Episode 07 – More Than A Last Name – Andrew Hagar

0:08 Derek Oswald Hello, and welcome to the AltWire podcast where we feature conversations with some of the most innovative and creative minds in music, art, and culture. I'm your host, Derek Oswald. And in this episode, I am thrilled to welcome a rising star of the rock scene, Andrew Hagar. If that last name sounds familiar, it's because Andrew is the son of legendary rock musician Sammy Hagar. But Andrew is no mere offspring riding the coattails of his famous father. Instead, he's been making a name for himself as a talented singer songwriter, guitarist, and performer in his own right. In this interview, Andrew will sit down with us to discuss his journey, his influences, and what listeners can expect from his upcoming album. We'll hear insights into the making of the record as well as some personal anecdotes from growing up with Van Halen. So sit back, relax, and get ready for another episode of the AltWire podcast. The AltWire podcast starts now. Hey, Andrew. Welcome to the show. So glad to have you with us. I wanna talk about your new single. Systematic Minds is intended to reflect society's current state and direction. In your opinion, how do you view the current state of society?

1:22 Andrew Hagar In general, there's a lot of things that I lament about today's idee as reflected in the song. But, mostly, I just don't think that many people have kinda had the wherewithal to stop and ask where are we headed, you know, where are we going, and if this place that we're headed is a good place and some place that we can come back from, you know, and whether we're talking about that in the scope of what's currently happening with AI, we're talking about politically, if we're talking just, you know, in general, the moral fiber of society. I don't know. You know? It's it's… There's a big question mark out there right now, and and I think a lot more people need to stop and think about what they're doing and what we're doing collectively.

2:07 Derek Oswald I'm glad you mentioned AI because that was one of the most interesting parts about your quote about the song. I noticed that you referred to it as the looming threat of AI. I'd love to discuss your thoughts on AI as a whole. Do you find AI useful in some circumstances,

2:21 Andrew Hagar or are you completely against it? No. I mean, I'm I'm absolutely not like a blood eyed or something. Like, I do see the value in in AI. And ever since I was a kid, you know, I've been kind of like a bleeding edge tech guy where I've been really quick to adopt new forms of technology. And I think that AI does have a lot of uses, a lot of very useful features depending on how you're using it. But, you know, when you've got a collective of some of the most intelligent, experienced, well researched people in the world, people at the forefront of of AI development, all collectively banding together to create petitions to stop the development of AI even for six months. I mean, that says something about where we're headed. These people know so much more than the average person than you or me.

3:07 Derek Oswald And if they're trying to stop it, maybe we should listen to them. And there's a lot of ethical issues too. One thing that I'm noticing is trending a lot on TikTok, and it makes me very uncomfortable. A lot of people are taking the vocals of dead artists like Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Chester Bennington, and they're making covers with their voice. And, you know, I don't mind if it's somebody who's alive. Like, for example, if they're gonna have, like, Billie Eilish sing a Rihanna song, that's kinda cool. When it goes into mimicking dead people's voices, it it makes me extremely uncomfortable. And I feel like that is something that is very dangerous. I mean, we're coming up on an election in a year.

3:47 Andrew Hagar You know, obviously, Joe Biden's running again. I don't know if it's gonna be Trump or whatever on the other side, but, you know, I can't wait for the first press release where they had to say that was fake. Oh, yeah. And, I mean, I completely agree. The conversation that most people are having about AI right now is very small in scope. We're talking about copyright infringement. We're talking about, you know, like you said, taking the vocals of of a dead person and creating a new song using AI and all that stuff. And where that's creative and kinda, like, silly, the real problem with AI is what you're describing where it can be used to do really high level sophisticated deepfakes with visuals and a vocal component. It's like people are talking about what happens when, you know, people start being able to run AI programs to call people. Like, crime could be, you know, perpetrated using AI, people calling people's kids, telling them to let them in the house, like, all sorts of stuff. And I'm not trying to be, like, an alarmist with this stuff. I just mean that there are a lot of issues that people really haven't thought out yet besides just the copyright stuff. And as I stated before, some of the most intelligent, experienced people in the field of AI pretty much collectively, with the exception of the guy who runs ChatGPT and OpenAI, you know, everybody else is calling for a halt to the development of it. So I don't know how how much people consume when it comes to, you know, AI tech talks, but there's a lot of stuff out there. There's a lot of podcasts where people have been covering this stuff, and I would encourage everybody to go check it out and just, you know, listen to the experts and then formulate an opinion. You know? Don't just read a read a headline or watch some funny videos on TikTok and, you know, it's like try to try to get educated about it by some experts and and see how you feel about it. And the message of that song, of course, doesn't just apply to AI. One thing that I feel it really calls out

5:36 Derek Oswald is the hive mind that people subscribe to where everybody kinda goes along with what everyone else is thinking. People aren't even interested in coming up with their own views and listening to others.

5:47 Andrew Hagar Social media has definitely played a huge role in this. What would you say are the biggest dangers of social media? I think some of the biggest dangers of social media are what you touched on, like the idea of a hive mind. It's… You know, here in America, everybody pretty much looks at themselves as, like, this super unique individual, rugged individualist, right, as opposed to other countries with more of, like, collective ideology. But it's, I mean, I think it's a bit of a misnomer because everybody here looks at the same memes. They look at, you know, the same talking heads that tell them the same stuff. Everybody's funneled into these different ways of thinking No matter what side of of, you know, the political divide you sit on, we're all pretty much looking at the same stuff. And, like, if I make a a funny meme reference to, like, one of my friends who has a fundamentally different ideology than I do, chances are they've seen exactly what I'm talking about. So, again, like, people think they're unique, but in reality, they're being driven down these same pathways of thought, philosophy, and all this stuff. So I think one of the biggest problems with social media is that it birds people into these different, you know, delineations, and it gives you a false sense of identity. You know? If you haven't really done a lot of work to to, like, develop yourself and your identity prior to engaging with all of this stuff, you're essentially, like, appropriating a personality that someone else has designed for you in a way. So I think that's one of the biggest pitfalls with social media. You know what I mean? Yeah. Definitely.

7:19 Derek Oswald And I loved the quote that you said about committing yourself to being 1% better every day. What are some ways that people can follow that example and become better individuals? What are some ways you can suggest for people to better themselves?

7:32 Andrew Hagar Oh, man. I mean, it it really just comes down to the individual, what their interests are, like, things that have helped me tremendously. Obviously, I talk a lot about, you know, my experience in the world of combat sports and just trying to, you know, bring up the basement, so to speak. If there's something that I don't do well, I try to get a little bit better at it. If there's something that I do extremely well, I'm trying to get a little bit better at that too, just constant upwards progress. Like, if you're in the gym, you're always trying to do one more rep than you did last time or do a little bit more weight than you did last time. Sometimes you stall out, so you you take the weight down and do more reps than you did last time on that. You know? It's like there's always a way to kind of move yourself forward and move the needle forward for yourself. I think that accountability… Like, people talk a lot about extreme accountability. That was, like, kind of a a fad in the, you know, in the motivation sphere. You have people like Dave Goggins and stuff talking all about that. But in general, I think that one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself is, like, an extreme audit. Ask your… So, like, I journal a lot. You know? Not everybody is gonna gonna get upgrades for journaling. You know? I go go to therapy. I meditate. I do all this stuff, and they all help me in different ways. I don't think it's gonna help everybody who tries it. You have to be open on a certain level to do this stuff. But I think that everyone can find something that will lead them down that path, and then eventually, they might get to the point where they're open to therapy or open to journaling every day. Yeah. But one of the biggest benefits that I experienced from something like journaling was just asking myself, how am I not myself? Like, how do I look at myself in the world? Like, what am what am I doing? What is my vision of the ideal version of Andrew Hagar? Right? This this whole weird esoteric idea. And writing down a list of these things, like how I wanna be, the things I aspire to be, and then audit myself in the sense that, like, what am I doing right now that's out of alignment with these things that I see for myself? And you have to just eliminate those things from your life. And it sucks. It's hard to do, but it's like a lizard shedding its skin. You know what I mean? Like, that was part of the quote too. I think society can feel itself kinda pushing up against the boundaries we've set for ourselves, and we have to grow. But that's a really painful process,

9:50 Derek Oswald and it requires coming to terms with a lot of painful truths. You know? And I think that really goes into the teachings of what you subscribed half your life to. With martial arts, it's really about self discipline. What are some things that you learned from your martial arts experience that you apply to your music? Oh, man. Like, diligently

10:09 Andrew Hagar practicing every day to try to just whittle away. Bruce Lee had a great quote. He said that martial arts is not about addition. It's about subtraction. You know, once you get to a certain point, it's not about learning new techniques. It's about refining the techniques you know until they become as sharp as they can be. They become deadly. You know? Like, fear the man not who learned 10,000 kicks. Fear the man who did one kick 10,000 times. You know? That kind of stuff. And that goes back into, like, the the art of mastery. Right? Like, ten thousand hours. And it seems in this day and age, you know, I see a lot of people who claim to be experts that haven't really done the work to become an expert or a master in a given field. You know, the bar is really low for everything. Like… And I don't know, you know, when that started. I don't necessarily know how we got to where we're at, but I would like to see a return to people really, you know, delving deep into a craft and trying to become a master at it. It's beneficial to be a jack of all trades in certain respects, but, like, when it comes down to, like, the tough times, you really need to know how to do something well. You know what I mean? So that's one thing that I really love about martial arts is it forces you to self examine all the time. Take a sport like Muay Thai. You know? Muay Thai doesn't have any belts, you know, unless you're operating in, you know, a Brazilian Muay Thai gym, which no shade to them. They just have a different progression system. But, like, in just traditional Muay Thai, you go and test yourself every day. You spar with people. You go and compete quite frequently. You know? And that's that's the ultimate form of testing yourself. It's like you either prepared adequately enough to win or you didn't. And a lot of times, you know, maybe the other person is better on that given day, and you could beat them a different day, but that was… It was all about that moment. And that's the biggest lesson I took from martial arts for live performance is just training hard, like rehearsing, you know, practicing so that when I get in there wherever I'm playing, whether it's at, you know, open mic night or in front of, like, 30,000 people at a festival, I'm as prepared as I can be to excel in that given moment. And that was, like, the the biggest upgrade for me. You know? Your family legacy aside,

12:27 Derek Oswald you know, everyone sees that you're pursuing martial arts, whether it's training, fighting. Anybody looking at you wouldn't necessarily think, despite who your dad is, that you were gonna go into music. What was that switch

12:39 Andrew Hagar that made you think, you know what? It's time to become a musician. What made you wanna do that? I've always been a huge music fan. I mean, I had a a radio show for four years through high school. Like I said, I was I was a journalist for a long time. I used to play in, like, various little punk projects and stuff before I really got started with music in a more meaningful way. And, you know, I never really thought that I would do it, you know, at any higher level, I guess. But, no. When I when I I met somebody, we got involved in a little folk duet project, and we got asked to open up for a bigger artist, which I'm sure you've you've read the bio or something like Chris Christopherson. I went out with him and played a few shows in Scotland, which was absolutely insane. And I remember coming off stage in my first show with him and just being like, wow. This is incredible. This is the best feeling, you know, and this is something I wanna do for the rest of my life. And I've worked extremely diligently since then to, like, make it a reality, just do everything I can. Like I said, after after that whole year of touring with him, some things happened, and I ended up, you know, out there solo on my own. And the first thing I did was just start playing open mic nights and anything I could do to get up there on stage and just practice the craft. You know? So that that was kinda the moment for me where it all came to a head, and I was like, cool. Like, you know, I was at a crossroads. Like, do I keep training people? Because I was working with a lot of athletes at the time, or do I just throw myself at first into this goal of of being a touring musician. You know? And I didn't have any illusions about being, like, a huge star, like a freaking, like, a Justin Bieber or something like… Something like that, you know, or, like, Harry Styles or something. I just wanna be able to, like, sustainably go out on tour and play my music for people who are genuinely interested in what I have to say. You know? And that's, unfortunately, a difficult thing to do these days to cut through all the noise. You know?

14:38 Derek Oswald You have about 10,000 different people just trying to get noticed on TikTok. I was actually in a interview a couple of weeks ago, and they said, you know, back in the days, in the nineties, you had to go and perform for, well, you know, what they call no bozo shows in LA where A and R guys show up and they pick the best person, you know, approach them for a record deal. And now what you're doing on TikTok is basically the same thing. You're trying to get the attention of the ANR guy browsing TikTok. And so a lot of people, they go, well, you know, the Internet's easier than ever to get noticed. No. It's not. Because you're competing against all the other people who are trying to get the same idea. Slave to your name, you said, was kind of a personal song for you. Now I don't wanna just assume based off of the title what it means. So I was wondering if you could go ahead and give me, like, a backstory of what that song's all about. Sure. Slave to your name is gonna be on the EP we're releasing towards the end of June, the first EP under this kind of project

15:34 Andrew Hagar moniker. And it's definitely one of the more personal songs I've ever written, but it's not about me. I think a lot of people are gonna listen to it and assume, you know, that maybe I'm writing about being a slave to, like, my father's name or something. But it's not about me. It's about another person in my family and their experience being unable to emotionally attach themselves from an idea. Yeah. And, again, like, it's not a song about me growing up with a famous dad, which, I mean, that would be whatever. I'm sure there's songs you could write about that too. But this is a much more, like, personal emotional song about what it means when your life is just unraveling because you're not willing to, like, cut off the anchor. You know what I mean? Like, if if you're if you're adrift and you have this anchor attached to you, you're gonna sink to the bottom. But if you're unable to just cut the cord, you know, you can't you can't change your life. You're gonna have a miserable life. And that's unfortunately something that some people very close to me have experienced in their lives. And so in that sense, I I wanted to express that through a song, and that… That's how Slate Your Name came up. And are there other songs on the EP that you haven't talked about yet that you really wanna

16:53 Derek Oswald expand on that you think the fans would be interested in? Yeah. Certainly. I mean, every

16:57 Andrew Hagar every song… This is actually a full length record that I made with my co writer and producer, one my best friends, Trev Luke. Right? And we're splitting the record into two EPs essentially just because of the way the the music marketplace is right now. But, yeah, they're they're all very, very different songs stylistically, sonically. They're all kinda unified that they're talking about, you know, mental health issues, essentially. Like, not just issues that I've experienced, but people in my life that I'm close to, my family, my friends, people that I love, because I always really like to spotlight mental health in everything that I do. But, yeah, I mean, the next single that we're gonna have a music video for that's coming out is kinda like the anchor for this EP called White Knuckle Thrill Ride. It's like a fun, bombastic tune kinda like Red Light Appetite part two, but it deals a lot with the nihilism that's kind of rampant throughout our culture, especially the youth now. You know? People throw themselves head first into these crazy situations. Everything has been kinda escalated up to 11 because people don't really have anything to… I know there's a great a great author named Tiffany, De Bartadello, and she has a book called God Shaped Hole. And that is kind of a microcosm for most people these days. They have this massive hole inside of them, and they're doing all these wild things to try to fill this hole looking for outside sources to kind of fill something that's inside. And until people realize that the truth is gonna be found in here, they're never gonna find what they're looking for. And that's kinda what this song is about. But I don't know that you would get that listening to it because it's really fun and just crazy and, like, this big rock song. But, you know, if you kinda

18:44 Derek Oswald look at the lyrics and think about it in a certain way, you know, maybe you might gather what I'm trying to say. But That happens a lot, honestly. You listen to a song that sounds very happy or very energetic, and then you actually listen to the lyrics, and it's really dark. Pumped up kicks the first time I heard it. You know, it's very, very poppy song, very entertaining. And then I'm actually listening to the lyrics, and it's about a school shooting. And it it made me uncomfortable.

19:09 Andrew Hagar Oh, yeah. And you've got all these all these young kids. Exactly. All these young kids singing along with that song and festivals, having a great time, you know, people at Coachella and stuff. And I tell that it's about a school shooting.

19:24 Derek Oswald It's a shout out three teeth. Three teeth has a great pumped up Jake's Trevor. I love the song, but it's one of those things where I just can't listen to it the same way anymore because it's… It makes me uncomfortable.

19:34 Andrew Hagar Yeah. It's it's a head trip for sure.

20:06 Derek Oswald Mental health is a very, very important conversation to have. It's actually something that I write about a lot on AltWire, you know, whether it's an artist talking about their struggles. I even actually had… I took maybe two full days to write out this guide for people if they're feeling depressed, like what to do, who to call. You're someone understandably who who suffered from depression, and you were talking about, you know, people, they try to find answers in something else, and they don't really find their happiness until they find it in here. So my question is for you, like, how did you pull yourself out of that hole? What did you turn to, or what did you find that helped you turn yourself around? Deep question I know. I mean, I've gone through, you know, several

20:50 Andrew Hagar yeah. It's a great question. And then this is a perfect topic that I really appreciate talking about every time I get the opportunity. But, yeah, I've I've gone through multiple bouts of, you know, pretty serious depression in my life after, you know, cataclysmic events that changed, you know, the foundation of my life. And, you know, one of those events was the fallout of everything that happened on tour with the Crusophersons. You know? I was with somebody that I thought I was gonna be with for the rest of my life, and then very quickly, that whole situation just imploded. And I thought I would never play music again. I definitely didn't think I would ever, you know, find love again. I was fundamentally questioning who I was, my self worth, all these things, and I was just in a spiral. And that was the moment that I really started embracing therapy. I realized that I had a lot of childhood trauma that I hadn't sorted through things more than just, you know, having parents that divorced when I was seven. You know? There's a lot a lot more than that. And I realized that I was just kinda, like, bleeding all over my friends. I I didn't have a lot of self awareness even though I thought I did, and I thought I had more than the average bear. The important aspects of self awareness were the areas where I was lacking. So, you know, I went to therapy. I I was lucky to find a good therapist. It's really difficult. It's like finding a relationship. You can't just find a therapist and be like, oh, this is the one. I'm gonna, you know, be with this person forever. Like, that's not how it works, unfortunately. And I think a lot of people who don't… Who… A lot of people who have an issue with therapy, maybe it's like, people's first experience with tequila. They were drinking some bottom of the barrel stuff. They got sick. They puked, and they never wanna do it again. You know what I mean? So that's, like, unfortunately, a problem. But if you can find a good therapist and you're open minded enough to do it, that really helped me. And coupled with therapy, I started, you know, meditating every day again, which I hadn't done in a long time just to center myself and get get to zero right after I wake up, journaled out my thoughts. It helped with the writing too, and I just threw myself head first into the pursuit of becoming a better songwriter and a better musician. And all of those things together over time, just diligently doing it every day, this goes back to the 1% thing. I was getting 1% better every day, and it took a long time. But after a couple years of that, I started to really feel, like, stronger. You know? Like, where the cracks were in the broken places, I was stronger than ever. And I'm a completely different human being now than I was, you know, six years ago, seven years ago. And I don't know, man. I mean, again, everybody's path is different, but I would really encourage someone who's struggling to talk to someone. You know, that that it's kind of a cliche now, but the idea that you're not alone. When you're in the depths of, like, a depressive spiral, you feel very alone. And all the things that will help you going outside, talking to friends, being physical, and being active, Those are all things that are gonna give you, like, a serotonin boost. You know what I mean? Or or really make you feel better. And those are the things you don't wanna do. You feel like you can't do that. You feel alone. And, yeah, it really helps just to to have somebody there just to help guide you through it, I guess, whether that's a therapist or a really good friend who's been through a similar experience.

24:14 Derek Oswald And it's really hard to catch yourself when you're spiraling too. I've made no secret on my website and even in some of these podcasts, you know, I I speak to a therapist. I've suffered from depression myself. And it's one of those things where I'm lucky that I've been incredibly hyper self aware. It's one of the things that my therapist says. They say that you're oddly self aware for somebody who's going to a therapist. But it's one of those things where it's like, just like a couple of weeks ago, I was just negative thought after negative thought, and I didn't even realize I was doing it. And all of sudden, I sat there and I'm like, you are spiraling. Like, you have found a way to shit on every single thing that is good in your life in a span of fifteen minutes. Oh, man. And I went through a few therapists myself until I found one that actually was good. I'm saying this because, obviously, you're gonna have some people listening to this, some of your fans, some people discovering you, and they might be going through something. And it is so, so important to get the right therapist and get the right help. It's very important. I completely agree. It's, like, not just a therapist. It's an accountability partner in a way. And that's what you really need. Like, somebody just to hold you accountable. Like, even even if you're speaking to a friend and a friend basically says, you know what you're doing? You're being negative again. Because sometimes you don't realize you are. You don't realize that, you know, you're stacking everything on top. So, definitely, it's not easy to talk about your struggles, but I appreciate you going into that because I think it's important for people to hear. One of the things I wanted to know because, you know, my dad thought he was popular, but he wasn't, you know, as famous as your dad is. What was it like growing up with a dad who just so happened to be fronting one of the biggest bands in the world? Yeah. I mean,

25:55 Andrew Hagar it's strange because, again, having the having the self awareness, like, I started to realize when I was about seven or eight years old that a lot of people in school were just trying to be my friends because of, like, who my dad was. And I'm thankful for that because it helped me become a better judge of character, and that bled into all different aspects of my life. Like, I started noticing people for who they were and seeing through the facade into their true intentions from a very young age, and that helped me a lot in life. It helped me a lot in business. And that's one of the most important things, I think, about my rather unique upbringing. Right? It helped me see through people's bullshit. And, yeah, I mean, it it was interesting growing up with a dad that was, at the time, like, one of the, you know, biggest rock stars in the world and still to this day. I mean, he's on the on the shortlist. You know what I mean? But celebrities are human beings. They all burp shit and fart. You know what I mean? They're just like the rest of us. But, you know, people fetishize celebrity in this culture. And even more so now than they used to, like, now you see people who are just trying to get famous, not necessarily because they're really good at something. Like, before in the music industry, you're on top, you're either a really good songwriter, a really good performer, a really good singer, a guitar player. Like, now you see a lot of, you know, pop musicians who are out there that don't really have, like, a super developed skill set. They just have a great look. They say really controversial things. You know, they get they get eyeballs, and that's kinda what it's about. And like I said, you know, no shade to them. That's that's cool. Like, do your thing. But, you know, it's just it's just a different ballgame. But the idea of celebrity, it's like, always saw that from Van Halen. He was being ostracized by, you know, the the public and music journalists and all this stuff, and it was just a weird situation. So growing up with him as my dad, I really saw, like, the dark side of fame, and it made me have no desire to be famous. And, like, even now, it's like, I want people to, you know, genuinely appreciate my art. I don't care about being a super famous, successful, like, celebrity. I'm a songwriter. I'm an artist. I just wanna get my stuff out there. It was really interesting growing up with a dad like I did because I led two lives. My parents, like I said, got divorced when I was a kid. So I spent a lot of time with my mom in a fairly normal middle class lifestyle. And then every once in a while, I would go visit my dad. He'd be on tour or he'd… You know, even just taking me out to, like, an incredible, like, Michelin star rated restaurant, I'd just be like, oh my god. It was like I was exposed to all of these other things that are kinda out of reach for a lot of people. But then I would go home and, you know, I had, like, whatever, three jobs when I was, like, 16 years old. You know? It's like… So it was just two very contrasting styles of lives, and I'm really thankful for that because I think it kept me really grounded, that in the training, because, like, going in and being humbled in the gym every day is really good for killing your ego. But, yeah, it was… I don't know. I I don't think my life is really what a lot of people would expect. You know? Yeah. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that think I grew up having everything handed to me, a spoil rich kid. I'm certainly not trying to say that I didn't have any advantages. I did, but I also had a much more typical lifestyle than a lot of people might think.

29:23 Derek Oswald And I thank you for saying that because that's actually was one of the things I was gonna ask. What you feel is one of the biggest misunderstandings that people have about someone being the son of a famous musician? Because everybody has their assumptions. Everybody thinks things are a certain way.

29:39 Andrew Hagar What is something that you wish people would understand that they don't really get? I think that one of the biggest things is people think that you have everything in your life handed to you and it's easier for you. People certainly think it's easier for me to be in music and entertainment because of my dad. And, honestly, I'm not gonna sit here and try to say it makes it harder than someone who has to come up just completely on their own because that's probably not true. But it does present a whole host of unique challenges that make it incredibly difficult for you. And just ideologically, like, psychologically, some people… I see this a lot with other people who have famous parents. They have a really difficult time, like, actualizing their own identity within the shadow of, like, this, you know, behemoth, and that really hurts people. There's a lot of second gens out there who struggle tremendously with addiction, who have, you know, maybe, like, a narcissistic parent, and they're developing narcissistic personalities as well, and they don't have the the wherewithal and the self awareness to stop themselves from just, like, tumbling down that path. You know? There are a lot of weird issues you have to navigate as a as a second generation, like, whatever entertainment person that people just have have absolutely no visibility on. And, you know, that's why I love to talk about mental health so much because, again, like, my struggles are not unique. There's a lot of people out there that deal with this stuff. But in this world, like, out of all the people that I've met, I haven't met very many people that are even moderately well adjusted that are second gens. You know? Like, most of them have really bad anxiety. They have, you know, drug abuse problems. They certainly are really insecure about stuff. And I'm… I just feel like I'm really lucky that I had the upbringing that I did and that I found myself early through, like, hard training and through, you know, philosophy and all this stuff. And I have the ability to articulate these things because those things don't always go together. You know? So if I can help anyone just from, you know, talking about this stuff, I I think that's a a huge win. You know? And going back to something you said earlier, I'm gonna quickly make a point here. I'm not saying this because you're on the podcast.

31:54 Derek Oswald I actually feel this way. There's camps of Van Halen fans, Diamond Dave, Sammy fans, and they sometimes don't get along. They like to cuss each other out. Mhmm. Yes. They do. Your dad's era is my favorite era of Van Halen, but I understand that you growing up, you know, you saw your dad getting ostracized. You you saw people attacking him for no reason. I'm sure being a child seeing… Well, your dad, who's probably your hero, you know, going through that, probably wasn't an easy thing to see. Since you saw the dark side of fame firsthand, what is some invaluable advice that your father gave to you on not just how to handle issues like that, but just how to circumvent bad things when they come your way? Oh, man. First great bit of advice is don't read the comments. I definitely

32:39 Andrew Hagar interact with people on my social media a lot, and there are certain channels, like, on my YouTube channel, for instance. Like, I don't post a lot on YouTube. I'm not a big YouTube personality, but I put music videos up there, and I just won't read the comments on that because there's a lot more negativity in the comments on YouTube than in, you know, my Instagram comments, for instance. And I get a lot of weird DMs from people. I'm sure you can imagine a lot more than most people probably would at my level. You know? But one of the best pieces of advice my dad ever gave me was just he said, I don't care if you're a garbage man or what you do as long as you're happy, and it makes you happy to do it. And, you know, happiness is this fleeting thing for most people. And, again, that comes from, you know, the self awareness to know if you're really happy or if what you're doing is out of alignment with what's gonna make you happy. Like, I so desperately wanted to be a pro fighter when I was a kid. I wanted to be a pro boxer. I wanted to be a pro MMA fighter. I did everything I could to make that dream a reality. And, you know, when I was 18 years old, I had my first amateur kickboxing fight, you know, in in a dingy North Hollywood Muay Thai gym. It was awesome. But at the same time, it was terrifying. Like, I was scared shitless the entire time. And, you know, anybody who gets in there and tells you it's not a scary experience, I don't think they're really being honest, especially your first couple fights. I don't care how many times you scrap growing up. It's nothing like the lead up to an actual fight, like a combat sports event. Like, it's wild. And when it was over, I was so happy it was over, and I was, like, in my head going, oh, I'd… I'm never doing that again. And, of course, I did, but I was lying to myself that this was something I enjoyed. And you see people at the highest level talk about this. George St Pierre, one of the greatest UFC champions of all time, said he absolutely hates fighting, But he sees so many benefits from the training, and the fighting is part of the training a lot of times that he has to do it. So, you know, again, going back to the happiness thing, I was just kinda lying to myself that this was something that I wanted. And I had to be really honest with myself. This is the whole self audit thing going back to that. I had to be really honest with myself that this maybe wasn't something I enjoyed. And then when I stumbled blindly into playing music, I was like, oh, this is this is what happened. It feels like… You know? Like, this is really it. Yeah. My father's advice rang true. It just took me a really long time to figure it out. You know? It's hard to do that. There's been so many times where I've started and stopped several things in my life just because I realized, you know, I thought this is what I wanted out of life, but it really wasn't.

35:20 Derek Oswald Seeking of happiness, and this is one of my favorite questions to ask because I always get good answers. What is one of the funniest memories you have? It can be with Van Halen. It can be with your dad. It can be in your own career.

35:36 Andrew Hagar What is the… One of the funniest memories you've had? Oh, man. Funny for me and funny for other people are probably different. So I'll share one that… That's probably both. There was a time when I was down in Cabo San Lucas with my dad, and I used to… Back in high school and college, I used to smoke a lot of pot. And I was always trying to get my dad to smoke with me because he like… He likes to have a little cocktail here and there, but he's not really a big smoker. He never was. And, you know, I got… One time, I randomly found my stepmom's stash when I was looking for something for my dad in the closet. And I was like, oh, hey. Like, it's this, you know, this crazy brown crumbly old school stuff. And I was like, hey, pops. I tried some of this shit. You you know, we roll one up. And he was like, yeah. Whatever. Fuck it. He'd had a couple cocktails, and he thought it would be pretty funny. So we we rolling up, went down on the beach, and and walked down the beach and smoked his joint together. And somebody had dug, like, a big hole for a fire pit. And, of course, because it was dark, he didn't see it. He just fell straight into this hole on the beach. And I was… For a second, I'm like, oh god. Like, you don't know how deep the hole is. Man, there's sharp sticks in there. I had no idea what was going on and, you know, I'm a little high. So, of course, I'm paranoid. You know? And then he just starts laughing, like, the craziest, most childlike laughter I've ever heard come out of this man. And, you know, we helped him out of hole, and we're just laughing the whole way back to the house. And then he just put together from scratch this, like, insane dessert, made these, like, crepes, jam, and all this stuff. And I'm just like, oh my god. And it was, like, such a hilarious, fun memory and not a way that I've ever really, you know, seen my dad act before. So it was it was pretty funny. That was that was a good one. Honestly,

37:16 Derek Oswald it's been so fun having you on this podcast. I've been looking forward to it ever since your publicist reached out. One thing I just wanna close with, what are your future aspirations for your music career? How do you plan to have your own mark on the music industry?

37:31 Andrew Hagar I mean, honestly, like I said, I have no illusions about being some massive star. I would really, more than anything, just love to be able to tour Europe once or twice a year, play theaters, and just, you know, play my music for people that genuinely wanna hear it and are interested in it. And that's really, to me, what it is to be a musician is to get out there and play it live and do it live in front of people and be present in that moment and have that connection with the audience. And that's that's really the most important thing to me in music. You know? So, like I said, whether we're playing small clubs, whether we're playing theaters, whether we're playing stadiums, you know, it doesn't matter to me as long as there's people who who really genuinely wanna be there and experience it and live in that moment with you. Well said. Well said. Well,

38:21 Derek Oswald digging in new music. Can't wait to hear the EP in full when it comes out. In the meantime, I do wanna thank you for joining us today. It's been an absolute pleasure, and I do hope you have a great rest of your day. Thank you, Derek. I really appreciate it, and it's been an absolute pleasure for me as well.

38:35 Andrew Hagar And

38:42 Derek Oswald that's a wrap for this episode of the AltWire podcast. I hope you enjoyed hearing about Andrew's journey in music and what went into the making of his upcoming album. It's exciting to see how Andrew is carving out his own path in the industry, and I can't wait to see what he does next. If you enjoyed what you've heard, please do not hesitate to give us a review on Apple Podcast. And stay tuned for more interviews with your favorite artist. I'm your host, Derek Oswald, and this has been another episode of the AltWire podcast. Thanks for listening.