Steve Lukather‘s Santamental, his offbeat 2003 Christmas album featuring guitar greats Eddie Van Halen, Slash and Steve Vai, is back in print after years of being unavailable. Available through Lukather’s website on CD and vinyl, it’s a uniquely twisted take on the traditional holiday album.
“I wanted to do something where, when people have all their Christmas music playing on shuffle at their Christmas party, one of my songs comes on and they’re like, ‘What the fuck was that?’” Lukather says. “‘Was that “Jingle Bells”? That’s not the typical cheeseball approach to Christmas music.’”
From the album’s opening track, “Joy to the World,” it’s clear Lukather succeeded in his aim to “spike the musical eggnog.” The song’s familiar all-white-keys descent down the major scale is reharmonized with rich, jazz-fusion-style chords and set against a fast, double-kick-powered, “Hot for Teacher”-style drum groove. It’s an appropriately explosive setting for the track’s guest guitarist: Lukather’s dearly departed friend Eddie Van Halen.
“We recorded this album in June of 2002,” Lukather says. In addition to Van Halen trading solos with him on “Joy to the World,” Santamental features appearances by Steve Vai, Slash, Edgar Winter, Michael Landau and Lukather’s son, Trevor. Through studio magic and song-licensing wizardry, it also includes a “Jingle Bells” vocal duet with Lukather’s hero, Sammy Davis Jr.
“It was like a 100 degrees outside when we recorded the basic tracks,” Lukather says over lunch in Los Angeles. “But Gregg Bissonette brought in Christmas decorations. It was him on drums, John Pierce on bass, Jeff Babko on keys, and me. [Co-producer] Elliot Scheiner kept everything real — all analog, no clicks, live to tape. It was mostly just the guests who overdubbed.”
As for the surprise chord changes and inventive arrangements that help make Santamental such a standout holiday album, Lukather credits one person.
“That’s all Babs,” he says. “I wish I could take credit, but I gotta give the love to Jeff Babko, legendary genius. So hip.
“Like with ‘Joy to the World’ — I told Jeff, ‘We’ve gotta fuck this up,’” he says with a laugh. “And then my dear brother Ed Van Halen came down. He was in retirement and hadn’t played the guitar in a while, and he was a little shy, but he came in for me, man. He wouldn’t have done this for anybody else.
‘What the fuck was that? Was that “Jingle Bells”? That’s not the typical cheeseball approach to Christmas music.’”
— Steve Lukather
“This was right before one of the rougher, tougher parts of his life — I’ve had my own bout with all that shit, so I can relate — but he came over for me. He plugged in, Elliot got a sound on him — which was easy — and then Ed said, ‘Okay, just you and me in the room,’ so I was running the tape machine.”
For anybody who might accuse Lukather of trying to make money using his guest stars’ names, he wants you to know that whether you listen to Santamental on your favorite streaming service or buy a physical copy, all artist proceeds help kids.
“100 percent of this money goes to my favorite autism charity — the Ed Asner Family Center — where my son Bodhi goes,” Lukather says. “We did a big charity gig for them not too long ago and we raised enough money to build them a new place. Everybody who donated their time on this record did so because they love me and we’re friends.”
From Slash’s fiery solo on the Lukather/Stan Lynch original “Broken Heart for Christmas” to the odd-meter reworking of “Carol of the Bells” featuring Steve Vai and Trevor Lukather, Santamental showcases the musical chemistry of friends who’ve spent decades playing together. That spirit carries into “Silent Night,” inspired by the Blow by Blow era of Lukather’s late friend Jeff Beck.
“When I hang out with my guitar friends, it’s always like, ‘Ain’t it a gas that we can do this for a living?’” says Lukather, who’s been a member of multi-Platinum pop/rock juggernaut Toto for nearly 50 years and lead guitarist for former Beatle Ringo Starr for the past 14 years.
“This album is a bunch of guys getting together to play some goofy Christmas songs. If you like that sort of thing, great. If you don’t, turn the channel, man. Go listen to Mariah Carey sing her Christmas song for the 10 millionth time. I believe that’s on a loop in hell.”
He laughs. “No offense to Mariah.”
