We have been fans of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Sammy Hagar whether from his solo career, as a member of Van Halen, or in super bands! He is a noted singer/songwriter, guitarist, an entrepreneur with an amazing portfolio, and philanthropist. Whether it’s his music, restaurants, spirit brands, etc. he is about loving life and enjoying it to the fullest.
His latest venture is one that is important to him as it is about longevity and nourishing your body as he continues to tour and has his residency in Vegas at Park MGM. Red Rocker Essentials is a line of vitamins that he partnered with noted wellness supplement guru, Wayne Gorsek, who founded and sold Vitacoast, and with Nature Labs, has this new line of products, as well as Sammy’s own supplements. We sat down with this duo to talk music, life, and the importance of vitamins as we navigate our day to day.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into Red Rocker Essentials, we’d like to talk a bit about your music.
When did you first fall in love with music? I have been a fan of yours for decades. And so being able to connect with you is definitely a pleasure, Sammy Hagar.
SAMMY HAGAR: Well, I’m thrilled. Thank you! But, you know, I think probably the first time I went crazy and said, “wow, I want to do that,” was when Elvis Presley - I was like 4 years old or something... My teenage sisters were watching his debut on TV or it might have been the Ed Sullivan Show or whatever it was, but Elvis Presley comes on and my sisters are sitting there going crazy right? Screaming, holding their faces - watching a guy in black and white on TV you know.
I’m going, “wow, that’s pretty cool you know?” I might want to do that right? I want to be that guy. But really, my dad was always singing and whistling and he could yodel country music. He was listening to Hank Williams and Hank Snow and people like that. I’d sit in the car and hear him sing to the radio. That kind of got my attention too. I was kind of raised around music, even though no one played music around me. Everyone kind of liked music. My sisters would dance and they’d dance with me, you know, and my dad would sing to the radio. I guess I was influenced by music right away.
AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a recording artist? You’re an amazing guitarist, a vocalist, you write songs...
SH: Well, I had an older friend that used to go to school with my brother and he played guitar. I used to always dress the part. My sisters always had me looking like the latest rock star, whoever it was. It was Elvis Presley or whoever the next person was, my sisters would comb my hair like that and roll up my sleeves. I swear, they dolled me up all the time like I was their playmate.
I think this guy who played guitar, he came over to my house to see my brother. He’s going, “did you ever think about being a singer?” And I’m going, yeah, you know, and he played guitar. So he started playing guitar and I started singing a couple songs. I knew a few songs from the radio, same kind of thing. So I started a band with him. He took me to see The Rolling Stones when they came to San Bernardino Swing Auditorium the first time they played in America and that was where I lived. George Babcock from a radio station, 590 AM, brought The Stones and we went to see them. And I just said, that’s it. Boom. I saw their first American performance and I wasn’t even driving a car yet, you know. So this guy had a car and we drove over and I think that’s what really did it.
Then to play guitar, that was just wanting to be a singer. My friend played guitar and I just sang all the time. Then I went to see Cream’s first American performance with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker at the Whiskey A Go Go, I went into a music store the next day and I stole my first guitar! I mean, I hate to say it, but I wanted to play like that and I knew I was going to sing like Mick Jagger and I’m going to play guitar like Eric Clapton!
That really set me on my course and that’s all I wanted to do. You couldn’t have talked to me out of it. I thought I was going to be rich and famous someday and I was determined. Pretty lucky guy, I’d say, you know? But I did the work.
AM: Oh, you did the work. I mean, you have been part of so many different bands as well as being a solo artist!
Before we delve into Red Rocker Essentials, Wayne, can you tell me a bit about your background and what led you to the wellness industry?
WAYNE GORSEK: I just learned a little more about Sammy! I didn’t realize Elvis inspired Sammy. Look at my shirt (Editor’s Note: Wayne’s shirt is a button down that has Elvis on it).
SH: What a trip!
WG: It’s actually made by the clothier that supplied Elvis in Memphis.
AM: Oh, wow.
WG: It’s made in America. I got like 5 of them. I’ll answer your question 2 ways. What got me into music as I grew up in Illinois. My family had horses, so I started out learning, Glen Campbell, Country Western music. And then as I got in my teen years, I watched Smokey and the Bandit. I got a black Trans Am. I started to get into Classic Rock. First concert was Eddie Money. Then I discovered Sammy.
In fact, Sammy, I grew up by St. Louis. You said that you had the record amount of tickets sold in St. Louis I think you said.
SH: Yeah, I still do! I think I still hold the record of the most tickets ever sold by one artist in in one city in St. Louis and I don’t know how that happened! But you know, Wayne I’d tell you in a second if I knew how that happened! I would have made that happen in every city!
WG: Well, I think Sammy, his songs relate to us folks in the Midwest. I Can’t Drive 55.
AM: I’m from Indianapolis originally. So yes, it definitely syncs in with the Midwest.
WG: Yeah! Trans Am and Eagles Fly. I mean, so many great songs and the St. Louis rock station really supported you.
SH: Yeah, yeah, they definitely did.
But Wayne, I think your question is not how you got into Sammy Hagar. It’s how you got into vitamins, then you met Sammy Hagar, and then we did vitamins together. Now, can you follow the damn questions here, Wayne?
WG: Haha Yes! The way I got into vitamins, I grew up believing that doctors could fix everything. My grandparents raised me, adopted me, and I have a lot of good memories, but the bad memories were when I entered my teen years, they entered their 70s. This would be in the 80s, and they got a lot of diseases. They got Parkinson’s, arthritis, depression, heart failure, you name it. I thought the doctors could fix them, took them to a lot of doctors, and I saw a lot of side effects, a lot of big bills. The bills now are probably 4X higher now if you go to the doctor. I saw lots of side effects with the drugs, and I thought there’s got to be a better way.
So I went to the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library, nights, weekends, and I studied what is Parkinson’s, and what is arthritis? How do you fix these things? I came across nutrition. I came across herbs, vitamins, foods.
So I take these articles from the medical journals to their doctors, and the doctors admitted they knew nothing about it. They don’t teach them in medical school. So I started going to the vitamin stores and buying 8, 10, 12 bottles of all these herbs, vitamins, and I saw that they helped them. I realized that the average person isn’t going to do all that research and they’re not going to go out and buy 8-12 bottles so I decided to start a company that made a good multi that would work. Put it all in one and it did work. My last company we sold billions of dollars, we did IPO, sold to Kroger, and this is my second now!
AM: Wow I am very familiar with your first company, Vitacoast so you are definitely well versed in this space!
How did the two of you guys come together? Sammy, you’ve always been focused on wellness and longevity. How did the two of you come together?
SH: Well, I guess Wayne came to see me in concert in Las Vegas, and this is a story that he told me. But he said, “wow, this guy at his age, sure has got a lot of energy! Of course he needs that energy to keep doing what he’s doing if he wants to keep doing this, you know.”
We had a little conversation and I said, no, I’ve always been in the supplements and here’s what I take and here’s what I do. He’s going, oh, “you can do better than that. You know, some of these supplements have things in them that really aren’t good for you, or they’re not the best quality of Vitamin B, or the C that has a little bit more, and those organic products out there. He asked me if I read about everything that I take. I’m spending about two seconds on the back of a bottle! It’s got the stuff I want and then he’s going yeah. but where’s it coming from?
He just said come on down to my lab and let’s work on some stuff. So I went to the lab. I didn’t just say, “oh throw my name on some vitamins.” No, hell no man! I went down there and put on the suit, the hairband and went through a sterilization program. And we spent the whole damn afternoon in there. I was really impressed and I was very interested in upgrading my supplements. So, here we go, you know?
AM: Wow.
SH: I also want to say that there were things that were important to me like energy, natural energy without the crash, heart health, and flexibility!
Over time, I have figured out what I needed because I know as I get older, my joints are getting stiff. I need flexibility on stage. If I go out there and I’m not warmed up and I really haven’t really stretched well before I get out there – it can be tough. You get out there in front of thousands of people and your energy level – that adrenaline spikes and you do crazy stuff and if you’re not flexible, you’ll throw your back out, which I have done many times. I have thrown my neck out. You’re coming off the next morning feeling like I have head banged too hard. But, yeah, things like that.
I’m concerned about my heart because my mother had heart disease. My brother had heart disease. It’s in my family. I get myself checked out all the time about that. So, you know, I mentioned that. And I like an energy boost, but I can’t stand the products that are out there. I won’t mention the names, but I cannot even take 1 sip out of 90% of the assortment that exists right onw of those energy drinks. I don’t do it. I don’t drink coffee before a show either because it dries out my throat. So I used to take a little sip of a Coca-Cola and stuff like that with my rum or my tequila in there to get the relaxed buzz for a relaxed energy rush.
But anyway, Wayne says, no, I got you. I got you on all this stuff. The energy without the crash. You’re crashing because of the caffeine. You have to have different intake for it. So he knows all the answers to all that stuff. He’s the one that created this stuff for me to fit my lifestyle and my fans are you know almost my age some of them are my age and older even and um so I thought, “hey this is a good thing to pass on to them.” If it works for me with what I do, it’s going to [likely] work for you in your everyday life and that’s kind of the way I’ve always went about my restaurants, the way I’ve always went about my music.
If I have a message in my music it’s usually something that I wanted to tell my fans that this is a cool way to live. You know, I wrote the song Cabo Wabo, because I discovered Cabo back when it was undiscovered sand I said, “man you guys got to go to this place, you know you got to go there!” I mean, I’m telling you right now you go there you’re gonna be happy. So, I built a place down there for them, it’s really the way I think about my fans. It’s my family first, and my fans, they’re my extended family. So I think about them right along with the rest of my family, you know? And so that’s why I wanted to create this stuff. I want to upgrade them. Everyone takes vitamins. I bet you 90% of my fans take them, but half of them are probably taking stuff that’s been sitting on the shelves too long. It’s about taking a better supplement. So I’m trying to help them out.
WG: Well, you know, Sammy, you’re accurate. The typical multi, there’s tons of studies showing they don’t work because they got too little actives and they use forms of B vitamins that most people can’t utilize and absorb. So, we put in the active Bs that you can utilize. And we put in enough to work, levels that are much higher than the worthless daily values. If you want to be healthy, you cannot take the minimum. You’ve got to take optimal levels, which are much higher than the minimum DVs.
SH: I didn’t mention when I take my supplements. I personally don’t take my supplements until I have a decent meal. You know, like I don’t take them first thing in the morning because I just don’t like the way they feel on my stomach. A lot of times I take my supplements if I have a big lunch, I take them with my lunch, but I take them with food. And I think it’s really important that that’s half of what they do. You’re not living on the supplements. You’re living on the food you’re taking. You take supplements with it and you. get more of the nutrients out of the food and out of your supplements and it goes into your body better. It’s all about assimilation to me.
WG: Well said, well said, spot on.
SH: Yeah, so he didn’t teach me that. I knew that already. It is better with food. It is better with food. I really recommend that. A heavy vitamin can be rough on your stomach in the morning with just water.
WG: When you look at Sammy’s supplements, it’s a vegetarian capsule, you absorb that in just minutes. It breaks down in minutes, not hours. Some of those tablets from other brand never break down.
AM: So you have the initial products that launched last month. Are there going to be additional products that you plan on adding to this line?
WG: Oh, yes. Absolutely. We started Sammy’s line with Men’s, Women’s, Multi Energy Drink Powder.
SH: I’m open to new products as I get older for more brain health and a little bit more cutting edge stuff. Right now, we’re doing a good job. We’re putting good stuff in the normal stuff.
AM: Right.
SH: I’m an experimental guy. I’m willing to say, let’s go for some life extension products here. I rely on Wayne to guide me through that because I don’t want to get out there and just start taking a bunch of stuff and find out later, oh, no, you shouldn’t have taken that. So Wayne’s my guru here, you know. He’s my nutritional guru, substance guru, you know. I’m so happy since I ran into Wayne because he’s just so knowledgeable about all this stuff. You know, a lot of people will just try and do anything. And, you know, you can do more harm than good sometimes. So, yeah, we’re looking to expand as soon as we get everything just right.
AM: And what does this look like in terms of like rolling it out to consumers? Obviously, people can go to the website and different distribution/retailer points. But when you’re on tour or on your residency, will you be sharing this with fans in terms of awareness?
SH: Well, the awareness part, I always wear shirts. Like right now, I got my Red Rocker Beer shirt. I’m always sharing my apparel with my products and I get tattoos on my arm like Cabo Wabo, Santo, Beach Bar products and that’s Bogus Otis. I’m just one of those guys like a NASCAR person, but I don’t have to put the suit on. I just put the tattoos on. I don’t want to take my shirt off. Rather than shove it down their throats or talk about it too much. I drink my tequila on stage. I drink my rum on stage. It’s real. It’s organic with me. I own these companies except for Wayne here, but it’s still my stuff. I can’t make vitamins. So I have Wayne to do it. I don’t just endorse things and I never have. So that’s why I’m willing to get the tattoos. That’s a real endorsement.
I wouldn’t sell vitamins in concert. People that follow me, they go to my website and look at it all the time and tell them where they can get things. You know, the world’s so much about online right now. But I think Wayne’s got it covered. That’s his distribution thing. He’s got it down with his stuff. His stuff’s good stuff. It’s in all the good stores.
WG: I currently manufacture about a million bottles a month for some of the largest retailers – my customers. As Sammy grows, he’ll never outgrow us you know and we do plan to expand as he said - products for brain memory, cognitive, and joints. We can pretty much help people with any health concern with the right nutrients.
AM: That’s amazing. Sammy, We’ve been a fan of yours musically as well as an entrepreneur. Santo is a great tequila, Cabo - we went with friends because we heard the song growing up.
What do you want your legacy to be known as since you have been involved in so many things in your life as a musician and as a successful entrepreneur?
SH: Oh, my! I want my legacy just to say that, you know, I want people to smile when they think of me. I want to make people happy to make their lives better. I want to help people that I can help. You know, Paul Newman said something one time I saw him in an interview and it just changed my life. It was years and years ago after he had died. But it was at a benefit where he said, you know, “when you’re in a position to be able to help people and you see someone that needs help, you have to do it. If you see a person fall down, you’ve got to stop and pick them up.” I thought, wow, it just really touched me. I thought, yeah, I can help people. You know, I got extra money and I’ve got the ability to make people happy. So, when I walk out on stage. I want to make people really happy. I want to bring them joy. And I want to make them cry, too. I want to touch them deep in their hearts. I always want to leave them at my concert with a ballad. I don’t leave you with this big, crazy, high-energy song that makes you want to run out in the street and get in a car wreck. I’m going, no, no, no, no. You’ve got to settle down. I like to touch their hearts at the end of a show so that they remember it. In the morning, they smile. They wake up, and they remember the show, and they think about it, and they start smiling. And it makes them feel good. That’s my legacy. I’m gonna make people feel good and enrich their lives in any way I can.
IG @sammyhagar
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | Rob Shanahan
Read the APR ISSUE #124 of Athleisure Mag and see THE RED ROCKER | Sammy Hagar in mag.
