Michael Anthony says he and Eddie Van Halen never reconciled

Bassist Michael Anthony was a member of Van Halen from 1974 to 2006, but he wasn’t invited back for the reunion of the original lineup. He was replaced by Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. Tensions existed between Anthony and the Van Halen brothers, and the situation was further aggravated by the fact that he was working and touring with Sammy Hagar, with whom they also had a strained relationship.

In an interview with Get On The Bus (Transcribed by Blabbermouth) the musician said that he unfortunately didn’t have opportunity to reconcile with Eddie before his death in 2020 at the age of 65.

Michael Anthony says he and Eddie Van Halen never reconciled

“The only regret that I have is how things, unfortunately, turned out for Van Halen. It’s a culmination of everything that happened or whatever, because when Van Halen was really firing on all 12 cylinders, we’re living the dream, it’s the fairy tale or whatever, and the first time it ended when Roth left the band, luckily Sammy joined the band and it was like a rebirth. And, obviously, the band was even bigger at that point or whatever.

“But the only regret I have is the way it all ended. It should have gone out with a fricking bang that shook the world, and it was more like a whimper, the way everything ended. Unfortunately Eddie and I never (made amends). We had some issues, and I’m sure that if he had not passed when he did that we would’ve reconciled or we would’ve really calmed all that stuff down, because I did hear.”

“I’ve talked to Wolfgang about it, that they were planning on coming to all of us and putting together a big reunion tour with all of us,” Anthony added. “And at that point in Ed’s life, I think he was a little bit more, like, ‘Hey, the past is the past. Let’s all… Fricking water under the bridge,’ that whole bit. But, unfortunately, it was not to be,” Michael Anthony said.

During the past decades Michael Anthony worked extensively with Sammy Hagar on his solo career and in supergroups like Chickenfoot and The Circle.