Michael Anthony says Eddie Van Halen "has it in for him"

Five years after parting ways, Michael Anthony says that Eddie Van Halen still bears him ill will. In an in depth interview with undercover.com.au Anthony shed substantial light on his split with Eddie and Alex Han Halen.

When asked pointedly about the status of his relationship with Eddie, Anthony said, "There is no relationship... Eddie had it in for me ever since I buddied up with Sammy Hagar again which I couldn't understand because Sammy had asked me sometime back if I would like to come and guest on some shows. This was when Van Halen was going through a period where Eddie was dealing with some of his own demons. He had the cancer thing he was dealing with and his marriage. As far as I was concerned, I was going out there waving the Van Halen flag to say, 'we didn't go away, we are still here.' Unfortunately, he didn't see it that way."

Anthony added: "He never liked me hanging out with Sammy and I can't understand why because Van Halen was my band. They didn't see it that way so they chose to not have me participate (in the reunion with David Lee Roth).

He went on to explain the chain of events following the band's last tour with Sammy Hagar, recalling, "We finished out reunion tour in 2004 and I probably knew that nothing was going to happen after that, also because of the physical and mental state that Eddie was in at that time. That tour did not end very harmoniously I guess you could say... Back in 2007 when they announced their reunion tour with David Lee Roth, I found out about it like all the other fans did. I saw it in the press and found out like everyone else did. That didn't hurt me as much as when they relaunched their website and took my image off a couple of the album covers. That upset me that they would go so far as to try and erase me out of the history of the band."

Anthony spoke about how Roth and the Van Halen brothers missed a historic opportunity when they all chose to sit out the band's 2007 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "Unfortunately... from what I heard after talking to Slash, Dave wanted to do certain things that would steal the show and when he couldn't have it his way he didn't want to show up. For whatever reason, Eddie and Alex didn't show up. It sucked. (Sammy and I) were the two people who weren't even in the band anymore but there was no way I was going to miss that... I remember sitting at the table while R.E.M. were playing and I turned to Sammy and said, 'This would have been great. We would have kicked this thing right in the ass.' Nobody would have ever forgotten this induction ceremony if all of us were getting along and went up there."

When asked how he felt about Eddie replacing him in the band by his teenage son Wolfgang, Anthony said, "That's his son. He is a teenager but he is a decent bass player. I think that was also part of the reason to do it, to spite me."

Earlier this month, Chickenfoot -- featuring Anthony, Hagar, Chad Smith, and Joe Satriani -- was named the best new band of 2009 at the annual Classic Rock Magazine Awards in London.

Van Halen is believed to be gearing up for a 2010 album and tour.