Steve Lukather Says Posthumous Van Halen Album Will ‘Blow You Away’

Lukather, co-producing the record with Alex Van Halen, says the unreleased Eddie Van Halen recordings are far from throwaway material.

Steve Lukather is co-producing a posthumous Van Halen album alongside Alex Van Halen, and the Toto guitarist wants fans to know the material is the real deal. Speaking with Guitar Player, Lukather described the unreleased Eddie Van Halen recordings as finished, fully realized tracks, pushing back hard against any notion that the project is a cash-grab assembled from studio scraps.

Lukather Defends the Material’s Quality

Lukather was handpicked by Alex Van Halen to help shepherd the project, though he is careful to note his role is supportive rather than musical. He will not play a note on the record, which was described as virtually complete before Eddie Van Halen died in October 2020.

His reaction upon hearing the tracks was apparently one of genuine shock. “I’m telling you, this is not throwaway shit,” Lukather told Guitar Player. “When I heard them, I said to Al, ‘How fucking come you didn’t use these?’ And the answer was because nobody could write to it. So if you think this is a bunch of throwaway crap that we’re trying to Mickey Mouse together to suck the dollar out of poor, unsuspecting Van Halen fans, it’s not.”

Finished Tracks, Not Studio Fragments

Lukather was emphatic that the recordings are not rough sketches requiring heavy reconstruction. “It’s not pieces on the floor that have to be snapped back together and try to Mickey Mouse something together that might be sellable,” he said. “These are finished tracks with Ed and Al, and Ed’s playing bass on a lot of it. That’s all I can say right now because it’s a much bigger picture, and it’s Alex’s story to tell.”

That detail about Eddie handling bass duties on several tracks is notable. It means Michael Anthony, who played bass on every Van Halen studio album except 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth (which featured Wolfgang Van Halen on bass), is not part of this particular project. David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar are also reportedly not involved, with the band said to be searching for a vocalist following a high-profile rejection.

A Passion Project, Not a Payday

Lukather has been clear about his motivations. “This is not about money,” he said. “This is about love of the guys and trying to help. I’m not gonna be involved in an obvious way.” He described himself as simply Alex’s “sidekick” and acknowledged he doesn’t yet know what the project will be called.

He also addressed and dismissed rumors that his involvement somehow positioned him as a replacement for Eddie in Van Halen, calling those reports “ridiculous” and stating flatly that there is “no need for another guitar player.”

Lukather is not the only high-profile guitarist to have been given access to Eddie’s vault. Steve Vai previously revealed he was made privy to EVH’s extensive library of unused material before Eddie’s death and was similarly stunned by its quality.

Context: What Has Already Been Released

The forthcoming album would follow “Unfinished,” a previously unheard Eddie Van Halen track that Alex shared in 2024. That release offered fans a first glimpse into the depth of material Eddie left behind, and Lukather’s comments suggest the full album will go considerably further.

What we know

• Steve Lukather is co-producing a posthumous Van Halen album with Alex Van Halen.
• Lukather will not play on the album; the music was described as virtually complete before Eddie Van Halen died in 2020.
• Eddie Van Halen plays bass on many of the tracks on the upcoming album.
• Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, and Sammy Hagar are reportedly not involved in the project.
• The band is reportedly searching for a vocalist after a high-profile rejection.
• Alex Van Halen released a previously unheard Eddie Van Halen track called “Unfinished” in 2024.
• Steve Vai was also given access to Eddie Van Halen’s library of unused material before Eddie’s death and was impressed by its quality.
• Lukather does not yet know what the album will be called.

The take

Posthumous releases from legacy rock acts are always fraught territory, and Van Halen’s situation carries extra weight given how singular Eddie Van Halen’s playing was. The history of posthumous rock albums is littered with cautionary tales, records assembled from demos and outtakes that felt more like estate management than artistry. What Lukather is describing sounds meaningfully different. Finished tracks, with both brothers performing, that were shelved not because they were substandard but because no one could write lyrics to them, is a genuinely compelling origin story for an album. That framing matters enormously for how fans will receive it. The vocalist question is the remaining wild card. Van Halen’s catalog is so tied to the personalities of Roth and Hagar that whoever steps into that role will face intense scrutiny regardless of their talent. The fact that the band has already encountered at least one high-profile rejection suggests Alex and Lukather are being selective rather than desperate, which is encouraging. Lukather’s credibility as a musician and as a genuine friend to the Van Halen family also provides a kind of quality assurance that a purely business-driven posthumous project would lack. His visible enthusiasm, and the parallel reaction from Steve Vai, suggests the vault material is genuinely exceptional.

Why it matters

Van Halen’s influence on rock guitar is foundational, and Eddie’s death in 2020 left a void that the rock world is still processing. A posthumous album built from finished, high-quality recordings rather than assembled fragments gives fans something rare: a genuine final statement from one of the instrument’s defining voices. For Classic Rock listeners, this is less about nostalgia and more about completing a legacy on terms that honor the music rather than the marketplace.

What’s next

No release date or album title has been confirmed. The search for a vocalist is ongoing, following what sources describe as a high-profile rejection. Alex Van Halen has been identified as the person who will ultimately tell the full story of the project’s scope and direction.

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