The Bad Company frontman appears to have respectfully passed on the offer
Van Halen almost had a new singer in the form of a recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee.
After previously denying that he was working on any new music, Alex Van Halen has now confirmed that he has a new project in the works. On January 2, the legendary Van Halen drummer broke the news to Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain on Modern Drummer’s Metal Sticks Podcast. Alex stated that he is working with Toto’s Steve Lukather on the project, plus “a couple of other people.”
“I’m getting ready to do this record with [Steve] Lukather and a couple of other people,” Alex said. “It should be exciting”
Recently, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that Alex Van Halen was working on finishing some previously unfinished Van Halen material from the vault along with help from Steve Lukather.
“Ed [Eddie Van Halen] and Steve Lukather were very good friends and they often worked together,” Alex told Guitar World in a March 2025 interview. “There is no one else who can do this process with me as well as he can.”
However, Lukather was seemingly caught off guard by Alex’s comments, and is quoted in the very same guitar world article saying: “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.”
While Lukather didn’t deny helping to sift through material, in the VH vault, he took to Instagram on March 15, 2025 to make one thing abundantly clear.
“For the record: ever since Alex Van Halen dropped some [news] we were working together I think there is a huge misunderstanding. I will NOT EVER play a guitar note on a VH song ever! Al asked me to help him go through a ton of unfinished recordings of Al and Ed writing and recording that never saw the light of day. As of now that’s all I got. The fact that anyone would think for even a second that I would play anything on this is ridiculous. I have too much love and respect for that and … I play nothing like Ed.. [acting] more as a co-producer or something. I am honored Al would ask me though. Let’s see…”
Apparently, there’s a ton of material to go through.
Speaking on a recent episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho Podcast, Alex Van Halen told the Fozzy frontman there’s about “three or four records” worth of material that was left unfinished by the band.
“I’ve talked about loosely, and I am rather superstitious, but I can say a couple things that I’ve mentioned before,” Alex said.” “We’re gonna go through the ‘vault’ and go through some of the musical ideas that were there. There was some good stuff in there. And you have to remember, when in the thick of it, sometimes the really great stuff kind of passes you by. And it’s not until you revisit it going, ‘Whoa, I forgot about that. That kicks ass.’ But that takes time. And you wanna do it right. I wanna do it right.”
Back in November, Bad Company was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Drummer Simon Kirke represented the band at the induction ceremony in Los Angeles, while frontman Paul Rodgers made an acceptance speech via a recorded video.
Prior to the ceremony, Rodgers revealed that he would no longer be performing at the band’s induction.
“My hope was to be at the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and to perform for the fans, but at this time I have to prioritize my health,” Paul stated. “I have no problem singing, it’s the stress of everything else. Thanks for understanding. Simon along with some outstanding musicians will be stepping in for me – guaranteed to rock.”
Now, as rumors continue to swirl, Rodgers took to social media to declare that his health is “good” – and he also revealed another piece of news.
According to a post on X (formerly Twitter), Rodgers was approached presumably by drummer Alex Van Halen about recording vocals for at least one song on the upcoming Van Halen album.
“To squash the rumors… My health is good,” Rodgers stated. “I feel fit and strong and I am releasing to perform on March 2nd at the Adopt the Arts Sound and Vision Awards in Palm Springs. Thanks to Van Halen for inviting me to work on a track with them, but I am in my acoustic, zen phase of life.”
Rodgers is one of rock’s greatest voices, and it’s a shame that’s he’s no longer in a space to bring the intensity needed for a Van Halen track. It would have been an incredible moment in rock history. Now, we’ll have to wait and see who Alex decides to reach out to next.
