Today on his Facebook page, Michael Anthony addressed rumors that he might be back in Van Halen:
I want to clarify some confusion surrounding a recent picture from a video shoot for my new Schecter Signature Bass that will be debuting at NAMM next week. Apparently, because a road case with the name “Van Halen” on it is in the photo (which was taken by someone off to the side of the shoot), there is speculation of me having involvement with the band. This is not true. The shoot took place in my warehouse and this is just one of the many road cases I still own from the VH days that happened to be there. As a matter of fact, The Circle will be performing at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, NM next week. I hope to see you all out there!
The photo he is referring to is below. Fans should not have read too much into the Van Halen road case, as Michael has always used road cases left over from his decades in Van Halen.
Whenever Van Halen is in periods of inactivity (their tour concluded with two shows at the Hollywood Bowl in October) various rumors always pop up. This will probably always be the case — whenever the band is silent, you can count on rumors. Since the tour, some fans have wondered if the band is playing musical chairs again, and might be reforming with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony. This rumor was mostly started by a tweet from Eddie Trunk, who said there are “rumors” that the band has been talking to Sammy Hagar. Trunk was only correct in that there are always “rumors.” He didn’t know that the rumors were false.
In the 20 years that the Van Halen News Desk has existed, we’ve noticed that fans often apply a deeper meaning in otherwise inconsequential things, leading them to misinterpret those inconsequential things as “clues” about what Van Halen might be planning behind the scenes. ln reality, most “clues” over the years have been nothing of the sort.
The most recent example of this, besides Michael’s “Van Halen” road case, is the new issue of GW, which features an Edward Van Halen cover story. The magazine’s cover design added the “rings” from the Sammy Hagar era VH logo around Eddie’s name on the cover, leading some fans to think this was a sign that the “Van Hagar” era of VH could be reforming.
Another recent example is when we released a few Van Halen instrumentals recently. The first two we happened to feature were from the Sammy Era, so naturally, some people thought that meant Sammy was coming back.
Yet another example of fans jumping to “Van Hagar is back!” conclusions, was when we featured the article ‘Van Hagar’ Guitar Solos Get Their ‘Judgement Day,’ which was nothing more than an article examining the guitar solos from the Sammy era of the band.
Likewise, the recent news that Eddie Van Halen’s 5150 Steinberger has been restored doesn’t necessarily mean that Eddie wanted it restored just so he could play “Summer Nights” alongside Sammy in concert.
Why all the rumors about Sammy and Michael? Probably one thing that gave some legs to the rumors that Sammy might be coming back was when a photo appeared online of just Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang. But that photo was not a band photo. It was a client photo of High Profile Media’s. They have always represented Ed, Al, and Wolf, and have never represented any other Van Halen current or former members.
And of course David Lee Roth recently got together with, and almost jammed with, his old ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile’ bandmates. But that doesn’t mean he’s left Van Halen.
So just keep all this in mind the next time you are tempted to squeeze out a deeper meaning behind the next recent photo you see, or the next bit of news you hear.
As for what Sammy and Michael are doing now, we know that they have more upcoming shows than what they’ve announced. The Albuquerque show is their first show of 2016, but they have other shows are in the works, as well.
As for Van Halen, they just toured, and are taking a break. (And they were voted “Best Live Act” of 2015 in Guitar World’s Reader’s Poll)! It’s very likely that the next thing we’ll hear from a Van Halen will be Wolfgang Van Halen’s solo project, which will probably be released sometime this year.
