After weeks of silence, as Eddie Van-Halen has literally tried to remove his very existence from every facet of Van-Halen’s illustrious history, much-maligned ex-Van-Halen bassist Michael Anthony has finally released a statement on his official website, and it’s all very diplomatic, above board, and classy. He takes no shots at anyone in the current Van-Halen camp and even goes so far as to defend his replacement:
“It’s not that I’m not touring with Van Halen because I’m going out with Sammy. I’m going out with Sammy because I was not invited to do the tour. Sammy told me that if I was asked to be part of the VH tour and decided to do it, it would be totally cool, and it would not tarnish our friendship in the least,” Anthony continued. “Well, it’s not to be, and life goes on. I’ll still be out there with Sam, and I can’t wait to do some partying with all of you.”
And then the real kicker is when he addresses his 17 year-old replacement, Eddie Van-Halen’s son, Wolfgang, who will take over bass duties for the 25-city reunion tour: “Don’t judge him too harshly — I’m sure he’ll do just fine.” Damn, I dare say, I’d have been hard-pressed to hold back like that, if I were in his shoes.
3 responses so far ↓
1 kosmo // Aug 27, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Good job Mike, you show alot of class. I know Dave will screw up the lyrics and be his usual clown act. Dave’s vocals suck live and he barely sings the lyrics. He’s going to really miss Michael hitting those high notes in concert. Also Van Halen was one of the best harmonizing bands in rock.Not without Michael will they pull it off…
2 Glennyjoe // Sep 18, 2009 at 7:22 am
Its really sad to see what big egos can do to great bands like Van Halen.Back in the day they were the epitomy of what a great rock&roll band should look and sound like. Now they are a shell of their former selves. If they can just put the bottle and the drugs down they might clear up and see the picture more clearly.the original 4 members together are a mighty force to be reckoned with but separate they look like bickering old fools who keep thinking of where they were instead of where they are right now. Good for Michael Anthony for showing class and rocking out with Sammy and Joe Satriani Chickenfoot is a rock and roll band in the classic tradition Eddie are ya listening?
3 Drew // Sep 19, 2009 at 3:37 pm
The contention between the two parties stems from an issue of betrayal in the exploitation of the Van Halen franchise, or the perceived notion of such, by his band-mates. After thinking about it, I came to the realization that this is a pretty legitimate concern, here you have Anthony and Hagar going into very similar commercial endeavors in creating food products although I don’t think that it was a joint effort, in that one influenced the other to pursue similar passions (Hagar with his Tequila line and Anthony with his sauces). It just happend. But I can see how Eddie could perceive a conspiring effort on their parts– not only musically were they isolating themselves as a pair but also, as businessmen. And we all know what makes a business successful — you need to “sell the Hell” out of your products by MARKETING them.
Now if Hagar and Anthony separated themselves completely from the Van Halen catalogue and franchise while promoting their food items, thereby dealing with their businesses in a detached (more professional) manner, then I think that the Van Halen camp would’ve left everything alone, and by-gones would be by-gones. But because Anthony and Hagar will forever be associated with Van Halen — anything they do outside of Van Halen will be associated as such — ESPECIALLY if their playing Van Halen music at these glitzy Cabo-whatever the fuck events they stage, which I’m assuming has everything to do with the promotion of their line of food items (Hagar more so).
So there you go, the music should not be played in conjunction with corporate interests, thus the falling out occurred between the two camps legally speaking. The personal stuff, too also had a lot to do with it. Anthony should have been more patient and less antsy to want to get up on stage and “have fun” again, stating that he was bored during the VH down-time, as he puts it so lightly. He doesn’t seem to realize that there is SO MUCH at stake when you decide to jam on side-projects with ex-members especially, and the songs that are played are of your former band which made you rich and famous in the first place, now you’re wanting get more rich and famous by selling food items by playing VH covers?
Leave a Comment