In June 2002 Steve Lukather started the recordings for a solo album with jazz-rock style covers of classic and new Xmas songs, (re)arranged by himself and Jeff Babko. The album (almost entirely instrumental) will contain two new songs as a surprise gift. It's not the first time Luke recorded Xmas songs. In 1889, 1997 and 1998 Luke contributed to A very special Christmas, The carols of Christmas 2 and Merry Axemas 2 (produced by Steve Vai). Check out the footage section for the soundclips.

Lukather in June 2002: "Well... I am starting June 17th for 7 days at the Steakhouse. It's tentatively titled A Lukey Xmas. The arrangements are awesome. Mostly instrumental stuff with a few vocals. I am having a few guests as well. Edgar Winter, Slash, Mike Landau. My son Trevor confirmed so far. There will be more and few big surprises. Elliot Scheiner is producing and engineering for the new label that he and Al Schmitt started and I think I am the first act on the label. The CD will be out late September 2002 for Xmas. A nice stocking stuffer for sure! Hahaha."

After the recordings Lukather decided to change the album title in Santamental. One of the special guests on the album is Eddie Van Halen. Lukather in July 2002: "Ed and I have been friends for 24 years or so. I got him out of seclusion to come rip on one of the Xmas tunes." Van Halen joins Lukather on a rendition of the standard Joy to the world that Lukather tells will sound a bit different than what most people are used to: "I did a version of Joy to the world that sounds like Hot for teacher or Space boogie. It's that tempo, that groove, and we re-arranged the voicings around the melody. Me and him go back and forth on some solos."

In the first week of September it became obvious that the original release date (September 2002) had to be postponed. Lukather in September: "My Xmas CD is being held till next year due to a distribution fuck up. I am bummed but you can't release a Xmas record in January, hahaha. There is no time left and no marketing plan etc... Everyone will have to wait till October next year to get it, but it will be worth the wait."

Lukather about the essence of the album in Gitarre & Bass, November 2002: "Actually it's a pretty funny album, with traditional standards that we really mixed up. I sampled, for example, the vocals of Sammy Davis Jr. and made a duet with him (Jingle bells). The album sounds like a Big Band based on Weather Report, Frank Zappa and Van Halen."

Lukather in December 2002: "I did my new Christmas record in 7 days - all analog on a 24-track, no click. Old school. Ninety percent of the solos were live, except for the guests who played on it."

Lukather in August 2003 (on Toto99.com): "Santamental is FINALLY coming out! It took some doing, but it's late October with a September pre-release so we can still make the Grammy cut-off. That is rather presumptuous BUT what the fuck, hahaha. There is alot on the table now and we are touring so much. I will eventually do another solo record and probably-hopefully do another with Larry Carlton as well. I am VERY fortunate to have so many oportunities and I will take advantage of them all when time allows."

Lukather on October 9th 2003: “The album was not my idea, actually. I didn’t woke up one day thinking I was fucking Santa Claus. Elliot Scheiner came to me with the idea and I just decided “hey, this might be very interesting.” He said: “We don’t want you to do a normal Xmas album, we want you to mess it all up.” I said: “What do you mean by that?” And he said: “You got to use pretty much songs that people know, but you got to do it in a weired, different way and stretch out on it.”