Van Halen singer David Lee Roth was interviewed backstage at the Billboard Music Awards 2015 on May 17th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. When asked about new music Roth responded: “We are always working and singing and making the music. I’m always writing and I’ve written with a number of different people. I would look forward to doing again with Van Halen, but that works on a very traditional … think like Rolling Stones.”

Roth was also asked about the possibilities of doing Sammy Hagar era stuff on the tour which kicks off on July 5th: “There’s a credibility issue there. Good, bad or in the middle, you know Roth means it. The other guy doesn’t. That’s why it sold half as well. It never did better than half. Why would you bring that into the preceedings. This hamburger needs no helper.”

Hagar has since responded to Roth's comments via Ultimate Classic Rock:

The boys are out on tour — happily doing well, I hope, but they’re not playing any Van Hagar songs. My buddy Diamond said it was something about a quality issue. I laughed. I’m cracking up. You know, sometimes the guy says the wackiest things. But there’s a lot of truth in that. A quality issue — you think about that. Think about them with Diamond, singing this next song, it would definitely be a quality issue, OK? (Chuckles) It would definitely be a quality issue.”

Van Halen kicked off the Billboard Music Awards 2015 with a rousing rendition of their classic "Panama". Pro-shot footage can be viewed below: