Gary Cherone

“I have had success throughout the years. Some of the hard rock bands today don't have the history that I have.”

“I did some research and tried to pull out some old, classic Van Halen that they had not played in 10 or 15 years. I think that was Sammy's mistake. I he didn't want to do the Dave stuff.”

“We didn't gel with Poison and the Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi was the best of the pop metal bands, but we never fit in with the hair metal stuff. We were never as hip as the Chili Peppers. We were in the middle.”

“There is no substitute for jamming and getting to know each other on the road.”

“Dave thought he was bigger than Van Halen the band. So there was this catfight going on for 10 years.”

“In my writing with Extreme, there are heavy themes. The cover photo has me with a gun to my neck. I am not advocating suicide. I am taking the philosophy that man is the measure of his own fate.”

“I don't know if I have enough guts to do a whole standard jazz record.”

“There is nothing like singing a song that 20,000 people know and are singing back to you.”

“Michael Anthony is the Diplomat of Rock N Roll. He is the regular guy.”

“When I was singing Jamie's Cryin', people were going out of their mind because it was the first time they got to see Eddie, Michael and Alex play those songs. That was a thrill.”

“If I had had a chance to tour with Van Halen before the record, I think it would have been a different record.”

“Whether I sound like Sammy or not is purely coincidence. You have got to hand it to him, he sings his ass off. There is no moss on that stone.”

“They hated Sammy Hagar for 12 years and they hate him to this day.”

“Spitfire asked me if I had a problem talking about Van Halen or Extreme. I really don't. There are people who are just going to want to know what it was like to play with Eddie.”

“When 5150 came out rock was king. Post Nirvana and Pearl Jam 1996 is a different story.”

“I was growing up listening to Queen. Freddie Mercury threw those incredible melodies into his songs.”

“I am a big Pink Floyd fan. That is where a lot of the concept lyrics come from.”

“You can tell the difference between songs that were created in a garage and songs that were created in the studio.”

“I sing in a higher register, and you haven't heard that on the radio in years.”

“We weren't One Hit Wonders. We had a few hits.”