Michael Anthony revealed that he and Eddie Van Halen couldn’t resolve their problems before he passed away.
In a recent chat with Sally Steele, the former Van Halen bassist was asked if he got to talk to Eddie Van Halen before the legendary guitarist passed away in October 2020. He revealed:
“No, unfortunately, Eddie and I never had a chance to really settle any differences that we had in the past or whatever.”
However, the bassist found closure in late 2023 when he attended a concert by Eddie’s son Wolfgang’s band, Mammoth WVH:
“But at the end of 2023 here, Wolfgang, he played the House Of Blues out here [in Las Vegas] 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, 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.”
Wolfgang And Anthony Are ‘Family’
The band and Anthony hadn’t been on good terms for over a decade. Anthony was not invited to join the reunion with David Lee Roth that kicked off in 2007. The following two tours and studio album, ‘A Different Kind Of Truth,’ had Wolfgang on bass instead.
Though Eddie and Anthony couldn’t settle their past differences before his passing, he and Wolfgang are ‘like family.’
In an interview with Loudwire Nights, Wolfgang looked back on the day when he and Anthony met face-to-face for the first time in 20 years. It turns out the two had already arranged to meet up before running into each other. But Wolfgang seemed satisfied with how things turned out:
“He’s family. It was long overdue. I think we had planned that at least since I’ve been touring and it just worked out and it was very wonderful to see him – love that my Mom [was] there [and] my uncle Patrick who is also part of the Mammoth team, he goes way back with them. It’s really nice to have that little reunion.”
You can watch the interview below.