Van Halen / Michael Anthony Reunion Rumors Allegedly Confirmed by Warner Employee
UPDATE, 1:09pm EST: A representative from the legal team at Warner/Chappell has contacted MetalSucks regarding this article to inform us that an employee named Thomas Balmayer had his Facebook account hacked last year, and that the account has since been closed. Here is that an excerpt from that letter:
“I am Carole GUERNALEC the legal director of Warner Chappell Music France. I work with Thomas BALMAYER.
“Last year, his name and Facebook account have been hacked in order to send fake news. We obtained the closure of the Facebook account.
“My colleague Thomas (as nobody from Warner Chappell Music France) never wrote any negative remarks about Van Halen.”
Original Post:
Thomas Bmyr, an employee of Warner/Chappell, a division of the Warner Music Group that handles publishing for Van Halen and thousands of other artists, has gone on record as saying the Van Halen / Michael Anthony rumors that have been circulating for months are true. Anthony’s role will be more limited than initially believed, but Bmyr was able to provide some specific details about the upcoming shows.
Before we go any further, we would like to inform our readers that MetalSucks has not been able to verify Bmyr’s claims nor have we found accounts for him on Facebook or LinkedIn. This story was first reported by MetalheadZone.com, who posted a screen shot of a comment Bmyr left on the site’s Facebook page (reposted at the bottom of this article). Unless MetalheadZone.com contacted Bmyr and verified his claims (which it doesn’t appear they have), it’s entirely possible such a person doesn’t exist, and the Facebook comment was left by either a real person with no first-hand knowledge of the situation or by a fake account.
All that’s to say: take everything below with a big, heaping spoonful of salt.
On the other hand, many of Bmyr’s claims echo those Eddie Trunk made a few weeks back, so they could well be true. (Thomas, if you’re out there — get in touch with us! [email protected]).
So, here is how the Van Halen reunion with Michael Anthony will allegedly go down:
“– This is not a tour itself, but 6 dates in American stadiums, during the summer to come.
“– The band will be going to Las Vegas for 5 additional dates, in December.
“– It’s not a farewell tour.
“– The line up is the same as the last years: Eddie, Alex, Wolfie, and David. However, to answer the rumors of reformation of the original line up, YES Michael Anthony will be of the part, but it will be only appearances with each concert, featuring, at a given moment of the concert … indeed, Mike will come on stage with his bass Jack Daniels and begin his famous bass solo, before playing “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”, which he will sing himself, as in 1998 and 2004. By cons I do not know if Wolfie will be on stage at that time …. Eddie Trunk said true. Mike too, since he is not allowed to talk about this project ….
“– No interview will be granted, no one wants to justify the war against Anthony and Hagar, and this unexpected return, it seems that this is a big financial and legal history: Last year, Van Halen wanted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first album, turning and re-recording the first album, but with Wolfie on bass. Anthony opposed this. Not out of revenge for his ouster, but compared to the fans, which generated a legal and financial battle, which gave rise to this project: Van Halen featuring Michael Anthony, for dates in stadium, and Vegas ….
“– No new album or compilation coming soon.
“– Sammy Hagar is not part of the project, this one refused, Mike had the idea to include it but each of the two parts did not agree.
“– The visuals with the planes I shared last year were real, they were prototypes of posters for the abandoned 2018 tour. Funny that it went around the net!
“The official announcement arrives at the end of the month / beginning of March!“
Well, then. If true, that’s quite the substantial update, eh?
I’m not shocked to learn that Michael Anthony’s participation will be as limited as reported above. The band’s relationship with him has been notoriously rocky over the years, and Eddie isn’t about to kick his son out of the band knowing full well fans will come out in droves to fill up stadiums regardless of who’s on bass. Still, it’s nice they were able to work it out for Anthony to participate at all, I guess?
We’ll post more information as soon as we have it, which, according to Bmyr, could be very soon indeed.
