SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE are set to release a new studio album titled “Crazy Times” later this year.
Sammy and bandmates, Jason Bonham (drums), Michael Anthony (bass) and Vic Johnson (guitar), recorded the album with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, known for his work with RIVAL SONS and SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS.
Sammy spoke about the new CIRCLE album during a chat with Forbes, saying: “We’re gonna have a new record coming out in the next couple of months. We’re gonna release the first single. We made a record called ‘Crazy Times’ with Dave Cobb. It’s the best record I ever made in my life, but I hate to even say that because that’s what everyone says. But I’m telling you from my heart, it’s the best record I ever made in my life. We did it at this RCA Studio with all that vintage equipment, it sounds phenomenal. It’s great, my best songwriting ever, best production ever, and we made four videos already.”
Discussing how recording the new album in Nashville with Cobb influenced the sound of the effort, Sammy said: “David Cobb said, ‘I’m not gonna do anything that even sounds anything remotely country on this record, ’cause I wanted to make an Americana record a little bit less hard rock.’ He goes, ‘I wanna make ‘Standing Hampton’. I wanna make the record I grew up on, I wanna hear you and Mikey sing like you did in ‘Top Of The World’ with VAN HALEN. That’s what we’re gonna get out of you guys.” And he’d come up and squeeze it out of us, and it’s like this book, it’s a hybrid of everything I’ve ever been involved with musically. David Cobb is the reason because he squeezed it out of me. He said, ‘This is what I grew up on, motherfucker. You ain’t gonna get away with working with me and try to do something else,’ you know what I mean? And that’s when I learned, and I know he worked with Slash next, and I’m sure Slash found out the same way this guy wants to rock; he don’t wanna make no country record with Sammy Hagar.”
Last year, SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE released “Lockdown Sessions” as an album collection titled “Lockdown 2020”.