Van Halen has completed work on their new album, according to Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti, a lucky bastard who claims to have been played the whole thing.

As rumors circulate that Van Halen might drop a new single for Fourth of July weekend, Tremonti spoke with Austrian news outlet Mulatschag TV. He talked about his friendship with Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen (editor's note: seen above, with his father Eddie comforting him about his young, uninformed taste in music) and how he got the chance to hear the band's new album.

Tremonti says that he first met Wolfgang when his other band, Creed, had the chance to open for Van Halen “years and years ago” at Madison Square Garden. Wolfgang was young, probably “five or six years old” on that day, which Tremonti remembers well because Eddie gave him a guitar.

Wolfgang later became a fan of Alter Bridge , which afforded Tremonti the opportunity to watch Van Halen soundcheck during their initial reunion tour. Already, that's enough to make any Van Halen fan geek out.

But recently, things got a whole lot cooler: as Tremonti explains, “I was in Los Angeles and Wolfgang invited me to his dad's house. I got to go to [Van Halen's] 5150 studios and watch Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang play their new record from front to back. So I was one of the only people who have heard the new Van Halen [album]. It was incredible."

While there's no release date attached to the new album yet, the band does have at least a few tour dates on tap, thanks to an Australian tour set for the fall. The release of a new album will, of course, most likely add a hefty stack of shows to that and believe us, we can't wait.

Update, July 1: Tremonti offered more details right here. This is sounding pretty good!

Watch Van Halen perform 'Hot for Teacher.'

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