MICHAEL ANTHONY Has No Plans To Go After VAN HALEN For Songwriting Credit On Reworked Old Songs

Former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony says he's looking forward to hearing the band's new album because it includes material that he recorded with the group before they got signed in the 1970s.

Speaking to the U.K. digital radio station Planet Rock, Anthony said, "They [the current lineup of VAN HALEN] played a show in New York the other week. There was [a] song they played called 'She's The Woman', which is actually a song that was, basically, written before I even joined VAN HALEN."

During the same interview, Anthony said he has no plans to go after his former bandmates for songwriting credit on the reworked compositions on the new VAN HALEN album, "A Different Kind of Truth", despite their former policy of crediting all members equally. "I don't want to do anything," he said. "I just let it be." He added, "And, hey, it'll be nice to hear some of those old songs again that I haven't played in a long time."

Audio clip of Michael Anthony talking to Planet Rock about the new VAN HALEN album:

VAN HALEN lead singer David Lee Roth spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the making of "A Different Kind Of Truth". In a new interview, Roth admitted that the band has gone back into its archives to find previously unreleased material upon which to build the record. He explained, "It's material that Eddie [Van Halen, guitar] and I generated, literally, in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Usually fellas in our weight division will kind of gamely — or ironically, wink, wink — try to hail back to it (but) keep a safe, mature distance from it."

"A Different Kind Of Truth" is due out February 7 and is Roth's first album with the band in 28 years.

On the current condition of Eddie, who has been in and out of rehab over the years, lost a third of his tongue to cancer and had a hip replacement, Roth said, "He's doing really well. He's lucid, he's sober, he's playing. You know, I don't know if Ed has ever felt good. There's a thin line between rage and great work. He really never enjoyed his fame or success, and that might be part of what compels him."

Roth also commented on the band members' turbulent past history, saying, "We accused each other of betrayal and thievery and lies and treachery, and it was all true. We were all guilty. Dig up the past, and it's going to get all over everybody. And, man, do we have a past..."

VAN HALEN will begin a North American tour on February 18 in Louisville, Kentucky.