Some people might be surprised that Sammy Hagar would have any interest in being a mentor on a pop-leaning TV talent show like The Voice. But when his “Cabo buddy” Adam Levine gave him a call, Hagar was happy to drive over - at a speed likely much higher than 55mph - to the NBC soundstage.

“I’m telling ya, it was a blast,” a jovial, chatty Hagar tells Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks, admitting that he and Levine occasionally took a sip or two of Santo, their newly launched tequila/mescal spirit brand, while on set. “Well, we didn’t start drinking until about 12 hours into the show,” he clarifies with a chuckle, adding that he wouldn’t advise any actual contestants to imbibe while competing. “But we busted out the Santo and we’d do a shot. And then go finish our job.”

Are there any other classic rockers that Hagar thinks could handle the Voice advisor job? He endorses second-generation rock royalty Jason Bonham (the drummer of his current supergroup, The Circle), Sting, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, or even his short-lived replacement in Van Halen, Gary Cherone (“because he’s a good technical singer, a very technical singer”). But when asked if his notorious Van Halen predecessor, David Lee Roth, would be a good Voice fit, Hagar bursts into laughter.

“Oh, no!” he scoffs. “He’s one of those guys - it would be all about him. He’s not there to help the other guy. He’s there to glorify himself. Come on. He’s too quirky for that. You’ve got to get people that make good teachers: open-hearted souls that want to help someone else, and are not interested in their own gain… and won’t ego-trip [contestants], or hold them down, or make it all about themselves.”

Of course, any conversation with Sammy Hagar eventually gets around to Van Halen and Sammy’s surprisingly successful years with the band. A couple of the “Van Hagar” albums, like the sextuple-platinum 5150 and quadruple-platinum OU812, actually even outsold some albums from the Roth era - but Van Halen Mach II never quite earned the same respect.

“The Van Halen controversy never has helped me out,” Hagar says with a laugh. “Well, the years I was in the band and we sold 40-some million records, having #1 albums - sure, that helps. The fame, it helps you be part of the fabric of that era. But all the controversy between us after getting thrown out, or quitting, or whatever people seem to think - I was not thrown out of the band, I was forced out of the band, how about that? The point is, the controversy also puts a little black mark on me. So since then, I really haven’t cared.”

Read the full story at Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks.