Rock icon Eddie Van Halen is baffled by former band mate Michael Anthony's allegation he was fired from Van Halen - insisting the bassist left of his own accord.

Anthony claims he found out on the internet that he had been excluded from the band's 2007 reunion and replaced by Van Halen's own teenage son Wolfgang. But Van Halen insists Anthony jumped long before Wolfgang was hired.

He tells MetalHammer.co.uk, "The funny thing is that everyone who quits the band always claims they got fired by me. Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. When (Sammy) Hagar left the band, Mike (Michael Anthony) went with him. Then we get back together with Dave (Lee Roth) and all of a sudden he wants back in. Its like, 'No, dude, you quit the band.' So my son became the bass player. But we didn't give Mike the boot to have my son play. He was around. We didn't have a bass player. 'Hey Wolfie, you want to play?'"

Anthony has since teamed up with Hagar to form new band Chickenfoot.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/06/02/eddie_van_halen_slams_ex_bassist_over_fi

The soap opera continues!!

Even though I will always love the music, I'm just not sure what to think of these guys as people anymore. I actually heard an interview with Eddie on the radio last year where he said that there was never any bad feelings between the band and David Lee Roth! He said it was something that the media created! :eek: I can't believe that Eddie expects anyone to even buy into this. I've seen interviews with Eddie from the late 80's where he is just going off on Dave. What does he want us to believe, that person wasn't really him, just someone created by the media to look like him?

You know what I would really like to hear from Eddie? New music! It has been 11 years since their last album of all new meterial. Are we going to have to wait another 11 years? This band always has some reason not to be turning out new music. The most recent excuse was that they were waiting for Wolfgang to graduate from high school. When Wolfie does graduate, what will be thier excuse then? That Wolfie's going to college and that they have to wait for him to graduate from that before they can make new music!

I have to admit I lost interest in Van Halen when David Lee Roth left.

It's a shame things ended so poorly for this band.

It's a shame things ended so poorly for this band.
:yeahthat

I have to admit I lost interest in Van Halen when David Lee Roth left.





Same here.

It's very strange. I have a feeling Michael Anthony didn't just get up and leave Van Halen to join Sammy Hagar's band, as Eddie contends. I imagine communication was so poor within the band that either Eddie Van Halen didn't know what was going on, or he conveniently found an excuse for replacing him when Anthony made some sort of comment like "I'm outta here."

As much as Eddie Van Halen is one of the biggest guitar geniuses of all time, he seems incredibly dysfunctional and has major issues going on in his life. When was the last time he and Van Halen recorded anything? :confused: And how good is Wolfgang on bass? Michael Anthony has been with Van Halen since the mid-70's, and this youngster is a handy replacement?

^ I couldn't have said it better myself. I've heard several times that the band (with Wolfie) are writing new material, but that's it. As for Michael Anthony, he'll always land on his feet. If he didn't hook up with Sammy's band, I'm sure he would've landed another gig in a heartbeat. He is not only one of rock's best bassists but he is a fine vocalist as well. Too bad Eddie has too big an ego to recognize this. ohno: