Sammy Hagar called into Rolling Stone the other week to chat about his contribution to The Art of McCartney, a 42-track collection of Paul McCartney covers. The inevitable subject of Van Halen, and the extremely slim possibility of a reunion, came up.

Rolling Stone: Do you see any scenario where you'd play with them again?

Sammy Hagar: "I would play with anybody that loves me and that I love. That would include Van Halen, but the love's not there right now. I do love those guys. We really bumped heads on the last tour [in 2004.] Anyone that saw that last tour or read my book knows that I'm not gonna take any blame 'cause there's no blame to give me. I went out and did my job probably better than anyone else in that band. Anyone that saw the show, I think, would agree with me.

That tour was just a mess and I would never go into a mess like that again. I'm too happy as a human being to be that miserable ever again. I was miserable for the last 40 shows. The first 40 shows I was thinking, "Well, maybe Eddie will straighten out" or "Maybe this can come together." But that didn't happen, and by the last 40 I was miserable. I would, however, be in the original band that we started. That was a love fest full of creativity."

 

 

Rolling Stone: This is obviously never going to happen, but the dream scenario for fans, and probably promoters, is a tour that features you and Dave (David Lee Roth) taking turns singing, with Michael (Anthony) on bass for all of it. Beyond that, they're stuck with the same show they've been doing since 2007.

Sammy Hagar: "You mean that Sam and Dave tour with Van Halen as the backup band? Yeah, that would be a dream scenario for me too, but it would be the same old thing. On the reunion tour, we traveled on separate planes. You check into the hotel at different times so you don't even see them in the lobby. You don't really see them until the gig. I could deal with Dave on that level. [Huge laugh.] But he'd have to be cool.

A tour like that would be the coolest thing for the fans ever. I would do it for the fans. I wouldn't do it just for the money. Everybody would have to be cool and have their hearts in it. I hate to give out bad news, but I just doubt it'll ever happen. I would like to just see Mike back in the band with Dave. If that works, all right, I'll come in next."

Read Rolling Stone's complete interview with Sammy Hagar at this location.