Sammy Hagar has revealed which Van Halen album will get the expanded reissue treatment next – and promised that the band he put together for his current tour celebrating his time in the band will record an album together.
He’s currently leading the Best of All Worlds Tour with Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham and Ray Thistlethwaite, playing a set that celebrates the music of Van Halen by way of a salute to late guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
In a recent interview with The Bogus Otis Show (below), Hagar was asked if the quintet had considered writing new music with his current bandmates. “Yes. I guarantee it,” he said, adding: “I don’t know when and why because records don’t sell!”
He continued: “I’ve made a couple of [the] best records of my life the last two solo records (2019’s Space Between and 2022’s Crazy Times), and they’re lucky to sell 50, 60,000. You go and make a record nowadays just to lose a couple hundred thousand bucks.
“It’s all good – but, you know, I need a tax write-off, so it really helps. I go, ‘Look, I made too much this year… let’s go make a record!’”
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Van Halen Pay-Per-View Show Could Finally Be Released
In the same interview, Hagar said Van Halen’s 1995 album Balance – the last one to feature his voice – was next on the reissue schedule. The album featured the singles “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do),” “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You,” “Amsterdam” and “Not Enough.”
He was asked about plans for that year’s pay-per-view concert, shot in Toronto and aired in Canada and later in the U.S. It had been scheduled for a commercial release which never happened because of his departure from the band.
“I didn’t know about that,” Hagar replied. “So I’ll bring that up. That’s a very good idea.”
Watch Van Halen’s 1995 Toronto Concert
Van Halen Lineup Changes
Three different singers and two different bassists joined the Van Halen brothers over the years.