Back in September, Alex Van Halen, older brother of Eddie, revealed that there was quite a bit of unreleased material lying around that he and his late brother had recorded, in various stages of completion. He even shared a snippet of the last song he and Eddie ever worked on, appropriately named Unfinished.
Former Van Halen bass guitar slinger Michael Anthony echoed this in an interview earlier this year, saying that he hopes Eddie's son Wolfgang – a guitarist, songwriter, and singer in his own right – goes through the band's trove of unreleased material at some point himself.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Alex Van Halen emphasized that much of this material, particularly that recorded in Eddie's final years, never advanced past the embryonic stage. That doesn't mean, though, that Alex doesn't want to possibly take unique steps to see some of it finished in some form.
“They’re all little pieces,” Van Halen told Rolling Stone, adding that, “A bunch of licks don’t make a song.”
He also revealed, though, that he's reached out to ChatGPT creator OpenAI about using the company's technology to generate new solos by analyzing “the patterns of how Edward would have played something.”
Even more intriguingly, Van Halen said that he hopes potential vocals for this material would be performed by Robert Plant, though he added that he hasn't spoken to the Led Zeppelin frontman in over 30 years.
“You’re gonna think I’m out of my fucking mind,” the drummer said. “But when conditions are right, things will manifest.”
Other eyebrow-raising anecdotes from the chat with Van Halen – who is set to release a memoir about his relationship with Eddie, Brothers, later this month – include revelations that Eddie conducted secret jams with Chris Cornell, and that the rumors of a Van Halen tribute tour involving himself, Joe Satriani, and David Lee Roth were indeed true.
Alex also recently revealed that Eddie was uncomfortable with being labeled the best guitar player on the planet, and told Rolling Stone that, in his view, the pressure of that label helped fuel a mix of self-confidence and self-doubt that in turn fueled his issues of substance abuse.
- Brothers is set for release on October 22, and can be pre-ordered via Van Halen's website.
