Billy Sheehan recalls he played with all Van Halen members from all eras

Bassist Billy Sheehan, known for Mr. Big and David Lee Roth‘s band, recalled in an interview with Breaking Absolutes (Via UG) that he had the chance to play with every member of Van Halen from all eras for the band.

Billy Sheehan recalls he played with all Van Halen members from all eras:

“He came in with Eddie Trunk in front of the whole camp. He was doing interviews, and Sammy was one of the guys in my band that I’m counseling. Raises his hand, I didn’t know he’s gonna do this, he goes to Sammy, ‘Sammy, why don’t you get the Billy Sheehan up here to play?'”

“So Sammy goes, ‘Yeah, sure, come on.’ Holy cow, bucket list! And we get up, he goes, ‘Well, what Montrose songs do you know?’ And I go, ‘All of them.’ We did ‘Space Station #5’ and it was how amazing, I loved that first Montrose record so much.”

He continued:

“So at that point, I would actually become the only guy who ever played with every member of Van Halen. I’ve played with Mike [Anthony], Al [Van Halen], and Ed, played with Dave [Lee Roth], played with Gary Cherone, played with Sammy…”

“Then Wolfie, I didn’t actually play music with but one time on a flight home from benefit show I did along with Van Halen, he picked up his son on the way and he wanted to sleep on a flight home, so I played with his son.”

“I got some paper and we were doing number games, and drawing animals, and things like that. Ed was sleeping, he wakes up, looking over and he goes, ‘Yeah, you’d make a good father.’ ‘Ed, go back to sleep, we’re good.’ So technically, I played with Wolfie. So now I played with every member, I’m very honored.”

Van Halen

From 1974 to 1985 the famous Hard Rock band had vocalist David Lee Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony. They released Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982) and 1984 (1984). After Lee Roth left, the group invited Sammy Hagar to be the singer and released with him the also successful albums 5150 (1986), OU812 (1988), For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991) and Balance (1995).

After Hagar left the band in the 90’s they tried Gary Cherone (Extreme) and recorded the album Van Halen III (1998). The group’s final album was with “A Different Kind of Truth” (2012) with David Lee Roth returning and Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen playing the bass.