Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have been bandmates and friends for many years but business partners they’ll never be. Sammy says he values his friendship with Mike too much to risk breaking that bond.
Darren Paltrowitz, host of the Paltrocast, recently asked Sammy if he’s ever thought about teaming up with Mike on a business venture. Below is what Sammy had to say in response. This excerpt was shared exclusively with the VHND by Paltrowitz:
Q. As with a lot of your musical endeavors, you have done well in the spirits world alongside
friends, like Guy Fieri and Rick Springfield. Your longtime band mate, Michael has also found
success with his Mad Anthony hot sauce line. Have you ever thought about getting into
business with Mike outside of music?I wouldn’t get into business with Mike outside of music because I would never want to risk our
relationship and what we do as entertainers and recording artists.There’s just something about business that can get ugly and as much as I love family members,
and I say that the only people in this world that you can trust 100% is family, I would never get
into business with them. There’s just an inherent power to business that some people thrive
on. And I hate that part of business. People try to outdo each other or people try to put other
people out of business. For instance, if there’s a Longs Drug store on a corner and suddenly a
CVS pops up right across the street or another pharmacy is on the same block, I can think is,
“Leave those people alone, they’re just trying to run a business.” It’s the same within the spirits
industry – if you come up with a new product in the spirits industry, everyone copies you and
then acts like theirs is better or they did it first. But that’s part of business and I don’t like that.
For some reason rock and roll has less of that, so Mikey and I have such a great relationship on
stage that we keep our business stuff separate. But I promote his brands and he promotes my
brands, so we support each other. But if we had one brand that we created together, it could
possibly end up being, “well, that was mine,” or “I paid for it,” or whatever. That shit happens,
believe me, even with grown, wealthy men. So, I prefer to let Mikey do his hot sauce and I’ll
help him promote it because I love the stuff. First of all, he’s a pepper head. I mean, this guy
could eat five, habaneros in a row. He grills them, puts some salt and lime on them and eats
them right off the stem. And you know, we call him Iron Mike because with a shot of Santo or a
Santo margarita he’s good to go.But to answer your question, we support each other but, we won’t have a business together.
We’re already in business together with our music and it’s going great!
You can read and listen to Paltrowitz’s entire interview with Sammy at the Paltrocast website HERE.
Paltrowitz is also the co-host of The DLR Cast – the podcast devoted to David Lee Roth, which you can find HERE.
Sammy Hagar & The Circle – “Why Can’t This Be Love” (The Howard Stern Show: 2019)