If recent reports from the Netherlands are accurate, Alex Van Halen is working on completing tracks that his late brother Eddie Van Halen recorded with Steve Lukather, the guitarist from Toto. Last month, Alex, who was born and raised in Amsterdam, visited the Netherlands to promote his book Brothers and attended a Toto concert at the Gelredome in Arnhem. During an interview, Alex hinted at the project, 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."
Jean-Paul Heck, the journalist who conducted the interview, later asked Lukather about Alex's comments. Lukather responded, "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." A source close to Lukather confirmed that Heck did interview Alex and that Alex attended the Toto show, where he spoke with Lukather. However, the source noted that Lukather's quote was "not verbatim" and suggested that any further details should come from Alex himself.
A source close to Alex was unaware of such a project but promised to investigate further. Last November, during an interview about his book Brothers, Alex discussed the Van Halen archives, mentioning that the vault contains many fragments of music. He emphasized the challenge of assembling these pieces into a cohesive structure, stating, "We want to do it right. The vault is just a bunch of fragments of music. To put it together in a structure of something that holds up is gonna be a problem. And not a problem that can't be overcome." Van Halen's last album, A Different Kind of Truth, was released in 2012 and featured several re-recordings of demos from the '70s and early '80s.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]