WRIF interview with Michael Anthony

GREATEST MOVIE TRAILER EVER!

Liked most of the interview, but hated the Ed bashing.

Michael Anthony is a great guy, but it is hard for me to understand how he could think that touring with Hagar as the “Other Half” would be accepted by the rest of the band. I completely understand that he did not want to stay home and do nothing, but he could have toured with The Who or somebody else that had nothing to do with Van Halen. Yeah, Eddie has made some bad choices – but so has Michael Anthony.

With that said, I am glad that Michael is enjoying his role in Chickenfoot. I just wonder what he’ll do when Chad goes back to the Chili Peppers.

Rodney,

Like Eddie said: “I just expect the other members to work as hard as I do”.

If it wasn’t for EDDIE VAN HALEN no one would even know the names Dave,Al,Mike or Sam.

Well they might know Sam from One Hit Wonnders but no-one would really care. Kinda like Rick what’s his name and Corey someone with sunglasses.

You get the picture!!!!

Whatever happened to the days when Eddie would say, I just wanna play guitar, man. I don’t care who sings. I didn’t put it in quotes because I’m not even sure he even said it anymore!! Can anyone remember when that was? BTW, garysamuelroth…..love your name, dude!

Im just saying guys…. It’s funny that everyone that has “quit” the band points the finger at Ed. It would be great if new music out of the VH camp. The bottom line is alot of fans don’t care for the drama anymore…..it’s about the music. In the past 10-15 years Ed has done alot of things to himself, wife, fans, and band memebers. If u guys think he is a saint in all of this your extremely neive. No one will ever doubt his talent for writing great music. As for everything else he does I consider him a POS

“mikey” is simply the most overrated bassist in the history of rock. Had it not been for Dave and Ed, “mikey” would have never had a career in music. Todd Jenson would have had the same impact if given the opportunity to play with those 2 rock legends.

Rodney,
Are the people who quit the band going to point the finger at themselves? Of course not! Yes, Ed is 50% to blame, but so are the the guys who quit. I don’t think any of the “fanboys” think Ed is a saint, but I find it funny how all of the Mike and Sammy fans think they are. He may be a POS in your opinion, but to me he is a guy with a disease (alcoholism) who absolutely may be hard to work with (or for), but Sammy and Mike aren’t much better.

Hey ricky v, mike anthony NOt the clas act.
Are you fucking kiddin me?
What is he suppoosed to do? sit in his ass for a decade, while the brothers, who lets have a good look, have made piss poor decision after piss poor decision all their careers,try and work out how they can manipulate DLR and earn more money.
Ed and al did sweet fuck all from 96 until that abissmal attempt at former glory (VH3), without him playing on it, and then cause they needed the money reformed in 2004, and they didnt want him there then.
So Mike shouldve waited around huh. or join the WHo like some other idiot suggested .
Please lets get fucking real, you ed sheep have really turned the situation on its head, when you start to throw up these arguments and justification foryour idols fucking hopeless decisions.
Hey, you dont like Sam, ok, but you now dont like MIke?, ok, but then Dave is cool?
Well true believers they all have something in common, they were all fired from vhalen by the dutch tyrant, so can the yall be telling lies?????
And for those who think VH starts and stops with ED, I tend to believe those 3 mentioned were just as integral, VH3 beng exhibit A right there for those who think ed can do it all on his own.
As roth puts it, the brothers may play it, but the jew sells it.

Wow do you clowns have short memory’s! Does the album Brian May Project mean anything to you? Does the song Beat It with Michael Jackson mean anything to you. Sammy Hagar is more successful solo artist than that no talent hack in David Lee Roth.

Who cares? It is possible to like both encarnations of VH. I guess that’s what’s nice about being only 25 and seeing both 04 and 07 tours and the Sam and Dave show and just loving all things Van Halen. Everybody’s bitter, I get it. I really don’t see how Ed, Sam, or Mike could even care about any of this. Sam and Mike are enjoying success with Chickenfoot and apparently Joe is easier to work with than Ed so what do they care? Ed is back with DLR and had a hugely successful tour so what does he care? And to be honest, he said Mike quit in Rolling Stone and that’s about it lately. Kinda moved on. He didn’t tell us we’d have music before his wedding or Wolfie’s graduation so there’s nothing to bitch about until the end of 2010 if there is nothing still. Yeah he says he has 10 albums worth of music, I am sure he does. He also doesn’t release anything unless it’s exactly what he wants. Gotta have a singer to release music and neither Sam or Dave were with Van Halen in the last 10 years except for what, 2 reunion tours? Oh well. My grandpa is a millionaire but an alcoholic and the only time I can stand to be around him is from 8-11am. When all of you Ed haters go through what he has (whether self inflicted or not) I would love to be there to call you a piece of shit, cuz not only are you a pathetic excuse for a human being but you didn’t make the greatest music the world has ever known so you really have nothing to live for. Listen Fair Warning and tell me Eddie owes you shit. If you like Sam and Mike so much listen to Chickenfoot. Mike’s harmonies are there and Sam’s voice sounds amazing. They are all millionaires so I don’t see why it’s so bad that MA is not in Van Halen anymore. Not a big deal. I really didn’t get into VH bc of the bass or the harmonies. Could care less really. It’s Ed’s guitar that made us all listen to VH, not Mike’s bass. So get over it.

Will there ever be a an interview with Mike or Sammy only bout CF with no talk about Eddie or VH? Probably not, because thats why anyone listens through all the blurb.

After hearing this latest interview with Mike, I’ve lost some respect for him and start to doubt his call on events, excuses or reasons on his exiting of Van Halen.

Tatts is correct when the DJ referred to Eddie’s son Wolfgang “That fat kid on bass” Mike should have held up the DJ and made him apologise for making that pathetic and downright mean comment!! But I guess Mike being the ‘wanting to please everybody’ got caught up or sucked into the DJ’s rant!! Let’s face it that DJ had an agenda against Van Halen and used Mike perfectly!! And look at the results? He’s got us fans responding furiously to this interview!! I guess Mike is learning fast from his master Sammy ‘the horrible’ Hagar on the art of innuendo, cringe worth and BS!! I much prefer the Mickey that just shut his mouth, drank and played that Jack Daniels!!! All you anti-EVH are blinded by your hatred of him!! Yet what you miss out on is the entire BS that these ex-members most particularly Sam & Mike are full of shit!!

Let’s be honest here, this it’s fascinating this whole Van Halen saga!! But when you look at both sides of the story without taking people out of context (leave that to the media that’s the only thing that their only good at!!) I think it’s laughable now how Sam & now Mike have played the fans ignorance!! Since Sam quit Van Halen Mike no longer stood up for Van Halen. He was just biding his time and just hung around. He has no idea the pressure’s of the day to day business of running a band like Eddie & Alex had to endure. No wonder he didn’t put up a fight on signing away his rights in Van Halen, he was using that so he could have an excuse to blame Eddie!! And besides he didn’t write a single note yet Eddie out of being the team player and having a heart of gold, still put him in the credits, including Eruption!!!!! You see people of jury that is called leverage!! He was building up a case against Eddie. Mike was in total control of it and executed it to plan. He was giving Eddie little choice. Mike in fact sacked himself or for better word, QUIT!!! He hooked up with Sammy again or Sammy poached him (who could give a fuck, both we’re in it together as far as I’m concern!!). It’s pretty simple; Sam got into Mike and brainwashed him, he no longer stood up for Van Halen and the real fans. He stood up for himself, Sam and their Van Hagar fans!!

You notice in most of these Chickenfoot interviews Mike does he always speaks on behalf of Sam every time? Mike always mentions “oh and the same goes for Sam’ or “Sam would say the same thing” or “Sam & I did this” or “Sam came up with this” or “Sam said this about this, that and everything!!” Get it? But because Eddie isn’t that good with the media that’s how Mike & Sam used the fans against Eddie!! This is so easy to understand. Eddie has been consistent with his views on the bands status. I never doubted Eddie for one moment…only once I disagreed with what Eddie did! That bad decision of doing that pathetic re-union with Sam!!

I will always be Eddie and Van Halen’s number one supporter/fan!!!! To the rest of you tiny Chichenfoot minority enjoy it for the little time it will last because remember…Sam is a SOLO artist, Joe is a SOLO artist, Mike will always be that EX-BASS PLAYER from Van Halen and Chad? Well he’s ok, he’s a nutter, I kind of like him, he’s a drummer!!! Besides everybody loves drummers!!! Love ya Big Al!!!!

“mikey” will never be part of van halen again period. And towards the end of the tour, it has become quite obvious and evident that Wolf is as good and probably better than “mikey”. And “mikey” has no upside whatsoever. He is average on his best day.

Keep it civil? garysamuelroth, have you been paying attention at this site? I’ve been called a few nasty things (some of which were deleted by the mod) because of my defense of Ed.
The Ed bashers love to slam Ed for everything from “how he treated Mike” to not recording new music, to having ten albums worth of music, but they never find any fault with Sammy or Mike. Most of the “Ed apologists” on this site still seem to agree that he is not faultless in the VH soap opera, but the chikenfoot lovers think Sammy and Mike are the second coming of Jesus and mother teresa. It is the fault of everyone! Sam and Mike seem to rehash the old issues much more often than Ed does, but Ed is the one who gets bashed for it. Yes Ed hasn’t released any new music, but for several years, until he recently sobered up, he was in a bad place where recording new music to keep “the fans” happy was probably not a priority. deerslayer5150 is the only one here who understands what alcoholism does to people – I know too because my wife’s whole family are alcoholics, and even when they have stayed sober they can be hard to get along with. In my eyes, Ed has somewhat of an excuse – maybe Sammy should stop drinking the tequila and smoking weed, and then maybe he could get along with Ed,

for those of you who say mike had a free ride in van halen i beg of you to tell me what alex did to make him so much more important?now wolfie is enjoying the free ride with him.

RedArrow.

DLR is freaken’ fantastic. LIVE he was PHENOMINAL in 2007. The man has SO much entertainment energy built up inside him, you can’t but enjoy the sincerity of his excitement to entertain you. Despite all those who have even hinted at his voice being on the down-turn, Dave is in TOP FORM.

Dave will kick ass on the next record he puts out…

With Van Halen…

(Or Solo.)

The one thing I learned from “Me Wise Magic” was that Dave is best with Van Halen.

And I think he realizes the full extent of being away from that band has on his success.

The man is AFU! (That’s All Fired Up to you who hate Sammy and never, ever listened to OU182 (nope! never!))

The Sammy Bashers say that Sammy was only good in Van Halen.
I don’t buy that…

But Dave and Eddie and Alex and… sigh… Wolfie are going to charge this band up again.

VH will rise again…

And Top Dave will cook, Top Dave will swing. He’ll have the look, Top Dave, he’ll be king.

(PS- Never BASH DLR… he’s sacred ground.)

Frank (Mike & Sam used the fans against Eddie!!)
you are kidding right ??? LOL

Frank be careful what you say this is beginning to sound a lot like the hype that was Chinese Democracy !

Ha Ha Ha Ha….we will see what happens when the ” New Music” comes out…EVERYONE is speculating right now because…#1 . Ed says he writes all the music-he tells Alex exactlty what beats to play i suppose , and he must tell whatever bass player exactly what notes to hit and which way to attack the strings and so on…#2 . Every band-Regardless of who is singing , playing bass or drumming or strumming sounds different with changes of the line up.I dont know if Ed truly wrote all the music for the first 6 albums ( I seruously doubt it ) but even if he did it wont matter because chemistry is chemistry and no man is an island and your friends are your friends no matter what. We will see.

mike is the most overrated musician in rock history. He was simply in the right place at the right time. I’d put take Todd Jenson over him in a second.

Vanicionado.

Yes I will admit DLR sounded good on the last reunion tour. After being away for so long, I think the rest did his vocals well. I cannot say the same thing if and when they tour the next time around. The next tour will be longer and will have to go across the pond…let’s see how the voice handles that type of touring.

“The man has SO much entertainment energy built up inside him, you can’t but enjoy the sincerity of his excitement to entertain you.”

I guess you didn’t really understand my point. Eddie has a vice on DLR in being DLR. Dave did no press interviews during the tour and where was he with the fans if he wasn’t on stage? Eddie cannot stand DLR clowning around and using his persona outside the arena. As much as I can’t stand Roth’s antics, I did miss this aspect on the last tour.

“The one thing I learned from “Me Wise Magic” was that Dave is best with Van Halen.

And I think he realizes the full extent of being away from that band has on his success.”

Two songs in over 10+ years doesn’t mean the next will be any better. Again how much airplay did those two songs with Roth get on the radio???? When the VH Greatest Hits that song got played for a few weeks and then disappeared.

“But Dave and Eddie and Alex and… sigh… Wolfie are going to charge this band up again.”

I have only to ask…how many years has it been since Van Halen released a new album? Not getting my hopes up.

“(PS- Never BASH DLR… he’s sacred ground.)”

Sorry Mr. Jim Jones but I’ll have to pass on drinking the kool-aid.

Van Halen is more interested about the business than making music. I think they only thing they haven’t hawked yet is the Wolfgang Bass Guitar. I’m sure that’s in the works.

Actually, Ed wanted Mike out of Van Halen back in 1984ish. He actually wanted Billy Sheehan to join the group. He considered this at one time. So by Mike going out with Sammy had nothing to do with this. Also, much of Ed’s anger especially with the 2004 reunion is the sale of Cabo Wabo at the shows and the Michael Anthony Hot Sauce. Ed and all only have the VH logo and merchandise to bank on. Now Ed is more involved in marketing his name brand, products. It took him years to do more things aside from guitars and Amps. As for the drinking excuses, this is Bullshit. Ed was a drunk for YEARS! Even before Sammy joined the band. Im not putthing him down for this but its true. Being an alcoholic sucks. Its tough to deal with but he was also coked up too. I dont know where im going with this and its not to defend Mikle or Ed. I still feel that Mike should have been a part of the 2007 reunion for one more tour with the original line up. Then let him go and bring in Wolf. Some VH fans joined during the Sammy version of VH and never got to see them with Dave although they purchased the past albums, etc. Now that Dave is back they can see them with Dave, Mike is missing over stupid childish bullshit. Cant they get it right? Cant they do for the fans and not always for themselves. Also, in response to someones post about Wold being as good as Mike or better? I say the 2007 reunion 4 times and although he played the parts and sang the lines, this is a young kid who has NO PERSONALITY or SHOWMANSHIP. It is NOT ENTETAINING to watch him. These people are in SHOW BUISNESS and should be ENTERTAINING to watch. Wolf stood infront of his Mic all night and didnt move from his mark until maybe 2 or 3 times which were “part” of the show as he did the same things in all 3 shows I saw. Top of the ramp for Run w/ Devil, Play with Ed for Romeo Delight and a bit on ramp for intro to Romeo Delight. Other than that he snuc to the back to pound Red Bull. And not the small can either. I dont want to put the kid down as im sure he can play several instruments better than I but in my opinion he really doesnt belong in VH. One of the big attractions of VH aside from the music was the stage shows. They are not a typical “Metal” band. They smile and goof off and have a god time. Mike joined in with that. Interacted with fans from the stage. As for people who think Mike is the luckiest bass player in Rock, etc, I used to think that. Until I saw him more and more perform live from the front of the stage. He is all over the place. He can play v ery well but was always overshadowed by Ed. Especially in the Hagar Era albums. Early VH you hear so much more of Mike. Listen to albums like Women and Children and blast Romeo Delight especially during the solo. He is all over the place. Walks up and down the bass. I didnt hear that stuff at the reunion n 2007. Wolf just oplayed the root and 16th notes. just kept the bottom going. Earluy VH especially songs where there were no rythem guitar tracks and Ed played live, you hear how strong a player Mike is.

Anyway, bottom line for me, I am a Van Halen fan. I like them with Dave and like them with Sam. Was not the biggest fan of VH3 with Gary, but I bought the album and went to0 the concert. I will continue to do so with whoever is singing or playing as I am a Van Halen FAN.

“All these naysayers will perish when the new VH album is unleashed” -Frank

Guess that means we’ll live forever!!

Of course we’ll live forever Scottso!!

For us fans to survive those ‘Dark Ages in Rock n Roll’ (Sam being in Van Halen!!), we true fans of Van Halen and Rock n Roll are a resilient and tough lot!! We’re immortals like our King Edward!! Eddie’s one tough Dutch genius!!

For the ‘out of this world’ highs and ‘death row’ low’s he’s experienced in his life, I too had my doubts when King Edward had his cancer/booze health problems and then that unnecessary and horrible VH/Hagar reunion tour!!! That tour was Eddie on ‘Death Row’. He was knocking on deaths door on that tour!! I thank god everyday that Sam is OUT of Van Halen for good and that new brother Diamond Dave is BACK!!!

VAN HALEN IS BACK!!!!!!!!!
So eat that all you Chickenfoot muppets!!!

Wow…if anyone thinks that Mikey sounds anything less than classy and RESTRAINED in his comments then you must have had your mind made up before you actually listened to the man.

Even the hosts say at the end after the interview that they’ve interviewed Ed and Mike before and that after having heard both there’s no doubt where all the drama and ill will comes from.

Believe what you want, because it’s pretty inconsequential at the end of the day, but wow…Mikey? Come on…he’s always been the good guy and he probably always will be.

To the “Other Pete” that said that Sammy is “masterful” at media: well, I love the guy, but wow…he says some pretty poorly thought-out things to the media, so I’m not sure if I’d call him masterful at that! (Remember comparing his new band to Zep? Not smart…but what the hell…)

I think what you meant to say is that people take to his vibe more than Ed’s. That I would agree with. Ed has just been such a bitter, negative, guy since Balance. Dave fans (myself included) would probably say it started in 1985. He just can’t help himself. As he gets older he gets angrier.

Thank god for Chickenfoot…it’s great to have some MUSIC to talk about!

Interesting, Ed only discussed a timeframe for a new VH album when asked about Chickenfoot. Given that he’s released 3 new songs in 5 years (not counting his porno career) the new record should materialize in 15 1/2 years.

Sad. And hey, if Ed released a song for every PRODUCT he’s released over the past 5 years you’d have an album and then some.

Sad…thank god for CHICKENFOOT!