Ahead of Sammy Hagar and The Circle’s performances in July, Michael Anthony sat down for an interview with That Rocks! and talked about his experiences with Van Halen. At some point during the chat, he delved into the drama surrounding the band’s David Lee Roth era. The bassist said:
“There was always drama on the Roth tours too. There’s a different kind of drama. Yeah, not so bad. I mean, there were times, you know – God, I forget which tour it was. I’ll just give you a real quick little story. Not so much drama, but just you know how it was with Dave on tour.”
He revealed the Van Halen members’ unofficial diagnosis for the vocalist by explaining:
“We were staying somewhere in the Midwest, and we all – After this, we all kinda came to the conclusion that he was bipolar because he would be great, then all of a sudden, he would just like kinda freak out or whatever.”
One of his memories with Roth went as follows:
“One night, it’s like, you know, we have the night off, and everybody was [doing] whatever we were doing. It was like around midnight, one in the morning, and everyone was pretty much back at the hotel. And I hear all this commotion out in the hall and pounding and screaming. I’m going, ‘What the hell is going on?'”
The bassist continued:
“So, I put my shorts on, I go walk down the hall, and our security guys have got Roth in a straight jacket. Okay, now, see that our security guys carry a straight jacket on tour. I won’t get into that part of it. But they used to carry a straight jacket on tour, and Roth was just like screaming, naked, sitting in one of our security guys’ rooms, wearing this straight jacket.”
Mentioning alcohol’s effect on the singer, he claimed:
“Supposedly, he, you know… Dave – He’d like to drink Jack Daniel’s, but he couldn’t handle it like I can handle it, you know. Dave had a little bit of Jack Daniel’s to get a little crazy, and I guess they found him wandering around outside the hotel naked. You know, this is just one night out of seven nights a week of being on tour.”
Discussions about DLR’s mental situation are not something new. Back in 2021, his reactions and repeated bursts of laughter during a conversation with podcast host Joe Rogan led to some debates on his mental stability and potential drug abuse.
A year later, Ozzy Osbourne commented on Roth’s behavior in an interview with Revolver. While sharing memories of Van Halen opening for Black Sabbath during the ‘Never Say Die!’ tour in Europe, Osbourne noted his view on the singer by saying:
“[Eddie Van Halen] was such a great guy. They came to our local pub, and it was good fun. But David Lee Roth he’s lost a couple of nuts and bolts. When you meet him, it’s like, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ He’s like somewhere else, you know?”
You can check out Michael Anthony’s recent interview in the video below.
