Could A Year Off Have Saved Van Hagar? Sammy Thinks So
Former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony discussed the personality and wardrobe failings of the band’s Balance tour of 1995, which led to the lineup’s collapse.
In a new post on their Van Halen / Other Half Facebook page, containing a clip from a live performance of “Aftershock,” singer Hagar speculated that the group could have survived if they’d taken a different approach to the problems they were dealing with at the time.
“It was a rough time in the band,” he said. “I had just gone through a three-year, brutal divorce… As good as we played on the Balance tour, there was a darkness that was coming into the band – we weren't having the fun we used to have and you could feel the end of Van Hagar era was coming.” He added: “Alex was in the neck brace and Ed was pre-hip surgery and in a lot of pain. Makes me wish we could go back and have taken that whole year off. Makes you wonder what could've been.”
Anthony said: “Sammy is totally right about not having the fun that we had in the past on stage. Alex and Eddie were both suffering from their ailments and there was much more of a seriousness to everything live than there had been in the past. There was also not as much interaction between the four of us on stage on this tour.”
Both took time to criticize Hagar’s stage costume, a “prototype” overalls outfit. The singer said he “obviously wasn’t concerned” about his look because of the other things he had on his mind, and added he was glad he hadn’t pursued the idea. “It’s a good thing Sammy ended up not making those,” Anthony said, adding: “that look is better left on a farm!”
Listen to Van Halen’s ‘Aftershock’