Sammy Hagar Reflects On Van Halen’s Influence Over His Upcoming Album

Sammy Hagar talked about the Circle’s new record ‘Crazy Times’ and their tour following it in his recent interview with Forbes. The rocker revealed that Van Halen influenced the album’s creative process.

Until their original singer David Lee Roth returned in 2005, Sammy Hagar had an unforgettable tenure with Van Halen, one of the most influential bands. Unfortunately, they disbanded after Eddie Van Halen passed away. Furthermore, the band ruled out the possibility of a reunion, crushing the music industry.

Since 2014, Sammy Hagar has been working with the Circle, performing and recording together. Hagar sings a couple of Van Halen songs on stage to continue the band’s legacy, showing that their influence is always with him. Recently, they announced their Crazy Times Tour that will commence in June following a new record.

He talked about how Van Halen influenced everyone he met in a recent interview. The ‘greatest’ producers Gavin DeGraw and Dave Cobb said they grew up on Van Halen in its Sammy Hagar era. Hence, working on the new record, he wanted to squeeze some Van Halen out of Hagar, highlighting that they asked the Red Rocker to sing as he did in Van Halen records.

Here is how Hagar talked about his producers’ ideas:

“Well, I found out Steve is Chris Stapleton, the guys from Big and Rich. Big Kenny came down to hear some stuff. My Nashville friends, Ronnie Dunn, are coming down wanting to hear my record and want to see what I’m doing because these country guys are rock fans. It blew my mind. That’s what I learned, not what Slash might have felt. I know he felt the same thing from Dave Cobb, the greatest producer in the world, Gavin DeGraw.

All these guys who live in Nashville now go, ‘Man. We grew up on Van Halen, on early Sammy Hagar.’ I couldn’t believe it. Ronnie Dunn stood there singing, ‘Come on baby, finish what you started.’ And I’m going, ‘Wow, these guys are legitimate want to be rock stars.’ David Cobb said, ‘I’m not gonna do anything that even sounds anything remotely country on this record, ’cause I wanted to make an Americana record a little bit less hard-rock.'”

He continued:

“He goes, ‘I wanna make Standing Hampton. I want to make the record I grew up on. I wanna hear you and Mikey sing as you did in ‘Top of the World,’ with Van Halen. ‘That’s what we’re gonna get out of you guys.’ And he’d come up and squeeze it out of us, and it’s like this book, it’s a hybrid of everything I’ve ever been involved with musically. David Cobb is the reason because he squeezed it out of me.

He said, ‘This is what I grew up on, motherf**ker. You ain’t going to get away with working with me and try to do something else, you know what I mean?’ And that’s when I learned, and I know he worked with Slash next, and I’m sure Slash found out the same way. This guy wants to rock. He doesn’t want to make no country record with Sammy Hagar.”

Hagar’s new album with the Circle will have a great touch of Van Halen sounds and vibes. When he was in Van Halen, the fans widely appreciated Hagar. Moreover, the fans prefer to name the band’s era with Sammy Hagar as Van Hagar, but they are equally appreciative of both tenures.