An official announcement regarding a
VAN HALEN reunion with
Sammy Hagar will be made "sooner rather than later," guitarist
Eddie Van Halen told
Greg Dwyer and
Bill Michaels of the Davenport, Iowa radio station
KCQQ in an exclusive 20-minute interview Friday morning (Jan. 9).
"The deal was we heard that there was going to be some sort of
VAN HALEN reunion announcement tonight at a place called Walnut Creek in California where
Sammy Hagar is playing,"
Bill Michaels told Australia's
Undercover News. "One of the guitarists is leaving his band at the end of this show so we just called
Eddie on a whim and he wouldn't confirm anything of course. His words to us were "it will be sooner rather than later" and wouldn't elaborate at all."
Hagar is scheduled to perform at a charity gig tonight for Oakland manager
Tony LaRussa in Walnut Creek, California. "I had no idea that this concert was even happening tonight,"
Bill told
Undercover. "Someone from a
VAN HALEN fan forum emailed us and asked if we knew anything about it. Again, on a whim we called him."
So what if there is no announcement at Walnut Creek? "We've heard so much about reunions and that something is going to happen in 2004,"
Bill said. "Now we hear about members of
Sammy Hagar's band leaving or quitting and management agencies signing together. I have hopefully but slightly pessimistic. But this would be typical
VAN HALEN fashion to pull it off like this to the end."
A one-minute promotional clip for
Eddie's interview with
Dwyer and
Michaels has been posted online in MP3 format at
this location. The full interview will be added to
Dwyer and
Michaels' web site,
www.2dorks.com, on Monday (Jan. 12).
**UPDATE**: According to the initial reports from the Walnut Creek show,
Hagar made no mention of
VAN HALEN during his performance.
