Michael Anthony recently shared his thoughts on his former Van Halen bandmate Alex Van Halen’s announced new album project. He offered his perspective on the direction it should take in a statement to Audacy. The project features Alex on drums, Eddie on guitar, and Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. The only element still missing is a lead vocalist.
The bassist expressed his views on whether a new singer should be brought in for Alex Van Halen’s upcoming record featuring Toto’s Steve Lukather.
“The way I personally feel about it is, if they wanted to do it justice, the best idea would be to just finish it up as a great instrumental nod to Eddie Van Halen. You know, because getting a new singer in there, we’re not forming a new band, and then you’ve got to work on lyrics and all that stuff.”
Anthony continued his reasoning about the practical challenges of involving a vocalist. He added:
“And who knows when anything would be put out at that point.”
In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, Michael Anthony was asked if he felt, during the Sammy Hagar era of the band, that it was the Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex versus him and Sammy at one point in terms of the dynamics of their personal relationships.
“Even from the beginning of Van Halen, it was always the brothers [standing firmly as one]. ‘Cause Eddie and Al had this bond that [was] unlike any bond I had ever seen brothers have — musically and also as human beings. And so people naturally say it’s the brothers and everybody else. But they always supported one another in anything that they did. And so, you know what?! Thinking about it, I guess it was the brothers and everybody else.”
Anthony continued: “The biggest thing with when the band one was together with Sammy is Eddie and Alex both smoked a lot, and Sammy and I didn’t smoke. So everything was — it was smoking or non-smoking. It came down to what buses you rode on or the dressing rooms. There was always the smoking and the non-smoking.”
