Michael Anthony pleads for classic Van Halen reunion: 'I want to go to my grave a happy guy'

Michael made contact with Alex Van Halen for the first time in a decade last autumn and since rekindling his relationship he has spoken about the possibility of a reunion several times in the press.

In a fresh interview with The News-Herald, Michael was asked why he thinks the time is right for the classic members to bury the hatchet.

"Well, I mean, partly because you obviously see all of these other bands doing it these days - and also for Van Halen's fans,” Michael explained.

“Maybe some kind of proper closure or something. I'm not sure. Everybody in the band is still relatively healthy and alive. So there's one thing right there. And Sammy (Hagar) has brought it up quite a few times in interviews he's done. He'd be open to doing a tour with him and Dave (Lee Roth) singing.”

When it was pointed out that Sammy and Dave joined forces for the ill-fated Song for Song: The Heavyweight Champions of Rock and Roll Tour in 2002, Michael added: "Yeah, that tour started kind of harmoniously, but didn't finish up that way.

“I went out and guested with Sammy on a handful of those shows and things got maybe a little strained. But at this point, I personally am through with all of the drama that comes with everything. I want to go out, play music and have a good time. I want to go to my grave a happy guy."

The fresh plea echoes comments Michael made in an interview with Eddie Trunk last month when he said: "I think now's the time, especially if you listen to some of the interviews (Sammy has been) doing or whatever now. Right now, he's saying the proper way to do a Van Halen tour, he's saying, 'Let's do it with Dave and myself.'

"If we did, like, an hour with one singer and then an hour with another singer, you never know — there might be a lot of people that don't wanna come for the first hour, or don't wanna come for the second singer, or whatever.

“This way you mix it up and everybody's gotta stay for everything. And believe me, if something like that came to fruition, I guarantee there wouldn't be one person who would leave that show disappointed with anything — with either singer, probably.”

After years of caustic words Sammy Hagar appeared to bury the hatchet with Van Halen in 2016; first sharing pleasantries with Eddie Van Halen on Twitter and then issuing a public apology to Eddie and Alex on the Oprah: Where Are They Now TV show.

Revealing what it would take to join forces with Van Halen again, Sammy told Billboard in March that he’d only do it if Michael was drafted back in on bass and Dave Lee Roth traded off vocal duties with himself on the respective songs they recorded with the band.

"That's really the only way I would be interested in a Van Halen reunion," multi-millionaire Sammy said.

"Everybody's saying, 'Well, what would it take?'. For me, no money, man. I don't need money. I would do that for the fans and give the money to food banks or something. I'm not sure anybody else would agree with me, but that would interest me enough to sit down across the table from everybody and work that one out."