Despite rumors that have been circulating, Michael Anthony has not spoken to the members of Van Halen about rejoining the band. He issued a statement saying that he's still distant from the band with whom he rose to fame.

"The only comment I have is that I haven't spoken to any of the guys since we last played together back in 2004," the bassist told Premiere Radio Networks. However, he did admit to making small talk with Alex Van Halen when they ran into each other a few years ago. Anthony was the only original member of Van Halen present when the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Two weeks ago, David Lee Roth mentioned that Van Halen would be touring "in the summertime and do the original thing, maybe somewhere sportin,’ maybe with somebody famous." Fan chatter focused on Roth's use of words like "original thing" and "somebody famous," as well as his line about playing a stadium -- rather than arenas and amphitheaters as they've done on their last few tours -- and concluded that Roth could have been hinting about Anthony's return.

It picked up steam thanks to Eddie Trunk, who said he heard "rumors from reliable sources – but still rumors that are unconfirmed – is that the band will tour in 2019 with the original band, which would mean the return of Michael. So again I cannot stress enough that is not confirmed in any way shape or form but there are starting to be some real substantial rumors about that as we close out 2018."

Van Halen's 2004 tour, their last with Sammy Hagar, took place after Anthony reportedly took a pay cut and signed away his share of the band's name and logo. Since then, he's worked with Hagar in Chickenfoot and the Circle, while Van Halen continued with Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang on bass.

 

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