Michael Anthony’s Got No Beef With Wolf For Taking His Place In Van Halen: ‘I Feel He Probably Wasn’t Excited About Being in The Band’

“That’s why in his band, he doesn’t play any Van Halen.”

Michael Anthony said he’s got no issues with Wolfgang Van Halen for taking his place in the legendary band, suggesting that Eddie Van Halen’s son “probably wasn’t excited” about being in Van Halen.Following nearly a decade of recurring but unsubstantiated rumors about Michael Anthony’s firing from the band, Michael Anthony’s time with Van Halen would officially be terminated in 2006, when Eddie Van Halen announced he would be replacing his longtime bandmate with his then-teenage son Wolfgang; a decision some fans thought of as controversial at the time.The following years never saw Van Halen reunite with Anthony, who kept working with Sammy Hagar on various projects. As it turns out, the bassist never got to iron out any of the lingering issues with Edward before the guitar hero’s untimely death in October of 2020, Anthony tells Sally Steele in a new interview.

However, the bassist notes how he eventually got a sense of closure after attending a Mammoth WVH performance at the House of Blues in Las Vegas (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“No, unfortunately, Eddie and I never had a chance to really settle any differences that we had in the past or whatever. But at the end of 2023 here, Wolfgang, he played the House Of Blues out here, and I went to the show as his guest.”

“And we talked, we sat and talked, and there was a lot of closure for me there. Valerie [Bertinelli, Wolfgang’s mother and Eddie’s ex-wife] was there. So it was a great night. Besides the fact that Wolf is a great guy, great musician, his band kicks ass. But, yeah. So at least we were able to do that.”

According to Anthony, he never had anny issues with Wolfgang, with whom he has “always been friends”. Explaining why he wouldn’t begrudge anyone for losing his position in Van Halen to Wolf, he added:

“Eddie, he wanted to play with his son. The way I kind of feel is that Wolfgang probably wasn’t excited, really, about being in Van Halen. That’s why in his band, he doesn’t play any Van Halen, ’cause he wants to carve out his own niche. But just to be able to get up and play with his father, I can totally understand that. But no, I love Wolfie, man. I hadn’t seen him in, like, 20 years. I went to the show, it was great. We had a great time, great hangout.”

Similarly, Anthony says he saw no indications that Edward had been “grooming” his son to become the next Van Halen bassist:

“No, no. I didn’t see him grooming him for my job. ‘Cause [Wolfgang] played drums. That was his first instrument that he played. And he knew a couple of chords on guitar ’cause in 2004 when we did the Van Halen reunion tour, Wolfie came out and actually strummed a couple of chords with [Eddie] at some of the shows. But being Eddie Van Halen’s kid, you’re gonna be a multi-instrumental person anyway.”