Van Halen Use ’80s Demos As Starting Point for New Album, Says Rocker Mark Tremonti

Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who recently commented that he heard Van Halen run through their upcoming album in its entirety, is now revealing more details about the impending disc.

Tremonti, who is a good friend of VH bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, says what he heard the band rehearsing in its 5150 studio reminded him of Van Halen's "old-school" sound.

"What makes it so great is that they took what they could from all their old demos back in the ’80s and pretty much did what they could to create songs out of old ideas, so it sounds like vintage Van Halen," divulged Tremonti to Ross Ford's morning radio show on Colorado's 94.3 KILO. "Musically, it sounds in the [early '80s] era. I didn’t hear any vocals -- David [Lee Roth] was not there. It was just the three of them and the music sounded like very authentic, old-school Van Halen."

Tremonti also says that Eddie Van Halen goofed around with him when he was in the studio. "I remember commenting on Wolfgang’s bass parts … I said, 'Man, that was a great chordal thing you did at the end there.' And then Eddie looked at me and said, 'How was my part?' [I said], 'Dude, you're Eddie Van Halen. Your part is incredible every single time!' He was very, very nice. I couldn’t have had a better experience."

Listen to Mark Tremonti Discuss Van Halen's New Album With Ross Ford: