Jason Bonham Recalls 'Shock' At Being Let Go By Sammy Hagar

06-01-2025

Jason Bonham opened up in a new interview about his reaction to Sammy Hagar replacing him with Kenny Aronoff, but he says that things between him and the former Van Halen frontman are good.

Bonham was forced to leave Sammy's The Best Of All Worlds Tour early after his mother suffered a stroke and was replaced by Aronoff. However, Hagar decided to make the replacement permanent with Kenny taking over drum duties for the recently completed Las Vegas residency.

Jason appeared on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk and asked about the current status of his relationship with Hagar. Bonham responded, "We're good. I was a little upset with him, obviously, when it happened, I was upset, because I had 10 years, great years, with Sam. Love him, love his family, kids, everything, his wife. His wife and my wife are very, very close. So, it was a bit of a shock, but I get it.

"At that time I couldn't commit to the Japanese tour because mom was still in a bad way. And at that time, I'd got everything held for the following year that I was asked to do. So, I'd held everything off. The only one commitment I had, which was Black Country Communion.

"So, I read recently, there was an article that somebody kind of cornered him on me. And I just wanted to clear that up. I didn't have any dates booked or anything. So, I could have done rehearsals. I just wanted it to be out there. I could have done rehearsals.

"The only thing I had booked was the three weeks in June. But so is Joe and Kenny; are gonna be away at that time. So that was my only thing. I don't know if there's more to it than the eye.

"And he kind of said Kenny was way more upbeat and I was a bit drama. But oh, well. But I love Sam to bits. Me and Mike, we speak every week. Mikey, I really miss him. But we had a great time. To get where we got playing those songs, who wouldn't want to do that gig? So, we had a great time last year. If that was my swan song with Sam, then we ended up on a high."