Sammy Hagar is clarifying recent comments he made regarding the status of supergroup Chickenfoot.
Last week, Hagar told Rolling Stone that fans shouldn’t expect a third album by the band, saying “I don't see any reason to make a new record. Going through the whole experience with a record label, and then going out and doing 150 interviews, a big tour and waking up at 4:00 a.m. to go on Howard Stern all to sell 35,000 CDs…It starts to feel like, ‘Hmmmm. Is this pay for play?’"
Hagar was asked to clarify his comments on the red carpet prior to hosting the 2014 Classic Rock Roll Of Honour awards show in Hollywood on Tuesday.
"I would [make another Chickenfoot album], but it's just too much work right now,” Hagar tells Vintage Rock. “I mean, I love Chickenfoot — it's my favorite band, but I just don't see us getting together and making a record right now. Everybody's got so much to do. Joe is in freakin' Australia right now."
Hagar recently released his first acoustic album, “Lite Roast”, and was asked if he will continue to record solo albums moving forward.
"Yeah, but I make kind of fun, easy things,” he explains. “Chickenfoot records are difficult, 'cause we've gotta get together, we write, and we work, and we write, and we work, and it's really, really tough.”
“It's not like… I just did an acoustic record of a bunch of old songs — Van Halen songs, early Sammy songs, and I put them in an acoustic [format] — and it was fun, it was easy,” he continues. “I did it in a week. I like doing stuff like that. That's where the music industry is to me now. It isn't about going and spending a million records on a record and selling 125,000 copies, it's more about doing something like you like to do. 'Oh, I've got a great song. I'm gonna give it to the fans.' Or, 'I'm gonna put it up on the web site and make a video.' It's just about, for me, experimenting and having fun."
Chickenfoot’s self-titled 2009 debut achieved gold status for US sales of 500,000, while the sophomore effort failed to hit that mark; it did, however, earn a 2012 Grammy Award nomination in the “Best Recording Package” category.
The band reunited to perform the encore at Hagar’s belated birthday bash concert in Las Vegas on October 18 – check out video from the event here.
See also:
Sammy Hagar: No more Chickenfoot albums
Sammy Hagar open to Van Halen reunion tour with David Lee Roth
Sammy Hagar reveals origins of Van Halen classic Dreams
VIDEO: Chickenfoot reunite for Sammy Hagar birthday bash in Las Vegas
Search Sammy Hagar at hennemusic
