VAN HALEN: 'Breaking The Band" Documentary To Premiere This Sunday on Reelz TV network
VAN HALEN will be the focus of this Sunday's (June 17) episode of "Breaking The Band", the new original docu-series from the Reelz TV network. The special, which features new interviews with Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar, will repeat on Monday, June 18 (12 a.m.) and Thursday, June 21 (8 p.m. and 11 p.m.). Check out a preview below.
Anthony said via Instagram that being interviewed for "Breaking The Band" "brought up many great memories," while Hagar added that the interviewers "were great. Feels like a good doc so far."
Show synopsis: "At the height of their success they were the biggest rock band in the world infamous for their excess and raucous live performances. With their strutting frontmen, wild hair and penchant for spandex they are often portrayed as the archetypal '80s American rock band. The band went through two 'break-ups' covered by our timeline owing to a variety of factors but most prominently conflicts over the Van Halen brothers' desire for total control and the destructive impacts of substance/alcohol abuse. By 1984, they were the biggest band in the world but, behind the scenes, all was not well and a battle for control raged between the brothers at the heart of the band and its lead singer, David Lee Roth. Years of touring, drugs and personality clashes had left them on the brink. When Roth's ambitions grew beyond the band, the brothers moved quickly to force him out. Their millions of fans were left devastated, but rising from the ashes, they would regroup with a new frontman, Sammy Hagar. Against the odds, they reached even greater heights with a string of four consecutive No. 1 albums. Apparently vindicated by their decision, the band appeared harmonious. But as the success grew, new tensions emerged and in 1995 the tale of ten years earlier was repeated when Hagartoo was ousted for his apparent disloyalty."
In 2007, the Van Halen brothers, Wolfgang Van Halen and Roth announced they would be hitting the road for a reunion tour. Anthony later told Music Radar that he "found out about that tour like everybody else did — in the press."
