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ByLorenzo Tanos/
The death of Eddie Van Halen on October 6, 2020, marked the end of the legendary band that bears his last name. The group was infamous for their myriad lead vocalist changes — David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar had multiple stints with Van Halen, and the less said about Gary Cherone's time as frontman, the better. But when the iconic axeman died of cancer at the age of 65, it didn't make much sense to keep the band going, even with two other guys named Van Halen remaining in the lineup.
One of those relatives was none other than Eddie's older brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, and it's fair to say his impressive skills behind the drum kit often got overlooked because of how transcendent Eddie was as a lead guitarist. He also happened to be known for his reclusive nature(via Rock and Roll Garage) due to his reluctance to do interviews — the frontmen are still very vocal (pun unintended) and so are the bassists, and when he was alive, Eddie was generally reserved but arguably more willing than Alex to open up to publications from time to time. As such, it's much harder to find out what Alex Van Halen has been up to since his brother's passing, but thanks to a number of reports and social media posts, we do know some details about how his life is today.
Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony were in touch after Eddie's death
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It goes without saying that Alex Van Halen was profoundly affected by the passing of his younger brother Eddie. They were, after all, bandmates since childhood(via Van Halen News Desk) and the only two members of Van Halen who were there from the beginning up until the very end. And while Eddie died before he was able to publicly reconcile with former bassist Michael Anthony, the latter did comment about how things were between him and Alex shortly after Eddie's passing.
"I spoke briefly with Alex right after Eddie passed," Anthony told KSHE 95 in January 2021, as quoted by Loudwire. "But I wanted them to have their privacy. And I have texted with [bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son] a couple of times, and everything is all good, obviously." When asked about his relationship with Alex, Anthony added thatthe drummer was privately "grieving" and was still doing so at the time of the interview. "So I'm just kind of letting that happen, and I'm sure at one point we'll talk again here or even get together."
At the moment, Wolfgang is enjoying a fair bit of success as the frontman and founder of Mammoth WVH, and he himself told Rolling Stone in November 2020 that you "can't have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen,"effectively confirming the group's disbandment. Still, one has to wonder whether Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony will truly, officially bury the hatchet and make some music in the future ... albeit under a different band name, of course.
On his 68th birthday, Alex shared a touching tribute to Eddie
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Unlike Wolfgang Van Halen, who has spoken at length about his father and their now-former band to multiple publications, Alex Van Halen chose to remain silent. And it's little wonder why — in an interview he did just two months before Eddie Van Halen's death, Alex told Modern Drummer (via Ultimate Classic Rock) that he and his brother aren't "in the business of bulls***ting" on the internet or for biographies about the band. However, he did make his online presence feltwhen he celebrated his 68th birthday on May 8, 2021, sharinga photo and a brief statement that was relayed by the Van Halen News Desk'sTwitteraccount.
"First birthday without you, Ed. The view from my drum set will never be the same. VH forever!" the statement read. The accompanying photo appeared to have been taken by legendary rock photographer Neil Zlozower sometime in the early-to-mid-1980s and it featured Eddie and Alex sharing a laugh, with the axeman holding a cigarette in between his fingers.
As Alex doesn't seem to have an active social media presence under his own name, it appears that he mainly uses the Van Halen News Desk (both the Twitter account and the website) to issue statements. These have mostly been few and far in between, though he did offer a succinct tribute to the late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts following his death on August 24, 2021.
Alex Van Halen was most recently spotted while driving his new sports car
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Apart from his well-documented life as the drummer of one of the most commercially successful rock bands of all time, Alex Van Halen is also an ordained minister; according to Rolling Stone, he officiated his brother's wedding to Janie Liszewski in June 2009. It isn't clear whether he's still active as a minister, and it appears that he hasn't been seen too often in public since Eddie's death. However, the Van Halen Brasil YouTube account did share a short, yet interesting clip in September that supposedly showed Alex driving his "new" Porsche 911 GT2 RS in Los Angeles.
The 13-second video may be a quick one, but it does show a black 911 GT2 RS gradually coming into view. The driver, whose face is briefly visible around the six-second mark, looks a lot like Alex Van Halen, and as the Van Halen News Desk pointed out, the fact he tipped his cap at the driver of the other vehicle strongly suggests that the drummer "still hasn't lost his sense of humor."
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