VAN HALEN NEWS DESK

Gasman talks to Michael Anthony

June 8, 2010 25 Comments

Michael Anthony: 'It Is An Unusual Mix Of Characters That Make Up This Band' From 102.9 The Hog:

Gasman talks with bassist Michael Anthony of Chickenfoot about their new DVD and how they have been working on new material. Click below to play the MP3s.

Part 1
Part 2

Filed Under: Chickenfoot, Michael Anthony

jim

‘Mike is great’ comment #458,098 of 988,887,000:

Mike is a good guy and a class act.
Everybody in the world should be like him.
Rick Pride

Michael is just the greatest and coolest guy in Rock!!!
dude

Good stuff. But I think I’ll stop looking for the “BIG VH NEWS” and instead let it come find me when it’s ready.
John

I don’t know why the brothers try to squash him.
Fat Cat

@John,

If becoming a millionaire, being famous, traveling the world, doing something you love to do and being immortalized in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is being SQUASHED by the brothers?

“SIGN ME UP”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dooley

If they do include a few VH tunes on future tours, like Mike indicated, my picks would be Humans Being, Summer Nights, Poundcake. Not the sappy, cheesy stuff. No need to name those, we know which tunes they are…

Chad and Sam are animals. I guess you really can be in two bands after all. Rock on Foot !!
halenguy51

HAHA there you go good ol sammy just can’t leave VH in the past, you know it was just a matter of time before he worked VH in to his CF shows.
Herb

Yeah Halenguy…why would anyone want to play a song or two in their set, that everyone would know? DONK
D.O.A.

I thought I heard at least one of them say at one point, that they might try and work up a Chilli Peppers song as well. I like the idea…a little homage to their roots!
Ron

Herb: “Yeah Halenguy…why would anyone want to play a song or two in their set, that everyone would know?”

And that you wrote the lyrics to in most cases.

@halenguy51 Would you rather they wrote new music to back up the lyrics that Sammy wrote to those songs?

Besides, I’m guessing that a lot of the fans who come out to the concerts are hoping to hear a VH song or two.

I hope they do some early Dave era stuff, just to mix it up a little
Lupercal

@ halenguy51

Its not Sammy unable to “leave VH in the past”, but bringing VH to the people. He has always played VH with the Wabos and at solo shows, because he wrote those tunes and exercises his right as co-songwriter to play them.

Personally, I love the idea of hearing some Van Hagar tunes on the next Chickenfoot tour. I was born way too late to see Van Halen live, and living in the UK, its even harder as they don’t really seem to tour outside of the US. Chickenfoot came here for ONE show in their entire tour, I saw them, they rocked out. Sammy live was an amazing experience, and one I thought I’d never get in my life.

I would literally be okay with ANY VH tune…for 5 years I’ve thought hearing it would be impossible.

Hopefully by the time VH do another tour I’ll just buy some damned plane tickets to the US and see them. I HAVE to see Eddie before he disappears. I’ve seen Gary, Sammy and Mike in their respective bands…I have to see the King.
Mark

I have about zero desire to hear CF play VH live unless it is a deep track that was not played when they were in VH.

I don’t need to hear Why Can’t This Be Love? for the five hundredth time.
Phil

I am not interested in hearing the Foot cover Van Halen songs. They should stick to their formula, and like Hagar says – Leave the rest at home.

But since Hagar is such a businessman, I am sure he is envisioning larger venues for their 2nd tour, and probably believes they can get there with covers of VH and RHCP’s. Otherwise, Anthony would not have had been talking about that nonsense with Gasman.
Herb

Gotta give props for once: Mark, excellent thought. Someone mentioned “Humans Being.” Nice.
aaronindm

Please inject some VH songs, some Pepper songs, and a little Satch for that matter. Such a great library to pull from, and you know most would love to hear it. At least SOMEONE would be playing it live….would it be the same? Of course not, but an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 is still damn good pizza!
RA 8 1 2

Eventhough Sammy was part of VH, I dont think that the VH portion of Chickenfoot is represented by Sammy. It is represented more by Mike. I would think they would play a couple VH Tunes, would hope a dave tune, but Sammy would do a couple of his solo stuff to represent him and not his side of VH. They can do couple chili pepper songs and maybe jow can do a couple of his songs as an extended guitar solo. I dont really care. I love to go to great shows and hear great rock tunes. Chickenfoot puts on a great show and plays great rock tunes, whether its chickenfoot originals or covers. Its solid stuff.
Michael C.

With Joe playin’ the six string, they can play anything from VH. I don’t see them wasting time on songs like Why Can’t This Be Love? AFU would be nice. Cabo Wabo would be cool. How about Pleasure Dome??? Could you imagine Sammy singing Suck My Kiss from the Peppers? I just smile and shake my head thinking about that. I’d pay just to see that!
John

On a side note, has anyone seen the Ticket prices for Aerosmith/Sammy. They are outrageous.
http://none Dirty Duck

John:

Dooley mentioned that to me the other day. I heard $200 a ticket!
Aerosmith is lucky to still have fans man.
Me and two buddies of mine fight over this all the time.
They feel that aerosmith still puts on a great show…
I beg to differ. But then again, I’ve never be content being a regular joe….
John

Duck,hate to say it but Aerosmith’s downfall began when they got off drugs and booze. Somebody needs to lock them in a room with a couple cases of Jack Daniels and make them record an album. I saw them in 78 and AC/DC with Bon Scott warmed up and it was incredible. Now, I’m not so sure I would shell out 200 smackers to hear Living on the Edge, Pink, or Don’t want to Miss a Thing.
Jesse

I have an idea for the next Chickenfoot tour. They should have Sam sing their songs, then for the encore when they break into Van Halen, and Chili covers, they can do those sans Sam.

All instrumental covers without Sam ruining the songs. Folks that is a winning ticket!
Lupercal

Can’t see them playing RHCP material, for one thing RHCP are still relevant and are in the studio right now. Van Hagar is over hence people want to hear it.

I think if I heard Sammy sing RHCP songs…it would be pretty nasty. Anthony Kiedis has a great voice for his songs, but Sammy is something like 13 or more years older than him.

Personally I think Sam would ruin RHCP songs, but Van Halen and Red Hot Chili Peppers are my two favourite bands, so I’ll take what I can get.
http://none Dirty Duck

John,

I agree with you 100% brother!
It may sound horrible…lol…but at times it’s very very true. I personally think that Aerosmith should retire.
They havent released anything worth mentioning in many years, and I feel it’s always about a cash grab with them anyhow. “I dont want to miss a thing” was lame when it first came out and now years later it….just….sucks. Funny how “Stairway to heaven” was also referred to by Plant as: that damn wedding song. Ha ha…that’s how I feel about that damn aerosmith song!! It just sucks. I love a good ballad as much as the next rocker, but when your career is based on those kind of songs I tune out. Leave that shit up to Rod Stewart! But to also give respect where respect is due Aerosmith’s early albums are stellar. They sure were somethin’ back then…..

As far as sam doin’ RHCP? LOL! Oh my good lord!
Put it this way…if the guy cant do a decent cover of the Beastie Boys: fight for your right, do you really think he can pull off a pepper tune? I just dont get it…..
Dooley

The best thing Aerosmith has done recently (past 5 years) is put Seasons of Wither back into their live set. Great song, nice to hear it again. Otherwise, I agree they have slipped a notch or two. As with VH, an Aerosmith album with quality, fresh new material would be welcome. I hope it happens and will believe it when I can put it in my CD player.
Towers McQuestion

I know little of RHCP so I’ll leave those recommendations to wiser heads than mine, but if CF were to do VH songs in concert, I’d also recommend they stay away from stale songs like Why Can’t This Be Love and Dreams. Those songs were played TO DEATH in the Sammy era.

Try playing Cabo Wabo, Good Enough, Best Of Both Worlds, 5150, Top Of The World, Judgement Day (I’d love to see Satch rocking the tapping part of that solo) or even Finish What Ya Started (I think those would all be considered “deep cuts” as far as Sam was concerned. His idea of the hits is WCTBL and Dreams.).

Give Joe a solo spot. I said this last year. Let him and the power trio bust out Summer Song, Satch Boogie, Surfing With The Alien and Ice 9 (or Crowd Chant).

I did LOVE the Highway Star encore from last year though. That rocked super hard! Joe killed on that song.

McQ