"Face down in Cabo, kissing the ground." The bingeing epithet from the now eleven-year-old Van Halen song "Cabo Wabo" remains Sammy Hagar's mantra. He and his Waboritas band opened with the hedonistic anthem during every show of his just completed Hard Rock CafT promotional tour and, on this night, during his stop at the Chicago restaurant, even closed with an a cappella version of it. He owns a Cabo Wabo restaurant in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and recently began marketing a Cabo Wabo tequila, which, by no coincidence, will be poured at Hard Rock Cafes around the world.

Somehow, between taste-testing tequila and ground-kissing in Cabo Wabo, Hagar managed to record a tequila-inspired album, Red Voodoo, his second since he was fired (or quit, depending on who you believe) from Van Halen. Though Hagar's initial return to the solo circuit, 1997's Marching to Mars, has sold an underwhelming 330,000 copies to date, the perennially multi-platinum Van Halen's last album, Van Halen 3, ate one too. That record sold only 150,000 better, no thanks to the anticipated, then squelched reunion with original vocalist David Lee Roth, the unpopular addition of former Extreme frontman Gary Cherone and, most importantly, because it wasn't very good. "We both bombed relatively," Hagar admits. "I mean, shit."

Red Voodoo is a certainly a party album.

It's a party album of my whole career. Usually, every album I got a party song -- or maybe two party songs. This is like there are two songs that aren't party songs. Red Voodoo's a lifestyle, it's a line, it's a zone. When you're out there, and you're at Cabo Wabo, at Hard Rock here tonight, and you're going, "I gotta get up for work in the morning. I gotta get up at seven, but it's twelve-thirty and I'm having too much fun. So you say, "I'm gonna have a couple more shots and stay just one more hour and I'm going home," right? That's the "Red Voodoo" song. You're in trouble if you go any farther. And most people do ... but I don't. And it's my whole philosophy, it's the way I live. That's where all the fun is. That's when everything starts to say, "all right, I'm rocking now, man."

The alcohol tolerance you've built up must be insane.

I don't drink a lot. I do maybe two or three shots of tequila in a party situation. If I have five shots, I'm plastered, and I'm a little bit outta the Voodoo zone.

On the song "Mas Tequila," you co-opted the beginning of [Gary Glitter's] "Rock & Roll Part 2."

I gave half the songwriting credit [and] Gary Glitter didn't write half the song. He's in the jail, that sonuvabitch. But [his lawyers] really were tough about it. They wanted one hundred percent. Ya know, I wrote the song. I knew what I was doing, just like the rap guys do.

So, long story short, I sent him the version, I said, "Here it is, what do you guys want? I'm straight up telling you it's completely inspired by Gary Glitter's thing." And they come back and say, "We want one hundred percent of the songwriting [royalties] and if you put it out without giving us that we'll sue you." So my lawyer wrote a letter back saying, "sue me."

I had a musicologist analyze it, [in case] it ever went to court. He said I'd have to give him ten percent. So I thought I'll give him like twenty percent, I'm a generous guy, ya know. They came back with a hundred [and] I'm going "I'll give you nothing, you motherfuckers!" So, then they come back with seventy-five and I said "sue me" again, and I didn't wanna hold the album out and finally I just said [to my lawyer], "I betcha if you offer them fifty percent they'll take it." It's not about the money, it's about the party.

On the last record, "Little White Lies" took a shot at Van Halen. Is there anything on this record like that?

The only song that I still got a little dig on was the song "Lay Your Hand on Me." It's pretty much about the [Van Halen] manager [Ray Danniels].

When we spoke before you told me it was the end of Van Halen when he took over.

Certainly was. Anyone could see it. He took one of the biggest bands in the world -- probably the most stable band...we made it through grunge, disco, punk, you name it, everything that came, skated right through. Here comes Ray Danniels. Take it down, man. Just like Paul Bunyan.

It's fine. I'm really much happier now. But at the time it was a disaster. But now looking at it, there's a great reason why it happened. Now Sammy does anything he wants, whenever he wants. I could have never had the time to develop this tequila, I would have never been able to make a record like I made. "Mas Tequila," if I'd have presented that to these guys, it would have been the biggest fucking mismatch. "Save it for your solo record." "Ok, I'll save it for my solo record, the one I'll never get to do in this band."

You've heard the last Van Halen. Would you have sung on any of these songs?

No. I think maybe I could have done something on a couple ... I'm not that familiar to tell you which ones because I've honestly listened to it once.

Were you tempted at all to see the current Van Halen incarnation live?

Oh, fuck no. I saw that [pay-per-view] thing from Australia. It was so God awful. I was so embarrassed. I couldn't stand it.

Why's that?

It was just not what people want from Van Halen, obviously. The poor guy's singing Roth tunes, Sammy tunes, and it just doesn't sound right. Some of them sound flat fucking stupid. The band looked stupid. I was just wondering if we looked that stupid sometimes.

I'm serious, I'd have much preferred Roth to come back and I'm not a David Lee Roth fan. But the fans would have gotten happy again at least.

You think one day you'll meet David Lee Roth?

I'd love to meet the guy, man. I got fucking no problem with him. I'll meet him anywhere, anytime and anything he wants to do. Wanna meet me in some fucking alley and fight, wanna meet me in some bar and drink, wanna meet on the beach and go surfing, go for a run, or whatever, I'm okay with it.

BLAIR R. FISCHER
(March 24, 1999)