Sammy Hagar Says Van Halen Used Michael Anthony Tapes On Tour

There’s no love lost between Sammy Hagar and the Van Halen brothers, which is evident pretty much every time the Red Rocker speaks.

Hagar’s latest rant about his former bandmates may be as much about them as it is Sammy standing up for his pal, ex-VH and now Chickenfoot bassist Michael Anthony.

By all appearances, and by the words of both Anthony and Hagar in recent years, Michael was kicked out of VH for being friends with Sammy at a time when the brothers weren’t working and he was, eventually inviting the bassist to join him on the road, earning the ire of both Eddie and Alex.

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That move led to a serious pay cut for Anthony on the 2004 VH reunion tour with Hagar, who wouldn’t do the trip if Michael wasn’t involved (Eddie reportedly didn’t want him along). Further, Anthony says he was forced by the VH brothers to sign over his rights to future earnings from the band as... what... retribution for wanting to play live music with someone they deemed as the "enemy"?

Anthony was replaced by Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, who toured with VH in 2007/08 on the band’s reunion trek with David Lee Roth... and is reportedly on the forthcoming VH album.

Now, in a new interview with Attention Deficit Delirium, Hagar accuses VH of using Anthony’s talents on the road, even after they unceremoniously dismissed him and his contributions to the group and its legacy.

"Those vocal harmonies on the last tour were Mike on tape," asserted Hagar. "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."

Sammy didn’t stop there.

"I just don’t see Van Halen getting together again," said the Red Rocker. "I don’t know what would have to happen for it to happen. I don’t think they’re ever going to get together with Dave. They’ve been working on that record for a year and a half or whatever, and they keep postponing and postponing it. I just know that Wolfie, Dave and Ed are not the Van Halen that the world wants to see. To do it with David without Mike was a horrible decision, but those guys haven’t made a good decision since I left the band. I don’t think so. It’s not about me, I just think that they really burned Mikey and burned the fans by throwing him out before Dave came back finally."

Still no word from the VH camp on when the new album will be released.

Thanks for the report to HenneMusic.com.