"I'm excited for the first time in a long, long time," Hagar says of the project.
The new Space Between is not only Sammy Hagar's first concept album. It's also put him in the film business.
"Affirmation," premiering exclusively below, is the third video from the Red Rocker's album -- and first studio set with his current band, the Circle -- as well as the third excerpt from Space Between: The Affirmation, an album-length short film he'll be rolling out later this year. Directed by ZZ Satriani, son of Hagar's Chickenfoot bandmate Joe Satriani, the "Space Between" film enacts the album's themes of "money, greed, enlightenment and truth," following the arc of a gluttonous lead character with plenty of pig-masked actors hoarding cash and snorting cocaine. By the time of "Affirmation," the ninth "chapter" in the film, the lead is beginning to see the error of his ways and, according to Hagar, "gets all puffed up and thought he was cool and goes to Vegas and gets taken down by the big boys."
"I gave (Satriani) a whole bunch of money and said, 'Go crazy!'" Hagar tells Billboard. "The reason I like this movie is it gives the album more legs. It's not just a record, and when you see this movie you're gonna go back and listen to the record and go 'Oh!' It elevates your listening and viewing experience." And, Hagar adds, it puts into play a potential sequel to Space Between, whose No. 4 debut on the Billboard 200 was his highest ever as a solo artist.