An Interview with Steve Lukather of Toto

American guitarist Steve Lukather is best known for being the sole continuous member of the rock band Toto besides being a prolific session musician most notably being involved on the recording of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. Lionel Richie, Richard Marx, Chicago and Donna Summer all have been graced with Lukather’s guitar skills on their recordings…

Toto, known to many via their worldwide hit, ‘Africa’ remain as popular today as back in the eighties with a new generation of fans discovering the band. Ahead of a long awaited European tour Graham Clark chatted to Steve on a Zoom call from his home in California…

Are you looking forward to returning to Europe?
We are all excited about coming back over there, it has been far too long. The fans are going to be in for a great night – I have assembled the best musicians I could find and I really cannot see anyone being disappointed when they come to one of the concerts.

The band seem to be having a resurgence, has that surprised you?
It has, this is something that you wish for – things are better than ever with the band. We performed some huge arena concerts in South America at the end of last year. We have been together 48 years now. I often wonder where the time has gone!

Christopher Cross is supporting on the European tour, how did that occur?
I actually played on lots of his records. We’ve been friends since we were kids. He is still attracting a new younger audience, which is good for him. The timing worked out well and he was available to come and tour with us, which also gives the fans a chance to see Chris in concert as he seldom tours in Europe.

Toto on stage recently, with Steve centre
image: Grahma Clark

Did you always want to be a guitarist?
I was influenced by a lot of English guitarists – Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton in particular. I eventually got to work with them both. I saw Dave Gilmore from Pink Floyd in concert recently and he was better than ever. I can call him my friend too now – he’s a great guy.

Have you any new music forthcoming?
The band are booked up all this year with concerts, plus I’m also working with Ringo from The Beatles in his All Starr Band. We might cut something new for our fiftieth anniversary, though the way I see things right now is that you can spend a lot of money and time recording an album then the day after it comes out you can get it for free on some of the streaming channels. People like the music, but they don’t want to pay for it.

If anyone is undecided about seeing one of the concerts, what would be your advice to them?
They will see and hear the real thing, there are no backing tapes. We give it to you old school; great musicians, great vocals and a good sound system. There are no gimmicks, we all feel like we are like a dying breed of musicians that have learnt our craft who can still perform at a high level. We will be playing all the hits and some tracks we haven’t performed in Europe for many years – lots to look forward to.

For full Toto tour details visit here