Former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have posted a new video entitled ‘We Love You Eddie’, in which they pay tribute to their bandmate and friend.
The clip was recorded after rehearsals for Hagar’s annual birthday celebrations, where the frontman says he was “devastated” by Van Halen’s death on October 6, aged 65.
“For Mike and I, it was just like getting hit by a freaking Mack truck,” Hagar says. “It kind of took the wind out of the sails. I just wanna say that I'm kind of devastated. A Van Halen song never felt so hard to sing and play in my life.”
“It was hard,” agrees Michael Anthony. “It's very surreal right now. It hasn't sunk in yet.”
“What I felt playing especially a song like 'Right Now' that is so timeless, that I felt, 'Wow, thank God for this.’” Hagar continues. “We'll never play it with Eddie again, but thank God for this.”
“We have the music,” says Anthony, while Hagar adds, “The music will live forever. I’ll sing it as long as I live.”
The video then cuts to rehearsal footage of Hagar and Anthony’s band The Circle, with Hagar requesting a moment of silence before the band plays Van Halen’s 1991 hit Right Now.
It was recently revealed that Hagar and Van Halen had made peace prior to the guitar hero’s death.
“Eddie and I had been texting, and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year,” Hagar stated in a note passed along to The Howard Stern Show. “We both agreed not to tell anyone, because of all the rumors it would stir up about a reunion, et cetera, and we both knew that wasn’t gonna happen.”
Countless stars, including some of the biggest names in guitar, have offered their own tributes to Van Halen in the wake of his passing, including John Mayer, Joe Satriani, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend.
