[Music] [Music] on this special edition of the big interview we go in studio with the red rocker Sammy Hagar [Music] at 68 years old I still go out and give it everything I got because I'm so grateful I'm not like saying I'm best singer I'm the best especially as good as I can be that's that's kind of where I'm at today and I'm kind of digging it [Music] for years he was the frontman to Van Halen's one of the biggest bands in the world [Music] with a lifestyle that really was all about sex drugs and rock and roll take me inside tell me things neither I nor anyone on the outside knows about what goes on on the inside Oh Dan you're a sir you might get me in trouble you know I'm no I don't know and just like his hit song says he's a guy who really can't drive 55 so questions what was your driving record before you didn't I can't drive 55 my driving records pitiful I think I had like 43 tickets or something like that have my license taken away three times look at us me and Uncle Dan are gonna go for a little ride life in the fast lane with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Sammy Hagar [Music] the big interview now [Music] [Applause] before Sammy Hagar came along van Halen was no doubt a big-time rock and roll band but when Hagar replaced the legendary lead singer David Lee Roth in the 1980s van Halen vaulted to another level [Music] hey gars electric boys combined with Eddie Van Halen's screaming guitar raised rock music to new heights and decibel levels [Music] parents fondly remembered their own wild enthusiasms for Beatlemania or the Rolling Stones now found it was their turn to shake their heads in Harlem as the kids went crazy under new anthems of anarchy yet for all the onstage antics hagar himself was a model of discipline and hard work lessons learn from a tough childhood Sammy Hagar grew up poor in Fontana California and started playing music with a number of bands eventually joining Montrose [Music] he then bursts onto the music scene with a successful solo career selling out arenas and making a name for himself with songs like your love is driving me crazy before joining Van Halen [Music] under Hagar then Halen scored several multi platinum albums and won a Grammy an American Music Award M n TV Video Music Awards they were later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame you couldn't have kept me from here with the shotgun so I'm honored to be here but after 11 years together Hagar says he was kicked out of the band fortunately Hagar years after Van Halen had been more rewarding at least financially than his time with him on stage it turns out Sammy Hagar had a knack for music and business big business he's earned millions on everything from selling tequila to ten-speed bicycle he's written a number one best-selling book and he enjoys the spoils of success notably his garage full of Ferraris which is also home to his studio where he was gracious enough to talk to me about his long and storied career thank you for doing doctor well the old red rocker himself where's that name come from by the way red rocker I wrote this song in 1976 called red and I was I did a show and 77 and I was walking down the street and somebody yelled it's a hate a red rocker and and then another time a guy comes up and gives me a newspaper article had a picture and it said the red rocker Sammy Hagar played Seattle it was in Seattle Washington and I thought that's kind of cool next time a guy yells at me hey the red rocker I'm going I guess I've never heard of rocker yeah yeah it was it was forced upon me and I just accepted it so much ground I want to cover with this afternoon but let's start with professionally professionally who is the red rocker Wow well you're a singer well you're guitarist I think the red rockers my stage persona I think it's what I invented about myself when I get on stage I'm a nervous person and I'm scared to death it's still today before I'm on stage I'm a wreck my wife can't be around me she goes oh my god you settle down I care a lot so I get out there and I don't know what to do with myself so I just run around and I sing and I yell and I scream and I play guitar and I go my songs are twice as fast as they're supposed to be and I in between songs I yell and blurt out a bunch of gibberish because I don't think about what I'm gonna say until I'm out there and that's the red rocker he's just kind of a manic crazy performer but it's because of what I'm nervous I'm well her to say the red rocker is a Hall of Fame rock star super mega rock star now as a person as a person who are you I'm a great pop to my kids and I'm a great husband to my wife and to my friends and family I'm just a guy I think that just really so humbled by my success that he just this guy just goes around smiling all the time because I'm pretty happy about it I'm kind of shocked you know and I really think that that is who I really am deep down inside and that's why I think I'm still a good performer at 68 years old I still go out and give everything I got because I'm so grateful and and it's really true I'm not trying to be anything and I'm not like saying oh I'm gonna show them I'm gonna be the best you know a guy out there I'm the best singer I'm the best especially Kara none of that I just go um as good as I can be and that's that's kind of where I'm at today you know and I'm kind of diggin it listen you know you live the world of rock and roll seemingly forever I mean that as a compliment nothing else but how have you done it have you have you stayed in shape you you seem to be in good shape both physically and mentally that doesn't always happen to aging rock stars well I'm a physical maniac you know everything I've been physical my whole life of you know I'd be I've run 3540 miles a week from when I was 26 when I started finally running I did that to Lhasa in my mid-40s 20-some years of running I mean everyday some days I wouldn't but I mean it would be like I'd run 35 40 miles a week and I always ate properly because I discovered good food as a child my mother was you know we were poor so we had a garden we had our own chickens we were farm to table you know like my whole life so I never had junk and when I finally got to eat junk I didn't like it so I'm not a health nut but I really eat healthy and I still do I drink I've done drugs in my life you know and I stay up later than I should many nights you know in the old days and partied my itself for you know pretty hard but I never went on binges and I never was addicted to anything and had to go to rehab so it seems like that's the answer cuz all the guys that didn't do that that I was hanging with and part with it saying I said I'm going home in two days later they'd still be doing the same thing I come back so oh my god those are the guys are falling apart now you know I always say got brakes on the car you know I like everybody's got a gas fellow and a brake and some people just step on the gas and I always hit that brake when it's time and I've been pretty lucky guy because I don't even like to be really drunk or really high and out of it I don't like that well kind of weird I think I got some little angels I'm not the smartest guy in the world you know well you mentioned angels on both shoulders are you religious I think so I I believe in God and I believe in believing in God just believe in a higher power and there must be something connecting us all that's got an energy in itself or something I mean it's the hardest hardest thing to explain is what God is well when you were a child growing up were you taught to pray were you were into prayer well I was raised a Catholic so yeah we you know I used to pray but as a child I pray for things make me a rocker oh yeah feed me get me some new shoes you know it was really pretty that that basic and I used to pray you know that my parents would get back together you know when they divorced that was tough you know for me every kid it's it's hard I'm I'm sure and I all my prayers came true except that one but you know I wrote my own prayer with my wife Carrie now when I when I got divorced I decided I would never lie again I don't I don't lie to people I used to lie to my ex-wife or used to light it my friends he said brag say I had more than I did you know and so I decided it and I want to like it and then I started deciding about prayer that you don't ask for things you give thinks it just seems a little more a little less you know going around prayer no I want to win the lotto oh god please you know it's like that just sounds really bad to me like stop it you know God's not gonna listen to you if there's such a thing as God listening well you mentioned you had a tough childhood tell me about it oh you get me choked up now get my sunglasses out you know I don't do interviews without sunglasses because I'm such a softy it returns home well my father was a bad alcoholic like not like a guy that just drank he was like a guy that would get a couple drinks in him and he would beat people up not the kids thank God he never did that to his children and why I don't know but he would beat my mother up hit beat up the neighbors then the cops somebody call the cops and he'd beat the cops up he was an ex-fighter and he could knock people out this was his big deal he could knock a guy out with one punch anybody and if he didn't knock you out you know and you get him on the ground he was he was a mess he didn't want to kill you then it's like you know so there were times we damn a place to live because my dad was an alcoholic so he'd get me lose our house we never owned a home first of all we always rented but with he couldn't pay the rent he'd be in jail my mom couldn't pay the rent so we'd go camping we live in a tent and stuff and we'd take our friends my mama drive to school take our friends our friends would go hey man can we come hang out with you guys you know so I didn't think we were having a hard time until I really started growing up and seeing what other friends had him and then I started realizing I was really poor and I went through it a down period where I was I didn't feel like oh man I can't date that girl and her dad told me out you know if he knew about my life and so I kind of got down and out and then I start playing music and I got to tell you yes music at what age was that first start playing about 14 15 I started getting into girls you know high school then I got a car once I got a car I was done with school I'm here my buddy the ditcher and we had a band a way to go play you know and we'd go to the beach and and you know get girls and stuff you know so but up till then it was tough looking back I can't believe I made it and the thing that makes me so happy when I go around smile on what's a me so happy well he'll the guy you know he okay he could have been like whoo but I really looking back and I think you know it's like we were really really poor you know we were really half the time homeless the longest of us ever goes for nine months and I just remember us we bought a new car we had a nice house to live and you know relatively nice but it was a rental and then when my dad went off that time my mom said that's it I'm leaving him for good I want to talk about music but before moving on a couple of things you said caught my ear I'm gonna go back to them one you said your father was pretty good with his fists back very good with his fists did he box amateur yeah professionally he bought a box professionally and I've got a scrapbook it's all we got left to my dad saying cuz we moved around so much and the scrapbook is like my brother and I were like you know we would put it under and run out the door you know so did you try the box yes I did my dad call me champ now this is a real good thing dan I think it's good for young people and for parents my dad as bad as everything was told me son you're gonna be the champ of the world you know hey champ everything was Pat me on the back you're gonna be somebody you're gonna be somebody and all my dad would say when he'd get drunk we start saying when we knew he was getting drunk it was like my mom oh here we go he'll be going I could have been somebody and I could have been a champion I could have been champion of the world because he fought Manuel Ortiz five times you fought him three times as an amateur and beat him and man URT is one of the greatest band away champs of all time five-time world champion and he then he fined him as a professional my dad start drinking my dad was picking lettuce because he couldn't get a real job and he couldn't train so he'd just take any job he could had couple kids and then man yo artis became a real fighter and he beat my dad twice and as professionals on his way up my dad never gotten a top ten I don't even believe but he had eight his first eight professional fights that word by knockout he knocked guys out because he was a big puncher so you tried boxing yourself yeah box amateur Golden Globes no not every day I come home from school when my dad was around yeah and if he was working a swing shift he'd be out there eating the sandwich getting ready to go to work or whatever and and he would say put on the gloves my friends wouldn't come over my house I was pretty good too and so my dad would say put on the gloves I did me and my brother but we didn't have friends over and my brother's three years older he'd make my brother get on his knees and fight me and it was but he had make us box every day when we return more of my interview with Sammy Hagar you won't want to miss it [Music] in the early 1980s van Halen rocketed to the top of the charts with Johnny featuring Diamond David Lee Roth on lead vocals Michael Anthony on bass Alex Van Halen on drums and his brother the incomparable Eddie Van Halen on electric guitar meanwhile Sammy Hagar was enjoying his own success selling over a million albums and packing arenas around the country but after years of constant touring Hagar was ready to throw in the towel that is until fate stepped in I want to take it back a ways you were considering retirement before you got the job with Eddie Van Halen tell me about how are your love with automobiles you have a deep and abiding love of cars how that brought you together looking back now it's so funny how things happen so I buy this Ferrari 512 box in my first really big time frame so I buy from this guy in LA who could get one you couldn't get one so I found this guy and I bought it so when I went on tour I gave it to him for the first tune-up and I guess while I was gone van Halen had broke up and Eddie was kind of down and out and he had a Lamborghini said he would take to this guy to get service to coz this guy was a ace mechanic and Eddie's looking at my car and he's going wow who's that who's whose cars that's a nice car that for sailing all that Sammy Hagar's car and he goes Oh cuz I'd met any couple times he was a fan of Montrose my first band and he's going oh and Claudio goes on you should get him money telling you should I'll get him in the end of your band he's a good guy he's a good guy you know and he goes you got his phone number yeah because he was phoning he goes to the guys the officer calls me now that I joined van Halen we sell 42 million records they have five number-one albums you know and tour of the world is one of the biggest fans in the world that is pure coincidence and I was ready to retire I was leaving that tour I just made a whole bunch of money and I didn't know what I was gonna do but I said I'm tired of working this hard you know since I was 26 years old 24 years old in Montreux 73 I worked every day of my life I was either writing songs in a studio or recording songs or going on tour that was it it's a go right you know new I'm since 73 and then it's in 84 I'm going that's enough yeah but it turned out it wasn't enough no I don't think there is now on March 27th 1987 you do you perform your first show with Van Halen in Shreveport Louisiana I want to put an exclamation point remember I'm a Texan i knowes report for the hayloft country music first what were your doing in Shreveport Louisiana we played and I played before banging on every city I I played a Shreveport ten times I this was not the Louisiana Hayride no we were into the arena 10,000 people 12,000 sold out the first show the album had I know I remember all that Valerie Bertinelli's hometown all the hoopla about me joining a band but no album had come out yet because we hadn't finished a record but our manager booked the tour the tour sold out you know first day every show we did 136 shows what it was and that show I was scared to death because when we're going out we're gonna play the whole new Velma saying I don't want to play the olds just old stuff let's put you know and Eddie and all we all agreed a let's show them what we got we had a fantastic record was under pressure because you're succeeding I didn't use the word replace you're succeeding David Lee Roth gotta be a lot of pressure no I didn't feel pressure at the time as a solo artist I was really as big as Van Halen at that time I was selling out double nights everywhere in the country they were doing about the same we both they had just hit that real big one with this song jump they finally had their big you know did not a number-one album but they had their top ten really kind of broke them into a different league of record sales but everything else to us was kind of on the same level for the few years before that they were more flamboyant going out and you know being rock stars so I felt so comfortable with the music that we were playing and I was fine but I was nervous on that first show because I didn't feel that the audience was gonna sit there and listen to us play a bunch of new stuff but we came out and we opened the show and they knocked the barricade down and came rushing up and Eddie and I just looked at each other let's go we got him in and it was that was a big ride for me being in that band we we broke all the rules and all the records and everything we did it was like oh call the room example well first album we didn't make a video when MTV was the biggest thing that was going they begged us that we had meetings with our management would go to Me's with Warner Brothers and an MTV guys saying how can we get these guys to make a video we don't want to make a video people want to see us come and see his life right unheard of right and finally Warner Brothers and MTV paid for the video most bands you pay $300,000 $250,000 videos they take it out of your royalties and we got we held out until Warner Brothers paid for all of our videos we never paid for videos so we that's about four million dollars we got easy relative to other bands that's breaking rules with the record company with MTV and when I got it their cells and then then we release singles it would be the first single we release off the album were we're not they hit why can't this be love on there I'm 5150 was but on the rest of the years the next record we released black and blew up the second album as a first single no video it's like no we don't want to make a vid on itself we'll make a video with the single that's gonna be a big hit but right now they'll listen the radio will play anything we give them and we give them you know obscure nasty lyrics you know just do it till we're black and blue is pretty yeah pretty much pretty rank pretty rank and we were pushing the buttons that put in and breaking the rules and and having a good time doing it and it kind of gave us a little attitude that we didn't have to put on airs and go on pretend to be rock stars we kind of went out there was kind of smirky not not bad guys you know at all but just kind of like we had an outlaw rock yeah we kind of look at each other we could wink and say yeah we got it we're kicking butt on this you know what I mean it felt pretty good it was it kind of made a self confidence and put us in a different league I got to say the band Halen era was just in a different league of anything in rock-and-roll that I ever been involved with well they're stealing that for a moment David Lee Roth wanted a great performer but on the record he has he's known to have a big personality when you succeeded him with Van Halen did you feel pressure to be larger than life replacing him what did that feel like what was that like I came from a different school first of all I was a great performer I was in better shape than anybody then I could go for two hours and run and jump and scream and gentle thing and I could sing and play while I'm doing it I didn't I never really had a lot of respect for Dave I mean he was a good frontman of that style but that wasn't anything I ever wanted to be growing up when I was saying I'm gonna be a musician I was looking at Stevie Winwood I was looking at Eric Clapton I was looking at Jimmy Page and Peter Townsend those those are my Mick Jagger was close to being flamboyant as I could think about being and those are my heroes you know and a guy like Dave was never somebody I'd say oh I want to be like that I don't like and truthfully Dave what I found out later was really into me and Montrose you know I was had that long mane of hair and I was before you yeah before van Halen the van Halen guys were looking at Montrose like we want to be like these guys right but he took a different he took a different turn it's hard for me to remember but when I walked into the room with Eddie Alex and Michael and Van Halen before that show and we said let's see what these guys got you know I know I didn't like that band necessarily I said I liked Eddie's guitar player it's genius right but I don't like their image I don't want to be like that so let's see what they want from me and when we just start playing music and I started singing and they're looking at me like whoa you can hit that note yeah well you can do this you're gonna hitch go away mitt whoa Eddie goes over the keyboard hey what would you do to this and we you know like look I'm getting goose bumps because it was so magic it was like whoa and I've been looking at him going you can play that keyboard like that you know well let's write this song and we were just like kids and and we just went nuts and we just didn't even consider anything any of us had done previously well at that time I'm taking you back in time you're really in the process of trying to decide to go with Van Halen you said it was a magic moment for you still get goosebumps over it but at that time what did you think of David Lee Roth to me I wasn't buying it there was something that was fake about him I know his the old van Halen fans would if I just said that in the beginning what a crucify me but he was the enemy Eddie and they all hated Dave at that point you know he quit the band he left us high and dry no Sammy's our hero yeah you know and now in time things have went all these you know like this twice you know I came in and when he went again and it's like it's such a mess now that I feel confident in saying that he was a showman period that's what you Liberace was a great showman but he could play piano you know he's a pretty good shape he's got his little dance and his show and he's got his rap but dude it's van Halen this is music real music you know Eddie one of the greatest genius musicians in rock ever and you're gonna sing to that stuff you should put a little in there I'm not jealous I'm not you know just dislike the guy I don't like him I don't just like him I was around him he toured with me we did the Sam & Dave tour and we went out for a while well what's the best thing you can say about him that in his day he was a great showman like you know the early van Halen stuff he really helped show Eddie to the world was his antics he got attention and then they went who's that guitar player you know let me say something good about those early songs were great lyrically even as silly as jump is it's right on the money when I heard that song on the radio I went damn those guys did it again you know [Music] Eddie was so brilliant that you could yell and scream over the top of that and it was gonna be good because he invented something that was unique to your ear so when you heard a van Halen song you're in one of them guitar riffs looking back now that stuff was really really good it was bright and shiny and fun and so everyone liked it girls liked it guys liked it you know it was brilliant and so I can say that Dave was part of that and he deserves all the credit world [Music] [Applause] [Music] I want you to take me inside you you said yourself that you know you live the life of sex drugs rock'n'roll did you ever take me inside tell me things that neither I nor anyone on the outside knows about what goes on on the inside Oh Dan your ass you might get me in trouble you know I'm my wife knows everything she read the book and my children even read the book I can be honest and tell you that everything and there was true and that the sex part of it was I bore during a sex addict I must admit not I don't you know cheat on my wife anymore you know my this wife I don't cheat on my ex-wife it's so worst husband in the world but I really wallowed in that a lot because it was just so damn much fun I mean just to be able to be on stage and the biggest band in the world you know and and just go look at your guy on the side point to that one that one that one that one that when they go out they get passes it's time for Eddie's guitar solo which usually took about 17 to 20 minutes I go down on my little booth where I had a little my little private room 100 little private rooms and those girls would be in there and I mean it was just like not even like it just okay may the best one win you know that was a run for about five or six years where I I burned myself out on on sex not said where I didn't want anymore that couldn't have worked I don't know believe no no no that's what I mean no not that I didn't want it I couldn't have orgasms for like you know for four or five days at a time and I'd have sex three or four times a day might be too much information well that you asked for that's right but it was that kind of a thing for me that's that was my big indulge right you know the drug spider not no big dealer I mean I didn't a little cocaine or something to be around and then I'd start thinking hey it's like four o'clock in the morning I got to sing tomorrow night I got to get out of here and you know I always had those kind of discipline and everybody else did but the drinkin same thing I never like to get drunk so I'd be drinking or drinking and I'd be done but the sex I couldn't I couldn't stop get the knock on the door for the morning of come on in you know pretty pretty fun I mean well I think it's probably time we change the subject before doing so should I be afraid to threw a rock down the street for fear of hitting one of your your children out there somewhere well no because in this world I would have been I I would have been definitely someone would have come after me I mean you know you see a rock was not anything deep yeah and I'm so like I never had a venereal disease in my life ever and a lot of times I didn't you know as they say I didn't suit up you know because it was just spontaneous situation you know but I was careful I was just you know I mean I I'm once again I have discipline and so tell me about your best time with inhaling what was the very best time I remember there was so many good times there was nine years of nothing but the best rich you know fame and fortune and indulgence and never having a down thing nothing happened bad for like probably seven years but one of the highlights was definitely when our first album got together we did our thing we had already played Shreveport I remember when we so you think about the area so when we hit Atlanta you know a week later ten days later the album came out what number one when we and we were in Atlanta Georgia and we none of us had ever had a number one album we had had everything else let me tell you but how we just sat in a room and and just hugged and just high-five it was such a good feelin such a a great thing that we yeah we did it you know like you know everyone was questioning it hey is this gonna work with Sammy you know hey David just like what you said you know dave was such a flamboyant character candy filled his shoes and we were in there making this music going shut up you know he'll wait did they hear this wait till they hear this and when they heard it you know and it exploded and that was a big moment for all of us [Music] that was best of times what was the worst of times with Van Halen well the worst part about the worst thing that happened to ban him before the reunion cuz the reunion was its own thing that's didn't even that don't even register and any in any rock-and-roll story it just was so bizarre but the ending our manager my dear friend and mentor mr. ed Lafleur who was my manager when I joined Van Halen had been my manager in my whole career ten years and one man dog he managed Sammy Hagar and my joint van Halen he managed Van Halen until 1995 when he died of cancer it was a horrible thing and when he died it's like the band just went pure on everyone just every vulture came at us every manager on the planet every promoter every dish every that record company executives everyone came after us and we were vulnerable these people came after us and just destroyed that ban ate us alive everybody went to Eddie the guy who had never opened his mouth who is not a leader in any way I was the leader of that band David Lee Roth was it leader in that band they come to Eddie you can't let this guy run your band you know cuz I would say [ __ ] you get out of here you know I mean hey we ain't going with you you know let's tell the guys hey we're not gonna talk those [ __ ] I know who those people are but they go to Eddie and they would go to Eddie and say you don't like this guy maybe you know what this guy said you said and they just turned us against each other and I got thrown out of the band they've they got a new manager who came in through the back door and he came in and poisoned the other guys and as soon as I left and everything bombed and everything he had a plan went into toilet they fired him and it's just been chaotic ever since been chaotic ever since that include the reunion yeah you said before was a disaster it was the worst experience in my life tell me about it Eddie was completely whacked out off the charts on alcohol and drugs and poor guy I mean he was really in bad shape I thought he was gonna die go on YouTube and listen to the to the l4v answer you couldn't even recognize his song [Music] there would be nights where he'd start the song and I'd look at Mike and look at how they all be hmm look at the setlist I think the song but it ain't nothing like it ever and then he had noodle around and then find he'd fall into the thing and it kind of be like the song and it was rough I was and then when I tried to quit after 40 shows we had 80 shows we did a contract and I tried to I said I can't do this anymore you know the guy's gonna die first of all every night it would be like I'd sit in my dressing room and wait till I heard his guitar go ran and I look at Mike and go he's up there was that kind of a deal and so went out and played and it was horrible he did horrible things to people he treated people so bad he was a complete raving maniac I've never met a person like this in my life trying to bust windows out of a g5 airplane at 40,000 feet with a wine bottle smashing wine flying all over it ain't even our plane it's a rental plane you know kicking wind chills out of cars you know turning his hotel room upside down wear the same clothes for five days on stage off stage no shirt you know just going around freezing cold snowing outside he's walking around with no shirt following in his hand no teeth I mean it was horrible I just don't know how he let himself go to that point and when I tried to quit there was a an attorney that drew up a contract I guess that I signed it said I'd have to pay these guys off for all the money they would have lost and then so I stuck it out and I haven't knocked I haven't talked to the guy since and I still really really have a bad taste about what happened on that thing and thank God he got himself together he would not be alive another year well I guess the next tour he went out on he ended up in the hospital I've been and he's a sweet human being he's talented and he's a sweet wonderful heart guy he's got some demons you know and he's not the only person I don't like that but when I saw those demons take over and it was pitiful because he was when we got along good he was the best friends I've ever had sad always telling you who's a friend it is [Music] there is no doubt that Sammy Hagar leads a past life and not just with music where as long as he can remember he told me he's been fascinated with cars real expensive cars in his garage are now part 17 many of them six-figure Ferraris he still has the black Ferrari that was used in the video for his breakout hit in 1984 called I can't drive 55 [Music] tell me about I can't drive 55 what Danis the truth is the best-known song when you say is your best known song yeah that song has earned more money from different types of licensing you know for TV commercials for movies for football games throughout an office NASCAR races you know Indy 500 then any song including the van Halen songs like right now you know right now is a very big licensed song but I can't drive if it defies my number one performing song in my whole career so question what was your driving record before you I didn't I can't drive 55 my driving record was pitiful I think I had like 43 tickets or something like that have my license taken away three times my insurance for the kind of cars I had and back then I didn't have as much as I got now but I had some pretty nice cars was like a hundred and twenty some thousand dollars a year and it was getting rough like you know like one more ticket and you're gonna lose everything you're not gonna be able to drive they're gonna take your license away for good and and you know and so I when I wrote that song it changed everything it's people don't realize that I shouldn't be careful saying this you know I've only had two tickets since 1984 and nothing changing the way I Drive I get pulled over all the time and now you get pulled over all the time and because you're who you are cops are all nice you go yeah I feel kind of guilty saying that but sorry it's true [Music] and if there is one car that will surely got you pulled over it is this speech sir Sammy Hagar is the proud owner of this rare Ferrari a 1.3 million dollar rocket on wheels you know the craftsmanship that the handwork this is all handmade in it Sammy told me that in order to get on the list for one of these incredible machines you have to purchase three Ferraris a year for three years I bet your car payments are very high that's about three million dollars and even then you aren't guaranteed one so when Sammy offered to take me for a spin I knew this was one opportunity I couldn't pass up now Dan here's the best way to get in here watch this you sit you just sit right here kind of you know right and then just slide your butt in and they go and there's a handle right here okay you go and then just swing in bring your feet around the best you can look at us me and uncle Dan are gonna go for a little ride it's like being in the cockpit of some spaceship it really is a space shot and there's no trunk nothing look at the cares of global environment look at this it's got enough room for Kleenex but no for the registration that's it right that's it I can see where you fall in love with it it's just a piece of art you know and functional art drive the damn thing you ever race cars I did a couple of times I ain't got the guts for that man that's these cars are so over you know I'm so they're so overqualified I'm so under qualified to drive the damn car you know I could get on a race track in this car that could probably beat anything on the street and some guy could get in that little car over there and beat my ass because I'm chicken well I'll tell you something confidentially I don't feel qualified to even write in I told you like bungee jumping being in that seat is a sin no it's like what do you call those guys that dive out airplanes with somebody on their back it's very special it's got a electric motor in it for the front wheels mm-hmm and when it stops once it's warmed up the engine goes off you think hey the damn thing stalling it's not stuff now how many horsepower you see a thousand thousand four thousand horse because it's the latest in the greatest [Music] he's barely touching his gas bill this is the top of the line called laferrari or the Ferrari top speed is over 200 miles per hour magic I've never been anywhere near this level yeah this is something I'll well this is like that there is no Ferrari on this level this is it this is the highest level there's what they call their Louis supercar it's got every bit of technology that Ferrari has in all their f1 it's in this car it does things with the brakes well it just keeps doing it and how many gallons through the mile I don't think there's any any oh yeah exactly you like [Music] the brakes are so good it's it probably scared to have them deafening and this well breaking it's the first time it did but now I realize the bricks are so good on it I have any pushed on them you look at this it's awful these young kids in their neighborhood for me it's like a carnival right how about this [ __ ] huh how much the police can well what if the well if the police came there be going oh hell it's a me no wonder we heard something was going on what the hell [Music] tiny scrape you don't get out of this car just as much as you unfold my famous line Dan are we having any fun yet well we have a good time you know I have this sense though this a little underpowered yeah you know they don't make them like they used to that's smog device on there you know it slows it down about this thing I don't see what you could do I don't know what it would be good for you know I haven't even come close to hitting the limits it's unique experience for running it look at that break that's as big as most tires on cars and there's no trunk space anywhere now there's not a trunk in here car I can't even take her makeup bag in there without being uncomfortable it's a man's car just take a pair of underwear stick them in your pocket pair of socks put them in the other pocket and you're good and smooth brush in your top pocket you're good to go straight ahead a rare treat Sammy sings from the heart a brand-new song you'll want to hear it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you know I'd talk music rest of the afternoon but you're a businessman on the record terrific entrepreneur so let me move to that tell me how this Cabo Wabo tequila brand developed I think growing up I was one of those guys that didn't drink much but when I drink tequila I liked it the ritual the salt the lime the party it just seemed like something about tequila made you brought you up it made you like have fun I don't want a beer drinker I couldn't stand beer anyway so I when I opened the Cabo Wabo I went to Mexico and bought a place in Cabo San Lucas in 1983 and I started living down there so I said I'm gonna build my own little place you know I'm salvaged I'm a rock star rich you know I'm gonna do this this before van Halen I was already thinking like that so I start building the Cabo Wabo when a after right after joint van Halen and I wrote the song Cabo Wabo and I some build this place and I'm gonna have a tequila bar because when I was down there the tequila was different than when I was drinking in America I was drinking 100% of gobby's down there I didn't realize it what the whole thing was I said man these sticky lazar good you know you can drink him you don't go you don't need to salt in the lime so once I built the Cabo Wabo I put this guy out and said can I make my own tequila goes there's guys down there make up for it you want a good look you should go I said well let's go so we went to tequila went to Guadalajara and went over to Jalisco and when we're on all these little places and these guys got their own little vats and he don't little poke jump your heavy Evian bottle out and fill it up with tequila take a little squeeze out how this is best he'll ever had in my life would you make it for guys you bring me the bottle if she tells my interpreter guy you bring me two bottles and I'll fill them up for you like that that's simple and that's how cobble wobbles started and you got in the tequila business yeah I mean stepped in it it's like walking and something gets in your shoe and you go man I can't get this off it was so unbelievably organic well in a paraphrase fair to say Cabo Wabo tequila then very very good to you yes sir it has you built into a hell of a business yeah better that happen you rock musician people don't think of you being a businessman entrepreneur I'm Lea Penn you don't build companies that sell for 100 million dollars just by accident I'm laughing because see here we go again you said why Sammy laughing why is he always so happy because things like that happen for me I gotta say I run into good people by accident and that could help me do things but Warren Buffett hired me to do speak at his summit that G summit he does first I'm getting a picture of this the red rocker is doing a gig for Warren Buffett not playing speaking no no I understand yeah he's doing a business he read my book I guess there's someone in his organization read my book I know how it works and he just said Wow I want to get this guy to speak to my top CEOs and my companies my you know thousand people whatever it was six hundred is so and because he thinks out of the box and I want them to think more like that and so I get the room with I've do it of course you're gonna turn Warren Buffett first of all he paid me like a rockstar money and I'm going damn I'd do this for free but sure so I wanted to meet Warren so we sat in a room for 45 minutes and just talked and yakked and yakked and he said you think different you know cuz you know I want my guys to think like that they're they come to that corporate place you know because I had no schooling to it you know hiko how'd you do it he asked me how I did it and I said well I don't know what I'm doing but I know how to do it you know I get it done oh I'll get it done you know and I had a passion for that brand I love that tequila that was the best kid in the world you know like in my heart and I just put a band together I call him the wobble ritas which was in a drink I invented with it we went on tour played 135 40 shows a year for about five years stage said Cabo Wabo I'm bringing waitresses out on stage you're bringing me margaritas in the middle of the show with my bottle and and I'm just promoting it for 10,000 people every night every night and it just worked what other businesses have you developed it's got its it's kind of it's almost embarrassing to me to think about everything I've done because it makes me sound like I've never slept the day I don't know I start a fire sprinkler business in homes and partment buildings and businesses where you know I was building apartment buildings with my brother-in-law I'm his financing and he was a contractor we were building this apartment building Empire because I wanted to be rich and it was when I was first just making money and they said you got to put a fire hydrant in and fire hydrants like you know three thousand dollars to you're gonna build the apartment I'm going what the hell he's going on there's this new thing called fire sprinklers you know they weren't really new but you know they weren't demanded for homes and he started he got a plumber's license start putting those in for $1,100 right and and they're safer everything is better then the fire department says hey we're gonna pass a lot make sure but it has to have these I would I own the company all right sure and so the company you know with be the number one fire sprinkler thing in California but that was a business that I started just out of once again I just knew a guy that could do it and I thought yeah it's a good idea let's do it I have my bicycles company I had two bike companies and where I sold mountain bikes and the inventors you know Steve Potts and Gary Fisher the inventors of mountain bikes they were right from here so there's no where this come from now where does this come from this recognize a new product or a product it's particularly good in developing into a real business I mean this weighs you you've made serious money with your business ideas more than music I mean everyone thinks I'm crazy to say that but I've made much more money outside of the music industry the music industry gave me the money to start the business but so where did this this business gene from where did that come I don't know my parents weren't even educated my mom went to the eighth grade my mom and dad both went to the eighth grade and and I didn't even finish high school him in I finished high school but I didn't really go on you know I got thrown out so I didn't get a diploma but I mean I've I finished I just had I was poor and I'm you know when I was walking around my neighborhood when I was in fifth grade sixth grade I was pushing a lot more door-to-door trying to you know say man I need to get some new jeans man I'm you know my mom didn't have the money so I just figured I figure I don't know it's like I say it's almost embarrassing because it's like it's so silly when I look back now that I was so into it and I still AM I get excited about a new idea it's creativity it's just like writing a song you know I tell young people out of time you know go I want to you know how do I get like you man you know you're on their first album and I'm going dude it's gonna take a long time you know you're not gonna get I've worked my ass off my whole life and I've had some you know failures you know and stuff and you got to just eat that and roll them up and get back on the train you know on the horse and it's it's no easy way there's no shortcut to to what I've got anyway you know there is no shortcut [Music] more of my interview with Sammy Hagar when we come back [Music] [Applause] [Music] from songs to sauces Sammy Hagar has written a cookbook opened restaurants around the country and shared culinary secrets with some of the world's greatest chefs hey go ahead say me and all them all them goodies get all those yum yum they're absolutely good and this doesn't matter how pretty it is because you can always a whole bunch of other gobbling exactly ate at your restaurant here in Mill Valley California last night it was terrific often you know someone runs their name to a restaurant and they have about as much to do with the restaurant as King James it was writing in the Bible but in this case the restaurant was really good how did you get into the food cooking business well first of all anything I do I am a hands-on I will drive people crazy you know it's cuz I want everything I do to be great that's the other thing about going back to your success what success you know how do you did well it's got to be good it's got to be great it's got to compete you know you can't just throw your name on something to think that's gonna be enough it is not you know so with my restaurants and stuff like that I was raised with good food I talked to my grandfather was a great chef Italian came from Italy couldn't read or write but that sucker could go into the kitchen and knock out anything and you just go oh my god this is so good you know and my mom was great great cook too at home and so I was raised that way poor like I said had our own garden always had our own chickens we ate eggs we killed the chickens on Sunday you know I'm chicken on every Sunday and all that you know even when my mom left my dad there were been times when we took the damn chickens you know she'd take him over to grandpa's house him leave indicate her best layers you know and my grandpa would say happy as a snake you know man yeah I got them chickens so everything was homemade bread pastas my grandpa goes shoot rabbits and deer string him up make meatballs and we'd have steaks and jerky and everything was just like that tomatoes work and we never bought nothing once you grow up eating like that with a great chef like a grandpa you don't realize it until like so you go out on the road and I go out with Montrose and we got $10 a day four dimm and we're sharing a room in a cheap hotel and we go down find the cheapest place to eat would be like I'm gonna ban I can't eat this food I didn't know you know I didn't know that what hamburgers and fast food places tastes like I kind of dig them now every now and then but back then it was like man this ain't cool you know and in our dressing room that have this Bologna cheap really bad Bologna and really bad white bread and that was it you know and I would be starving to be eating it you know and some like cheap cheese and I began this is horrible you know and when I got home after being on a roll for about a year and I went and tasted my mom's food and grandpa's food again I just said I get it I get it and so when I got married at a young age I was poor as well I started have my own garden and started doing all that and it's still every home we have we have chickens we have a garden and we I lived that way and and so when my restaurants are good and this is do you biographical book you have the cookbook yeah it was a blast I loved writing that book that book was more fun and I thought because we cooked every day then there's some great recipes there's a chicken recipe in here called Antonio's chicken that Tomas color the greatest one of the greatest chefs in the world I just put that recipe in his new book in his magazine for his yearly thing for his restaurant first well there's a compliment it is and he he put my recipe and it said it was from my book because he was saying this is good eats and it's so good and it's so simple anyone can make it a fourteen year old person kid that never cooked the boiled water in her life or his life could make this recipe if they just follow it's very simple unless the food and want to check something true or untrue they used to have vintage bottles wine vintage very expensive bottles of wine backstage as part of your contract true and true true pretty egotistical first-growth Bordeaux is at the time now right now I go with borrow lows and whines that I would drink now but though I was collecting those wines and then I got when I got more famous I started demanding five the first top five roast you know she have a Blanc Latour Lafitte Margaux Aubry owned all in my dress room and and Bill Graham the late great the most brilliant promoter of all time who knew what I was doing because I'd been made the circuit four or five years in a row and he and I'd say don't open my wines cuz that I would put him in his case and bring him home and I built a million-dollar wine cellar this way right and he he opened every one of him one night and and backstage he had them all opened that way you don't get to save them right well they were brand-new you can't drink his wine for ten years right and you got to age them out but I would get the latest you know and he opened them all and he knew he who came in laughing and he gave me a Recor for as a well I've heard stories about people demanding a certain color M&Ms backstage but I've never heard everybody saying vintage wine so I can save them for later what are you up to these days boy I got so many projects going I've got a few more restaurants opening another one in Maui because mine's in the airport and and airports are you know you can't go my fans can't go there so I'm billing to Cabo Wabo with some other people in Maui what we're trying to we're trying to put that together now and then another one maybe in Honolulu and then one in NASA and down there in the Bahama areas and I want to tell everyone straight up restaurants do not make you rich you got to be so lucky I mean I got a couple that'll make you rich right the one in Kabul one in Las Vegas those two restaurants are like friggin oil wells but most of them like my favorite one El Paseo it doesn't make that much money I mean it makes money but not like real money not worth the headache not worth all this unless you love the business I love the business I love making people happy having a place where they can come and eat and get a great meal and great wine and say wow Sammy was right this place is great you know and that means a lot to me this warms my heart and it makes me feel like my fans who if I'm not gonna go out on tour okay you can go to one of my places and you can have the Hoss same Hospitality's when I walk in on that stage hospitality it comes you know I'm there to serve and with the music you know have two bands the circle and Chickenfoot I would say and the difference between the two Chickenfoot only plays our original Chickenfoot material like we're uppity we're artsy we're an artsy band like nope we don't do anything cheap [Music] and the circle we play all my greatest hits we play all the van Halen greatest hits we played chicken foot hits we played Montrose hits and we play Van Halen hits and we play Led Zeppelin [Music] maybe self note here early on in your career Shep garden who was managing a scooper at the time asked you whether you wanted to be rich or famous no you turned out you've been both and you are both but back to the basic question if you have to choose between rich and famous what do you choose oh it's being poor I'd have to go with rich I've been poor and rich is much better I mean and rich and I don't mean it in a egotistical way but having a lot of money is so much fun I'm I'm the biggest fan of what you can do you know after you finish taking care of yourself and your mom bought my mom our first house about my mom brand new cars sent her all over the world you know once you do all that then you can help people and there's so many people that need help in the world that you know I started to foundation with my wife Hagar family foundation and every town I plan I give back to food banks and every town like I get my check here's your's families with terminally ill children that have run out of money and insurance that's what rich people can do like that's awesome that's all I want to do anymore like that gets so good yeah you're circular well I just want to do more that made me feel so good you know it's it's it's it's it's great so I'm all for being rich famous to hell with that I mean right now in my life I'm thinking about well I like being famous cuz I like being able to call it that restaurant you can't get into and I'm like goes front-row tickets to that fight that you can't get you know I like Fame for all that but as far as you know walking into the men's bathroom and some restaurant the guy's going hey Sammy man take a picture can you give me a minute you know that part of famous it's goofy but I'd rather be famous than not famous I guess but I'd certainly rather be rich than poor let's talk about your charity work you mentioned one of the things that give you joy maybe the main thing gives you joy is doing something for other people in my business I'm gonna cross a lot of people who give lip service to that but I've checked it out and you have the record to prove it two things I have to say about charity number one you do it you get in there and put your hand get your hands dirty you know you're just right to check don't do crap I mean it does a lot of great don't get me wrong right to check if that's all you can do but for me I didn't get as much joy until I did start doing things you know when I go down to the food bank and hand the food out you know my wife and my daughters do it every year the other thing is meeting the people that you're helping like there's been a couple kidney transplants that I helped with kids in Hawaii from my first really big restaurant over there besides Cabo Wabo Sammy speech foreign girls where I give all the money from in the community where they are I brought him to UCSF over here where they did the transplant a little nine-year-old girl and it was really successful I brought her parents over they have to stare for three months and you know that I do things like that and when I went back and saw her that year later when she was all better and she wouldn't look at me and she cried and put her head down and ran out of the room and it was destroying but I felt so much I mean I felt something you know she was just embarrassed I guess I mean I don't know her parents were all crying they didn't know what to tell me I'm gonna know it's okay you know she just doesn't want to look at me like she felt embarrassed I guess but it was so touching that what you felt better feeling than being up there on the stage and having people virtually worship you different it's more is what it is it just it's it's more that thing on stage is so flattering and so so egotistical e wonderful you know nothing's wrong with that but it makes you feel good that people love you everyone wants to be loved that's a great thing yes but but that other thing it just I don't know it just goes deeper it feels closer to God [Music] while Sammy no longer tours the world with Van Halen he's on his own rock-and-roll roadtrip hosting a new television program well tell me about your new show you're into television well dan I want to be like you when I grow up yeah you know I I'm always trying to new frontiers you know and and if I'm not gonna go out and tour like I used to because I can't at my age I'm telling ya I if I go out there for two weeks I feel like I'm gonna you know I'm cool I just don't want to play a shounen I don't think I got it in me and I don't like feeling like that when I go on stage I want to feel like I'm gonna be there so I'm thinking how am I gonna keep my brands and all my things my beats part rum and all this alive and how am I going to stay you know relevant in the world without working my butt off going on tour which is the way I've always done it and I thought I'll get my own TV show I just go around visiting my friends at their houses with Sammy's rock and roll roadtrip and rock and roll Luke trip yeah but it's not really what you might imagine rock and roll Luke trip conjures up an image if you got the band is you're on tour that's not what this shows about no it's a road trip where I get one of my cars or get on my plane and I go visit my friends at their house or in their hometown and I talked to them the way you talked to me about not quite as educated here in my life like I told you my I'm guilty of of asking a guy question and then giving him the answer you you could slap me if I did that but I'm trying to get good at really get to know other musicians that guys that I know a little bit you know like it's not my best friends I mean some of them are good friends but you know I haven't really interviewed some of my best friends yet and and which would be fun too but I wanna I want to reveal Tommy Lee when I went to his house I said Tommy what do you want to talk about I don't he so I want to talk about Motley Crue and I said okay fine we won't talk about Motley Crue right I don't blame you that's been in that band your whole life tired to talk about mother crew I said so what do you want tell me goes well I like to cook and I say no what are you into goes I'm in the cooking and say that to me I'm going let's cook get out the pots and pans I'm just really impressed at your choppers sometimes you don't always pay attention to the to the recipes where you pay attention to the safety [ __ ] because you're like I need these so it's kind of a reality show like that where we're winging it but and then we play music there's always a musical element where I do that show me your newest song what do you you know what do you want to jam you know and it's a cool show I'm really digging it I'm really really like [Music] how about playing me a tune or two I would love to I hope I don't I cut my finger cooking slicing us something but I'll see if I can do it hopefully I just don't start bleeding if I have to stop in the middle we can edit and there's what I want to do if you don't mind Dan thank you and I'm a play with song I just wrote when I went through all this family therapy thing I did which was just one of the most wonderful things I've ever done because I got to hear how my kids really think about they were mom and dad once again deep I'm so soft I might so I wrote this little lullaby no one's ever heard this see if I can remember it let's call inner child [Music] Oh [Music] I'm gonna set him free [Music] the world he's gonna [Music] now it's in your hands in your [Music] it's been you're have you saved my energy [Music] well done it's my lady I saw in her trial yeah it's really hard for me to sing because it's very deep you know it's about me it's about my kids about my grandkids but my mom and dad about you know everything so well all the miles all the times you've had I'm a little surprised you inner child he's still relevant to you boom I found out that all my problems are being caused like my child you know that little guy that that was hurt as a child you know and felt those things and even though I've accomplished everything and more than I could ever dreamed ever dreamed that little guy is still stirring around in there you know I mean it's like you know you think you're above it until someone pushes that little trigger like when your daughter says something to you that gets that guy and you realize that you're still carrying you know we all just carry everything through our lives I don't think we ever get rid of it you know you can rise above it and go as high as you want but I don't think therapy and all that stuff you know digging in the dirt and and churn it it all back up and we looking at it don't mean anything still are gonna be there and I like that little guy I've decided that I like that little guy and that guy was speaking the inner child that little guy was most wounded by your parents splitting no I think by the humiliation and and the insecurities of seeing my dad you know hurt my mom and and having seen my dad you know walking down the street a bum you know like a homeless person me and my buddies when I first get in my cars and we're 60 no we're going around drinking beer and driving around and looking for girls in Austin to see my dad walking down the street you know and there are times where I have to act like I didn't know us you know that's that's not easy not easy Sammy thank you Dan I'm a huge fan of your show and I'm honored to be on it well I appreciate appreciate you being honored honor to see you great fun and I learned a lot thank you and that's the big interview for tonight we're always eager to hear what you have to say so please follow us on Facebook and Twitter or send your comments to viewer at access TV [Music] [Music] you [Music]
