Former-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony revealed that he too has been in talks about a live Van Halen reunion. Ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted recently revealed that he had been asked about testing the waters with Alex Van Halen, Joe Satriani — and presumably David Lee Roth — for a possible tribute/reunion tour — and Anthony explained he’s spoken to his former bandmates and management about the same thing.
Anthony went on to explain that rather than the preliminary talks leading to a full on “new” lineup of the band without the late-Eddie Van Halen, any type of project would be considered a celebration of the music.
SIDE NOTES
- Last month Ultimate Classic Rock transcribed some of Joe Satriani‘s chat with Rock Of Nations with Dave Kinchen podcast.
- Satriani — who played with both Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony in Chickenfoot — shed light on what still seems a possible tour saluting Van Halen‘s classic catalogue, revealing, “I’ve been talking with Alex (Van Halen) and Dave (Lee Roth) for about a year about doing something — a tour, something like that — that was going to be a true tribute to Eddie (Van Halen) and the Van Halen legacy. For me, it was a terrifying prospect of doing something like that, but I realized that it was something that would be a real labor of love for me. I was just so honored to take on the challenge.”
- Satriani admitted the players behind the still-unannounced project were a bit put out by Jason Newsted coming out and divulging plans that either didn’t include him — or were far from being a done deal: “These things are always happening in the music industry, and you’re supposed to keep very quiet about it because sometimes they don’t work out. There’s usually about 10 crazy ideas that float around, and musicians are always like, ‘OK, I won’t say anything about this, because it may not work out. I don’t want to hurt this person’s feelings or disrupt any other business plans.’ So yeah, we were all pretty shocked that Jason wanted to go public with it because we were all sworn to silence.”
CHECK IT OUT: Van Halen on June 12th, 1981 performing “So This Is Love” live in Oakland, California: