"The very first time I jammed with Eddie & Alex, it was in a little garage in Pasedena. The garage was so small I could hardly even get what little amp I had in there. And these guys just blew me away, the way they were playing. I was just like, 'I'm just gonna keep up with these guys.' I knew em. I had seen their band play many times, I was like'Whoah!' Blown away that Ed even asked me to jam with them. Al went, 'Would you like to join the band?' And I went 'Uh, Yeah!' I was about 23.

Guitar World - 1991 - answering a question about worst road experiences...

"Once, Craig, my guitar tech, forgot to bring my bottle of Jack Daniels to the gig. [laughs] He almost lost his job!"

Guitar Player (October 1981) - Edward Van Halen talking about Mike...

“Anthony is a damned good bass player. When my brother Al and Mike are playing, it’s an open world for me. I can do whatever I want. They’re right there backing me up, feeding me.”

Circa (1995) - on Mike's philosophy on practicing...

"Uh, oh! More philosophy. Let me get into the Lotus position to answer this one. Everything is Zen from here on out. (Laughs.) Timing and endurance. Just play, even if you just constantly pick one note with the metronome on, that helps a lot. Alex has an impeccable meter, It's very hard to bust him on anything, speeding up or slowing down or whatever. He's the one who really showed me that timing is really what one needs to concentrate on. Start off on a slower meter, pick up the pace and try to get into a groove with just a metronome. Groove is everything. If it's not groovin'' and it's not locked in the pocket, you might as well not be playing at all."