Alex Van Halen hasn’t released much new original music since Van Halen put out its final studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, in 2012. The band ended after the 2020 death of Alex’s brother, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, but the drummer returned to the spotlight in late 2024 when he released the heartfelt memoir, Brothers, that paid tribute to his late sibling.
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Now, in a new episode of longtime Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain’s Metal Sticks podcast, Alex has revealed that he’s about to begin recording a new album.
“I’m getting ready to do this record with [Toto guitarist Steve] Lukather and a couple other people,” Alex shared. “[I]t should be exciting.”
When McBrain asked Van Halen if he’d rehearsed at all for the project, Alex shot back, “No, we don’t need to rehearse.”
The 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer then went on to explain the off-the-cuff way he and his brother used to create music for Van Halen songs.
“There’s a lot to be said for spontaneity,” Alex noted. “That’s how Ed and I did a lot of things together in the studio. He would just play, and we would just take snippets of it, and then you elaborate on little ideas and make a song out of it. That’s how we were taught very early on. You know, Beethoven made a whole symphony out of these [musical parts.] … That’s it. [You take all these parts] and you make a whole symphony out of them.”
More About Alex Collaborating with Lukather
Alex then went on to talk about Lukather, noting that he and the guitarist “have a long history together.”
“[Steve] sang on a couple of records with [Van Halen],” Alex pointed out.
The drummer then explained why he was drawn to working with Lukather again.
“You know, we have a relationship,” he said. “It goes beyond a superficial contract and ‘I want you to do this and do that.’ We do it because we like something or we want to do it because it’s creative. … The moment you get into contracts that are very specific about what your role in the project is, it falls apart. … That’s been our experience anyway. … And we’ve known Lukather for a long time. He was one of Ed’s real, real, true best friends.”
Lukather contributed backing vocals to two songs that appeared on Van Halen studio albums. The first, “Top of the World,” was featured on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, which was released in 1991. The second, “Not Enough,” is a track on VH’s 1995 album, Balance.
Lukather and Eddie Van Halen also both famously played on Michael Jackson’s 1983 smash, “Beat It.” In addition, Eddie made some musical contributions to a couple of Lukather’s solo albums.
A 2025 Report Claimed Lukather Was Helping Finish Unreleased VH Songs
News of Alex’s upcoming collaborative album comes after a February 2025 report published in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf claiming Lukather was helping Alex finish a collection of previously unreleased Van Halen recordings.
Blabbermouth.net offered a recap of the report, noting that the article quoted Alex as saying, “Ed and Steve Lukather were very good friends and they often worked together. There is no one who can do this process with me as well as he can.”
Lukather commented in the same article, “Did Alex say that? Oh, in that case the news is true. Ed, Alex and I were very close for years. It is true that we worked on it together.”
Steve later clarified his statements in a March 2025 post on his Instagram page.
“For the record: Ever since Alex Van Halen dropped some we were gonna work together I think there is a huge misunderstanding,” Lukather wrote. “I will NOT EVER play a guitar note on a VH song ever!. Al asked me to help him go thru a ton of unfinished recordings of Al and Ed writing and recording that never saw the light of day. As of now [that’s] all I got.”
He continued, “The fact that ANYONE would think for even a second that I would play anything on this is ridiculous. I have too much love and respect for that and … I play nothing like Ed.”
Lukather then suggested that his role with the recordings would be “more as a co-producer or something.” He added, “I am honored Al would ask me though. [Let’s] see.”
Alex Had Previously Discussed the Trove of Unfinished Tracks
Alex had reported in previous interviews that there were enough unfinished recordings he made with Eddie in the vaults for multiple albums. Alex also included a previously unreleased instrumental track with the audio version of his Brothers memoir.
(Photo by C Flanigan/Getty Images)
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