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.”

15 Responses

  1. Dave actually wanted Mike in the band towards the end. I get the feeling Wolf started having more say in the band as the tours went along and this must have gotten on Dave’s nerves

  4. Don’t get me wrong, I love Michael Anthony, but I feel like he kisses Sammy’s ass whenever he can. And sometimes I feel like Sammy does things for Mike just because he feels bad for him…is it just me??

    And really? He never listened to that whole album in its entirety? I don’t believe that one bit. I am glad he didn’t bad mouth that album, cause even though I am a Sammy fan over Dave, Eat ‘Em and Smile is a great fun album, and yes Dave got the best musicians he could for that band. Skyscrapers is great also, even though there is too much synthesizers…too bad that original band couldn’t stay together for longer, we may be talking differently about Dave today if that was the case.

    1. While I believe Mike & Sammy are truly friends. I, too, have gotten that same vibe when it comes to talking about how VH treated him and then Sammy seems to be compensate.

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