Alex Van Halen back in the game?

As all Van Halen fans know, after the passing of his brother Eddie, drummer Alex Van Halen withdrew from public life and, above all, from performing on stage. The artist published his autobiography in 2024, and in the spring of 2025 there was an auction of drum gear belonging to the former Van Halen sticksman. In addition, his nephew Wolfgang Van Halen (who successfully leads his own band Mammoth WVH) has mentioned more than once in interviews that his uncle did not want to be involved in music after Eddie Van Halen’s passing, which took place in the fall of 2020.

Photo: Craig O’Neal (source: Wikipedia)

As it turns out, a leopard can’t change its spots. In the Metal Sticks podcast, Alex Van Halen revealed to hosts Nicko McBrain and David Frangioni that a studio collaboration with Steve Lukather, guitarist and vocalist of TOTO, is on its way. He did not say what exactly it would be, so we will quote what he said (as transcribed by us):

“I’m getting ready to do this record with Lukather and a couple of other people. It should be exciting. […] We have a long history together. He sang on a couple of records with us. Ultimately, when you’re in… I don’t wanna use the word ‘business’, but if you’re in this line of work, just like you and I, we have a relationship. It goes beyond superficial contract and ‘I want you to do this or do that’. We do it because we like something or we wanna do it because it’s creative. The moment you get into contracts that are very specific about what your role in the project is, it falls apart. That’s bee our experience anyway. We’ve known Lukather for a long time. He was one of real, real, true best friends.”

So it looks like Alex Van Halen is ready to return to music. We wish him lots of joy and success!

Alex and Eddie Van Halen formed the band Mammoth in the early 1970s in Pasadena, California, where they had moved from Amsterdam, Holland, with their parents in 1962. In 1972, they were joined by singer David Lee Roth, who suggested changing the name group’s name to Van Halen. A year later, bassist Michael Anthony Sobolewski came on board, and so the classic lineup of the band was formed.

In 1985, after Roth’s departure, Sammy Hagar was taken on, with whom the band enjoyed further success, both in terms of concert attendance and record sales. Van Halen, by the way, belongs to an exclusive club of performers boasting record sales in excess of 100 million. The second stage of the band’s history lasted until 1996.

From 1996 to 2000, Gary Cherone of Extreme fame was the vocalist. After Hagar’s brief return between 2003 and 2005, David Lee Roth returned in 2006. Featuring Edward Van Halen’s son Wolfgang on bass guitar, the band continued until the guitarist’s passing.

Throughout his career, Alex Van Halen has been using Ludwig drums and Paiste cymbals.

Van Halen’s discography: