Van Halen Continues Amid Discussions Over Unreleased Material

Sammy Hagar fired off harsh words about Alex Van Halen, according to Rock Celebrities. The statement came after Hagar learned he'd been shut out of a project involving old recordings. Years of bad blood between the two musicians have flared up again, this time over who gets to control the unheard tracks that contain Eddie Van Halen's guitar work.

"Alex is not mentally healthy. Obviously, I feel sorry for him!" Hagar said. "But Mikey and I will carry on with the legacy for the people as long as we can." At the heart of this fight sits Alex Van Halen's work with guitarist Steve Lukather. They've been trying to finish tracks that feature Eddie Van Halen's guitar and Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, and no one asked Hagar or bassist Michael Anthony to join in. 

The singer drew a parallel between his situation with Alex Van Halen and the infamous war between Roger Waters and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. "I feel that way about Alex Van Halen. They're negative people," Hagar said, according to El-Balad.

Hagar sang lead from 1985 through Van Halen's final work together in 2005. Four albums came out during those years. Anthony left when the band brought David Lee Roth back in 2007, and Wolfgang Van Halen stepped in to play bass after that.

Anthony thinks that any record Alex Van Halen and Lukather make should skip vocals. He believes that keeping it instrumental will honor Eddie's memory better. Alex Van Halen and Eddie considered bringing in Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to sing before the 2012 reunion album, A Different Kind of Truth, but those ideas never went anywhere.

Hagar and Anthony started a six-show Las Vegas residency on March 11 at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The band formed by these musicians includes guitarist Joe Satriani, and it's called The Best of All Worlds.