While it's previously been confirmed that Van Halen secured former bassist Michael Anthony's participation in a 2019 stadium tour that never came to fruition, Wolfgang Van Halen says his late-father, Eddie Van Halen, actually wanted more.
During a Monday interview with Howard Stern, Wolfgang revealed that he and his dad had discussed the idea of bringing all the former members of Van Halen on the road that year, in what they affectionately called the 'Kitchen Sink' tour.
Ideally, the tour would have featured Anthony back in Van Halen with David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone trading lead vocal duties, celebrating their respective Van Halen eras. Wolfgang would open the shows with his solo band, he explained.
The father and son first discussed the idea in 2015, and Eddie gradually "warmed up to the idea" over the next few years.
"I got him excited about it," Wolfie told Stern. "And at a certain point it turned into what we joked as the Kitchen Sink tour. 'Cause after he was okay with that arrangement, it was like, 'F--k, let's get Dave and Hagar and even Cherone, and let's just do a giant f---ing awesome thing."
Asked later by Rolling Stone whether Roth (who famously has a grudge against Hagar) would go along with the idea, Wolfgang agreed it might have taken some convincing.
"Unfortunately, we'll never know the answer to that," he said. "I think at a certain point you would have just had to get everybody in a room and just be like, 'Come on, how awesome would this be?'"
Wolfgang released his debut solo single, "Distance," on Monday in honor of his father. He confirmed that the 'Kitchen Sink' tour would essentially put an end to his tenure in Van Halen, as he switched focus to his solo career. "Not that I didn't want to be there [in Van Halen]," he qualified. "Playing with my father was the best thing I ever did. It was my favorite thing to do."
Beyond the closure the 'Kitchen Sink' idea offered to the Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex, and Van Halen's the fans, Wolfgang confirmed that he also liked the idea of getting to know Anthony, whose spot he took in Van Halen in 2006.
"I was really looking forward to speaking with him, and that hasn't happened yet," Wolfie added. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity that I have in the future to speak with him. ...I don't think there are [hard feelings]. I've seen things he's said. He's always been an amazing guy."
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