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Michael Anthony On Van Halen Reunion Tour: 'The Plug Got Pulled'
Michael Anthony caught fans up with the seemingly unending drama surrounding a Van Halen reunion featuring the band's classic lineup. Blabbermouth reported during a chat on Eddie Trunk's Trunk Nation radio show, Anthony revealed that a Van Halen reunion was set to begin right about now: "The reason the Circle is taking a break right now is that if things would have worked out as they were starting to go and was planned, we would have been in pre-production rehearsals with Van Halen right now."
Prior to the band's ill-fated 2004 reunion tour with Sammy Hagar, Eddie and Alex Van Halen demanded Anthony take a pay cut and sign away his rights in the Van Halen partnership before he was allowed to participate. Anthony went on to explain, "I'm sure you know Sammy had made a statement (earlier in the year) saying I was offered (to do a tour with Van Halen). And I can tell you, I spoke with (the band's manager) Irving Azoff last October — that's when I first heard from him — and he asked if I would be interested in any kind of a reunion, and I told him, I said, 'Yeah.' I was finishing up a couple of shows with Sammy and I said, 'Yeah, I'd be interested to hear what you guys have going on. I've got these few dates left, and give me a call.' And I never heard a call back."
Anthony went on to recall: "And then, right after the first of the year, Dave's business manager or lawyer, or something, got a hold of me about a meeting or something. And so at that point, I gave it over to our manager, because I didn't wanna start getting in this whole thing — I wanted to do it the correct way, especially after the way things went for me in 2004."
Michael Anthony remains confused as to how things ended up going cold before they even got started: "From what I've heard, and I haven't spoken to any of the guys, they were gonna try to plan a thing for this summer. And for whatever reason. . . I was never. . . My people were never. . . They never got in touch with us about any kind of a contract or any kind of a meeting to discuss or whatever. And the next thing I knew, the plug got pulled on it."
A while back, drummer Alex Van Halen shed light on Michael Anthony becoming the fourth and final member of the classic Van Halen lineup back in 1974: "The way we met was, we were playing the same bill — playing a high school auditorium. And our P.A. had broken down and Mike just let us use his. And we befriended him and he came around — and before you know it, he was in the band. In the beginning, that's when you really. . . it's the friendship and the camaraderie and the love for music that makes it happen. But, yeah, it was Mike's vibe that was the. . . first got us going."
https://inews.pulseofradio.com/AudioUpload/audio/MP3/2017/06_jun/Alex_Van_Halen_On_Michael_Anthony_Joining_Van_Halen.mp3
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