BASSIST MICHAEL ANTHONY’S FIRST THOUGHTS, ON HEARING DAVID LEE ROTH’S “EAT ‘EM SMILE” BAND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, “IS [HE] JUST TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER A BAND TO TRY TO KICK [VAN HALEN’S] ASS?”

Greg Prato for Ultimate Guitar spoke with bassist Michael Anthony. The Q&A, appears in its entirety, below.

Ultimate Guitar: How would you compare working with David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, what are the main differences in terms of the creative process and playing live?

Michael Anthony: Well, Dave, he read books, magazines, everything under the sun. So, as far as lyrics and stuff like that, Dave, that’s all he was really about.

When Sammy joined the band, Sammy being a guitar player, his knowledge of chord structure and stuff like that brought a different element to Van Halen. Because where Dave focused mainly on his lyrics and trying to do a melody for that, Sammy would be like, ‘Well, what if we try this chord or try this progression?’ So, it was a different experience between the two.”

As far as singing goes, Sammy sings how he sings, Dave sings how he sings. But I really enjoyed how Sammy brought that other musical element to the band.

Ultimate Guitar: Did you ever get the opportunity to hear Dave‘s Eat ‘Em and Smile album, and if so, what did you think of it?

Michael Anthony: Yeah. I mean, I haven’t heard it in a long time. And I actually don’t even know if I’ve heard the whole album ever in its entirety. That’s a great album. I mean, I’m friends with Billy [Sheehan]. And Steve [Vai]. Obviously, they’re both great frickin’ players. It was great.

At first, my thoughts were, ‘Is Dave just trying to put together a band to try to kick our ass? To try to put together the best players that he could get?’ Because obviously, between Greg [Bissonette] and Steve and Billy, shit right there, you got some great musicianship.

But I thought it was good. The playing was great on that album. Those guys are all great. And on top of that, it was just Dave being Dave.”