Sammy Hagar declares that music is just art for him after having made “gazillions of dollars”
Sammy Hagar declares that music is just art for him after having made “gazillions of dollars”
Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar was recently interviewed by Forbes who premiered Sammy Hagar & The Circle‘s video yesterday for their song “No Worries” from their debut studio album Space Between.
In terms of having total freedom music wise, Hagar indicated:
“For the people that have made it and are in a position like myself and my band mates in the Circle we’re fine. We’re so lucky to have been from that era where we sold 10s of millions of records and made gazillions of dollars and get yourself in a position where now it’s just art for me. It’s just fun, it’s what I love to do. The creative side of me feels safe. I always think of my audience as I could probably get away with doing anything I want. If I wanted to make s soul record, an R&B record I could do it; if I wanted to make a blues record, if I wanted to make a jazz record I could do it. And maybe it wouldn’t be as big a seller as the Circle with Space Between cause it was a rock record. But they wouldn’t abandon me, they’d still come and see me and I could probably just turn it around and say, “Okay, now I’ll make a rock record for you.” It’d all be okay. For some people, when you’re starting out, you make a mistake and you’re done. It’s crazy out there, it is the wild west. But I love being able to do whatever I want whenever I want.
I gotta tell you, I’m spoiled rotten. Man, I don’t know what I would do if I had to what I do for a living and they said, “You gotta go out and do 130 shows this year cause you’re gonna go broke, you’re gonna lose your band.” I’m lucky and my band mates are lucky. We get along, we like each other believe it or not (laughs). That’s the good part too. Most bands hate each other by the time they’ve played together five years, but we haven’t burnt ourselves out by trying to make it more with disappointing situations. The experiences have been fantastic. Just for instance making this little movie that this video is from, this video is from a movie I made, full length, of the album called Space Between: The Affirmation. And Z.Z. Satriani, who’s Joe Satriani‘s son, who just graduated from film school, did something for Ferrari I saw and it blew my mind, so I hired him and we wrote this movie. It was expensive and I paid for everything. This is a concept record and I wanted to make sure people understand what I’m really trying to say and I wanted to drive it home visually. It had nothing to do with money, it was purely a labor of love. It’s really good. The four videos we have released, including “No Worries,” they’re all from it. And it’s a story.”
With respect to when the entire film might be released, Hagar advised: “There’s no market for it. I don’t know what to do with it. I would like to take it around to film festivals, but I don’t have time. Maybe next year. It’s just really hard to get any traction with anything unusual today cause there is no machine. There is no Ahmet Ertegun saying, “Put the hammer down, this is going to happen, we’re gonna make this go.””
You can read the rest of the interview with Sammy Hagar at Forbes‘ website.
Wikipedia summarizes Hagar‘s career as follows (with slight edits): “Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, musician and entrepreneur. Hagar came to prominence in the 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose. He then launched a successful solo career, scoring an enduring hit in 1984 with “I Can’t Drive 55”. He enjoyed commercial success when he replaced David Lee Roth as the lead singer of Van Halen in 1985, but left in 1996. He returned to the band for a two-year reunion from 2003 to 2005. On March 12, 2007, Hagar was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen. His musical style primarily consists of hard rock and heavy metal.
Also a businessman, Hagar founded the Cabo Wabo Tequila brand and restaurant chain, as well as Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum. His current musical projects include being the lead singer of Chickenfoot and The Circle. Hagar also is the host of Rock & Roll Road Trip with Sammy Hagar on Mark Cuban‘s cable network AXS TV.”
Sammy Hagar & The Circle‘s “No Worries” video:
“No Worries” (Space Between, Chapter 7) – Sammy Hagar & The Circle
“No Worries” is Chapter 07 from The Circle’s debut studio album “Space Between” “Space Between”, the debut studio album from Sammy Hagar and The Circle is ou…