Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted's recently spoke to The Palm Beach Post, revealing that he came within an inch of joining Van Halen last year, and that Alex Van Halen had already tapped Joe Satriani to replace Eddie Van Halen for a possible Van Halen tour.

Guesting on the Eddie Trunk Podcast, Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone - who fronted Van Halen from 1996 - 1999 - offered his thoughts on the possibility of a tribute tour in honour of Eddie Van Halen.

Cherone: "I think the singers are secondary. This is an Eddie Van Halen tribute, so it's all about Eddie's disciples, the heirarchy of guitar players. At the end of the day, I think Alex (Van Halen / drums) will be the final word on it, on whether he wants to do it. If it happens it would be great. All I can see is a soundcheck nightmare. It's one thing for singers - you go up there, you give them a mic; that's the common denominator - but guitar players all have their own gear, their own amps. It#s goingto blow up before the gig (laughs)."

Cherone: "Eddie and I rekindled our relationship end of 2015, 2016. I reached out to him and we picked up where we left off. It was wild because we went back and forth and we talked. And then when I went out to L.A., I finally got to see him, and it was great. He was going through (cancer treatments). All he said to me was, 'I'm kicking its ass,' and at the time, he was. He'd have good days. I think the last six months it got real quiet. I reached out to him a few times and he got back to me later. I just had a feeling something was going down."