Sammy Hagar has revealed he’s written a tribute song to Eddie Van Halen with Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony.
While Satch and Anthony have their parts recorded already, Hagar says he’s holding the process up because he gets “emotional” when recording his vocals.
After Alex Van Halen revealed that the previous attempt at putting an Eddie Van Halen tribute tour together failed because David Lee Roth didn’t want to pay homage to Eddie’s legacy, Hagar plans to take his tributes one step further.
“It’ll be a single,” he tells Rolling Stone. “We’re working on it right now. Mike [Anthony] and I just finished the bass and the background vocals. I took a shot at a lead vocal, but I don’t know if it’s done yet.
“Joe’s got his parts done. Kenny [Aronoff] played drums. I gotta tell you, it was emotional singing it, because the song, it’s about Eddie. That’s the best I can put it. It’s a thank you to him, and it’s a thank you to the fans, and it’s a thank you to that era.”
He adds that fans can expect its release in “February or March”, but no other details were spilled.
He did, however, say that he and Wolfgang Van Halen “got goosebumps” when they saw each other at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month.
The singer, who has announced the return of his Best of All Worlds shows via a Las Vegas residency at Park MGM in 2025, is full of admiration for Van Halen Jr.
“I walked into Ozzy’s dressing room and Wolfie’s sitting there,” he says. “We caught eyes and he jumps up, and we just fuckin’ hugged and got goosebumps on both of us.”
Wolfgang starred at the glitzy event which saw Ozzy Osbourne inducted into the Hall’s annals for the second time, this time for his work as a solo artist.
Taking the stage to perform Crazy Train – and nailing its iconic solo – alongside Tool’s Maynard James Keenan, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith, he’d helped pour cold water on the muchly contested Randy Rhoads versus Eddie Van Halen rivalry that began in the early ‘80s and hasn’t been properly quelled since.
“It’s so funny, every time I’ve ever run into him and we embrace, I get the goosebumps because I feel like it’s Eddie,” Hagar says of meeting Wolfgang backstage.
“I really feel he’s the closest thing to Eddie on this planet right now. He looks like him, when you look him in the eye. He does his gestures. He takes his finger and he pushes his hair out of his face like Eddie.
“He did that when I was talking to him,” he continues. “I said, ‘I can’t even look at you, Wolf. I’m getting teared up.’ Yeah, I love him and what he’s doing.”
Wolfgang has, understandably, been cautious about his positioning in regard to his late father’s monumental musical legacy, preferring to tread his own path with Mammoth WVH.
In August he told the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast: “I think people are sitting there waiting for me to outdo my dad in some way, but that's impossible. I'm not him. I'm doing my own thing and if anything I'm outdoing him in that way... I'm a better drummer than him and no one says that!”
Though he did inherit one technique from his dad, in a new chat with Bass Player, he's further distanced himself from his father by dispelling the belief that Eddie taught him every trick from his book.
“My Dad called me a ‘rhythm bassist’, but all he taught me was a power chord and an AC/DC drum beat,” he says. “From there, I just played along.”
Nonetheless, Hagar has previously expressed his desire to involve Wolfgang in the Best of All Worlds extravaganza at some stage, saying “I’m sure our paths will cross”.
