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The legendary drummer Alex Van Halen, who is the co-founder of Van Halen alongside his late brother, the guitarist Eddie Van Halen, announced that he will auction his personal gear and instrument collection. The sale was announced by Backstage Auctions Inc. The last time Alex Van Halen performed live was at the final Van Halen concert back in 2015 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. Since his brother's death in 2020, rumors about a possible reunion of the band to pay tribute to Eddie have been circulating but as Eddie's song Wolfgang Van Halen said, it was David Lee Roth who prevented the reunion from happening. In an official statement, Alex talked about the items, saying: “I kept all these drums, cymbals, heads, and all other kinds of gear, instruments, and road cases in my warehouse for decades and it will bring me great pleasure to see them end up in the hands of my fans and fellow drummers. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Ride On Therapeutic Horsemanship charity to further support the services they provide to those in need,” Alex Van Halen said. The company Backstage Auctions gave more information about the items which will be auctioned "Backstage Auctions is proud to present The Alex Van Halen Collection, our most anticipated and historical auction event of the year featuring the personal collection of legendary drummer Alex Van Halen.  It is an unbelievable honor to represent one of the greatest rock drummers of all time and we could not be any more excited. Alex is the reason why so many people picked up a pair of drumsticks and this auction is a fantastic opportunity to see so many of his instruments and gear go to new homes." "All of these pieces have a thick layer of magic “Al” dust and we can only hope that it will bring boundless joy and thrills to their future owners. The collection features over 350 lots, with a wide array of memorabilia, such as drum kits, snare drums, kick drums, road cases, drumheads, cymbals, gongs, sticks & mallets, personal items, record awards, autographed pieces, and so much more. "The auction is definitely one of those once in a lifetime opportunities for fans and collectors to own a piece of Van Halen history. Each lot sold will come with a personally signed COA from Alex, which is a collectible in itself! Rock on over and 'preview' the entire auction now. The bidding will run from June 1st to June 9th," Backstage Auctions said. The post Alex Van Halen will auction his personal gear and collection appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.

The Black Sabbath guitarist and co-founder Tony Iommi first met Eddie Van Halen, when the American band was the band's opening act in the late 70s and after that they remained really good friends. Eddie was a huge Black Sabbath and back in the 90s when the band was recording their 17th studio album "Cross Purposes", he was in town and ended up going in the studio and recording with them. He composed a guitar solo for the track "Evil Eye" and Tony Iommi recalled that story in an interview (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar) to promote the new box-set Anno Domini, which is a collection of the albums the band made with Tony Martin on vocals. Iommi also recalled that he had the chance to speak with Van Halen shortly before his passing in 2020 at the age of 65. Tony Iommi says he had the chance to talk with Van Halen before his passing "He (Eddie Van Halen) had a day off (In the 90s). I said, 'We're having a rehearsal, do you want to come?' He said, 'Oh yeah,'. That's what he'd done, really. I picked him up in Birmingham, at the hotel. Then we drove by a music shop. I said, 'Do you want to pick a guitar up', and we did — one of his Eddie Van Halen ones, they had got one in. Then we went down to the rehearsal." "I said, 'We're working on this song', and we started playing it. He started playing a solo. We played a couple of old Sabbath songs first, and I said, 'You're playing that wrong' [laughs]. 'Cause they used to play Sabbath stuff, before they were known. It was 'Into the Void' or something, I can't remember." "But anyway, that's the sort of relationship we had. We stayed friends until he passed away; I spoke to him just before," Tony Iommi said. https://youtu.be/UeZu2y_75xIThe post Tony Iommi says he had the chance to talk with Van Halen before his passing appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.

Many artists who were never involved in Rock and Roll music were already inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the past decades but sadly, a band like Motörhead, which had as the bassist, singer and main songwriter, the late Lemmy Kilmister still is not part of the Hall. In an interview for the Metallica Report podcast, the band's vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield criticized the Rock Hall for leaving Lemmy out. Metallica was, for example, inducted back in 2009 and they are one of the few Heavy Metal acts who were included until now, alongside names like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Ozzy. James Hetfield criticizes the Rock Hall for not inducting Motörhead “Maybe lieu of him being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which still continues to piss me off. The most rock and roll lifestyle-living person on this planet is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (That) is a travesty, a shame. It's kind of a disrespect to rock and roll, basically. So this (tattoo) is me paying homage to him," James Hetfield. As the Metallica frontman said, he recently made a tattoo using part of Lemmy's ashes. In a post on the band's social media, he said: "With the steady hand of friend and tattoo artist @coreymillertattoo, this tattoo. A salute to my friend and inspiration Mr. Lemmy Kilmister. Without him, there would be NO Metallica." "Black ink mixed with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me. So now, he is still able to fly the bird at the world," James Hetfield said. Motörhead was active from 1975 to 2015, until Lemmy's death at the age of 70. During four decades, they released 23 studio albums. It was more than enough for them to become one of the most influential bands in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. The post James Hetfield criticizes the Rock Hall for not inducting Motörhead appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.

Although Motörhead was formed in 1975, the late legendary songwriter, bassist and singer Lemmy Kilmister was involved in the music business since 1960, being Jimi Hendrix's roadie for a while and also being part of many groups over the years like Hawkwind. But obviously, it was fronting Motörhead that he became one of the most influential artists in the history of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Although his music was usually fast and heavy, Lemmy had a really broad musical taste and was also known for being quite sincere when talking about other artists. He talked about many other bands during his career and one of them was The Who. What was Lemmy Kilmister's opinion on The Who Lemmy was a big fan of Rock and Roll music made in the 50s and 60s and of course, he loved The Who. As he told Mark Jeeves in an interview with Planet Rock back in 2011 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), they were a band you couldn't go wrong with. He said that after choosing their version of "Summertime Blues" as one of his favorite tracks. “(The Who), if you want a Rock and Roll band you can’t go wrong with The Who, you know. I mean, Townshend is a wonderful guitar player and he doesn’t play a whole lot of lead but he is incredible and the way he plays chords is unbelievable. That windmill thing is so like wild. When you see him do it, he doesn’t do it really anymore, which is a shame, he should dye his hair and do it more.” He continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgJ9K7cPRKk&pp=ygUNbXkgZ2VuZXJhdGlvbg%3D%3D “I think Pete’s like worried about being old, he shouldn’t be because it’s only years, you know. It doesn’t matter, you can still do the same thing if you feel it. I don’t think he feels it anymore, really. It’s so fierce, when you see the guy do that (the windmill). If you wanna look at The Who, look at the Woodstock thing and look at the ”Kids Are Alright’ video, brilliant. Really brilliant,” Lemmy Kilmister said. Lemmy not only loved their music but thought the band members were really good and he even said that the late legendary bassist John Entwistle was the best bass player he ever saw. He even put him in front of Paul McCartney! “I love John Entwistle of the Who. Best bass player I ever saw, Entwistle! McCartney’s the second, though. He keeps giving into the wimp in him, but he’s a great bass player,” Lemmy told Revolver magazine back in 2002. In a conversation with Bass Player magazine back in 2003, the Motörhead leader listed some of his favorite bassist and of course, Entwistle was also there. Lemmy praised the musician and the bass solo in "My Generation". “The best bass player on the face of the earth. He was the best for me, no contest. He was so in command of his instrument. You never saw him flicker. Never a bum note that I ever heard. And he was so fast, both hands going like hell.” “The bass solo in ‘My Generation’, you still tie yourself in knots trying to do it now. You can work it out. But it was another thing thinking it up. And that was back in 1964!” Lemmy Kilmister said. They knew each other and were really nice friends. The funny reason why Lemmy Kilmister said Pete Townshend would probably never speak to him again Lemmy had the chance to watch The Who perform and in an interview with Classic Rock, he told the story of a funny encounter with The Who's main songwriter, guitarist and sometimes singer Pete Townshend. "I don’t think Pete Townshend will ever speak to me again. Do you remember when he impaled his hand on the whammy bar of his guitar? The Who did a show at the Albert Hall amd I went down to see them and went backstage. Pete says: 'Oh, hello Lemmy.'" "And I shook his fucking hand! He gritted his teeth – he was a man about it – but I don’t think he’ll forgive. I’m sure he reads Classic Rock, so: sorry, Pete. I’ve got the foot now if you wanna come and stamp on it," Lemmy Kilmister said. The Motörhead leader sadly passed away back in 2015 at the age of 70.The post What was Lemmy Kilmister’s opinion on The Who appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.