Chickenfoot Announce Tour While Anthony And Van Halen Argue

06/04/09 1:12pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Chickenfoot — the supergroup featuring ex-Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith — have announced their summer tour plans.

The band will gig through Europe before they return to North America for dates in August and September. Chickenfoot will play the Canadian Forces Halifax Rock Fest at Halifax's Citadel Hill on Aug. 2 and are also slated to play Toronto's Sound Academy on Aug. 4.

You can read a review of Chickenfoot's recent show at Toronto's Mod Club here and view a gallery of photos from the gig here.

Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen recently told Rolling Stone magazine that Anthony left the band of his own accord, and Van Halen did not boot him out.

"I wish [Hagar and Anthony] well," he said when he was asked about whether he'd heard Chickenfoot. (He replied in the negative.) "The funny thing is that everyone who quits the band always claims they got fired by me. Hey, I'm not the bad guy here.

"When Hagar left the band, Mike went with him. Then we get back together with Dave [Lee Roth, vocalist] and all of a sudden, he wants back in. It's like 'No, dude, you quit the band.'

"So my son [Wolfgang Van Halen] became the bass player. But we didn't give Mike the boot to have my son play. We didn't have a bass player. 'Hey Wolfie, you want to play?'"

But Anthony almost immediately refuted Van Halen's claim, and said he was in fact kicked out of the band, regardless of what the guitarist says.

"I never quit Van Halen," Anthony told the MusicRadar website. "No way. And the funny thing is, I don't even know why the subject is coming up anymore.

"Why would I have quit Van Halen? It never happened. And what's weird is, he was being asked about Chickenfoot, whether he had heard us or not, and suddenly he launches into this thing about me quitting the group? What does one thing even have to do with the other?"

Anthony told the website he was forced to take a pay cut and sign his rights to the Van Halen name and logo when he and Hagar toured with the band in 2004 and all of a sudden, he found himself out of the band when Wolfgang Van Halen was made bassist for the band's 2007 tour and Roth was brought back in as the singer.

"I found out about the tour like everybody else did — in the press," he said. "I had no idea. At that point, I kind of sighed and went, 'Whatever. If this is what Eddie wants to do, he's going to do what he wants to do.' If he wants me out of the band and for Wolfgang to play bass, what was I going to do about it?"

Anthony said he wants to focus on Chickenfoot instead and told Van Halen he should concentrate on making new music with his band and leave well enough alone.

"Eddie says he hasn't heard Chickenfoot, and I believe him, because it's true, he doesn't really listen to anything," Anthony said. "But instead of trying to rewrite the past or talk shit or whatever, he should see what we're doing and go into his studio and make some music. Make music, have some fun. Don't just talk - do!"

You can see Anthony with Chickenfoot here:

June 5 Los Angeles, CA @ Best Buy (West L.A., in-store performance)
June 20 Nickelsdorf, Austria @ Pannonia Fields II (Nova Rock Festival)
June 28 Dessel, Belgium @ Festivalpark Boeretang (Graspop Metal Meeting)
July 1 Madrid, Spain @ Palacio De Los Deportes De La Comunidad De Madrid
July 3 Pistoia, Italy @ Piazza Duomo (Blues Festival)
July 4 Montreux, Switzerland @ Stravinsky Hall (Montreux Jazz Festival)
July 5 Udine, Italy @ Lignano Sabbiadoro
July 10 Kilafors, Sweden @ Rockweekend Festival
July 12 Weert, Netherlands @ Sportpark Boshoven (Bospop Festival)
Aug. 2 Halifax, NS @ Citadel Hill (Canadian Forces Halifax Rock Fest)
Aug. 4 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
Aug. 5 Pittsburgh, PA @ Riverplex Amphitheatre at Sandcastle
Aug. 7 Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre
Aug. 8 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
Aug. 10 St. Paul, MN @ Myth Nightclub
Aug. 11 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
Aug. 13 Comstock Park, MI @ Fifth-Third Ballpark
Aug. 15 Cleveland, OH @ Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Aug. 17 New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
Aug. 18 Albany, NY @ Palace Theatre
Aug. 20 Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
Aug. 21 Atlantic City, NJ @ The Music Box at Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa
Aug. 23 Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
Aug. 24 Boston, MA @ Bank Of America Pavilion
Aug. 26 Portsmouth, VA @ nTelos Wireless Pavilion
Aug. 27 Charlotte, NC @ Uptown Amphitheatre at The Music Factory
Aug. 29 North Myrtle Beach, SC @ House Of Blues
Aug. 30 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
Sept. 5 Lake Tahoe, NV @ Harvey's Resort, Hotel And Casino