The opening riff sounds like Montrose I Got The Fire
THE CIRCLE, Sammy Hagar's critically acclaimed supergroup also featuring Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham and Vic Johnson, will release its first album of all-original material, "Space Between", on May 10 via BMG. The disc's first single, "Trust Fund Baby", can now be streamed below.
Hagar said: "Play it on whatever system suits you and crank it up, it fucking rocks like the rest of the album!"
Hagar told the Broward Palm Beach New Times last year about the lyrical themes covered on "Space Between": "It's about the misconception that money is the root of all evil, because the truth of the matter is that it isn't money at all. You can feed the poor, you can heal the sick, you can make people happy, you can stop a war with money, but it's greed that is the problem. That's what the whole record is about. It's what I discovered by being both rich and poor."
Hagar added that "Space Between", which will be followed by a "large-scale tour of North America," will likely be his last album, and he hopes to get a Grammy for it.
"That's my bucket list: to have one more credible musical experience in my life," he said. "I think I did it, and I hope it's as good as I think it is. I've been double-parked in the rock 'n' roll business for 40 years, and I want a stamp on my validation so I don't have to pay to get out."
Bonham told Sonic Perspectives in an interview that THE CIRCLE's upcoming disc is a "concept kind of album" that needs to be listened to "in a specific order, which kind of tells the story."
The drummer added that Hagar has "been really inspired as of late, and I think it's gonna be some of his best stuff. It's definitely diverse," he said. "As I said, when you listen to it in the order… It's gonna be an incredible… What he wanted to do was do something very different than he's ever done, which is send you on a journey, like the old days. When you put on an album, you listened to it from start to finish instead of just a song — where the placement of each [song] is vital for it to make sense."
THE CIRCLE released a concert album, "At Your Service", in May 2015. Recorded on tour in 2014, it features live performances of hits from Sammy's four decades of rock (MONTROSE, solo, VAN HALEN, THE WABORITAS, CHICKENFOOT) as well as classic tracks from the LED ZEPPELIN catalog.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
sounds good. excited for this release
I dig Sammy. He is still wide open and never ages.
I keep wanting to love one of these hard rock super groups. But it seems sing-able melody has been gone for over 30 years from most of these guys.....(in Sammy's case compare this to the 5150 title track, I'll Fall in Love Again.....or compare Geezer's new band to to the vocal melodies in Junior's Eyes, Never Say Die, Neon Nights, Country Girl).
I struggle to make it through a full song with most of these legacy rockers.
And I dig Sammy too....
I keep wanting to love one of these hard rock super groups. But it seems sing-able melody has been gone for over 30 years from most of these guys.....(in Sammy's case compare this to the 5150 title track, I'll Fall in Love Again.....or compare Geezer's new band to to the vocal melodies in Junior's Eyes, Never Say Die, Neon Nights, Country Girl).
I struggle to make it through a full song with most of these legacy rockers.
And I dig Sammy too.... [/quote
I agree. Its part old habit too i guess. Ive listened to all of these folks for decades.
Although I don't want to judge a whole album based off of one song, I tend to agree with Tim on this. I had problem getting into the Chickenfoot records for the same reason. But if this makes its way to Prime Music, then I will give the album a listen and see if there's more to it than this. It is a pretty decent rocker tune as far as Sam's writing goes though.
Hate the band name The Circle. Don't know why I can't get past that, but what's in a name?
Interesting plan to launch a big tour in late spring. Wonder how that will play into the Mike Anthony + VH reunion rumors for summer '19 tour. Oh the irony.
I'm with you guys on the "super" group thing. High hopes that always seem to fizzle out once I hear them.
A few exceptions I'm sure like BBC. I like their albums and give them repeat listens.
To me this sounds like the Chili Peppers and Satch are busy. Bonham plays with everyone and Vic is always Sammy's solo guitarist.
Sammy is a hype guy.
It's really amazing how strong his voice is at age 72. His range may have come down a bit from the 1980s/90s, but not by much. Compared to the vast majority of his peers, he sounds pretty darn close to his pinnacle days.
It's really amazing how strong his voice is at age 72. His range may have come down a bit from the 1980s/90s, but not by much. Compared to the vast majority of his peers, he sounds pretty darn close to his pinnacle days.
No doubt his pipes are still pretty impressive.....I suspect that's partly due to the fact that he's not a smoker and he hasn't stopped singing for any long duration and thus is always exercising those vocal cords.
Nothing he's done since his first album after leaving Van Halen has done much for me. I'm not knocking his talents just that nothing he's written in years seems to grab me. In fact, his last great tune in my opinion is "Humans Being." Which for me is one of the best Van Hagar tunes of that incarnation of Van Halen.
Still, the guy is performing well and pleasing crowds into his 70's and he gives a lot of his vast wealth to good causes. For that I give him lots of props. 
About 12 years ago I got lucky to be on a 100% awards sales trip to Cabo with my company. After one of our dinners at our hotel, we took a bus with a big group to Sammy's Cabo Wabo club. Place is big. He has a house band that plays a combo of Sammy solo stuff, Van Hagar, and other classic rock including Zeppelin.
Second set, they take the stage and Sammy is out front. It's about midnight and he sings does a hour set with them. It was a ton of fun. Going Down was the closer.
I dig Sammy's AXS cable show too. He doesn't take himself too serious and it's endearing.
Although I don't want to judge a whole album based off of one song, I tend to agree with Tim on this. I had problem getting into the Chickenfoot records for the same reason. But if this makes its way to Prime Music, then I will give the album a listen and see if there's more to it than this. It is a pretty decent rocker tune as far as Sam's writing goes though.
Hate the band name The Circle. Don't know why I can't get past that, but what's in a name?
Interesting plan to launch a big tour in late spring. Wonder how that will play into the Mike Anthony + VH reunion rumors for summer '19 tour. Oh the irony.
I think the "The Circle" name comes from Sammy going full circle with his career playing everything including the Zep connection with JB. He mentioned something along those lines.
Mike Anthony on VH rumour
MICHAEL ANTHONY: 'I Haven't Been Contacted' About A VAN HALEN Reunion
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/michael-anthony-i-havent-been-contacted-about-a-van-halen-reunion/
Former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony has once again shot down rumors that he will rejoin the band for a reunion tour this summer.
A new rumor has suggested that the original VAN HALEN lineup — including Anthony, who has not played with the band since 2004 — will reunite in 2019 for a stadium tour. This would be the first time that the four founding members of the band, including singer David Lee Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen, perform together since 1984.
During an appearance at this weekend's NAMM show in Anaheim, California, Anthony was asked by Music Radar if there is any chance of him reuniting with VAN HALEN in the not-too-distant future. He responded (see video below): "I'm a 'never say never' guy. At this point… I don't know what kind of rumors are floating around or whatever, but I personally haven't been contacted by them yet or anything. So, at this point, nothing is happening. But you never know."
The rumors stem from a recent interview Roth did, as well as a report from radio personality Eddie Trunk. Roth hinted to Vulture that the band would "come back through town in the summertime and do the original thing, maybe somewhere sportin', maybe with somebody famous…. next time my rock band will be playing the same place that the Yankees play."
Meanwhile, on his SiriusXM show, Trunk said that he heard from reliable sources that the band would tour in 2019 with Anthony back in the fold. He explained, "Every year there’s some rumor about VAN HALEN about to do something or announce something, and ultimately it just doesn't happen. But, a little more so than normal as we close out 2018, I'm starting to hear some rumblings."
He went on to say: "The rumors from reliable sources — but still rumors that are unconfirmed — is that the band will tour in 2019 with the original band, which would mean the return of Michael, and that it’s gonna be some sort of stadium package."
VAN HALEN and Anthony have not been on good terms for more than a decade, with Anthony not invited to join the reunion with Roth that began in 2007. The subsequent two tours and studio album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", featured Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass.
Anthony has said that a reunion of the original VAN HALEN lineup would be an opportunity for "closure." He told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that he's ambivalent about playing VAN HALEN songs live even though he still feels like he has "ownership" of the old songs. "Part ownership, anyway," he said. "I was part of it. You know, that's kind of one of the reasons why I've never wanted to like actually put a [solo] thing together and go out and play like that. I know Roth did it for quite some time. But you know, to me, I mean, that's basically, that's VAN HALEN's stuff, and it's best left to VAN HALEN doing it."
Anthony took a pay cut and signed away all of his rights to the band name and logo in order to participate in the 2004 tour, which featured singer Sammy Hagar. Anthony later participated in a series of post-VAN HALEN collaborations with Hagar, including THE CIRCLE and CHICKENFOOT, which also reportedly irked the Van Halen brothers.
David Lee Roth on VH rumors
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/david-lee-roth-hints-at-van-halens-return-to-live-activity/
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony has once again shot down rumors that he will rejoin the band for a reunion tour this summer.
I don't think he has shot down the rumor though. Of course he is going to deny deny deny, until VH or the Brothers make the official announcement. He seems to be parsing his words. He has said he hasn't spoken with the Brothers since the last concert of the 2004 reunion. In this quote, he says he hasn't been personally contacted. True and true. But that's not how a reunion would happen anyway.
Latest rumor is VH's management contacted MA's agent... on Dec. 31st to be exact. It's not a done deal, due to mercurial EVH, but wheels are in motion. Who knows accuracy of this rumor, but if true it doesn't make MA a liar in his recent denials.
EVH Gear just released 8 new guitars at this past week's NAMM show, including a retro "Shark" guitar from cover of Women & Children First, which is also sort of standard operating procedure for EVH in advance of a tour. Prior to past tours he released retro of the Frankenstrat guitar on VH1 in black and white ("Eruption '78" guitar) and later re-painted into the red, black & white "Stripes" guitar in later years. Then the next tour he did the yellow/black guitar from VH2. Then he did the Fair Warning black & white "Circles" guitar, I believe, ahead of their last tour.
I also cannot fathom a stadium tour, which is part of the rumor. But I could see them do something along the lines of a West Coast/East Coast Desert Trip type festival with a handful of other A-list artists that were huge in the 1970s and 1980s. Then if all goes well, a VH arena tour in the fall/winter, which has been when VH has toured in recent tours. And that would also allow for a late spring/summer Circle tour of theaters, festivals, state fairs, or some sheds, depending on the tour package.
Just my musings....
[Edited on 1/31/2019 by Zambi]
