Steve Lukather has spoken out about the new Van Halen album he’s working on with Alex Van Halen, and he can’t believe how good the songs are.
The Toto man, and a dear friend to the late Eddie Van Halen, was handpicked by Alex to help bring a posthumous EVH record to life, and while he remains coy on a lot of details during his new interview with Guitar Player, what he can say certainly whets the appetite.
As previously confirmed, Lukather won’t play a note on the album, since it was virtually complete before Eddie passed in 2020. Luke does reveal, though, that the music is one hell of a swan song for the beloved virtuoso.
“I’m telling you, this is not throwaway shit,” he attests. “When I heard them, I said to Al, ‘How fucking come you didn’t use these?’ And the answer was because nobody could write to it. So if you think this is a bunch of throwaway crap that we’re trying to Mickey Mouse together to suck the dollar out of poor, unsuspecting Van Halen fans, it’s not.”
While he admits he doesn’t know what the project will be called – he’s just Alex’s “sidekick,” he says – he sees it as a passion project that will give Eddie the send-off he deserves.
“This is not about money,” he confirms. “This is about love of the guys and trying to help. I’m not gonna be involved in an obvious way.”
Recently, Steve Vai revealed he was made privy to EVH’s vast library of unused material before EVH died and was stunned by its quality. It seems that Lukather reacted similarly when the Van Halen vault opened to him.
Lukather, onboard as the album’s co-producer, has laughed off the “ridiculous” rumors that he was essentially replacing Eddie in Van Halen, saying “there’s no need for another guitar player”. He did, however, reveal who plays bass on some of the tracks.
“It’s not pieces on the floor that have to be snapped back together and try to Mickey Mouse something together that might be sellable,” Lukather notes. “These are finished tracks with Ed and Al, and Ed’s playing bass on a lot of it. That’s all I can say right now because it’s a much bigger picture, and it’s Alex’s story to tell.”
That confirms that Michael Anthony, who played bass on all Van Halen’s albums – save 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth, which featured Wolfgang VH – is not in the picture. Nor are David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, with the band reportedly on the hunt for a vocalist after a high-profile rejection.
So, expect one more album from the guitarist who changed the world, which will follow the release of Unfinished – a previously unheard Eddie Van Halen track that was shared by Alex back in 2024.
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