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Michael Anthony And Sammy Hagar Let Loose on Van Halen

Until now, former Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony has been pretty kind to his former band mates by not sharing his true feelings about his experiences while he was with the group, and his more recent exclusion from the Van Halen reunion tour. At least not publicly. Although he still seems reluctant to say anything really nasty about Van Halen, he does reveal a little more about the process that led to his separation from the group.

Although Anthony concedes that he sees himself as the ultimate “sideman”, and not necessarily the guy in the spotlight, he stresses that the role of a sideman is vital, and holds things together when the guy who is in the spotlight plays a ten-minute solo.

Although Anthony has talked about his disappointment that resulted from his exclusion from the Van Halen reunion tour which featured the return of original vocalist David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang on bass, he is talking more about his feelings now and admitted that he would have loved to have been part of it.

Revealing some of the negative feelings and disappointment about his parting ways with Van Halen, Anthony sounds like he has it all behind him now and seems to be very excited about the new group he has been playing with, which is being called “Chickenfoot” for the time being.

You can read more from the interview Anthony did with Music Radar and even download the audio from the interview.

Sammy Hagar, on the other hand, is a lot more open about his feelings when he talks about his time spent with Van Halen – a period in the group’s history that resulted in some of the group’s best material in my personal opinion.

Hagar, talking with Classic Rock Revisited not long ago, was clearly not pleased about the way Michael Anthony was treated by Van Halen when he was excluded from the last tour. “He got f***ed and it was horrible. I am not going to go on about ‘why and what,’because I have no idea…(The fans) have been waiting for this reunion and they (Van Halen) did it wrong. It is one more strike against those guys. They are not healthy, mentally, and they make bad decisions. They don’t take the fans in mind for one second and it is not good."

Hagar also relates the story of how a drunken Eddie Van Halen tried to knock the window out of a plane the group was flying on during a tour, and almost left the group as a result. Although Hagar remained in order to finish up the tour, he insisted on flying in a separate airplane for the duration of the tour to avoid being exposed to Van Halen’s alleged dangerous drunken rampages.

Hagar has his own album that was released just yesterday called Cosmic Universal Fashion, and he is also heavily involved with Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith in the aforementioned “Chickenfoot” project, something Hagar is no less excited about than Anthony and has described in the past as something that “could rival Led Zeppelin.” A bold claim to be sure, and it will certainly be interesting to hear this new material when it finally starts making its way out for us all to hear. They are hoping to complete the album they are working on sometime next summer.

For more on Hagar’s comments, check out KBS Radio.

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Tags: Chickenfoot, interview, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen

Former Van Halen Bassist Michael Anthony Back on Track

Thinking back on how he was booted out of Van Halen evokes some painful memories for Michael Anthony. After a long career with the Van Halen brothers, Anthony learned early last year that he had been replaced by Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang.

According to Anthony, that wasn’t the most painful event that marked his split with the group, who had decided to reunite with frontman David Lee Roth for a full-blown tour. The real low blow was delivered by way of the Van Halen website where Anthony had discovered that his picture had been removed from all Van Halen album covers that appear on the site – including the first one – and replaced with pictures of Wolfgang.

Outraged fans made their voices heard, and Anthony’s pictures were soon restored to their rightful positions on the album covers as a result. “I mean, to think that somebody would go to the trouble of trying to erase me from the band’s past, that hurt. But I think the fans felt the same way because a day or two later the website was changed and my pictures were put back,” Anthony said.

These days things are looking up for Michael Anthony. He’s joined up with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith to form what is currently being called “Chickenfoot,” but word is that the name may be changed when they settle on what they actually want to be called.

The group is currently finishing up work on their new album, which Anthony sounds quite enthusiastic about – comparing the group’s energy to the early days of Van Halen.

No official release date for the album has been announced yet, but the group’s earlier plans were to finish recording by the end of September.

Read more at Music Radar.

Tags: Chickenfoot, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, Wolfgang

Sammy Hagar Talks Van Halen And Tequila

Sammy Hagar has been making himself heard recently, and some of his comments may have rubbed a few people the wrong way. Not long ago, he was reported to have compared the group he is currently working with, Chickenfoot, with Led Zeppelin, and commented that, “Chickenfoot could rival Led Zeppelin.”

Well, since that eventful moment, Hagar has backed away from that comment and says that he was under the influence of Tequila at the time, referring to himself as “ripped” and admitting that he “said something stupid.”

Although he has conceded that the Led Zeppelin comment was “stupid,” Hagar still sounds like he has great expectations for this new group, which will probably be called something other than Chickenfoot when all is said and done.

“The world needs this band right now. The rock ‘n’ roll world needs this band. We are a rock band, and we’re at the top of our game. When the world hears this, it’s gonna turn on its side,” he says.

Reflecting on his days with Van Halen, which is referred to at times as “Van Hagar,” Hagar reveals what he says were the real reasons he ended up parting company with the the group.

According to Hagar, it came down to a power struggle within the group between him and Eddie Van Halen, who , according to Hagar was not the kind of guy that handled a leadership role very well, and was happy to allow Hagar to call a lot of the shots.

All of that changed when the group came under new management, according to Hagar, and he believes that the new manager worked behind the scenes to “poison” Eddie Van Halen, and convinced him to become more assertive about leading the group.

Hagar also suggested that Eddie’s well-publicized drug use contributed to the conflicts that eventually convinced him to leave the band, and also believes it made Eddie  more susceptible to the new manager’s influence.

Hagar recently sat down with Music Radar for an interview where he revealed these details and more. You can check out the entire interview and download it at Music Radar.

Tags: Chickenfoot, Led Zeppelin, Sammy Hagar Interview, Van Halen