When Hagar was asked during a satellite radio interview about the rumors of the band wanting to reform the original lineup, he revealed that Anthony was approached by Van Halen's management six months ago and asked if he was interested. Sammy went to say, "I told Mike, 'If this happens, you freakin' have my blessings. You go do this. You're a founding member in that band.' And for the fans, he needs to do it. He is the missing element right now.
"If you want my opinion, without Mike, it just doesn't seem quite the same. Mikey, he's the flag barer - he walks out there with the flag, the VH flag. He holds it high, like the guy in the cavalry. And he's a special guy and he has my blessings. And when they're done, [their current band together, The Circle will] go back out - if they do it; if it happens."
Sammy also addressed some of the speculation about the role of Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfie on such a tour. Wolfie was brought in to replace Anthony in the band when David Lee Roth reunited with them. Hagar said, "The things I've been reading, it aint gonna happen," Hagar continued. "They think Mikey's gonna come out and do his bass solo with the Jack Daniel's bass and say goodbye and stand on the side of the stage and watch Wolfie play his songs all night. I mean, I don't think the fans are gonna go for that either. That'd be real hard on little Wolf - he don't deserve that. So I don't know what to think. Maybe it's just a rumor. Who knows? Those guys, they don't tell me nothing, 'cause I don't wanna know. But you'd think they'd at least tell Mike."
Sammy doesn't see a possible reunion of Van Halen and Michael having a big impact on their band The Circle. He said, "I'm an easygoing guy. First of all, I don't wanna go out and play six months. So [The Circle is] gonna go out and play a couple of months. And if this happens, he can go play with [Van Halen] a couple of months, and then I'll go out in the fall again for a couple of months. I just know that Mike's committed to these shows we've got going on right here.
"If those guys get it together, a hundred percent he has my blessings. I love the guy. And I think he knows that The Circle is really important for his long-term thing, because Van Halen is so sporadic."
The band has now brought in a massive $155.9 million from the tour in support of their latest album "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", which they began back in 2016, according to Billboard.
The band kicked off the latest North American leg on January 18th at the BOK center in Tulsa. With their highest grossing show taking place in Cleveland with $2.5 million and the biggest attendance happening at the
Metallica restarted their most recent North American leg on Jan. 18 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. With total tickets for the trek so far coming in at 1,554,470.
Faulkner told 100.5 in Atlanta, "We're working up new songs for the setlist for this go-around. There'll be a few surprises in there - some songs that maybe people haven't heard for a long time, or ever from the band.
"So it's exciting just to see people's faces when you throw a new song in there or a blast from the past. We're looking forward to coming back through. It's a slightly different stage production. We've got some new ideas for that as well. So it's going to be an exciting tour. We can't wait to get back out there."
The band will be launching dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan in March before kicking off the North American tour on May 3rd in Hollywood, FL.
Townsend had this to say, "It's with great pride - and a healthy dose of trepidation - that I can finally present to you a song from the Empath record. In each album cycle there is the dilemma over which track we 'lead' with, not only to get people excited, but also to give an accurate overview of the project.
"As the musical nature of Empath shifts from track to track, from musical theatre, death metal, prog free jazz and more commercial thing, it was a hard decision.
"Some people wanted the relatively straightforward song Spirits Will Collide while others wanted a more cinematic banging track like Evermore. We ultimately chose to go with the opening track Genesis as it not only features around five different stylistic shifts, but also includes all three drummers, the choir, the orchestra, and basically the kitchen sink as well."
He says that the new track is "ultimately about facing fear, as well as analysing one's relationship with one's past in order to progress," and adds: "The record has an overarching theme of what I like to view as 'hope' in chaotic times.
"I have been working on this record for more than a year, and it represents a kind of shift for me in my personal and professional world that I am quite proud of. It's the first time in quite a few years I have made an album like this, and I think if nothing else, Genesis represents the chaotic nature of the project - and the world at large currently - in the most accurate way I can do at this stage of life." Listen to it here
Frontman Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth had this to say about the Tommy Jones directed clip,"Not before in our video history have we presented something so artistically-seedy.
"This is due to the brilliant yet twisted vision of the editing room genius, behind the camera magic and damn tenacity of Mr Tommy Jones - a good standing card-carrying Jersey Boy, who did the band and the state proud.
"We had verbalised the story line to Tommy, who fully got it and we all created something to be proud of. So when you visit the Garden State, see or hear something that is different for you and you think, 'Hmmmm, that's not the way we do it at home.' Remember this, you're not at home anymore... are you?" Watch it here
The reissue will hit stores on May 17th and will feature a 5.1 surround mix by Bruce Soord, new cover art from Travis Smith and a limited edition deluxe version will be loaded with b-sides, live tracks, remixes and more.
Anders Nystrom had this to say, "We, and many others, look upon this album as one of the most well produced, dark and atmospheric albums within our discography.
"It spawned new classics with Forsaker and Day And Then The Shade that have rarely left our live repertoire. As a band, we dug deep into ourselves to deliver the epic ballad Departer as well as the folk song undertones of Idle Blood, Inheritance, The Promise Of Deceit and Onward Into Battle.
"Then there is the rich contrast of dynamics in songs like The Longest Year, Liberation, New Night and Ashen but we also slowed things down further to impending doom with the song Nephilim.
"All of these songs glued this album together like pillars carrying the weight of both our night and day."
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