The classic Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony recalled in an interview with Ultimate Guitar that when David Lee Roth released his first album “Eat ‘Em and Smile”, he felt like he was trying to put a band together to “kick” Van Halen‘s ass. Because he had put together some of the greatest players in the business: Gregg Bissonette (Drums), Steve Vai (Guitar) and Billy Sheehan (Bass).
Anthony also said that although he doesn’t recall if he heard the entire album at some point in his life, he said that it was a great one and that he like it.
Michael Anthony says he liked the first David Lee Roth solo album
“Yeah. I mean, I haven’t heard it in a long time. And I actually don’t even know if I’ve heard the whole album ever in its entirety. That’s a great album. I mean, I’m friends with Billy (Sheehan). And Steve (Vai). Obviously, they’re both great frickin’ players. It was great.”
“At first, my thoughts were, ‘Is Dave just trying to put together a band to try to kick our ass? To try to put together the best players that he could get?’ Because obviously, between Greg (Bissonette) and Steve and Billy, shit right there, you got some great musicianship.”
He continued:
“But I thought it was good. The playing was great on that album. Those guys are all great. And on top of that, it was just Dave being Dave,” Michael Anthony said.
Since the early 00s, Michael Anthony has been playing with the ex-Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar on his solo career and other projects, like the supergroup Chickenfoot.
David Lee Roth is not touring but he keeps releasing songs. He was the vocalist of Van Halen from 1974 to 1985, returning in 1996 and from 2007 to 2020 when the band officially came to an end with Eddie Van Halen’s passing at the age of 65.