In a brand new interview with Rolling Stone, Sammy Hagar was asked if he has spoken to Eddie Van Halen since the final show of the 2004 VAN HALEN reunion tour. He responded: "Nope. The closest thing we've had to a conversation was I wished him a happy birthday two years ago [via Twitter], and I said, 'I hope you're doing good.' He got back and said ... I'm sure his publicist or his social media person probably did it, but with his blessings I'm sure, and he said, 'Hey, thank you, I hope you're doing well too,' or something like that." Hagar also addressed persistent rumors that he is coming back to VAN HALEN. He said: "I haven't talked to anyone, and I'm not reaching out. I'm gonna tell you exactly what my dream would be, though. It would be Sam, Dave [Lee Roth], Mike [Anthony], Al [Alex Van Halen] and Eddie [Van Halen]. If [Eddie's son] Wolfie's band opened, that's fine." He continued: "I'd say, 'Dave, you go out and play two songs, then walk off the stage. I walk out, I'll do two songs. I'll walk off, you do two songs.' Can you imagine the competition of that? Dave goes out and does 'Jump', and 'Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love'. I go out there and blow out something like 'Good Enough'. You gotta hit it hard, and you better be good. I would give my money to food banks if they would do the same. I would love to give the fans the greatest VAN HALEN show they could possibly have today. And then say, 'Okay, I still don't like you guys.'" When asked if he thinks this is likely to happen, Sammy said: "I think it could happen in a second. I think there's so much money involved that somebody will make it happen. Think of the promoters, managers, T-shirt guys, you name it. "I really think it's kind of inevitable," he added. "And if it doesn't happen, it's getting kind of late now. If it doesn't happen by next year ... Here I am making predictions again. But at 75, I don't want to do a VAN HALEN reunion." Hagar told The Pulse Of Radio a while ago that his problems with Eddie began as far back as the sessions for VAN HALEN's 1995 effort "Balance", Hagar's last album with the group. "Eddie needs somebody to make decisions and a leader, y'know?" he said. "He's not a natural born leader kind of guy. And his brother was always the leader before — or Roth was the leader before — and when Roth left, his brother and him bumped heads so much, when I walked in it was like, 'Well, what does Sam wanna do?' y'know? So it became kind of like, yeah, I was making all the decisions, so then on 'Balance', all of a sudden, he didn't like my decisions and it was like really weird." Hagar blasted his former bandmates in a 2015 interview, saying there was "no chemistry" between the members of the group's current lineup, including David Lee Roth. He said at the time: "They don't like each other. I mean, it's obvious. It's like a backup band with a guy out there in front. I bet they don't say five words to each other offstage." Hagar, Michael Anthony, Alex and Eddie Van Halen last teamed up in 2004 for a U.S. summer tour. In exchange for taking part in the tour, Anthony reportedly had to agree to take a pay cut and sign away his rights to the band name and logo.
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