CUTTING MIKE OUT OF THE PICTURE
The Van Halen brothers rarely had any love for Mike. Ed certainly slammed him in quite a few interviews. It got to the point where they started taking away his earnings. It was bad enough that Ed tried to get Billy Sheehan to take his place.
(EVH on Mike 1982)
Do you have any feelings about David Lee Roth’s vocals on the album?
The truth is, I don’t think he sang as good as I played. He took off for two weeks, and again it was, “What do you got Eddie?” and I had pretty much basic ideas for everything that is on record. I worked my ass off on that one. But I love it, it’s my life. At least Dave pulls his weight. Mike doesn’t. He doesn’t do anything. He has no input whatsoever. Period. But he has remodeled his whole house and bought himself a Turbo Carrera off the money he’s made off us. Whatever.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
1988
The Brothers made Mikey take a cut in pay
SAMMY HAGAR (RED)
The brothers decided that Mike Anthony wasn’t making enough of a contribution to continue earning a full share of the music publishing. Truthfully, Mikey didn’t write. Ever. He basically played on bass what Eddie would tell him. He was a quick study and he would add to what he was given. Mike was a creative bass player. He had an incredible background voice that made a big difference in the sound of Van Halen. But the brothers needed money.
Al was almost broke. We were making tons of money, but Al as many million dollars in debt. Leffler helped consolidate his bills and arranged a five-year window with him just paying interest. He had a little real estate cash. He’d bought a $2 million dollar house that he sunk even more millions into for rock-star junk like a rubber room, and then sold it for a big loss. He was making really bad deals.
We held a meeting and took a vote on reducing Mike’s partnership to 10 percent. Leffler and I voted no, but Mikey sided with the Van Halen's and voted against himself, 3-2.
“I understand what you’re saying,” he said, “and I’m okay with it.”
__________________________________________________ ______________________
(SAMMY HAGAR – MIKE ANTHONY – HOWARD STERN INTERVIEW – Mike was on the phone)
HS: Michael, does it drive you crazy too that these guys get all the publishing? Wouldn’t you like to get a couple of those dollars?
SH: Oh no, Mike got part of the publishing
HS: He did?
SH: Forever. They took it from him in the end.
HS: Because the brothers?
SH: The brothers.
HS: They took it away? How can they take away your publishing Michael?
MA: (Long pause) I don’t know Howard.
SH: He. He.
HS: But seriously. How can they do that legally?
SH: No! Mike has to admit. I have to standup for Mike now. I mean, note for note, I’m gonna dog Mike now. We were in a room. Ed Leffler when he was our manager and still alive. Ed, Al, Myself and Mike said ok, Ed and Al come up with this scheme that they wanted to take Mike’s publishing away for not contributing enough as a, “writer” in the band, as if Al was, but sorry, that’s ok. And, and, and they go, ok, vote Ed and I, the manager, Ed Leffler and I were going, “We’re gonna vote for Michael.” But Mike didn’t vote for himself, and he lost the friggin’ vote.
RQ: What?
HS: Mike? Why didn’t you vote for yourself?
SH: There ya go.
MA: You know, like Sam said, you know, Howard.. I’m not the major songwriter in the band or whatever. I mean.. But I do put 100% in of what I do.
SH: Hell yes!
HS: Yeah, but you’re the bass player you’re contributing a major part of a song and you’re also contributing those vocals. Why did you vote off your, your, your publishing?
RQ: You didn’t vote for yourself!!!
SH: Mike? I’m sorry! I just threw Mike under the bus!
MA: Yeah! Yeah!
HS: Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike, I mean!
SH: Mike, I guess I’ll see you next week huh? (laughs)
HS: Mike, that’s not.. actually that’s not throwing you under the bus because that’s one of the most selfless things I’ve ever heard. Like, that is like amazingly -- nice. I mean
RQ: But why did he do it?
SH: Because he would have been tortured if he would have.
HS: That’s what it was!
SH: Those guys would have crucified. He would have had to deal with what you know? Nobody wants to deal with.
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
The Brothers made Mikey give up his Cabo Wabo investment
Sammy Hagar (Unreleased Book) Circa 1994
"Believe me," lamented the Red Rocker, "the papers I had to sign with the brothers to get the club was a really shit deal for me. The terms were unbelievable. For instance, if I ever made a penny selling it, I would have to repay the band the money they wrote off on their taxes. Next, if I ever brought the concept to the United States and tried to franchise it, they would get fifty percent of the profits forever. That same deal also extended to anything associated with the Cabo Wabo name. I had to sign all these documents that stated in the event anyone got sued, I paid all the costs. It even said in the contract that I could not let the club interfere with the band. If Eddie and Al voted that it was not a good time for me to travel to Cabo because they needed me, I couldn't go. God's truth that fucking clause was in there. I had to agree to all these conditions, otherwise there was no deal."
Hagar had no bargaining power, and he knew it. Apparently, neither did Michael Anthony. The brothers made him divest his interest in the club as well. If he didn't, Sammy says, they would have kicked him out of VanHalen.
"When it came right down to it," he said assuredly, "they didn't want Mike to have anything to do with the Cabo Wabo. They especially didn't want him and me to own the club. The bottom line to the whole deal was this. I gave the brothers what they wanted, which was control over me. Eddie and Al knew that I'd do anything to keep my wonderful, great idea. They wanted to rub my face in it and say, 'See, it didn't work. We lost all this money.' Believe me, they didn't like the idea of me saving it. What they pulled on me was nothing but a powerplay; I guarantee it. The funny thing is it backfired. From January 1, 1994 when David Haliburton walked out to January 1, 1995, we paid off all the outstanding debts, redesigned the club, and I pocketed a tidy $300,000 profit. It was unreal."
__________________________________________________ __
DLR On Mikey Circa 1994
Roth believes his influence was obvious to fans, painfully obvious when Hagar joined.
"The videos, the brown M&M’s, the stage, the parties,--it was all me. I had to go as far as editing the guitar solo and choreographing the bass solo Mike Anthony has been doing for the past 10 years. And what are they doing.. right now?" he laughed, tweaking his former groups Pepsi commercial/single.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
"Ray Danniels is a cunning snake," declared Hagar. "He's like the devil where he can tell you everything you want to hear. When it came to me, Ray couldn't pull off that shit. From that day on, the two of us never got along. Michael Anthony was on my side at first in vetoing Ray as manager. Unfortunately, he's the spineless wonder type. He has no say-so in the band unless Ed and Al need his vote. Then they make him do what they want. When Mike informed me that he was siding with Eddie and Al to vote Ray in, that did it for me. In our next meeting, I told everyone that if Ray Danniels became the new manager of Van Halen, I was quitting the band. Alex jumped up when I said that and wanted to fight me right there on the spot. We were pushing each other and would have gone at it, if Eddie and Mike had not split us apart."
Here's the thing. Michael Anthony's the key. He would never say it now, but if he ever gets kicked out of Van Halen, or quits, he will have one helluva story to tell. He knows everything, because he was at a lot of the meetings with Ray and the brothers that I didn't attend. When Mikey was on my side, he told me some unbelievable things about Ray Danniels. You know what? Mike is still on my side, but he can't acknowledge it, if you know what I mean. If he did, the brothers would kick him out of the band."
__________________________________________________ _______________________________
1996
Road: You seemed like you were close with VH bassist Mike Anthony while you were in the band. Do you two still talk?
Hagar: "They got Mike by the balls. Mike is still my friend but he can't go against the brothers, they'll kill him. They've had him by the balls forever. Mike means well, but he is doing what they tell him. Believe me, Mike knows everything that happened. One day, he will write a book and we'll all find out. Mike left a New Year's message on my answering machine. He was wasted. (Imitates Mike) 'Sam, I gotta talk to ya brother! I miss ya, I love ya, man. Ooooh, you don't know, man, you don't know what's goin' on.' I'm going, 'I think I got a good idea, Mikey.' I called him back two days later when I got home and left two messages on his machine but he never returned my call."
__________________________________________________ __________________________
2004
“When we did the 2004 reunion, Eddie didn’t even want me to be a part of that because he was so torqued up that I was buddies with Sammy,” Anthony recalled, in 2009. “Why can’t I be buddies with Sammy and still play with Van Halen? With those guys, it was a cut-and-dried situation. You are in or you are out.”
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Didn’t they make you sign something to participate in the last tour?
You’re putting all the dirt in this one, huh? I gave up a lot to do tour, as far as my percentage of what everyone was being paid. I did have to sign something at the end of the tour, that I was relinquishing any rights or claims that I had to anything that had to do with Van Halen. The reason I did the tour was: I didn’t need the money, but I kind of figured if it was the last time Van Halen ever went out, I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t go out onstage one last time for the fans. So I kind of sucked it up a bit.
But that didn’t affect your royalties or anything?
No.
Do you regret doing that?
There’s always things that you look at in hindsight that you could have done differently or whatever, or tried to make it better. I don’t regret going out, because I did enjoy going out and playing for the fans. I kind of regret the way that it turned out, because it should have been a tour that possibly went on for at least a year, and toured all over the world, and it just wasn’t meant to be. And that’s pretty sad, in my eyes.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by blueturk
