip over five of the platinum albums you made together. But this is a much bigger middle finger to Sam--barely acknowledging him.

Also, is he counting everyone they jammed with among those singers? Otherwise, they had two other singers over the years.

Are we even going to get the "very disrespectful to Beck" VMA's story?

Al is as delusional and bitter as his younger brother.

Roth did them a favor when he left. As much as I hate to admit it, Roth isn’t
Robert Plant. Dave’s solo career is the twilight zone and his personality is even
more bizarre. Dave continue to repeat a lot of the same patterns throughout his career
that drove Eddie nuts in 1982.

I’ll take Plant and The Cov over Roth anytime.

F*ck, I’ll take Sebastian Bach over Roth. Roth was great from 1978
until 1981. After that, he turned into a clown.

I know fans ate it up but that ‘07-‘12 was just sad.

Dave is no Jagger or even Ozzy, and Ozzy has done some real stupid shit

I love your takes Tommy. I read one and think well that’s the dumbest shit I’ve heard on here in awhile. And then you seem to go oh yeah watch this I’ll show you some dumb shit and top yourself. Simply amazing.

Dave = The King of Saying Dumb Shit

Go listen to your Gigolo 45

[AJL]

Alex is my favourite drummer not named Neil Peart, but he has always been a weirdo.
Still, I had high hopes for this book, but after reading this (great) interview, I'll probably pass. Seems to be more about airing petty grievances, than actual fanservice, telling the story, and honoring Eddie in an honest way.

[HottKarl777]

And Alex used to drink so much he would see giant penises coming out of the wall and he used to sleep in between his parents as a twenty-something when he was selling millions of records.

Fucking weird man!

This gives me visions of the Abbott brothers still living with their mom after they'd had a number one record (and at least one more record after that) Phil was an asshole but he did have a point about that. It was fuckin weird.

[Rocker4Real]

[Bourbon Cowboy]

First of all, Alex sounds weird as fuck in that interview. Both the VH brothers seem extremely odd to me.

second, Sammy is obnoxious for many reasons, but I don't think Alex bemoans (or should be able to) the Cabo deal since my understanding is both brothers wanted OUT. Sammy couldn't have forced them to sell their shares. They did so willingly.

That implies Alex ad Eddie were rational persons. They were not. I can totally believe them wanting out of the Cabo Wabo deal and then being pissed off because that motherfucker is making millions!

I mean, when Noel Monk told the band Fair Warning would not sell more than gold without payola, Alex calmly responded 'That is not possible, Van Halen is a platinum band'.

Alex was also the one responsible for auditing Monk's handling of the band, trying to get his brother-in-law the job, only to find out everything on the books matched perfectly. Then they stupidly fired Monk.
Alex has had multiple bankruptcy and was in major tax trouble for many years.
He isn't a smart guy.

[daveg]

Seems to be more about airing petty grievances, than actual fanservice, telling the story, and honoring Eddie in an honest way.

That seems to have been the VH brothers whole existence Just airing petty grievances. As you get older you gotta let all that shit go.
Wolfie seems to be afflicted with this as well...but missing the talent to pull it off.

[CrankerBait]

Love him, hate him, or something in between, that's a rock star!

[Busch1724]

Seems like the book is written for the sole purpose of turning into a biopic.

[Rocker4Real]

I bet Alex refused to do Eddie Trunk's show.

[RicksPickWrangler]

Love him, hate him, or something in between, that's a rock star!

A Rock Star with his two Daughters...

https://www.threads.net/@sammyhagar/pos ... daughters-

[Van Ailin']

Love him, hate him, or something in between, that's a rock star!

Those are family members!

[MOON]

Does Alex still hold a grudge with Sammy over his book? That's the reason Sammy always gave as to why the VH bros wanted nothing more to do with him.

Was it the book or him cutting them out of the Cabo Wabo Tequilla deal that he made all his money off of? (Or both)

I believe Ed and Al wanted out of the deal.. or was that just the Cabo wabo venue itself.. still pretty sure Ed and Al backed out and sammy paid em back their share

[Anthrax442]

Does Alex still hold a grudge with Sammy over his book? That's the reason Sammy always gave as to why the VH bros wanted nothing more to do with him.

Was it the book or him cutting them out of the Cabo Wabo Tequilla deal that he made all his money off of? (Or both)

I believe Ed and Al wanted out of the deal.. or was that just the Cabo wabo venue itself.. still pretty sure Ed and Al backed out and sammy paid em back their share

The tequila hadn't taken off yet, and to be fair, I don't know that the restaurants have ever truly been successful. I know at least one of them shut down. But Sammy selling for 81 million eventually had to sting.

Love him or hate him, Sammy has always been a good business man. But that kind of goes hand in hand with him being a bullshit artist.

[Wednesday 13 Fan]

Love him, hate him, or something in between, that's a rock star!

Those are family members!

And?

[Lobo]

Seems to me like the VH brothers lived in their little bubble all the time. I could just picture these two guys sitting around totally paranoid misinterpreting actions by other people as slights and insults, etc.

DLR and Sammy seem to be constantly DOING things. Sammy with his business dealings and multiple bands and DLR with his travelling, adventures, mountain climbing, martial arts, EMT career etc. The VH brothers? they sit around for YEARS and do NOTHING but make up stuff about how horrible everybody else is that's ever been in the band.

Yeah, DLR and Sammy can be egotistical, arrogant and annoying...but they actually DO things.

Sammy is doing a tour playing mostly VH songs. Why didn't Alex do that? He couldn't get anything off the ground by himself, he's incapable of it.

The brothers were extremely talented, they're both in my fav drummer and guitarist list. But they've always been completely dysfunctional. Just take a look at how Wolfie behaves and that's all you need to know.

[thechefs2003]

I could just picture these two guys sitting around totally paranoid misinterpreting actions by other people as slights and insults, etc.

That has been my experience dealing with alcoholics.

[AJL]

Seems to me like the VH brothers lived in their little bubble all the time. I could just picture these two guys sitting around totally paranoid misinterpreting actions by other people as slights and insults, etc.

DLR and Sammy seem to be constantly DOING things. Sammy with his business dealings and multiple bands and DLR with his travelling, adventures, mountain climbing, martial arts, EMT career etc. The VH brothers? they sit around for YEARS and do NOTHING but make up stuff about how horrible everybody else is that's ever been in the band.

Yeah, DLR and Sammy can be egotistical, arrogant and annoying...but they actually DO things.

Sammy is doing a tour playing mostly VH songs. Why didn't Alex do that? He couldn't get anything off the ground by himself, he's incapable of it.

The brothers were extremely talented, they're both in my fav drummer and guitarist list. But they've always been completely dysfunctional. Just take a look at how Wolfie behaves and that's all you need to know.

Great point.

[Anthrax442]

Val is a cunt as well.

How you figure? I've never heard anyone talk bad about her. She probably stayed with Ed longer than most other people would have.

[Tommy2Tone84]

second, Sammy is obnoxious for many reasons, but I don't think Alex bemoans (or should be able to) the Cabo deal since my understanding is both brothers wanted OUT. Sammy couldn't have forced them to sell their shares. They did so willingly.

The problem is that Dave and The Brothers can't opening their mouths without lying about something. If they tell four stories, three of them are going to be 99% bullshit.

Fixed it for you.

[Velvis]

He’s at least as cutting in his book: “We had a lot of other singers over the years,” he writes, in his only acknowledgment of the Van Hagar era.

This is disappointing. I wasn't expecting him to fully unload on Sammy the way Sammy did on them in his book, but I don't know how you write a memoir about your brother and skip over five of the platinum albums you made together. But this is a much bigger middle finger to Sam--barely acknowledging him.

Also, is he counting everyone they jammed with among those singers? Otherwise, they had two other singers over the years.

Are we even going to get the "very disrespectful to Beck" VMA's story?

Yeah, it seems petty. I'm not a big VH guy, so I don't have a dog in the Sammy vs Dave fight but to ignore the just as successful Sammy era reeks of childish "I hate this guy so much I won't even mention him even though we were super successful for a long time with him." I feel like a grown adult should be able to look past personal feelings and acknowledge someone when your writing an autobiography of yourself and your band. Sammy's not like Mark St. John and was in the band for an afternoon.

I also feel like the current DLR Ed tribute story sounds just like when Alex and Ed spoke about the VMAs. They both came across as psychos in the interview.

When you eventually have issues with every single person in your band who doesn't share your last name, perhaps the issues are within.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Val is a cunt as well.

Al, Dave and Ed are the cunts

[Tommy2Tone84]

He’s at least as cutting in his book: “We had a lot of other singers over the years,” he writes, in his only acknowledgment of the Van Hagar era.

This is disappointing. I wasn't expecting him to fully unload on Sammy the way Sammy did on them in his book, but I don't know how you write a memoir about your brother and skip over five of the platinum albums you made together. But this is a much bigger middle finger to Sam--barely acknowledging him.

Also, is he counting everyone they jammed with among those singers? Otherwise, they had two other singers over the years.

Are we even going to get the "very disrespectful to Beck" VMA's story?

Yeah, it seems petty. I'm not a big VH guy, so I don't have a dog in the Sammy vs Dave fight but to ignore the just as successful Sammy era reeks of childish "I hate this guy so much I won't even mention him even though we were super successful for a long time with him." I feel like a grown adult should be able to look past personal feelings and acknowledge someone when your writing an autobiography of yourself and your band. Sammy's not like Mark St. John and was in the band for an afternoon.

I also feel like the current DLR Ed tribute story sounds just like when Alex and Ed spoke about the VMAs. They both came across as psychos in the interview.

When you eventually have issues with every single person in your band who doesn't share your last name, perhaps the issues are within.

Nailed it. Al also hired his brother-in-law after Ed Leffler died. But Sammy was the problem. Sure buddy

[Velvis]

Seems to me like the VH brothers lived in their little bubble all the time. I could just picture these two guys sitting around totally paranoid misinterpreting actions by other people as slights and insults, etc.

That is exactly how I interpret that interview with Al and Ed on the couch talking about the VMAs with DLR.

They come across as psychos.

[Van Ailin']

Seems to me like the VH brothers lived in their little bubble all the time. I could just picture these two guys sitting around totally paranoid misinterpreting actions by other people as slights and insults, etc.

That is exactly how I interpret that interview with Al and Ed on the couch talking about the VMAs with DLR.

They come across as psychos.

Exactly what I thought at the time, too. Ed's later descent, and their inability to get a good album with Gary when Ed has so much control was not at all a surprise to me.