Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has clarified his role in an upcoming archival project with Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen. He is helping to bring unreleased Eddie Van Halen recordings to completion rather than performing as a replacement for the late guitar legend. Lukather explained that he is working with Alex Van Halen on unreleased, amazing, unfinished tracks. Eddie is playing bass overdubbing on other material. “I can’t say too much, because I, you know, signed the thing. I mean, I’m not gonna say anything that Alex hasn’t said. Al is the boss,” Lukather stated.
When asked about speculation that he might step into Eddie’s shoes, Lukather was emphatic in dismissing the notion. “Anybody to think that I was going to walk in and be Eddie Van Halen must have been high or something like that. I mean, I could think of five guys that are more qualified, including his own son, Wolf. But that’s not needed,” he said. He acknowledged Wolfgang Van Halen’s superior qualifications while explaining why such a replacement was never part of the plan.
The project represents a significant archival undertaking that has been in development for some time. Alex Van Halen has been preparing a collection of approximately three to four full albums of completely finished tracks that Eddie recorded before his death in 2020. These recordings contain full songs rather than mere fragments or rough sketches. When Lukather first heard the material, he was genuinely stunned by its quality. He reportedly asked Alex, “How come you didn’t use these!?” The guitarist has since guaranteed that the unreleased music represents Eddie’s best work. “This is not some cheap rejects,” he stated.
The reason these tracks remained unreleased for so long stems from a fundamental challenge that faced the Van Halen brothers during their recording sessions. No one could initially write appropriate vocal lines for the instrumental recordings. This is why the material sat in the archives. Paul Rodgers was approached at one point to potentially provide vocals for some of the tracks, though the current status of that collaboration remains unclear. The archival album is expected to release in the near future. It will bring these complete Eddie Van Halen compositions to fans for the first time.
Wolfgang Van Halen is currently on tour with his own band Mammoth VH. He has offered his full support for the archival project. Rather than viewing the release as a missed opportunity for his own involvement, Wolfgang has indicated that he will help in any way he can. He wants to ensure the album reaches completion and sees proper release. This collaborative spirit among the Van Halen family members underscores the significance of preserving Eddie’s musical legacy. The unreleased recordings represent a substantial body of finished work that has never been heard by the public.
