Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has opened up about his involvement in a new Van Halen project. The revelation sheds light on why Alex Van Halen chose Lukather — rather than Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen — to contribute to an upcoming album featuring unreleased recordings with Eddie Van Halen.
Lukather confirmed he is actively working with Alex Van Halen on unfinished tracks that include Eddie’s original performances. He also noted the confidential nature of the project.
“I am working with Alex Van Halen on some unreleased, amazing, unfinished tracks with Alex and Eddie,” Lukather said. “And Ed playing bass overdubbing with the other track.”
Lukather is bound by a non-disclosure agreement, but offered a glimpse into the project’s direction. He made clear that Alex remains firmly in charge.
“I can’t say too much, because I, you know, signed the thing,” he continued. “I mean, I’m not gonna say anything that Alex hasn’t said. Al is the boss.”
Addressing the question of why he was selected over Wolfgang or other more technically comparable guitarists, Lukather was candid about his own role and limitations.
“Anybody to think that I was going to walk in and be Eddie Van Halen must have been high or something like that,” he said. “I mean, I could think of five guys that are more qualified, including his own son, Wolf. But that’s not needed.”
The full picture of the project is more nuanced than Lukather’s comments alone suggest. His role is not that of a replacement guitarist for Eddie. He serves as a co-producer and trusted creative partner helping Alex shape the material into a releasable album.
Lukather has been emphatic that he will not be playing a single guitar note on any Van Halen song. His involvement is purely curatorial. He is helping Alex navigate a vault of recordings that reportedly contains enough material for three or four albums in various stages of completion. These are not rough demos or discarded ideas. They are fully realized tracks featuring Eddie and Alex performing at the height of their abilities, originally intended to serve as the follow-up to the band’s 2012 album A Different Kind of Truth.
Wolfgang Van Halen is, in fact, part of the project. Alex confirmed that Wolfgang recorded bass on the tracks, making him an integral contributor to the recordings. The album features Eddie on guitar and bass across many of the songs, Alex on drums, and Wolfgang’s newly recorded bass parts — a genuine family effort to bring Eddie’s final musical vision to life.
Alex has been clear that the material will not be released in an unfinished state. Putting out recordings in “embryonic form” would not make sense, and the final product must meet the quality standard the band always held themselves to. The only posthumous Eddie Van Halen material released publicly so far is the song “Unfinished,” which Alex shared in 2024 as part of the audiobook version of his memoir, Brothers.
Eddie and Lukather were close friends who frequently worked together, making him a natural and trusted choice to help steward the project. The pair are currently in search of a vocalist to complete the album, with drums, guitar, and bass already in place. No release date has been announced.
