Michael Anthony Wanted to Jam with Dave

MICHAEL ANTHONY Says He Wanted To Jam With DAVID LEE ROTH At One Of The Las Vegas Residency Shows
March 12, 2021 0 Comments

http://www.alternativenation.net/wp-...lentrionew.jpg
MICHAEL ANTHONY Says He Wanted To Jam With DAVID LEE ROTH At One Of The Las Vegas Residency Shows
In a new interview with "The Jeremy White Podcast", ex-VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony was asked if he would consider joining his former bandmate singer David Lee Roth on stage at one of his solo concerts to perform a few of the group's classic songs. He responded: "When he did his residency stuff in Las Vegas out here — 'cause it turned out I couldn't it anyway; I think we had something going on with THE CIRCLE — but I was actually going to show up and see about going up on stage and jamming with Dave. 'Cause I've got no beef with any of the guys about any of that stuff. At this point in the career and my life, it's, like, hey, I'll play it all. I'm sure if it came up, if it was the right situation, let it happen."

VAN HALEN and Anthony had not been on good terms for more than a decade, with Anthony not invited to join the reunion with Roth that began in 2007. The subsequent two tours and studio album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", featured Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang on bass.

Anthony took a pay cut and signed away all of his rights to the band name and logo in order to participate in VAN HALEN's 2004 tour, which featured Sammy Hagar on vocals.

Last November, Wolfgang' revealed that Eddie had contemplated a "kitchen-sink tour" that would have included Anthony, as well as vocal turns from both Hagar and Roth. There was even talk about bringing back Gary Cherone, who sang with VAN HALEN on one poorly received album, 1998's "Van Halen III".

In early 2019, rumors were rampant that the classic-era lineup of VAN HALEN would reunite for the first time since 1984. It has since been revealed that a health setback involving Eddie was responsible for the tour not materializing.

The rumors originally started with Roth, who hinted to Vulture that VAN HALEN would be playing stadiums with Anthony back in the lineup.

In a February 2013 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Roth spoke about the touchy subject of Anthony potentially replacing Wolfgang in VAN HALEN. He said: "Ed has his own vision, I'm assuming. We haven't really been able to speak about it and it's a disappointment, just as not having a chance for a reunion of the original band. Clearly, vocals are every bit as much a component of success as a rhythm section or a guitar solo… What we have at our fingertips is arguably one of the greatest high tenor voices ever — that was in Michael Anthony. In our tiny little corner of the universe, that voice is as identifiable as the high voice in EARTH, WIND & FIRE, as identifiable as the high voice in the BEACH BOYS. VAN HALEN is an indelicate house blend of both — that's intentionally."

Eddie died in October at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. The iconic VAN HALEN axeman passed away from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

BLABBERMOUTH

That whole "kitchen sink" scenario including Cherone had about as much appeal to me as a co-lead singer Hagar/Roth Van Halen tour, which would be zero.

What I wanted was a full fruition of what was teased at in 1996, which was a CVH reunion. Bits and parts of the CVH configuration were, at best, a 'take what I can get' substitute for what I wanted.

Bearing that in mind, Michael Anthony jumping up onstage at a David Lee Roth solo gig had even less appeal to me than Van Halen Mach 4, which at least had the draw of seeing Dave and Eddie playing together onstage again; in terms of what might have been, a Michael Anthony onstage cameo at a Roth solo show doesn't even register a blip to me in terms of missed opportunities. 1996 was a missed opportunity. 2006-2015 was nearly a decade of a missed opportunity to get Anthony back into the fold and make the CVH reunion happen.

By 2018/2019, even the prospect/rumors of CVH reuniting barely even raised any interest for me, and I had avidly been wanting to see CVH reunite since it first seemed like it COULD happen in 1996: the band waited too long, and by 2019 Dave just couldn't cut it anymore. I had little interest in seeing that long-awaited CVH reunion if Dave was gonna yell his way off-key through the set like he had been in 2012 and 2015. At that point, I'd rather watch/listen to old CVH bootlegs of gigs when the band were at their peak.

And what does it matter now if a CVH reunion was seriously contemplated a few years ago? The only way that might still matter now is if said contemplation indicated a CVH reunion could still happen in the future. It can't. Ed's gone. Van Halen in terms of ANY type of future is done. All that is left are the music and the memories.

And fuck Blabbermouth while I'm at it, just on general principle. ; )

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Terry

That whole "kitchen sink" scenario including Cherone had about as much appeal to me as a co-lead singer Hagar/Roth Van Halen tour, which would be zero.

What I wanted was a full fruition of what was teased at in 1996, which was a CVH reunion. Bits and parts of the CVH configuration were, at best, a 'take what I can get' substitute for what I wanted.

Bearing that in mind, Michael Anthony jumping up onstage at a David Lee Roth solo gig had even less appeal to me than Van Halen Mach 4, which at least had the draw of seeing Dave and Eddie playing together onstage again; in terms of what might have been, a Michael Anthony onstage cameo at a Roth solo show doesn't even register a blip to me in terms of missed opportunities. 1996 was a missed opportunity. 2006-2015 was nearly a decade of a missed opportunity to get Anthony back into the fold and make the CVH reunion happen.

By 2018/2019, even the prospect/rumors of CVH reuniting barely even raised any interest for me, and I had avidly been wanting to see CVH reunite since it first seemed like it COULD happen in 1996: the band waited too long, and by 2019 Dave just couldn't cut it anymore. I had little interest in seeing that long-awaited CVH reunion if Dave was gonna yell his way off-key through the set like he had been in 2012 and 2015. At that point, I'd rather watch/listen to old CVH bootlegs of gigs when the band were at their peak.

And what does it matter now if a CVH reunion was seriously contemplated a few years ago? The only way that might still matter now is if said contemplation indicated a CVH reunion could still happen in the future. It can't. Ed's gone. Van Halen in terms of ANY type of future is done. All that is left are the music and the memories.

---

This. But I wouldn't have been necessarily upset about a tour where Hagar opened for the CVH lineup and played some Van Hagar songs with them in a mini-set. But not as a co-singer. As far as Cherone, what did they have one actual single or something? the one with the ice-hotel video? I mean how would you bother to even work that in?

I just watched it, the song is Without You. It is very clearly written in a register for Roth's voice, which makes me a bit sad and reactivates being pissed off over the 1996 MTV Abortion...

I have my doubts that the Kitchen Sink tour was something being considered to any extent, if at all, by Ed. I think this is being floated by Wolfgang so as not to piss off/alienate the fans of any iteration of the band seeing as VH fans are way more than the lion's share of his audience. The boy ain't dumb.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nickdfresh

This. But I wouldn't have been necessarily upset about a tour where Hagar opened for the CVH lineup and played some Van Hagar songs with them in a mini-set. But not as a co-singer. As far as Cherone, what did they have one actual single or something? the one with the ice-hotel video? I mean how would you bother to even work that in?

---

Meh.

It's one of those things where...like, I recall in 1996 after it became apparent that Roth wasn't going to do anything beyond the two BOV1 tracks, Ed gave a bunch of interviews and the general upshot of them was that he didn't want to do anything with Roth beyond the two greatest hits tracks because [Eddie] felt the music and the band had to move forward. Putting aside how silly it seemed that the band had even bothered to do the two studio tracks with Dave in the first place if moving forward was the goal - as well as how bummed I was that the Roth reunion was over before it had a chance to really even get started - I had a degree of respect for that. Not so much Gary Cherone joining the band (Cherone just wasn't a good fit), but that Ed didn't want to become a nostalgia act.

Well, after Cherone left, when Van Halen bothered to work, it was as a nostalgia act. But for whatever reasons, it could never quite be the nostalgia act that I actually wanted to see. It was either Mike is back in the band for a tour, but they're doing a Van Hagar tour and not a CVH tour. Then, Dave is back in the band, but Mike isn't participating and instead we get...Ed's teenaged kid. Now, clearly Dave would have preferred it to have been a full-on CVH reunion. So, I'm left to deduce that it was Ed who didn't want it to happen...and, let's be clear, that CVH reunion could just have easily have happened in 2015: it wasn't like the tour that year was in support of a new Van Halen album. By that point, Wolfgang had already toured with the band twice. Mike never got back into the band when the band could have actually have done something because Ed didn't want Mike back. I'm not even so sure Ed really cared much if Dave was back, either. I think Ed just got whatever enjoyment he got out of those last few Van Halen tours mostly from playing with his kid.

So, that kitchen sink tour idea of 2018/2019...fuck that shit. Clearly, Ed and the band were gonna do what they were gonna do, and as a consumer I was free to either pay for it or give it a pass. And I'm not a rabid Sammy Hagar hater in the sense that I think he is the worst guy to ever sing rock music, ever. My gripe at that point would have been two-fold, in that the principals involved waited too long fucking around with juvenile rock star ego bullshit to make a CVH reunion happen back when they were still young enough, healthy enough and able enough to essay the CVH music live in a manner that treated that stuff with the respect that it deserved to my ears...and then as part of THAT shitty deal I'd have to tolerate Sammy Hagar participating in the tour to whatever degree? At that point, nope. Fuck, nope. The Van Halen reunion I had wanted had nothing to do with Sammy Hagar. Or Gary Cherone. Or Wolfgang Van Halen.

Think it's just the passage of time and perspective: when the 1996 stuff took place, I was in my mid-twenties. When the proposed 2019 tour rumors started leaking out, I was crowding 50. In the intervening 25 years, I learned to either not settle for less or, at the very least, not settle for less and con myself into thinking it was anything more than it was. And with CVH, I'd just as soon not have settled for Mike Anthony not being invited to the party unless Hagar was allowed to tag along. The two Van Halen Mach 4 shows I saw I enjoyed, but I was never unaware that I was settling for less. And after Roth's botched vocals of 2012 and beyond, come the 2015 tour I stopped settling for less altogether where Roth was concerned.

I will say (and doubtless I've posted this here more than once, but whatever) it was quite enjoyable in 2012 hearing Eddie playing the CVH material live and hearing him execute the CVH songs in a capable, focused, professional manner. It was quite enjoyable in 2008 seeing and hearing Dave sound and perform better than I had in quite a long time as a solo act...he didn't 'forget the fucking words, man!' once...bit of a shame it couldn't have been 2008 Dave, 2012 Ed and Mike Anthony on bass.

Ultimately, I'm being a cunt about all of this. Mostly because by the time 1984 ended, it was all over but the shouting in terms of Van Halen, anyway, so whining about what did or didn't transpire post-1985 is pissing over small potatoes, anyway.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Heater

I have my doubts that the Kitchen Sink tour was something being considered to any extent, if at all, by Ed. I think this is being floated by Wolfgang so as not to piss off/alienate the fans of any iteration of the band seeing as VH fans are way more than the lion's share of his audience. The boy ain't dumb.

---

For once I agree with you. I think Ed knew that his health was taking the tragic downturn and there really was no planning...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nickdfresh

For once I agree with you. I think Ed knew that his health was taking the tragic downturn and there really was no planning...

---

I tend to doubt that, because the rumors were coming out in the fall of 2018/winter of 2019, and Michael Anthony confirms that he was approached with the idea of rejoining the band for a 2019 tour that year (2018). I'll buy that the kitchen sink concept in terms of Cherone being included smells of bullshit - is Gary Cherone's participation or lack of going to sell one more ticket for a Van Halen show one way or another? - but I'd tend to guess that the idea of a Van Halen tour of some sort was being batted around in 2018. It could well be the case that Ed felt fine enough in 2018 to have undertaken a series of dates in 2019, fine enough to consider planning for some sort of tour hence the reaching out to Anthony by management, but by the time 2019 rolled around [Ed] took a turn for the worse.

Wolfgang may well not be dumb...I dunno. He was aware enough, at the very least, that by the time 2006 rolled around the only move Van Halen had left in terms of filling arenas was getting Roth back in the fold: but, really, how smart does one have to be to realize that? He only had to be slightly smarter than his father to have come to the conclusion most of the rest of the world had ten years earlier: the majority of fans wanted Dave back in the group. Not Gary Cherone. Not Sammy Hagar Part 2. I mean, it wasn't THAT complex, was it?

From what I recall Van Hagar had decent radio hits with right now in 93 and that song from the balance album in 95. So whatever happened between Ed and Hagar so that Ed and Dave got back together for only to write the 2 songs on the BOV1?? Anyway who cares, maybe I should google this but I'm too lazy or really don't care much..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Terry

I tend to doubt that, because the rumors were coming out in the fall of 2018/winter of 2019, and Michael Anthony confirms that he was approached with the idea of rejoining the band for a 2019 tour that year (2018). I'll buy that the kitchen sink concept in terms of Cherone being included smells of bullshit - is Gary Cherone's participation or lack of going to sell one more ticket for a Van Halen show one way or another? - but I'd tend to guess that the idea of a Van Halen tour of some sort was being batted around in 2018. It could well be the case that Ed felt fine enough in 2018 to have undertaken a series of dates in 2019, fine enough to consider planning for some sort of tour hence the reaching out to Anthony by management, but by the time 2019 rolled around [Ed] took a turn for the worse.

Wolfgang may well not be dumb...I dunno. He was aware enough, at the very least, that by the time 2006 rolled around the only move Van Halen had left in terms of filling arenas was getting Roth back in the fold: but, really, how smart does one have to be to realize that? He only had to be slightly smarter than his father to have come to the conclusion most of the rest of the world had ten years earlier: the majority of fans wanted Dave back in the group. Not Gary Cherone. Not Sammy Hagar Part 2. I mean, it wasn't THAT complex, was it?

---

I do believe the wheels were in motion at one point for the reunion including Mike. The other part, the Kitchen Sink" tour, probably got no further than "hey, pop, when you get better we can have everyone get on stage together". No, Wolfgang isn't dumb, and the way he reaches out to ALL VH fans kind of illustrates that point.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by So this is love

From what I recall Van Hagar had decent radio hits with right now in 93 and that song from the balance album in 95. So whatever happened between Ed and Hagar so that Ed and Dave got back together for only to write the 2 songs on the BOV1?? Anyway who cares, maybe I should google this but I'm too lazy or really don't care much..

---

There was an article somewhere that said Hagar was not happy with manager Ray Danniels and that was the beginning of the end.

found it:

Quote:

---

And physical problems weren't the only ones brewing for the band behind the scenes: Relations between Eddie and singer Sammy Hagar were strained during the making of Balance, and they didn't get any better on the road, partly due to what Hagar later described as an increasingly fraught conflict between himself and new manager Ray Danniels, who took over Van Halen's affairs after the death of Ed Leffler, their manager since 1985.

According to Hagar, one difference of opinion with Danniels stemmed from the manager's eagerness to arrange for a Van Halen greatest-hits record — a suggestion Hagar initially laughed off, saying best-of compilations were for acts whose careers had dried up.

---

Which was ironic, since Hagar recorded new material for his Unboxed greatest hits disc. Okay, it was probably put out to satisfy his Geffen contract, but still a bad look.

Leffler was Hagar's manager so a change was only going to be something else for him to cry about.

Hagar put out a Chickenshit "box set" after they released TWO albums.

Look, don't be slinging no jive at my man Sammy...

He's done everything for you...you done nuthin' for him...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Heater

I do believe the wheels were in motion at one point for the reunion including Mike. The other part, the Kitchen Sink" tour, probably got no further than "hey, pop, when you get better we can have everyone get on stage together". No, Wolfgang isn't dumb, and the way he reaches out to ALL VH fans kind of illustrates that point.

---

Based on Wolfgang's interviews this is the reality of it all... The "kitchen sink tour" idea was just a conversation between Ed and his son after the original line-up reunion fell apart due to Ed's failing health. Nothing more than wishful thinking about something Van Halen could have done...

Sadly, even the principal band/family members were doing what we, the fans, have been doing for the last 25 years... "wouldn't it be cool if..."

This is the way...