Alex Van Halen Addresses Retirement From Music Rumor (2024 In Review)

01-04-2025

Alex Van Halen had a top 24 story of October 2024 after he shot down the assumption that he was retiring from music. Here is the report in our look back in the Year In Rock: Alex Van Halen has been breaking his silence on a number of issues as he does rare interviews to promote his forthcoming memoir "Brothers". He dispelled the assumption that his recent gear auction meant that he is retiring from music, which even sparked a reaction from his former bandmate Michael Anthony at the time.

Back on June 1st, Backstage Auctions offered up a number of items from Alex's career including his 5150 drum kit, which led to many speculating that he had decided to quit music. He now says that is not the truth. Van Halen addressed the rumor with Billboard and Alex revealed that people "misinterpreted" the auction, he was only cleaning out a warehouse of equipment that he was no longer using.

"I'm not quitting. I don't know where that came from," Alex explained. "I'll die with sticks in my hand." He added that he believes "with modern technology we have now I should be OK in about five years," referring to his ongoing spinal issues.

When Alex announced the auction, Ultimate-Guitar reached out to Anthony to see if he had spoken to the drummer and his reaction to Alex getting rid of his gear. Michael responded, "I haven't spoken to Alex in a while, probably about a year. And I actually texted him on his birthday this month [May 2024], and I didn't hear anything back from him.

"But yeah, I was pretty surprised when I heard about this auction that he's going to be holding in the beginning of June. Somebody had sent me the link to it, and it appears like he's selling everything right down to his last drumstick.

"So, I don't know. I really couldn't tell you. I know that he continues to grieve today over Eddie's passing. And basically, Eddie was the only person that he actually ever played music with."