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Sammy Hagar is hard at work on his first batch of original material since the Circle‘s 2019 In Between collection. Hagar told Ultimate Classic Rock, “I’m in the middle of a writing spree right now. I’ve got five new songs that I’ve written recently, and I’m singing a demo for another one. I’m looking at really writing five or six great songs. No filler. Every one of them, I want to say that ‘This is the best song that I’ve written’ and then the next one, ‘Nope, this is better than that one and this is better than that one’ and put out just five great, great songs and be happy.”

Hagar said he’s eyeing Dave Cobb, best known for his work with Jason Isbell, to produce the still-untitled set. He admitted that in the recent past there was too much negativity around to inspire good and strong songs: “I couldn’t write, because it was all negative s***. I don’t write about negative things. I have the hardest time sitting around and going, ‘Hey, I wanna kill myself; I wanna jump off a bridge,’ pointing fingers or being too much of a protesting rebel. ‘I Can’t Drive 55′ is my biggest protest song. So that’s the kind of protester I am. There was really nothing to write about that wasn’t negative. I don’t wanna be layin’ this s*** on the people.”

Out now is Sammy Hagar & The Circle’s “Lockdown Sessions” album titled, Lockdown 2020, which features all the tunes the band recorded in quarantine and posted online since the pandemic hit.

Hagar, along with Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham, and Vic Johnson, have tackled covers of such iconic artists as the Who, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Little Richard, AC/DC, Buffalo Springfield, and Bob Marley & The Wailers.

Sammy Hagar shed light on how recording apart turned out feeling more normal than not: “It really kept us in tune with each other, and talking to each other, and communicating with each other — and playing music with each other, because, you can’t put the singin’ first. You have to put the music first, so they didn’t know the arrangements. I wanted Beatles songs, y’know what I mean? I wanted songs to be under two minutes; just little fun things that wouldn’t take a lot of work. And some time we’d have to talk about it on the phone, so it was just like bein’ in the studio — you’re just talkin’ on the phone instead. So, it was real musical communication — and fun as beep, y’know what I mean? There was no purpose. It wasn’t like — ‘Oh, this has gotta be brilliant! Oh no, that’s not good enough!’ It was never like that, it was always one take.”

UPDATED: Sammy Hagar & The Circle tour dates (subject to change):

July 17 – Hammond, IL – The Pavilion at Wolf Lake Memorial Park
July 18 – Aurora, IL – RiverEdge Park
August 12 – Springfield, IL – Illinois State Fair
August 13 – Wabash, IN – Eagles Theatre
August 15 – Cleveland, OH – The Agora Theatre
August 21 – Boise, ID – Albertson’s Boise Open
August 22 – Airway Heights, WA – Northern Quest Casino
September 10 – Durant, OK – Choctaw Grand Theater
September 11 – Tulsa, OK – River Spirit Casino
October 29, 20 – Las Vegas, NV – Strat Showroom
November 5, 6, 12, 13 – Las Vegas, NV – Strat Showroom