Michael Anthony has opened up about his relationship with former Van Halen bandmate David Lee Roth. While the bassist insists he has nothing against the singer, he describes the frontman as “kind of a crazy guy.”
In July, Anthony will head out on the “Best of All Worlds” tour alongside Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, and Jason Bonham. The all-star outfit will be performing Van Halen songs from all eras of the band on the North American outing.
A couple years ago, a different tour honoring the late Eddie Van Halen was being planned that would have seen Anthony and Satriani playing alongside Roth and Alex Van Halen, with ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted also reported to be involved. That outing never materialized, and Anthony reveals he hasn’t spoken with Roth since.
In a Q&A at the Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp last month in a video just posted on YouTube (transcribed by Blabbermouth), Anthony discussed the planned tribute tour, as well as his current relationship with Roth.
“I haven’t spoken with Dave in quite some time,” said Anthony. “The last time I actually spoke with him was when [there was talk] about a possible reunion thing. It’s really crazy because I hadn’t heard anything about Jason Newsted coming into the fold. And I got a call from Alex and Dave from [manager] Irving Azoff’s office some years back asking about my thoughts on doing a reunion, a tour. And Joe Satriani was gonna be the guitar player. And that was probably the last time I talked to Dave. That was — God, I don’t know — about a few years ago now. I forget — something like that.”