Former-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony revealed that he too has been in talks about a live Van Halen reunion. Ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted recently revealed that he had been asked about testing the waters with Alex Van Halen, Joe Satriani — and presumably David Lee Roth — for a possible tribute/reunion tour — and Anthony explained he's spoken to his former bandmates and management about the same thing.
Michael Anthony appeared on The Mitch Lafon & Jeremy White Show and offered up where he stands in all of this: “(What) was kind of a surprise to me was that Jason Newsted thing. When he came out and said that Alex had talked to him, what last year or something like that? Which is kinda interesting, because I actually had been talking on a conference call with (manager) Irving Azoff, Alex, and Dave last year. So, I don't know what the Jason thing was all about — and that's with (Joe) Satriani. And, y'know, I spoke to Joe about it and it was more, y'know, just, something (that was) kicking around. Y'know, I don't know if it was just nothing more than anyone talking — but I did have some talks with Dave and Alex last year.”
Anthony went on to explain that rather than the preliminary talks leading to a full on “new” lineup of the band without the late-Eddie Van Halen, any type of project would be considered a celebration of the music.
A while back, drummer Alex Van Halen shed light on Michael Anthony becoming the fourth and final member of the classic Van Halen lineup back in 1974: “The way we met was, we were playing the same bill — playing a high school auditorium. And our P.A. had broken down and Mike just let us use his. And we befriended him and he came around — and before you know it, he was in the band. In the beginning, that's when you really. . . it's the friendship and the camaraderie and the love for music that makes it happen. But, yeah, it was Mike's vibe that was the. . . first got us going.”