Add Toto’s Steve Lukather to the growing list of Wolfgang Van Halen fans.
Lukather recently made an appearance on the podcast Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown and gave his thoughts on Wolfgang’s debut single “Distance”.
“It’s great,” said Lukather. “I wrote [Wolfgang] a note, saying, ‘Wow! Congratulations, man, so proud of you.’ I’m sure his old man is smiling down from heaven because I know how much he loves his son.”
“I was surprised,” he added. “I wasn’t really sure what to think, what it was going to be like but I was really knocked out. It was really melodic. It killed me how great his voice is – fucking amazing. He’s a very talented kid, I’m not worried about his career.”
Lukather, who had been friends with Eddie since the two met in the 70s, talked about his friend’s passing while adding that he’s been in contact with Alex Van Halen.
“I adored [Eddie]. This one really hurt bad,” said Lukather. “I’m in touch with Alex a lot, I sent Wolfie my congratulations, also my condolences, of course, but he’s out busy doing exactly what he should. Thank God he’s busy, promoting something that’s being embraced.”
Lukather was also asked to pick an Eddie Van Halen riff he wishes he wrote.
“I don’t know, man, he wrote a lot of great riffs…I’d be hard-pressed to pick one. ‘Mean Street’ comes to mind – everybody loves that one. I loved everything he did.”
You can hear Lukather’s entire interview on Talkin’ Rock below: