Fan-filmed video of SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE performing the VAN HALEN classics "Runnin' With The Devil" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" live this past Saturday, February 12 as part of Hagar's 2022 "Sammy Hagar & Friends" residency at The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod can be seen below. Handling lead vocals on the David Lee Roth-era VH songs was THE CIRCLE's Michael Anthony, who was also a member of VAN HALEN's classic lineup.
In a 2014 interview with the "Lamont And Tonelli Show", which airs on the Bay Area rock station 107.7 The Bone, Anthony was told by the radio hosts that he is such a great lead singer in his own right that he could probably front his own band. "Yeah, you know, but I don't need that kind of pressure on me," he responded. "Lead singers, they're their own breed."
He added: "It wasn't until the fourth or fifth VAN HALEN record that people would go, 'Wow! You're singing backgrounds on those records. That's not David Lee Roth.' And I go, 'Hell, no! That's not David Lee Roth.'"
Asked which classic VAN HALEN song he would pick to sing lead vocals on, if he had to choose one, Anthony said: "Ahh…. Oh my God… I sang 'Somebody Get Me A Doctor'. That actually goes over quite well. But I don't know… Man, I'd sing any of 'em. I could sing any of that crap. C'mon! I can sing it all. [Laughs]"
Back in 2013, VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about the touchy subject of Anthony potentially replacing then-VAN HALEN bassist — and Eddie Van Halen's son — Wolfgang Van Halen. He said: "Ed has his own vision, I'm assuming. We haven't really been able to speak about it and it's a disappointment, just as not having a chance for a reunion of the original band. Clearly, vocals are every bit as much a component of success as a rhythm section or a guitar solo… What we have at our fingertips is arguably one of the greatest high tenor voices ever — that was in Michael Anthony. In our tiny little corner of the universe, that voice is as identifiable as the high voice in EARTH, WIND & FIRE, as identifiable as the high voice in the BEACH BOYS. VAN HALEN is an indelicate house blend of both — that's intentionally."
In October 2011, Sammy Hagar accused VAN HALEN of using tapes of backing vocals originally done by Anthony on its 2007/2008 reunion tour, for which Anthony was replaced by Wolfgang. Hagar told Attention Deficit Delirium, "Those vocal harmonies on the last tour were Mike on tape. Mike should've reamed them for it. Wolfie don't sing like that, and Ed sure as hell don't. Go on the Internet and listen to Ed's voice live from the reunion with me. Hear him sing on 'When It's Love' and some of those songs. Ed can't sing, and his voice is shot if he can, from cigarettes and booze anyway."
Anthony and Hagar both last played with VAN HALEN on a 2004 reunion tour that ended acrimoniously. Both later claimed that Anthony was booted from VAN HALEN for maintaining a friendship and working relationship with Hagar.
A few years ago, Hagar told The Pulse Of Radio that he thinks VAN HALEN made a grave mistake leaving Anthony out of the reunion tour with Roth. "Anyone in their right mind would know if you're gonna get Roth back finally. after all these abortions they've had, you get Mikey and you do the reunion tour, what the world really was waiting for. Not just fuck it up again. It's almost like they don't care about their fans. They just want to badger them until — see how much they'll take."
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
As much as I love Michael Anthony and completely agree that his voice and bass is vital to the original Van Halen as well as Van Hagar, the reunion with Roth in 2007 would have never happened without Wolfgang Van Halen.
Not only did Wolf make the reunion happen in 2007, but he saved his father's life just prior to the tour. In addition, Wolfgang was also the impetus for the final, sadly, Van Halen release, "A Different Kind Of Truth" in 2012.
As was revealed and we bantered about after EVH's death in 2020, a reunion of all the members of Van Halen was being seriously discussed just prior to Ed's failing health. According to Wolfgang himself and confirmed by Michael Anthony, Irving Azoff had reached out to Anthony about one last tour which was to include Anthony, Roth, Hagar, and Gary Cherone. With Wolf's band Mammoth WVH to be the opening act.
Sadly, Ed's worsening and ultimately fatal health crisis prevented a final tour from happening. What a great thing it would have been for the members and the fans.
@chain Who is Gary Cherone? I saw Van Halen's original lineup a couple of times and may be wrong but it seemed to be a four piece. Ed and Alex, Anthony and DLR.
I was never really in to Sammy Hagar so I saw DLR with Steve Vai who was, to me, as good a technical wizard and shredder as Ed.
@chain Who is Gary Cherone? I saw Van Halen's original lineup a couple of times and may be wrong but it seemed to be a four piece. Ed and Alex, Anthony and DLR.
I was never really in to Sammy Hagar so I saw DLR with Steve Vai who was, to me, as good a technical wizard and shredder as Ed.
Gary Cherone is in the band Extreme and was in Van Halen from 1997-2000
@matt05 Oh yes I remember now. For some reason (dementia?) didn't recognize the name. Sammy Hagar refused to perform a number of DLR era songs so they parted ways and Cherone was brought in as lead singer and a song writer.
I just looked at Cherone's Wiki page and after living in Eddie's guest house for a year writing and rehearsing, Van Halen recorded an album with him and was considered a flop commercially as it only sold 700,000 copies failing to go Platinum. The band had always gone double Platinum ( over 2 million sold) but Eddie liked Cherone and they went in and recorded another album but Warner Brothers rejected it. They made some changes and Warner Brothers rejected it again telling Eddie there wasn't any hits on it and the label didn't want another average selling album. Many bands would be delighted with 700,000 and a gold record. Govt Mule certainly would and the Allman Brothers never sold that many on a new album after the 1989 reunion.
So reluctantly Van Halen decided they had to part company with Cherone.
That is too bad. Especially since the band liked him. But Van Halen was in BIG TIME ROCK AND ROLL at this point and was expected to sell albums like The Eagles or the Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd.
Did you like the album Cherone did with Van Halen?
@robertdee I thought Gary did a good job with the VH back catalog
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
The album with Cherone was called, very aptly, “Van Halen lll.” While the production and sound is subpar in my opinion, I really like the album as it’s a very different side of EVH.
And the tour to support the album brought back a number of classic Van Halen tunes that Cherone and the entire band performed very well. Also, Eddie himself was absolutely on fire and seemed very inspired playing new and different songs as well as classics like “Mean Street” and “Unchained.”
Also, the new songs performed live sounded so much better than the album due to the albums sub par production.
Check out the YouTube clip of MTV’s Live at the Ten Spot special of Van Halen Live from Sidney, Australia...In particular the song “A Year To The Day.” It’s my favorite song from Van Halen III and it’s a great example of a different side of EVH and how his writing style was evolving and changing. I find it a bit Pink Floydish....Also the song “Once” is a very different Van Halen song you should give a listen.
@chain I'm surprised Warner Brothers Records could push Van Halen around like that!! Especially at that point in their career. Van Halen had multi platinum albums at that place in their career.
So Warner Brothers was butt hurt Van Halen 111 only sold 700,000 copies!!!
Van Halen's next album WAS REJECTED BY WARNER BROTHERS. So they re-recorded it and changed some songs AND IT WAS REJECTED AGAIN!! That is amazing WB could push Eddie and the boys around like that! And Cherone had to leave.
Gov't Mule never had an album sell that many copies as far as I know and many other good bands too.
No wonder Eddie wasn't as rich as I thought he would be. Warner Brothers was getting the lions share???
Keith Richards $380 million.
Don Henley $200 millions.
David Gilmore $180 million.
Eddie Van Halen $100 million.
$100 million is a big pile of money to be sure. But I was still surprised Eddie wasn't similar to Don Henley of the Eagles.
FYI the wealthiest Allman Brother is:
Dickey Betts $40 million.
Van Halen, like many hugely successful bands, had a very shitty recording contract in the early years. Even as late as the 1984 album they were getting hosed by Warner Brothers and their own manager. In addition, much of their touring money was pumped right back into their incessant touring and outlandish stage production (for that time anyway).
Hagar mentioned in several interviews and in his auto-biography that it wasn't until his manager, Ed Lefler, negotiated a better deal with Warner Brothers when he joined in 1985 that Van Halen started making the kind of coin their record sales and overall popularity should have earned them.
They also split the early songwriting credits among the four members and, as is typical in the industry, with their then longtime producer Ted Templeman. David Lee Roth has mentioned several times over the years that Ted still to this day makes more off the early Van Halen publishing than any of the four original members.
Again, that's not a unique situation. To be fair to Ted, he also was the impetus and biggest cheerleader of the band in early 1977 and is probably the biggest reason Warner Brothers ultimately signed the band.
Ted also worked very hard to mold the band into the hit makers they became. Prior to Ted's involvement, they were a fantastic live band with a huge following in and around Pasadena and LA, but no original songs fit for recording and short enough to get radio play. It can be said that Ted not only discovered and signed the band, he also molded them into a radio friendly hard rock band with pop sensibilities.....Thus his big share of the pie.
@chain Well Phil Walden got a big chunk of the Allman Brothers. Dickey sued in 1980 and won over $1 million.
Yes as big as they were, you would think they would just say "Warner Brothers released OUR albums just they way we recorded them or when our contract is up we will go elsewhere."
Sadly the stories of musicians and song writers getting shafted by people in the business stretches from New York to Los Angeles.
Many of the old blues guys didn't get a thing. John Forgerty got shafted out of everything initially. That is why he refused to sing HIS songs for several years after CCR broke up. Fantasy Records signed CCR and sure enough made them a huge success in the late 60's and early 70's but their crooked management made ALL the money off record sales AND publishing.
On One Way Out on Eat A Peach. A Marshall Sehorn gets a cut of the publishing off that song. When Eat A Peach sold over 2 million copies his cash register was ringing every 2 seconds. But MARSHALL SEHORN WROTE NOTHING. He wanted a credit to help Sonny Boy Williamson and Elmore James get the song on an album.
Gregg sold half of Melissa to Steve Aliamo for $500.00. When Gregg was able to pay him back, he refused to settle and Steve's cash register was ringing everytime Eat A Peach sold and Steve Aliamo as Gregg put it " DID NOT WRITE ONE NOTE OR WORD. I WROTE ALL OF IT!!".
Gregg eventually offered $10,000 to get his name off the credit and he refused.
The music business can be dirty and cold. Many people who are slick business dealers in the music business have made millions and they can't sing or play anything. They put the squeeze on someone new who can write, play and sing.
as others have mentioned the production was pretty trash. i thought it was 1/2 good and 1/2 bad . some of the songs were too long. imo it would have been better like this
1 new world
2 without you (edit about 40 seconds off)
3 one i want (edit a minute off)
4 from afar
5 dirty water dog (edit about a minute off)
6 once (edit about a minute off)
7 fire in the hole (edit about a minute off)
8 thats why i love you (this was cut at the last minute)
9 year to the day (edit about 2 minutes off)
10 primary
11 the ballot of the bullet (edit about 30 seconds off)
@matt05 Was the second album with Cherone on lead vocals ever released? I read Warner Brothers rejected it, refused to release it. Van Halen re-recorded some of it, dropped a couple of songs and replaced them with new ones and it was rejected by Warner Brothers Records again. Was this album ever released? Apparently not it seems.
@matt05 Was the second album with Cherone on lead vocals ever released? I read Warner Brothers rejected it, refused to release it. Van Halen re-recorded some of it, dropped a couple of songs and replaced them with new ones and it was rejected by Warner Brothers Records again. Was this album ever released? Apparently not it seems since Warner Brothers refused.
nope nothing has ever been released. these are the only song titles ive ever seen mentioned.
"Left for Dead", "River Wide", "Say Uncle", "You Wear it Well", "More Than Yesterday", "I Don't Miss You ... Much", "Love Divine", and "From Here, Where Do We Go?"
the lyrics for "Left for Dead" were reused by Cherone
I do not specifically wish to derail this thread any further, but Robertdee raised the interesting topic of a record label refusing to allow a popular artist more freedom.
I'd have to go back and look for the specific statements, but as I recall, after Eric Clapton had a really amazing 1980s revival especially after Live Aid, and "Behind the Sun" and "Journeyman" and those soundtrack songs were hits, he wanted to do a blues album, but the label said no.
Said no to Eric Clapton? For a blues album? After all of his 80s hits? Apparently so. From what I recall, what changed things was the surprise runaway success of his unplugged album.
Van Halen, like many hugely successful bands, had a very shitty recording contract in the early years. Even as late as the 1984 album they were getting hosed by Warner Brothers and their own manager. In addition, much of their touring money was pumped right back into their incessant touring and outlandish stage production (for that time anyway).
Hagar mentioned in several interviews and in his auto-biography that it wasn't until his manager, Ed Lefler, negotiated a better deal with Warner Brothers when he joined in 1985 that Van Halen started making the kind of coin their record sales and overall popularity should have earned them.
They also split the early songwriting credits among the four members and, as is typical in the industry, with their then longtime producer Ted Templeman. David Lee Roth has mentioned several times over the years that Ted still to this day makes more off the early Van Halen publishing than any of the four original members.
Again, that's not a unique situation. To be fair to Ted, he also was the impetus and biggest cheerleader of the band in early 1977 and is probably the biggest reason Warner Brothers ultimately signed the band.
Ted also worked very hard to mold the band into the hit makers they became. Prior to Ted's involvement, they were a fantastic live band with a huge following in and around Pasadena and LA, but no original songs fit for recording and short enough to get radio play. It can be said that Ted not only discovered and signed the band, he also molded them into a radio friendly hard rock band with pop sensibilities.....Thus his big share of the pie.
Its interesting , especially in the early years like chain mentions, about bad record deals and the artists getting the sh!t end of the stick. I have read many stories about that and shadiness of the music biz. Money and greed.
I agree about your statments about Ted. Very important piece of that VH machine along with Don Landee. Maybe in comparison how George Martin was to the Beatles.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
I do not specifically wish to derail this thread any further, but Robertdee raised the interesting topic of a record label refusing to allow a popular artist more freedom.
I'd have to go back and look for the specific statements, but as I recall, after Eric Clapton had a really amazing 1980s revival especially after Live Aid, and "Behind the Sun" and "Journeyman" and those soundtrack songs were hits, he wanted to do a blues album, but the label said no.
Said no to Eric Clapton? For a blues album? After all of his 80s hits? Apparently so. From what I recall, what changed things was the surprise runaway success of his unplugged album.
Not derailing at all Jim. Anything that keeps these threads and topics active is good with me. Things have been slow for quite awhile around here.
I get what your saying about EC. I just think the record company only seeing $$$ they want to keep this classic figure, who is having a resurgence with his current material, going in the same direction and not diverting to a less popular format. Yeah there are the diehards like us and others who are down with it, but it's not the pop flavor to gravy train off of.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Jszfunk,
Very good point about Don Landee....He is vital to the early Van Halen recorded sound. In my opinion, some of the later "Van Hagar" albums without Landee on the control board are sorely lacking in sound quality.
Don Landee also played a huge role in EVH building his famous "5150" studio at his house. Landee was the engineer/technical whiz who basically built the studio to Ed's specifications.
One other lesser known contributor to the 5150 studio is the one an only Frank Zappa. As Dweezil Zappa has mentioned numerous times over the years, Ed was a big fan of Frank Zappa and sought out his advice and input on building a home studio. Among other things....
Great info from all. It's great to read all this stuff about Van Halen that I wasn't aware of.
I like most guitar players was totally flipped when I saw what Ed could do with a guitar. Simply amazing.
I'm blessed to have been able to see the band a few times over the yeas including one show here in Champaign, Illinois where Valarie happened to attend.
I was assigned to work the sound board and helped escort her and friends around. Great time for sure. Man how the years go by.
@jszfunk Of course being 75 years old I remember the early 1990's when playing acoustic (unplugged) on MTV had become so popular for famous players and bands so wasn't surprised when Eric Clapton was on. I was excited that my favorite piano player other than Liberace was part of EC's band.
I wasn't aware until recently the record label was cautious about releasing the concert or that they refused to release a blues album EC wanted to do. I thought a label which had signed Eric Clapton or Van Halen or other major acts didn't have to power to tell these top artists what their next album would be and what would be on it. Like the stories of studio bosses ( Warner Brothers for Bette and Joan) and directors clashing with major actors such as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford or Marlon Brando. I know the Allman Brothers refused to record the third album on their Arista deal and Clive Davis wouldn't let them record unless he chose the producer and approved the songs and Clive absolutely wanted to hear some hit singles. But the ABB albums by that time only sold 2 to 300,000 copies. Epic agreed to let the ABB do it their way in 1989 but sales of their albums were slow except Where It All Begins did go Gold (500,000 copies). But when the Brothers wanted a better percentage, Epic said no so the ABB didn't do another album until they did Hitting the Note on their own label in 2003. They and Epic worked out a deal to complete the contract by releasing Peakin' at the Beacon in 2000 but it sold almost nothing. About 25,000 copies.
Clapton's label it said reluctantly released Unplugged. To everyone's surprise it SOLD OVER 26 MILLION COPIES EARNING CLAPTON $80 MILLION and to this day is the BEST SELLING ALBUM CLAPTON HAS HAD AND THE BEST SELLING LIVE ALBUM TO DATE BY ANY ARTIST OR BAND!!!
I think Chuck Leavell tried to get a better payday for the incredible piano he played but Clapton and the label said no. That may be the last time Chuck worked with Clapton.
As Porkchopbob pointed out, Clapton, worth $400 million dollars, sued a poor woman for putting out some bootleg that she made 11 bucks on or some such low number.
Clapton's manager Robert Stigwood wouldn't lift a finger to help Rita Coolidge get her cut of Layla. She wrote the coda not Jim Gordon. Stigwood hung up on Rita. And Layla is on Unplugged. 26 MILLION copies and Rita Coolidge got ZERO!!! Rita said at least Jim's daughter gets the money Rita was cheated out of. As we know Jim has been in prison for decades.
The music biz can be dirty, selfish, cold and ready to cheat talented people out of their own songs and albums when they are trying to get their first record deal. And it doesn't seem to stop then.
Jszfunk,
Very good point about Don Landee....He is vital to the early Van Halen recorded sound. In my opinion, some of the later "Van Hagar" albums without Landee on the control board are sorely lacking in sound quality.
Don Landee also played a huge role in EVH building his famous "5150" studio at his house. Landee was the engineer/technical whiz who basically built the studio to Ed's specifications.
I think I read or heard that's where the spilt between Ted and EVH came down , concerning 5150 studio and the recording of the same named release. It sound like it was Ed and Don on side and Ted on the other.
Concerning Ted,I think I head him or Greg Renoff mentioned, if he was asked to do another VH record, without hesitation,it was absolute yes . Of course that was a year plus ago before the loss of Edward.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Great info from all. It's great to read all this stuff about Van Halen that I wasn't aware of.
I like most guitar players was totally flipped when I saw what Ed could do with a guitar. Simply amazing.
I'm blessed to have been able to see the band a few times over the yeas including one show here in Champaign, Illinois where Valarie happened to attend.
I was assigned to work the sound board and helped escort her and friends around. Great time for sure. Man how the years go by.
That's a cool story RC.....And I agree, time goes by quickly....
I mentioned the song "Once" from Van Halen III earlier in this thread. It's one of my favorite Van Halen tunes of their entire catalog and perhaps my favorite song written by Eddie and Gary Cherone. Here is a link to the video of this song that was created, produced, and filmed by Valerie Bertinelli's brother, Patrick
Patrick Bertinelli also played a very big role in Wolfgang Van Halen's video "Distance" that earned great praise when it was released to the world a few weeks after EVH's death.
Here's the link to "Once":
I just watched the clip above of "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" from Australia. I had never seen that before and was blown away. Michael Anthony kicks ass on the lead vocals and I really like the power and thump of this performance by the whole band. Some of the fills Eddie tosses in are pretty f*cking sweet too!
The groove and swing of this song is top notch...Top notch!! It's what made classic VH so damn good. Their ability to swing was so unique in hard rock....
I just watched the clip above of "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" from Australia. I had never seen that before and was blown away. Michael Anthony kicks ass on the lead vocals and I really like the power and thump of this performance by the whole band. Some of the fills Eddie tosses in are pretty f*cking sweet too!
The groove and swing of this song is top notch...Top notch!! It's what made classic VH so damn good. Their ability to swing was so unique in hard rock....
I always liked that clip and thought it was pretty cool to have Mike up front for a song. It sounds like on Sam's current tour or run, that's the game plan. To feature Mike on some classic DLR songs.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Yep....There's a thread over at Vhlinks about the Hagar and Circle tour with Mike doing some lead vocals.
Yep....There's a thread over at Vhlinks about the Hagar and Circle tour with Mike doing some lead vocals.
chain, do you post on vh links?
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Yes.....I've been a long time member on the best Van Halen related website on the internet. The man who owns and runs the site, Brett, does a fantastic job.
@chain Kinda embarrassed to say this, but I just now, well about 2 wks ago, signed up for they're site. Life long VH fan, but never really ventured onto VH links. For some reason I dont have permission to post threads and reply . My account is active, so I am not sure what is going on.I reached out to one of the moderators yesterday about that, but have not heard anything back yet. Hopefully I will get it figured out soon.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
VH3 definitely suffered from lack of producer. I agree with matt05's comments above about shortening several of the songs. They were too long and meandered a bit, but also needed some polishing. I wish they had brought Bruce Fairbairn back for VH3 and go for the Balance sound. Or get a Bob Rock or Mutt Lange (think AC/DC production; not Def Leppard production) not only for a good straight up hard rock production treatment, but also to help shape the tunes a little bit. That's what VH3 needed.
I think several of the songs for the follow-up to VH3 were reused later. Not just the lyrics that Cherone took to Tribe of Judah, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Brothers worked on some of the same tunes in 2000 on the aborted Roth reunion. Or the 3 songs they worked with Hagar in 2004 on BOBW compilation. The VH Brothers liked to sift through old material, and also mix & match parts from old unused material. Heck, it would actually surprise me if they didn't reuse some of the material that they had worked on with Cherone for a follow-up. (This is also part of reason why I don't think we'll ever see much in the way of 5150 Vault material.)
Ted Templeman (and also VH Management) went with DLR at the time of the divorce. Templeman produced Crazy from the Heat and also Eat 'Em & Smile. Actually, Don Landee did the engineering on OU812 and that was one of the worst sounding VH records, so you never know.
Mikey also sang lead vox on Somebody Get Me A Doctor on the 2004 reunion tour with Hagar. There's clips on YouTube. It actually sounds kinda neat when you hear Hagar harmonizing the chorus vocals, with his more distinct voice.
