Sammy Hagar has a new TV show on AXS. In Rock n’ Roll Road Trip, Hagar visits famous spots of rock n’ roll history. At each one, he speaks with another musician and plays with them. It turns out every rock star’s favorite drummer was John Bonham.
Hagar himself has had a storied solo career and sang with Van Halen and other bands. He attended an AXS party for the Television Critics Association, where we got to talk to him about the show and his music career. Rock n’ Roll Road Trip airs Sundays at 9PM on AXS.
Sammy Hagar Interview:
When you do the performance with the other bands in Rock n’ Roll Road Trip, do you have time to rehearse?
Sammy Hagar: “No, we get in and play. You know how in TV there’s always a hurry up and wait moment. When they’re setting up the camera angles, so far, we just start running through it. I’m saying, ‘Hey, that’s B-roll.’ We took it. That was it. With Bob Weir, we did about two or three more, but I like the spontaneity. I don’t want it to be great. I like Live at Darrell’s House, I did that show and it’s live. Maybe one or two takes, a couple mistakes, it’s good enough, let’s keep going. I think there’s something to that.”
Is jumping in with an established artist like that an abbreviated version of joining a new band? I’m sure it was more in-depth when you joined Van Halen but is there any comparison?
Sammy Hagar: “You know what, that’s interesting. Yeah, I’d absolutely say that. The first time I went down to play with the guys in Van Halen, I met ‘em a couple times but we weren’t really friends. I walked in there and there’s Ed, Al and Mikey. It’s a little uncomfortable. ‘What do you guys wanna play?’ ‘I don’t know, what do you wanna play?’ ‘I don’t know, what do you wanna play?’ It’s like that. So it is like that. With Tommy [Lee], I played with him a few times in Cabo, but it’s the same thing. Everybody’s nervous and nervous is edgy and edge is good I think for TV and music.”
What has talking to artists taught you about music?
Sammy Hagar: “Ooh, okay, something very deep. I realize now that most famous rock stars in rock n’ roll, in music I’ve been playing my whole life, have had some kind of personal problems growing up. Either some form of abuse or some kind of trouble or been burdened by something in their lives, and it makes them want to be stars. Other than that, they’re just normal f***ers that worked their asses off to learn how to play an instrument. Some of us got lucky and some of us didn’t. It’s a very interesting philosophy that I feel in these last few months, not from doing this show, but that’s just part of it. I really believe that. All these injured rock stars, they’re all injured.”
Why is John Bonham everyone’s favorite drummer?
Sammy Hagar: “Because he was the f***ing baddest, man. That’s why. It’s so funny you say that because it’s true. Every person, every drummer I’ve ever asked. The only guy that probably wouldn’t say it would be Neil Peart. I know he’s more of a jazz kind of guy, but all these other guys. Well, Ginger Baker never respected him either. Ginger Baker’s one of my other favorite drummers. They all pick John. You know, he had a foot on him where when he hit that foot, there’s the one. It would BOOM, cha, cha. BOOM. Musicians like that because most drummers don’t do that.”
What are your favorite rock n’ roll spots?
Sammy Hagar: “Cabo San Lucas. When we did Cabo it was great because I’m so hooked in there so it was my show, about me showing the world Cabo. So that was fun. I’ve been to every city in the world practically so to me it’s not a thrill to go to just any city. If I had my choice to do a tour again, I would do a coast tour. It would have to have a beach. I’d go right around the coast of America. So anybody that I can meet that’s on the coast, like do Tom Petty in Florida, I’ll stay near the coast, near the ocean.”
Everyone knows “I Can’t Drive 55” and “Red.” What songs are you especially gratified when fans single them out?
Sammy Hagar: “‘Eagles Fly,’ ‘Give To Live,’ ‘Right Now,’ the Van Halen song. Uplifting things like that. Those were my favorite things, when I came up with a chorus like, ‘Riiiight now’ I just knew that you could walk in any stadium in the world and everyone’s going to sing it. That’s gratifying to me.”
What did you think of using it in the Pepsi commercial?
Sammy Hagar: “They gave us a million dollars. Back in those days it was a lot of money for nothing. We were afraid to do it, that we were going to get ridiculed. I said, “Bullsh*t. That’s crazy. It’s public domain. Once you write a great song, if somebody wants to use it, they should be able to use it and you get paid for it.”
When you first heard “Dreams” with the whole band, was it special?
Sammy Hagar: “It was completely magical. I’d never sang in that register in my life. I didn’t know I could sing like that. I never had tried. I just thought no, you don’t try to sing like that. When I heard Eddie’s part and I started singing it, that’s the way I sing it. When I hear it now I sound like I’m on f***ing helium. I just remember Ronnie Montrose, who never gave me compliments, him and I never got along very well obviously, but when that song came out, he called me and said, ‘Hagar, you motherf***er, how the f*** did you do that?’ And I said I don’t know. I have to do it every night now though.”
Do a lot of people tell you stories about getting speeding tickets when “I Can’t Drive 55” is playing?
Sammy Hagar: “Sarah Palin was a classic one that happened a few years back when she was running for VP. She got pulled over and she told the cop, ‘I was listening to Sammy Hagar ‘I Can’t Drive 55,’ and got a ticket anyway.”
Was she actually listening to it, because I know someone who was and got a ticket.
Sammy Hagar: “A lot of people did too. I don’t know if she was or not but I love the story.”
