Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, a close friend of the late Eddie Van Halen, is currently working with Alex Van Halen on unfinished recordings the Van Halen brothers made together years ago. The drummer recently revealed that he wants to complete and release those tracks and is relying on Lukather’s help. Now, the guitarist has shared new details about the process.
Steve Lukather talks about unfinished Van Halen tracks he is working on
“Yes, I am working with Alex Van Halen on some unreleased, amazing, unfinished tracks, with Alex and Ed, and Ed playing bass, overdubbing once they got a track. I can’t say too much, ’cause I signed a thing, whatever. I’m not gonna say anything that Alex hasn’t said. Al’s the boss. I was asked to be his kemosabe man, to be his right hand, co-producer, friend, help out. I’m not playing on it, I’m not writing, I’m not singing, there’s no Toto fingerprints.”
“Anybody (who thought) that I was gonna walk in and be Eddie Van Halen must’ve 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. The point of putting this out is that it’s got some incredible Ed solos, playing live on the floor. This is live. Him and Alex playing, and then Ed would overdub the bass, and the idea was to finish it. But these songs were a little bit more complex. Maybe — I hate to use this word, ’cause it doesn’t really fit, but for lack of a better adjective — progressive in the sense of out-RUSHing RUSH a little bit… But it’s the same sort of thing.”
He continued:
“It’s in its fetal stages right now. I have heard some amazing things that need to be finished. Now, it’s not going to be a Van Halen record in the sense of what people expect, just somebody’s gonna be shoved in where David or Sammy used to be. That’s not the intent. And this is really where Alex is holding the ball. It’s his game. And I just wanted to help and be the third ear and maybe offer, if there’s vocal production that needs to, I know how to do all that. Sit with him and go, ‘I think that’s great,’ or, ‘I think it’s enough,’ or, ‘The mix isn’t quite right,’ or something. That’s my job. The material’s written. And the people who are gonna sing it will be involved in writing it, I would think. And I don’t know who those people are.”
“I had lunch with Al yesterday, so we’re talking about it. But it’s a long project, ’cause there’s more to it than meets the eye, and that’s really all I can say about it at this time. But I don’t want anyone to think for one second that I’m trying to put my stamp of anything. I’m there as one of Ed’s oldest, dearest friends, someone I adored deeply, outside of music. We lived a lot of life together. And then Al — Al and I have always been friends, but since Ed’s passing, I’ve sort of stepped up to be (Al’s) friend… I mean, we talk almost every morning.”
Steve Lukather continued:
“And I understand what it’s all about, and I have a great deal of respect for everybody. I’m friends with everybody. I’m not on anybody’s shit list, I hope. I’m Switzerland. I like everybody. I’ve always gotten along. David Lee Roth is the only guy I don’t know. I met him a couple times, and he was, ‘Oh, you’re Ed’s buddy.’ That was his thing. He was cool, but I don’t know him, so I have no opinion. And I love the records — come on,” Steve Lukather said in an interview with 102.3 WBAB (Transcribed by Blabbermouth).