IN THIS ISSUE:
(24 pages)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR (2 pages)
Band photos, letter from the editor

RIGHT NOW (2 pages)
Current VH News

MAILBAG (2 pages)
Letter from fans

PEAVEY EVH'S ROCK (3 pages)
More info on Edward's new line of guitars.

CABO SAN LUCAS & CABO WABO CANTINA TOUR GUIDE (5 pages)

SAMMY HAGAR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
"Plain Clean and Simple" (5 pages)

KEVIN DUGAN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW "The Man Behind The Iron Man" (2.5 pages)
Michael Anthony's Bass Tech tells us what it's like to work with Van Halen for 15 years, and shares some funny stories from the road.

BACK COVER
Band photo 1978

SAMMY HAGAR INTERVIEW
Interview by Jeff Hausman
Edited by Geoff Bell

Here's a small sample of The Inside's August 1995 interview with Sammy Hagar in Columbus, Ohio.

The Inside: Let's dig into the tour. The second leg just is fantastic! You keep getting better and better as the tour rolls on. Everyone looks great and seems to be having a lot more fun with it...

Sammy: That's right. That first leg was a bitch. I was so sick--and when I'm having trouble singing, I'm bummin'. We weren't happy campers for the first couple of months.

The Inside: There's a lot more chemistry happening on stage, now. When you rip into jams like White Roomor Foxey Lady at the end of One Way to Rock--the energy's amazing! That song, is one of the highlights of the show. It kicks ass.

Sammy: Thanks. I've been playng that song for 12 years and it's never sounded better.

The Inside: And Poundcake--thanks for throwing that in there!

Sammy: We keep changing the set up. It's really important that we keep ourselves interested. That's where the enthusiasm comes from. When we throw a new song in there--I'm tellin you, it really works.

The Inside: Fans are really jacked up about how you're constantly changing it.

Sammy: yeah! Totally. It really works.

The Inside: We love it. What about the new song you wrote and performed at Alpine Valley? It was called Someday. That's a great song. Why aren't you playing it more often?

Sammy: Because I just wrote it. I don't know it that well, and don't really have an arrangement yet. I'd rather do a different song every night, personally. But we've got this big video screen now, you know. It's such a beautiful thing for Eagles Fly and I don't want to waste it. The video for that song cost like ten grand or something--I really like it. If we play two nights in the same place I'll mix it up. Just recently I was getting ready to drop Eagles and replace it with Give to Live. Then Jerry Garcia died. He was my next-door neighbor. I've known him forever. We weren't great buddies, but when we saw each other we'd always stop and chat. I've been dedicating that song to him. Whenever someone close to me dies; like Ed Leffer, Bill Graham, or my brother-in-law last year, I dedicate Eagles to them because it's about being born, and to me...death's always looking at you.

The Inside: What happened to Al's neck? No one really knows the story.

Sammy: He has three ruptured vertebrae. He lifted his kid onto his shoulders when we were on a break and something snapped (imitates cracking noise). He can hardly move his neck so he wears the brace. When he's playing and banging his head around, it could rupture for real and require immediate medical treatment. We're just trying to keep the tour going. [laughs]

The Inside: Is it going to heal right after the tour?

Sammy: Yeah...it doesn't affect his playing. Honestly.

The Inside: From watching Alex recently, it looks like it's making him play better.

Sammy: When he plays...he puts so fucking much of himself in there. He just plays until he's ready to drop. He'll push himself harder than anyone I know. He's so determined. "My drum solo is important." And he makes it important. I like people who take things to the edge like that. I do it too.

The Inside: About Edward's hip--he's in less pain now...Obviously he's a lot happier.

Sammy: He screwed it up when he went out and played golf one day and twisted it. It was bad to begin with and he just aggravated it. It's now finally healing up--and if he doesn't screw it up, it'll be fine. He's just got a trick hip.

The Inside: Do you yodel? That's a joke...

Sammy: No. That's a funny thing--my dad used to sit around the house and yodel al the time. It's weird. I dont' know how he used to do it. [imitates yodeling and cracks up]

The Inside: What ever happened to the remixes of Take Me Back and Amsterdam? MTV needs to pay heavily for not playing the Amsterdam video.

Sammy: Yeah. That was bullshit. They always make excuses. They said that the drug connotations kept them from playing it. That's a pile of crap because they've got rap bands singing about anything they want. They just didn't want to play that particular video. I don't know why. The Take Me Back remix is already out--at least in Europe.

The Inside: How would you describe the other members of the band and their relationship with you?

Sammy: [laughs] Different! I'll start with Eddie. Everybody knows that he's an incredible guitarist and musician. As a human being, he's got a lot of insight. A lot of times he'll get a gut feeling about something and he'll really be right. He's truly a magical person. Ed and I have the "What is understood doesn't need to be discussed" type of writing relationship. Eddie and I write the songs. When he plays a piece of music for me, I hear it! It ain't a matter of hammering things out and making changes. I just flat understand what it's about. I write a lyric and a melody immediately. Ninety percent of the time it's perfect the first time out. Of course, there are some songs that we work to death. But songs like Seventh Seal--boom! It's done. I heard the music to that one and said "I know what that's about" and started writing.

The Inside: What about Alex?

Sammy: Alex is the hardest working guy I've ever known. He's the guy that grabs his lunch-pail, thermos, and coffee; gets a couple of sandwiches, puts on his hard-hat, and goes to work every day. Plus, if we ain't in the studio working, he still goes up there. He's really a dedicated worker. You can tell because Alex has improved tremendously. Most guys don't get better--they get worse or stay exactly the same. He still practices religiously. Our relationship with each other is funny. We mostly just sit around and goof off and laugh. We try not to talk about business because we disagree about some of those issues. I'm not quite as business minded as he is. I rely on things that feel natural and right. I usually go with first instincts. By the time Al's finished with it, I've had fifteen different ideas and he's till on the same one, trying to refine it and sell me on it at the same time. (laughs) So we try to shy away from business, I guess.

The Inside: You and Mike seem to be pretty tight.

Sammy: Mike and I are strictly fun guys. We don't do anything serious or creative together. Mike doesn't smoke, and I don't like to be around cigarettes, so we've got our own dressing room, limo--everything.

The Inside: You're like the other brothers.

Sammy: Mike and I are the buddies now. It was never like that in the past. I used to hang with Eddie and didn't mind the smoke until I realized it was hurintg my throat. Mike and I love Cabo. We like to have fun and live a little bit.