Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen has been looking to complete a new album from the storied rock outfit comprised of unreleased and unfinished material from the Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers’ vaults. To that end he’s enlisted Steve Lukather to help flesh out the song ideas they were working on for an album that was scuttled by the 2020 passing of the band’s resident guitar god, Eddie Van Halen.
Speaking with Kazagastão, Alex said of the project::
“Ed and I had a lot of stuff that we made, that we made musically that we never let go. Many people have asked, what about releasing unreleased stuff? 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.”
Per Blabbermouth.net, Alex further added:
“…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. 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.”
Eddie‘s son Wolfgang Van Halen has handled the majority of the bass recordings for that effort, while a singer has yet to be locked in. Alex explained:
“We originally had plans to — I think I can probably say without talking outta school, one of the singers who we really, really, really wanted to use for the new stuff was Paul Rodgers, and he has a relationship with Luke and we grew up on Free and all that, but [Paul] can’t do it anymore. And it was very difficult for him to bring himself to say, ‘No, I can’t. Count me out.’ I respect that. I’m saddened and disappointed, but you know, that’s life… He knows he can’t do it — which I think is better than saying, ‘Yeah, I can do it,’ and then not be able to do it.”
Alex went on to add that the hunt continues, stating: “Luke and I are looking for somebody right now.” One candidate to throw his proverbial red hat in the ring for the job is Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst. Replying to Consequence‘s story on the matter today on social media, Durst stated, “let’s go!! I’m ready”.
let’s go!! I’m ready
— Fred Durst (@freddurst) February 19, 2026
Of course, while Durst fronting Van Halen songs is an oddball choice to begin with, there’s a unique shared history between himself and Eddie Van Halen that has taken on mythological proportions. Per the 2020 book, ‘Eruption In The Canyon: 212 Days and Nights with the Genius of Eddie Van Halen‘, Eddie and Limp Bizkit hit if off at a party back in 2001 following the departure of guitarist Wes Borland.
Limp Bizkit and Eddie eventually wound up jamming together, meeting up at Durst‘s house in Beverly Hill. However, Eddie is said to have soon became disinterested in the level of partying and drugs and such that were present in the band during that session.
Eddie‘s quick exit saw him leave behind his musical equipment and gear behind, and after seemingly being snubbed by Durst for roughly two days time in his attempts to retrieve it, Eddie formulated a new plan. Andrew Bennett, who authored the aforementioned book, stated of that showdown:
“Eddie once bought an assault vehicle from a military auction. It has a shine gun mount on the back and is not legal. Eddie drove that assault vehicle through L.A., into Beverly Hills, then parked and left it running on the front lawn of the house Limp Bizkit was rehearsing in.
He got out wearing no shirt, his hair in a Samurai bun on top of his head, his jeans held up with a strand of rope and combat boots held together by duct tape. And he had a gun in his hand.”
Bennett went on to recall Eddie‘s assessment of the situation, “That asshole answered the door. I put my gun to that stupid fucking red hat of his, and I said, ‘Where’s my shit, motherfucker?’ That fucking guy just turned to one of his employees and starts yelling at him to grab my shit…’
Bennett himself went on to say:
Eddie Van Halen stood on the front lawn of a residential home in Beverly Hills in broad daylight, smoking a cigarette while holding a gun on Fred Durst as he went back and forth from the house to the assault vehicle, lugging amps and guitars.”
