Sammy Hagar is reminiscing about touring in the early '70s.
"The first time I ever played in Arkansas was with Montrose," he says from his home just north of San Francisco. "We were opening for people like Jo Jo Gunne, Humble Pie, Foghat. They always played the South. I remember Arkansas, man."
Back then, the pre-show spread wasn't exactly high-end.
"We had a loaf of Wonder bread, a pack of bologna and a bag of potato chips in our dressing room. We'd walk in there and start fighting for the bologna," he says with a laugh.
Things are a little different now. Hagar, his band, crew and family get around on his Challenger 300 Bombardier jet, and one would suppose the catering backstage has also been upgraded.
"If I didn't have a plane that could take us anywhere in America, nonstop, I don't think I would be able to do this anymore," he says. "I couldn't take my family on the bus, and I couldn't take commercial flights because you'd never get there. It's really allowed me to still do this, and do it good."
"This" is performing from a bounty of over 40 years of muscle-car rock 'n' roll, from his days in Montrose ("Hard Candy," "Bad Motor Scooter"), solo ("I Can't Drive 55," "There's Only One Way to Rock," "Three Lock Box"), with Van Halen ("Why Can't This Be Love," "Dreams," "Right Here, Right Now") and with his group, The Circle.
The band features Hagar on guitar and vocals, ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.
The younger Bonham's presence allows The Circle to flex on some Zeppelin covers, which adds to the chock-full set list.
"We have a pretty big catalog to choose from. It's not a bad problem to have," Hagar says. "We always switch out the Van Halen songs, the Sammy songs, the Led Zeppelin songs, so it's hard to say which ones we will play."
The Circle concert experience is captured on the 2015 live double album At Your Service, and performing is clearly something the energetic 70-year-old Hagar still enjoys.
"People say, 'Why are you still doing this? You don't have to do this. You have plenty of money.' Are you kidding me? I love it. I love getting together with my band, putting together this set and going out and rocking the people and making them happy."
He's still writing new music as well, and his latest project is something one might not expect from the tequila-swigging, party-rocking Hagar: A concept album about current affairs.
"I kept returning to the same concept about how the world is now. The right blames the left, the left blames the right. It's crazy. The problem is greed. Everyone wants what everyone else has and it's become an ugly mess out there."
There's no title yet, but he plans to tour it next year, playing the album in order and then returning after an intermission to play the hits.
"I feel so good about that," he says of what he has in mind for the show. "Now I'm excited about it."
Beyond music, Hagar is an entrepreneur who started his own line of premium tequila and has a string of restaurants, including the nightclub/restaurant Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo Wabo, San Lucas, Mexico, and Sammy's Beach Bar & Grill in St. Louis and Las Vegas.
He donates his restaurant profits to local charities.
"I give all the money away," Hagar says. "I give that money to the local communities, to children's charities, local food banks and things like that."
While he hasn't been to El Dorado, he knows about the El Dorado Promise, the scholarship program for El Dorado High School students established by the Murphy Oil Corporation.
"I like what's going on in that town," Hagar says. "That's how it's supposed to be. They're doing good things."
Style on 10/14/2018