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Alex Van Halen has offered new details on a new album featuring previously unreleased and unfinished Van Halen material.
In a new interview with Brazilian YouTube channel KazaGastão, Alex said he’s aware of the demand for archival Van Halen material, but didn’t want to release it in an “embryonic” or unfinished state. Instead, he’s teamed up with veteran hard rock/AOR multi-instrumentalist Steve Lukather to bring the songs — what was meant to be the next Van Halen album before Eddie Van Halen’s passing — to fruition.
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“Many people have asked, what about releasing unreleased stuff?” Alex said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “Well, we’re not gonna release it in its embryonic form because it wouldn’t make any sense. But I’ve been fortunate enough to have Steve Lukather, who was a good friend of Ed’s, and we’re working on putting a record together, but it has to be of the quality and the level of where we left it. Not just to say, ‘Hey, here’s some music that we made. If you like it, that’s great.’ No. It has to be the quality that we expect.”
Alex described Lukather as having the ability to “play anything” and provide “all the connective tissues” to finalize the unfinished Van Halen material. Alex was later asked whether any of Eddie’s guitar recordings would be used, replying in the affirmative.
“Well, these are recordings that were going to be the next [Van Halen] record, and that were stopped because [Ed] didn’t live that long… The drums are already recorded,” he said. “The drums, the guitar and the bass are already in there. What we didn’t have is a vocalist, and obviously the subtleties and the glue — we call it the glue or the spackle.”
Alex confirmed that Wolfgang Van Halen originally provided the bass parts for these recordings, which also remain intact. Now, Alex and Lukather are in the process of recruiting a singer after their original target — Free/Bad Company legend Paul Rodgers — couldn’t do it.
“Yeah,” Alex replied when asked if they were scouting another vocalist. “Luke and I are looking for somebody right now.”
He added of the singer search, “Music is not so much about music as it is about people having a shared experience. I’m 72. We gotta find somebody in that age group who was exposed to the same musical experience that we have. Otherwise, it doesn’t have the depth.”
When the interviewer suggested Robert Plant, Alex responded, “Robert Plant is brilliant. But if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And he’s out touring, doing his thing. He would’ve been an ideal choice. But nothing is etched in stone. And I really believe that the universe will work something out to where this project will come out the best it can possibly be. We have no other intent other than to have it come to fruition.”
Watch the interview below.
English (US) · 