EXTREME vocalist Gary Cherone recently spoke with Andy Greene at RollingStone.com about his brief stint fronting VAN HALEN in the late '90s. An excerpt is available below:

Greene: I've read over the years that Michael Anthony didn't play much bass on the album. Is that true?

Cherone: "No, he did. There were a few things that Eddie played bass on. Trying to think . . . Eddie might have had a scratch drum track on one song, but I don't think that made the record. No, Michael played. Looking back, it's tough to listen to the record. I didn't think the production was great. I think there was some great songs on the record, but I didn't think the record was great. I think the songs developed once we played them live. The stuff we wrote later was more developed. But looking back, Michael Anthony's vocals weren't on enough of that record."

Greene: And that's such a huge part of the Van Halen sound.

Cherone: "Yeah, Michael Anthony's voice is as identifiable as Alex's drums or Eddie's guitar. You hear those harmonies. That's Van Halen."

Greene: Their new album seems to be largely built around old material. Did they dip into the vault for any of the songs on Van Halen III, or did they write all new songs?

Cherone: "Van Halen III was pretty much all new. Some of the stuff we worked on later got into the old stuff. I've heard samples of the new record, which sounds great, but a lot of that stuff I didn't hear. I would have loved to hear it, but I didn't hear it. There's one track they released as an instrumental that I wrote too. I don't know what the name of the song is."

Greene: During this time were you worried that the fans were going to be unhappy that you were the new singer? The brief reunion with David seems to have certainly confused a lot of fans, and it certainly got their hopes up.

Cherone: "Yeah, that didn't help. Because, listen . . . I was excited that summer when Pat called and told me there was a commercial on saying that Roth's getting back with Van Halen. I was excited, and so here I am in the position of replacing Sammy. The thing that got me through that time was that the fans are so loyal to the band. I was in the band for a minute compared to the era of Dave and the era of Sammy, so the loyalty for them, I get it. They are going to hate anybody up there."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Check out BraveWords.com's glowing review of Van Halen's new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, at this location.

Van Halen performed a dress rehearsal for friends and family at the Los Angeles Forum last night (February 8th). It was to be a secret show but it was one of the worst kept secrets as thousands attended.

The band's set-list featured:

'You Really Got Me'

'Runnin' With The Devil'

'She's The Woman'

'Somebody Get Me A Doctor'

'Tattoo'

'Everybody Wants Some!!'

'Beautiful Girls'

'Ice Cream Man'

'China Town'

'Dance The Night Away'

'Hot For Teacher'

'Blood And Fire'

'Eruption'

'Panama'

'Jump'

Check out photos of the show at this location.

Check out fan-filmed footage below: