Alexander Arthur Van Halen born May 8 1953 is a Dutch American musician and the drummer and cofounder of the hard rock band Van Halen Initially his brother Eddie played drums while Alex practiced guitar After spending time playing Eddies drum kit Alex became more skilled at the drums than Eddie In 1974 the Van Halen brothers David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony formed a band simply called Van Halen They were signed to Warner Brothers in 1977 and released their debut album in 1978 The two brothers are the only members of Van Halen who have been in the band for its entire duration