Roth rules out singing Hagar songs with Van Halen

That 70s Guy

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blabbermouth.net

VAN HALEN singer David Le Roth was interviewed last night (Sunday, May 17) backstage at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can watch the chat below.

Asked if he would be open to working on new music with VAN HALEN in the near future, Roth said: "Everybody has a different work ethic. Everybody has a different approach. The Van Halens [Eddie and Alex] are perhaps a bit more traditional. I just spent the last two years living in Japan. I took the dog and my baseball hat and headed out. I didn't know anybody there… nothing. I went to school and so forth."

He continued: "My approach to life in general and the state of mind implied is a bit different. I'm obsessed. It's not an option. It's a question of what time you wake up and get started. And we're always working and singing, making the music. I'm always writing and have written with a number of other people. And I would always look forward to doing it again with VAN HALEN, but that works on a very traditional… Think like THE ROLLING STONES."

After acknowledging that he doesn't want to wait another ten years between studio albums, Roth said: "Somewhere in between, we'll get interstitials, and in between we'll start to add things in addition to."

Asked if he would ever consider performing Sammy Hagar-era songs with VAN HALEN, Roth responded: "Well, there's a credibility issue there. Good, bad or in the middle, you know Roth means it; the other guy doesn't. And that's why it sold half as well. Literally, Midas Bible half. Never did better than half. And why would you bring that into the proceedings? This hamburger don't need no helper. [There] ain't no rehearsing pants in my closet."

Hagar, who took over the singing chores in VAN HALEN after David Lee Roth left the band, is widely considered the better singer of the two. However, Hagar never managed to dazzle the crowd quite like Roth did. After an 11-year-run with the band, Hagar was fired or he quit (depending on whom you ask).

"The difference between Dave and I in that band, besides all the other million things, is that he can't sing any of the 'Van Hagar'-era songs, "Sammy told The Boston Phoenix in a 2012 interview. "Maybe he could do 'Finish What Ya Started', possibly — so that makes it kind of weird for [Alex and Eddie], I think, to take 11 years out of that thing."

VAN HALEN's appearance at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards — which aired live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas via ABC — marked the first time that the current lineup of the band (including original David Lee Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang on bass) has performed at an awards show.

Out now is "Tokyo Dome In Concert", VAN HALEN's first ever live collection featuring David Lee Roth, despite numerous pro-shot concerts from the band's original heyday being heavily booted for years — including film and videotaped-sourced shows from 1981 in Oakland, California; 1982 in Largo, Maryland; 1983 in San Paulo, Brazil and the US Festival in San Bernadino, California; and 1984 in Leicestershire, England — among others.

Read more at David Lee Roth Rules Out Performing Sammy Hagar Era Van Halen Songs - Blabbermouth.net
 

SouthernRocker

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I like David Roth so much better than Sammy Hagar in Van Halen. I like Hagar's solo music though and thought he would be a good match but in the end i still love the original Van Halen songs the best.
 

AboutAGirl

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There's no reason for him to, most of the fans are there to hear the Roth songs. Hagar had to incorporate Roth songs on his last Van Halen tour because like it or not, those are the songs that have become the biggest classics.
 
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That 70s Guy

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and Sammy fires back....

blabbermouth.net

Ex-VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar has fired back at the band's current singer, David Lee Roth, over comments Roth made about the possibility of VAN HALEN ever performing Hagar-era material with Dave on vocals.

Speaking to Billboard earlier this month, Roth was asked if he would ever consider tackling any of the songs that were originally recorded with Hagar during VAN HALEN's upcoming tour. Roth responded: "Well, there's a credibility issue there. Good, bad or in the middle, you know Roth means it; the other guy doesn't. And that's why it sold half as well. Literally, Midas Bible half. Never did better than half. And why would you bring that into the proceedings? This hamburger don't need no helper. [There] ain't no rehearsing pants in my closet."

Hagar has since responded to Roth's comments, questioning whether Roth could handle the vocals on a Hagar-sung VAN HALEN hit like "Right Now".

"The [VAN HALEN] boys are out on tour — happily doing well, I hope," Hagar said while introducing a live version of the song by his new band THE CIRCLE during the latest edition of the "Sammy Hagar's Top Rock Countdown" radio show, "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, okay? [Chuckles] It would definitely be a quality issue."

Back in 2002, Roth and Hagar toured together performing separate sets and alternating the closing spot every night. Although Hagar has been known to fire a few zings Roth's way, Roth has never made any excuse about not being cool with Hagar taking over his role as VAN HALEN frontman, as he said during that tour when asked if things were patched up between the two. "Well, can you define patched up? [Laughs] It turned into a color… What is rock 'n' roll without a little bit of conflict, without a little bit of a drama? But I think that most of what's been going on with the Roth-Hagar tour is purely for your listening and dancing pleasure. Come on, what's the worst that a couple of rock stars could possibly do? A little slap fighting, an elaborate healing process and a reunion tour."

VAN HALEN kicks off its 41-date North American tour on July 5 in Auburn, Washington at White River Amphitheatre.

Read more at Sammy Hagar Fires Back At David Lee Roth Over 'Credibility Issue' Comments - Blabbermouth.net
 

foreverblue

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the biggest reason he won't sing them is because he hasn't got the voice to handle sammy's stiff.
he actually doesn't have the voice to handle his own stuff.
 

JimJam

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How appropriate that the story in the OP came from blabbermouth.net. That's all these guys have been doing: running their big mouths and whining.
 

Fever

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the biggest reason he won't sing them is because he hasn't got the voice to handle sammy's stiff.
he actually doesn't have the voice to handle his own stuff.

No, there is absolutely no reason for him to sing Hagar songs,it has nothing to do with his voice.There are plenty of great Roth era songs to sing
 

foreverblue

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No, there is absolutely no reason for him to sing Hagar songs,it has nothing to do with his voice.There are plenty of great Roth era songs to sing


ahhh no there is absolutely a reason for roth to give a few sammy era songs a go, the main one being out of respect for the fans who came on board during the sammy era and bought the whole back catalog.
i have to give this to steve howe, as much as he's been a whining old tart about trevor rabin , he still plays " owner of a lonely heart" during concerts.

anyway 95% of the bitchiness with the sammy versus dave childish crap that goes on between fans is instigated by dave fans. they seem to forget eddie's major role in kicking both dave and sammy out of the band, and treating mike anthony like garbage .
the sammy era fans usually are fans of both eras like myself. the dave fans are just narrow minded and cannot give credit where credit is due.
the same goes with the rabin versus howe amongst yes fans . as usual the howe era fans are uncompromising .

well for both sets of fans

a different kind of truth is no where near as good as the albums put out between 1978 -84

and magnification is nowhere near as good as fragile.
 

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