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Michael Anthony Reveals He Hadn’t Had a Chance to Reconcile With Eddie Van Halen
Though it was revealed shortly after Eddie Van Halen's death that longtime frontman Sammy Hagar had reconnected with the guitarist before his passing, the same can't be said for bassist Michael Anthony.
Speaking with Talkin' Rock With Meltdown, Anthony revealed, “We actually hadn’t spoken, and unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to. And, you know, it kind of bothers me, because we had some issues that were never resolved. But, I mean, what can you do?"
The bassist revealed that he was aware of the reunion discussions for a tour, but never had a chance to speak with the guitarist. “We were on track [for] a reunion, which I’m really sad that it never happened. But, you know, life and the show goes on,” said Anthony.
Anthony joined the group in 1974 and remained the band's bassist through their most prolific years before exiting in 2006. Wolfgang Van Halen took over on bass as the group also reunited with David Lee Roth. Meanwhile Anthony reconnected with Hagar in several different projects including Chickenfoot and The Circle.
At one point, there was a brief period in 2007 where Anthony was removed from the artwork for several albums on the band's website. But as was recently revealed, the move had not been made by or had the approval of the band.
"That was some dumbass on the website that did that dumb photoshop shit," Wolfgang Van Halen clarified in a Jan. 5 response to a question on Twitter. "Not a band decision. We were never cool with that. It was ridiculous. Which is why when we found out about it, it was undone immediately."
During an appearance on the Howard Stern Show shortly after Van Halen's death, Wolfgang Van Halen revealed that a "kitchen sink" tour had been discussed that would have brought back Anthony along with Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth and there had even been talk of bringing back the band's third vocalist Gary Cherone.
Eddie Van Halen passed away on Oct. 6 at the age of 65 after a battle with throat cancer.
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