Sammy says Eddie was too loud in 2004

[James in New York]

Q: In recent years, your live shows have taken on a life of their own and become events ala shows by the GRATEFUL DEAD and PHISH.

Sammy Hagar: I think I've grown into that and I don't know how or why. I've never been influenced by THE DEAD or PHISH or JIMMY BUFFETT or those people that do the same thing. But I just fell into it myself. I've been friends with the guys in THE DEAD and have jammed with them two or three times. My shows go around the normal system. As long as I've been performing, if I was still doing a regular show and playing a specific set, I don't think I could do it anymore. As a performer you have to grow in some way and change. The way I've grown is I've become more and more myself. I've been living in Cabo St. Lucas since 1983. The way you do it down there is I'm sitting in a bathing suit. You go down to the Cabo Wabo and get something to eat, and the next thing you know you're onstage with no shoes and no shirt and wearin' a bathing suit. And you're going, "Hey, this is a gas!" (laughs) Eventually you start breaking down those barriers. I think I got brave enough to go out in front of 20,000 people in St. Louis the same way saying, "I'm here but on a casual level."

Q: Stylistically, your new CD, "Livin' It Up", shows off your versatility. It's not just hard rock. there's country, there's blues, and there's roots rock.

Sammy Hagar: This record is not an experiment. It's not something I thought over saying, "I think I'll do this or that." When I went out on the last tour with VAN HALEN, I moved the studio from my house. I did my last three or four studio albums at my house since the "Marching To Mars" record. So I moved the studio out of my house and built a real professional studio. My band got in there and just started getting really great sounds. To make a long story short, when I came off the road with VAN HALEN I was a little frustrated to say the least. I just went into the studio with my band and I wrote songs and recorded them one at a time. I was strictly letting out exactly who I was, what I felt, what I liked to do. It's like the manual for Sammy's lifestyle. (laughs) It's like, "beach all day and dance all night." It's pretty much what the whole record's all about.

The country side, the blues side, all of that stuff is totally my roots. If anything, throughout my whole career I've been distracted from my roots by the bands I'd been in. Long before I started MONTROSE I was in a hardcore funk band. We were playing songs by JAMES BROWN, OTIS REDDING, WILSON PICKETT, and TOWER OF POWER. Then I joined MONTROSE and we were a heavy metal band, so I just began singing like that to fit within the heavy metal format. I loved that band and when I left MONTROSE I was still hanging onto that style a little bit.

Then all of a sudden I'm in VAN HALEN. VAN HALEN was a pure Southern California metal band. As much as I loved being in those bands, I wasn't being a phony and I was totally lovin' what I was doing. It's a blast playing music like that. But I can do a lot of other things. Also, after the last VAN HALEN reunion, the pure onstage volume alone was enough to make somebody my age go, "You know what, I can't handle this anymore." (Laughs) I mean, why be onstage and wear ear plugs? Everybody in the band had ear plugs on except for me. I don't like wearing ear plugs because I like to communicate with the audience and I like to hear what they're doing and what the band's doing. My band plays loud too, but if you've gotta wear ear plugs, turn down, you're too loud. (laughs) It's as simple as that.

[Bad to the Bone]

uhhhhhh...I think you're seeing things that aren't there...I didn't see where he specifically said Ed was too loud. He said the whole thing was too loud. I don't think he did any Ed bashing there.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see it.

[Little Dreamer]

He called Van Halen "southern california metal??"

Weird that he would use those terms. Source please?

Maybe he forgot a few VH songs he wrote, "Not Enough," "Dreams," "Love Walks In"...

[Berseker]

If it's too loud you're too old!

[SuckaInA3Piece]

Van Halen, too loud?? Is there any other way to enjoy a VH concert??

You can't exactly hear a mouse piss on cotton at a Wabo's show either, so I'm not real sure what Sam's point is.

[Sunya]

That was probably the best Sam interview I've seen in a long time. And no where did he bash Ed, or say Ed was too loud. He said the band was too loud. He even said his band plays loud. He just says if it's so loud you need earplugs turn it down. That's old age showing. LOL And everyone gets to that point at some point.


Oh my gawd did I just defend Sammy! LOL!

[chefcraig]

If it's too loud you're too old!

There's a reasonable kernel of truth in that statement, yet not what one would immediately realise.

After thirty years of performing music at volume beyond the human pain threshold, I was recently diagnosed with titinitis. As a result I get a painful, high-pitched ringing in my ears now from not only loud music, yet from unexpected things like car horns, fireworks, sometimes even a fucking telephone!

I wind up almost keeling over from the instant headache, the pain jabbing into my skull like an ice pick.

Now when I go to shows or play at nearly anywhere near loud, I must wear earplugs.

Yes, nature is a funny thing...abuse your ears (or anything, for that matter)for a long period of time, the bitch comes back and bites you in the ass.

I don't blame the guy in the least for wanting to lower the volume, as he's been torturing his ears (and ours) for even longer than I.

[James in New York]

Well, he didnt say Ed, but it must be Ed, because it isnt Sam, it isn't just Mike, who would gladly lower the music down as he does for Sam when they go out with the Other Half...unless he means Alex's drums...


I'd say he means Eddie. Eddie likes it REAL LOUD.

[James in New York]

He called Van Halen "southern california metal??"

Weird that he would use those terms. Source please?

Maybe he forgot a few VH songs he wrote, "Not Enough," "Dreams," "Love Walks In"...

I think Sammy meant the band he joined, the early VH with Dave.

[acs]

There's a reasonable kernel of truth in that statement, yet not what one would immediately realise.

After thirty years of performing music at volume beyond the human pain threshold, I was recently diagnosed with titinitis. As a result I get a painful, high-pitched ringing in my ears now from not only loud music, yet from unexpected things like car horns, fireworks, sometimes even a fucking telephone!

I wind up almost keeling over from the instant headache, the pain jabbing into my skull like an ice pick.

Now when I go to shows or play at nearly anywhere near loud, I must wear earplugs.

Yes, nature is a funny thing...abuse your ears (or anything, for that matter)for a long period of time, the bitch comes back and bites you in the ass.

I don't blame the guy in the least for wanting to lower the volume, as he's been torturing his ears (and ours) for even longer than I.

Is this the same thing Phil Collins has? A few years ago, he was playing drums for Queen and Ozzy in a benefit and he had to quit, b/c of the same issue. He was temporaily deaf in one ear. Now he can still play but has to be VERY careful about volume.

[Ain't Talkin' Bout' Love]

Van Halen, too loud?? Is there any other way to enjoy a VH concert??

You can't exactly hear a mouse piss on cotton at a Wabo's show either, so I'm not real sure what Sam's point is.

Yeah me neither. It makes me think of Alice Cooper, who did the 2 loudest albums/tours of his life in 2000-2002 with Brutal Planet and Dragontown, and he's as old as Sammy. I think Sammy is accomodating the sound of the new album in this interview, I can't see the music being too loud.

[James in New York]

Eddie wears the ear plugs now, but back in the day he never wore em.
His ears must be pretty bad now.

Found this quote:

GP: Do you ever have trouble hearing yourself?

EVH: Never. Dave and Mike won't even come to my side because I'm so loud.

I can actually play so loud onstage that you won?t hear anything else, but I don't really like to do that. I like to get a balanced sound.

GP: How loud do you play in the studio?

EVH: Very loud. I use four 100-watt Marshalls, which are cranked up to close to 600-watts with the Variac. I like to feel it, you know, make my arm hairs move. If you stand in front of a big PA you vibrate.

It's the way I get off. I don't wear ear plugs, either, so I'm surprised I'm not deaf yet. We used to get kicked out of clubs because I refused to turn down. It's the only way I could get a sound -- crank it all the way up.

[chefcraig]

Is this the same thing Phil Collins has? A few years ago, he was playing drums for Queen and Ozzy in a benefit and he had to quit, b/c of the same issue. He was temporaily deaf in one ear. Now he can still play but has to be VERY careful about volume.

Yup. Pete Townshend has it also.

Look, I don't wish this shit on anyone. Frankly, it's debilitating as hell, i.e. needing to take precautions continually. I truly wind up blowing off and not attending shows, rather than go through the ritual of dragging along my earplugs, putting them in my ears, or forgetting them in the car, ect. It's a royal pain in the ass.

It hasn't made jamming or playing out that much fun either.

Everybody gets older, believe it or not. And it fucking blows.

[AVH Blues]

He called Van Halen "southern california metal??"

Weird that he would use those terms. Source please?

Maybe he forgot a few VH songs he wrote, "Not Enough," "Dreams," "Love Walks In"...

VAN HALEN was a pure Southern California metal band. I think he was saying when he joined Van Halen was a pure...

[belikemike]

After thirty years of performing music at volume beyond the human pain threshold, I was recently diagnosed with titinitis.

I thought i had titinitis -- fixation with beautiful breasts --- guess there's another name for my problem