MICHAEL ANTHONY Confirms He Was Approached By VAN HALEN About Reunion

April 9, 2019

Michael Anthony has confirmed that he was approached by VAN HALEN about a possible reunion with the group. "I was actually contacted by their management last October, to see if I would be interested in something," VAN HALEN's former bassist said during an appearance this morning on "The Howard Stern Show". "And that's basically as far as it went. I think they were trying to put something together on their end, management was, and something broke down on their end and the plug got pulled."

Anthony — who spent much of the last few years on the road with SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE — added that he would be interested in reuniting with his former bandmates "if it was done the correct way. You know — four guys up there just doing their thing," he said.

Anthony's THE CIRCLE bandmate Sammy Hagar — himself a former VH member — was the first to publicly confirm that Michael was contacted last year by VAN HALEN's management about reuniting with the group for a tour.

A recent rumor has suggested that the original VAN HALEN lineup — including the bassist, who has not played with the band since 2004 — will reunite in 2019 for a run of stadium shows. This would be the first time that the four founding members of the band, including singer David Lee Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen, perform together since 1984.

The rumors originally started with Roth, who hinted to Vulture that VAN HALEN would be playing stadiums this summer with Anthony back in the lineup.

VAN HALEN and Anthony have not been on good terms for more than a decade, with Anthony not invited to join the reunion with Roth that began in 2007. The subsequent two tours and studio album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", featured Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang on bass.

Anthony took a pay cut and signed away all of his rights to the band name and logo in order to participate in VAN HALEN's 2004 tour, which featured Hagar.

SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE's debut album of original material, "Space Between", will be released on May 10 through BMG.

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