Gus Griesinger from Glam-metal.com had a rare opportunity to speak with legendary bassist Michael Anthony (ex-VAN HALEN). Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Glam-metal.com: There has been plenty of talk in the last couple of months about a “supergroup” forming with you, SAMMY HAGAR, Chad Smith (from the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS), and guitar virtuoso JOE SATRIANI. How did this project come about?

Anthony: "These things happen by default or we just roll into these things. Chad comes down to Cabo (the Bar). He actually has a place in Cabo, San Lucas. He comes down and jams with Sammy and myself. We have a code word named for the band called “Chickenfoot,” for lack of having anything else better to call it. This past February, Sammy did a show at the Palms hotel in Las Vegas. He asked me if I would play the show with him and I said sure. Sammy had an idea because Chad wanted to come out and play as well. He wanted to put something different together for the encores. How he ever came up with Joe’s name, I don’t know. Maybe he pulled his name out of a hat and called Joe on it. He called Joe and he said he would love to do it! Sammy over the phone said let’s do 'Mr. Fantasy' (the TRAFFIC version), and 'Going Down' (which is kind of a standard deal) instead of me finishing the show and doing an encore. So we all just listened to the music on our own. We never rehearsed it. We got up there (in Vegas), we played and it just clicked so well! In fact after we played those two, the fans were going nuts! Chad is going, “You want to hear one more?” We ended up doing ZEPPELIN’s 'Rock And Roll'. It sounded so great and everybody got along great too. So hey, why don’t we go into the studio and see if this could blossom into anything. Not to form an actual new band but just to do a one off thing because we don’t know where this is going to take us. Sammy and Joe both live in northern California and they got together and Sammy had a couple of ideas. Next thing I know, Joe says I got this and that and he sends us each a CD with about six different ideas on it. We were all just blown away. Chad and I flew up to San Francisco and in about one weekend, we all put eight songs together."

Glam-metal.com: Since you have been recording new material and have 8 tracks done already, can we expect the material to be released in late 2008 or early 2009?

Anthony: "We have to go back in the studio. The demos or what we are calling demos, a lot of that stuff we may just use off the demos because the energy was there. So we will be just checking everything to make sure the songs sound good and we are going to repair a few things on the demos. In August/ September we are going back in the studio to finish this thing off. Right now, we are putting a plan together on how we want to do this as far as touring or putting this out. Whether we will do it ourselves or go to a couple of labels. We really don’t know yet. We do know that everybody is way into it and it’s going to happen. There has been a lot of buzz over the internet saying that this supergroup or what have you, won’t happen. This is going to happen! I can tell you that!"

Glam-metal.com: You are temporarily calling this CHICKENFOOT. Do you actually have a name for it yet?

Anthony: "We have a couple of names that we are kicking around. Nothing I can say right now but the code name is Chickenfoot. Someone got a hold of it and it’s been a buzz over the internet. It’s funny because a lot of people say 'I hate that name!' I just want to come out and say it’s not the name but what the hell. Let the rumors fly! (laughs) When we come out with this thing I’ll tell you, Sammy said in some recent interviews that this rivals Led Zeppelin or whatever. People are like why are they comparing themselves to Led Zeppelin? What Sammy was saying on how this thing feels is that it’s the same type of energy of early Led Zeppelin or early Van Halen. We are not writing radio friendly tunes or hits. There are long jams to these songs and people will be surprised in what they hear. This is what Sammy and I do. Chad does his thing with the Chili Peppers so people really don’t hear him hit em’ hard like a rock drummer. This guy is one bad mother fucker! This guy is one of the baddest drummers I have ever jammed with. Joe, the spin that he puts on this (because of him being a solo artist and instrumentalist) is a trip. He gets out there and lays it down."

Glam-metal.com: Well, how do you feel about the fans appreciation of your legacy in the band? Doesn’t it make you feel good?

Anthony: "It does! I’m so grateful for everyday that when I wake up and I look at what I have and what I’ve done and I feel so appreciative. For me, the fans are the number one thing. When Van Halen has gone through periods of all of this drama and stuff like that, it’s like why can’t we all get out there and fucking play? It happens in sports or anything else you know? It gets to a point where it becomes big business or the egos get involved in it. Everybody then forgets why we get involved in this in the first place which is to rock out, do drugs, and bang chicks (We both laugh). We tried to do a reunion with Dave years ago. When it finally came down to it and we couldn’t make it work any which way, It was finally like this: Hey Dave, you don’t have any money. Do you want to get out there, suck it up for a couple of months and be a millionaire? Then you can retire and go to your island or whatever? His ego still wouldn’t let him do it (laughs)"

"As much as I would have liked to have done the reunion tour, I’m not going to boo-hoo about it. I’m at a point in my life when I go out, I want to have fun when I play. It’s great that we have been afforded that luxury after all of these years of building yourself up. This is where we should be really having fun and unfortunately a lot of that stuff is still in play, egos’ and whatever. If that’s the way you want to live out the rest of your life then go ahead. That’s why Sammy and I get along so great. We love the same stuff. We love the beach and we love hanging out. When we get onstage it’s like how Van Halen used to be. Two buddies on stage just having a great time and the crowd interaction, I can’t wait to get back out there. I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it. I can’t wait to get out there and play again!"

To read the entire interview head to this location.