Anthony believes Alex’s grief over the October 2020 passing of his brother and bandmate Eddie Van Halen could be the reason behind the sale. 

“I never really knew Alex to be a person to go out and jam with other people or other bands. Unless Eddie was a part of it,” Anthony says. “Maybe he feels that … Since his brother’s gone, he doesn’t feel the desire to go out and play anymore. But I can only speculate.”

Anthony describes the auction as “pretty sad,” because he believes it rules out any chance of a future Van Halen tribute.

Alex is also set to release a new memoir, titled Brothers, and Anthony says he is interested in reading it.

“And knowing Alex, he’ll probably speak about the band and everything,” Anthony says. “But I think that he might be focusing more on just his and Eddie’s relationship growing up and moving here with their family to the States. And just the relationship that he had with his brother.”