(Credits: Far Out / Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve)
Tue 10 June 2025 19:00, UK
The best supergroups of all time never come together by design. The entire premise behind the Traveling Wilburys feels like it’s too perfect to work, but George Harrison’s desire to work with a bunch of his friends was why the band was able to defy the odds and become one of the most celebrated groups of rock legends ever thrown together. While that kind of supergroup never translated to the realm of hard rock all that often, Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve or HSAS had the potential to be something otherworldly, had they been given the chance to show their stuff a bit more.
When looking at the lineup here, all the pieces were there to build one of the best supergroups of all time. Sammy Hagar may have been the youngest on the roster but was already one of the most electric performers on the scene, having left Montrose a few years prior and slowly building up his reputation as a solo legend before a call to join Van Halen a few years later.
Anyone playing guitar next to Hagar may have had to show their stuff, but even before Eddie sprinkled his tapping licks on top of everything, Neal Schon was the best guitarist anyone could have asked for. He may have been known for bringing an edge to Journey, but not many axemen can claim to have turned in time with Santana and been asked to join Derek and the Dominos during their lifetime.
And while Kenny Aaronson and Michael Shrieve were far from the most well-known faces in rock, any rock and roll scholar would recognise them in a second. Aaronson had acted as the John Paul Jones of the group, having already worked his magic with Rick Derringer and going on to work with everyone from Blue Öyster Cult to Joan Jett, and Shrieve had his rock and roll credentials solidified as being one of the youngest people to play at Woodstock when playing with Santana.
All of them were on the same page, but their formation came at the worst possible time. They had great chemistry, but outside of a handful of shows, all they could do was scrape together a classic live album, Through the Fire. It’s already gutsy to make a live album of all original material, but outside of their breakout cover of Procol Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, tunes like ‘Top of the Rock’ and ‘Valley of the Kings’ were clear signs that the band was heading in the right direction.
Even though they had to ditch their passion project to return to their solo careers, this was a musical sweet spot for both Schon and Hagar. ‘The Red Rocker’ was one album away from dropping his blockbuster singles like ‘I Can’t Drive 55’, and since Schon had come off of making mushy ballads like ‘Faithfully’, this was the first time he had a chance to flex his musical chops a little bit more.
At less than 40 minutes, though, plenty of songs could have given HSAS more life had they had time to record them. Many of the tunes Hagar already had in the bank for them would eventually be shelved until he worked on the album Red Voodoo. But outside of trying to start something up again with Schon in 2002 for the project Planet Us, HSAS has remained the kind of dream scenario that would forever be locked in the musical vaults.
Is there a chance that the band could have gone the distance? Maybe, but that would have had to depend on how history played out. It would have been a little bit strange to see Hagar bring a song like ‘Dreams’ or ‘Eagles Fly’ to the band when crafting a follow-up. However, given the fire they came out with before they had a proper studio album to their name, it would have made for one of the most electrifying rock albums in the sea of hair metal at the time.
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