Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony talked about working with Sammy Hagar after David Lee Roth‘s departure during his latest interview with Darren Paltrowitz. The famous musician revealed that he sang more songs for the soundchecks during the Hagar era than in the DLR era.
The band’s original frontman David Lee Roth left the band in 1985 to focus on his solo career as a musician, and Eddie Van Halen had to find a new singer. After his car mechanic’s advice and Hagar’s extraordinary performance in Montrose, Hagar became Van Halen’s lead vocalist. He took place in various hit albums, ‘5150,’ ‘OU812,’ ‘For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,’ and ‘Balance.’ The records were so successful that the band’s fans split into two sides; Van Hagar and David Lee Roth era lovers.
There’s no doubt that the two frontmen had their unique styles, characteristics, and talents, and Van Halen’s longtime bassist unveiled one of them in his conversation. Michael Anthony highlighted that he didn’t have to sing for the soundcheck for their live performances when Roth was the lead vocalist, but things changed after Hagar had joined them. Anthony stated that Sammy didn’t like the soundcheck process.
Therefore, he had to sing the songs instead of Hagar while Alex and Eddie Van Halen were playing, and this situation could be boring for some VIPs and fans that came early to watch them. Anthony said they tried to turn these moments into nostalgic experiences by performing early works from them. Consequently, the Van Halen bassist became the band’s temporary singer before their concerts because Hagar wasn’t willing to do it, unlike Diamond Dave
Here’s what Anthony said:
“No, not back then really as much now and then. I might sing something when Dave couldn’t show up to a soundcheck, but that was just like a cover where we were at in a song, going over something. However, I never really started doing that much until after Sammy joined the band because he doesn’t go and do soundcheck very often.
When we were there, people would have come to soundcheck like VIPs as you saw in Las Vegas. After a while, it’d be boring to see Eddie, Alex, and myself. We’re fun to watch. So we would work up a few songs from the actual form, the early Van Halen era, and play for those fans, and I would sing them.”
You can check out the interview below.
