Sammy Hagar on Michael Anthony: "He Never Played Like This in Van Halen"
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For all the positive reviews of Van Halen's new album, A Different Kind of Truth, there has always remained a steady drone of a naysayers claiming that the band is just not the same without bassist Michael Anthony.
While Anthony himself has remained mostly quiet on the issue, his longtime bandmate Sammy Hagar has been quite outspoken in his defense.
In a new interview with Goldmine magazine, Hagar was asked about the difference in singing with Anthony in Van Halen and Chickenfoot, and Sammy used the opportunity to once again sing the bassist's praises.
"Singing with him, he’s the only guy that I know that could just go above [me]," he said. "I don’t care if I’m at the peak of my range; he can get up above me, just squeeze his nuts and get on up there – and right on key, he can mimic my phrasing."
he continued, "He’s just … he’s so fast. That’s the thing that people don’t understand about Mike. He learns faster than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen … guys come up with riffs, and come on, I can’t fucking play them. I’m sitting here with an acoustic guitar around the house still trying to learn these riffs on this record, and I ain’t got ‘em down yet … And he’s playing his ass off in this band. He never played like this in Van Halen. Eddie [Van Halen] doesn’t even realize what a great bass player he had. I think he never realized it, and that is his complete loss. I remember recording in Van Halen, Eddie was always saying, “Just play eighth notes.” And he would play all this stuff, and Mike’s just going, 'boom, boom, boom, boom.' Boy, Mike’s really capable of playing more than that, and he never found out."
You can read the rest of the interview here.
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treid
February 23, 2012 at 10:27pm
Bozo is a douche!! #1 however I do agree with him that Michael Anthony is an amazing bass player and his bass talents were not exploited necessarily in Van Halen. Yet people seem to forget about his harmony work in Van Halen that is very hard to match. However Sammy's constant fucking whining about the new Van Halen is getting downright sickening! He can be mad all he wants that he got the boot from the BEST BAND he's ever played in. I understand that his band is full of talent but as a longtime metal musician who's knows how shitty it can be to have it cost u $ to live your dream and worse.(as in I mean I'm not just some VH fan rambling nonsense i know my shit)I'm sorry but with all that talent in Chickenfoot it should be great right.....and I'm sad to say it is horrible. The songs are cheesy and I respect Satch but even he's not coming close to what he's capable of. In short the new VH fucking rules no matter how much bitching he does but then will say "no I think the albums gonna be great." And whether or not you like EVH his impact on the very instruments that most of u have in your hands possibly right know. The electric guitar and amplifiers would have been behind the times without him doing what NO ONE prior to him ever did. And his playing and phrasing and downright trashiness influenced more than ever. His golden god tone and flair are still sought today. In conclusion the new VH may be old demos or a David Lee Roth song but who fucking cares, to most VH fans any new music from The Van Halen not Van Haggar will appreciate shit they never heard and guess what,it's with Diamond Dave!! So Sammy quit finding excuses not to like it. P.S. And for the record go look up what was on the radio in 1978 when Van Halen 1 came out and try go find anything in that time who sounded like that. And or the countless hair metals that were doing their best so get that VH sound and none succeeded sorry but it hard to deny.
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jhs5150
February 25, 2012 at 3:44pm
More whining from the jealous ex-wife. STFU Sammy. Anthony is a good bass player and sings great harmonies but he is not the reason people went to see VH or bought their records. They are doing just fine without him. Listen to the VH songs on Youtube. The harmonies are there. It wasn't just Anthony - Eddie was part of that too and Wolfie doesn't sound bad either. Only 4 of the 13 tracks were reworks and I think they sound damn good. Consider them bonus tracks. CF puts out bonus tracks on their CDs. What's the difference?
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57 Stratman
February 23, 2012 at 8:54pm
Sure Eddie never knew what he had with Mike Anthony as bassist, but then it was always about Eddie VanHalen anyway...everybody else was replaceable, including Alex VanHalen, if he ever crossed Eddie.
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krshnakrunch
February 23, 2012 at 12:51am
Give the Van Halen stuff a break, Spammy. You're coming across like a creepy ex stalking a former lover who moved on a long time ago.
FWIW, Anthony's days were numbered the day Wolfgang was born. It was always Eddie's dream to have his kid in his band (emphasis on HIS band) and bass was the most logical spot for Wolfgang to fill.














