Sammy Hagar says he has no intention of ever working with Alex Van Halen again, comparing their fractured relationship to the long-running feud between Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Roger Waters.
Sammy said he now understands why some bands reach a point where reunions are impossible.
He told Classic Rock: “I’m the biggest Pink Floyd fan. I see David Gilmour say, ‘I will never play with Roger Waters again,’ and I know what he means.
“I feel that way about Alex Van Halen. They’re negative people.”
Sammy’s comments come as he prepares for more touring and reflects on his own era of Van Halen.
He said he now feels more comfortable performing songs from his time in the band, especially after Eddie Van Halen’s death and Alex’s decision to auction off his drum kit.
He credits bassist Michael Anthony’s presence in his current band for making the material feel right again.
The Red Rocker said: “Because Mike Anthony’s in the band I feel good about playing a lot of Van Halen stuff, because no one will ever hear it again.
“And that was the biggest part of my career. It was the biggest band in the world.”
Sammy has been performing more Van Halen hits onstage, saying the songs deserve to be heard even if the original lineup will never reunite.
He described the material as central not only to his own career but to rock history.
The 76-year-old rocker also addressed the question of retirement, saying he will walk away the moment his voice no longer meets his own standards.
He said: “When I can’t sing any more… that will be it.
“I can hit a falsetto, I can sing low, I can do my screams, I can sing any song I’ve ever written. I’m still great at what I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this. And when I’m not, I won’t. But I still don’t have a plan.”
The Jump band’s former frontman – who was the singer from 1985 to 1996, before returning in 2003 until 2005 – revealed in 2022 that he had been ghosted by late guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s younger brother, Alex, when he tried to contact him via email and phone.
And, more recently, he opened up on one potential reason for their rift.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sammy was asked if the fact Alex prefers to keep out of the spotlight was to blame for him keeping his distance, to which he replied: “I don’t think that’s it.
“And I’ve had this conversation with a few people, including [former Van Halen manager] Irving Azoff. I’ve asked him, ‘What’s the problem?'”
And when asked if it was anything to do with the Cabo Wabo nightclub company the band founded in 1980 and him going on to buyout his bandmates and turn it into a lucrative business, he denied that to be the case.
He said: “To that I said, ‘How the f*** could they be angry about that?’ They gave me the damn thing, they walked out on me, left me with it. And they made me indemnify them in case I got sued and lost everything. They made me sign off big time. And I’m going, ‘I hope it’s not that.'”
Sammy believes it “really bothers him” that he’s still out there playing shows and doing music.
He said: “He’s not a singer. He’s not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader. And he seems like he doesn’t want to play drums or can’t play drums anymore, and he can’t go write a new record.
“And I think that really bothers him that Mike and I are still out there doing it. I would feel bad. If I put myself in his shoes, I would feel terrible if I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Sammy previously claimed Alex has a problem with him that he believes he’s gonna “take to his grave”.
The long-running rift between Roger Waters and David Gilmour stems from deep creative clashes in the late 1970s and early ’80s, when Roger increasingly took control of Pink Floyd’s direction. Tensions escalated into a legal battle after Roger quit in 1985 and attempted to dissolve the band, while David and Nick Mason fought to continue under the Pink Floyd name. The dispute left lasting personal resentment, and decades of public sniping and political disagreements have kept the pair estranged, with David later describing the relationship as “irreparable.”
