Drummer Alex Van Halen has offered new details about the album he is assembling with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, confirming it will be built around previously unreleased, unfinished Van Halen recordings that were intended to become the band’s next studio project before Eddie Van Halen’s passing.
Speaking in an interview with KazaGastão, Alex explained that he and his late brother had created a significant amount of music that was never released. He does not want to put that material out in “embryonic” form, insisting it must meet the quality level the band left behind.
“Ed and I had a lot of stuff that we made, that we made musically that we never let go. Many people have asked, what about releasing unreleased stuff? Well, we’re not gonna release it in its embryonic form because it wouldn’t make any sense. But I’ve been fortunate enough to have Steve Lukather, who was a good friend of Ed’s, and we’re working on putting a record together, but it has to be of the quality and the level of where we left it. Not just to say, ‘Hey, here’s some music that we made. If you like it, that’s great.’ No. It has to be the quality that we expect.”
Alex described Mr. Lukather as “the connective tissue” for the project, crediting him with helping shape arrangements and structure quickly in a way that would take Alex far longer. He said the recordings were headed toward a next Van Halen record, with drums, guitar and bass already tracked, but the band did not have a vocalist and still needed what he called the “glue” to finish the songs.
Asked if he and Lukather are going to use some old Eddie recordings, Alex said: “Well, these are recordings that were going to be the next [Van Halen] record, and that were stopped because [Ed] didn’t live that long… The drums are already recorded. The drums, the guitar and the bass are already in there. What we didn’t have is a vocalist, and obviously the subtleties and the glue — we call it the glue or the spackle.”
The update also arrives after Mr. Lukather previously clarified that he would not play guitar “on a VH song,” describing his role as helping Alex sift through unfinished recordings and potentially acting as a co-producer. No release date has been announced for the album.
