Alex Van Halen’s recent acknowledgement that an album made up of previously unreleased Van Halen material is in the works has sparked excitement among the band’s passionate fanbase.

In a conversation with Brazilian YouTube channel KazaGastao, Alex revealed that the bulk of the songs were earmarked for a new Van Halen LP that ultimately wasn’t able to be finished before his brother Eddie’s death.

Toto’s Steve Lukather is helping him complete the project, but vowed that he will not play a note of guitar on the album.

We know that Eddie recorded guitar tracks, Alex handled the drumming and Wolfgang Van Halen recorded bass. That means 3/4 of the lineup from the band’s most recent album, 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth, will be present.

However, the primary holdup seems to be who will handle vocals.

Alex confirmed that Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers was approached, but declined due to his own health problems. The drummer further noted that Robert Plant “would’ve been an ideal choice,” but the Led Zeppelin frontman’s involvement seems unlikely.

Surprisingly, neither David Lee Roth nor Sammy Hagar were mentioned during the interview, an indication that neither of the classic Van Halen singers will be involved in the project.

Why Won’t David Lee Roth Be on the Next Van Halen Album?

Looking at recent history, it becomes clear that the schism between Roth and Alex is far too deep to overcome.

In 2024, Alex revealed that a proposed tribute tour honoring Eddie was sunk by Roth’s refusal to acknowledge the late guitar god during the show.

“The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now,” Alex confessed to Rolling Stone, “was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig. If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’ And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f—n’ popped a fuse. … The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”

READ MORE: Van Halen Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide

Alex threatened to beat Roth’s “f—ing brains out” over the outburst, but the dispute never escalated to violence. Still, the drummer came to the realization he and his former bandmate would never see eye to eye regarding Van Halen again.

“It’s just, my God. It’s like I didn’t know him anymore,” Alex recalled thinking. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherf—er. It’s not you alone anymore.”

Why Won’t Sammy Hagar Be on the Next Van Halen Album?

Alex’s rift with Hagar goes even further back. In 2011, the Red Rocker released his autobiography Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. Within the memoir, the singer detailed how alcoholism had affected Eddie. In one passage, he recalled visiting the guitarist and being shocked by the state of his home. “It looked like vampires lived there,” Hagar wrote. “There were bottles and cans all over the floor. The handle was broken off the refrigerator door. There were spider webs everywhere.”

Alex was infuriated that Hagar would put such serious personal information about Eddie into his book. The memoir reportedly forged a wedge so deep between the musicians that Alex still has no interest in reconciling.

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Following Eddie’s death, Hagar expressed remorse over the autobiography. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart for exposing his dark side to where I don’t think anyone wants to hear that now,” the singer remarked. “[If I could do it over] I would only put the good of Eddie Van Halen, because he was such a brilliant, genius guitar player and such a great friend and a great partner — until everything went wrong, like everything else.”

Hagar claimed to have tried to mend his relationship with Alex on multiple occasions. He left messages for Alex following Eddie’s death, invited the drummer to be part of his Van Halen-celebrating Best of All Worlds tour and even publicly hoped that their friendship could be salvaged, even if they never work together again.

While Alex has remained silent on the matter, he did make the conscious choice to almost entirely exclude Van Halen’s Hagar years from his own memoir, 2024’s Brothers.

“Alex is not doing his brother’s musical legacy justice by not acknowledging all the No. 1 albums and some great music Eddie and I wrote together – not Alex – but Eddie and I wrote together,” Hagar wrote on social media in response to Brothers. “To not acknowledge [those] 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting and legacy.”