Toto: The Gospel according to Luke
Toto’s unabashed guitarist Steve Lukather talks about working with Michael Jackson, the state of the music industry, and his dislike of mayonnaise.
Though they’ve seemingly been a scapegoat for music journalists since their inception and they’ll likely never have a crack at entering the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame, few ensembles in the history of recorded music have individually or collectively had such a presence in the industry than the members of Toto. As individuals, the band members have performed on over 5000 albums that together amass sales of over half a billion. This list includes the number one selling album of all time, Thriller. After reforming in 2010, in part to help band mate Mike Porcaro who suffers from ALS, the band has enjoyed a steady stream of tours and a best selling DVD titled 35th Anniversary Tour- Live In Poland. This summer finds the band working on a new album, due out next year, and a tour with Michael McDonald that hits the Fox Theatre on Fri., Aug. 22. The band’s unabashed guitarist Steve Lukather, aka “Luke,” has been there through it all, and talked to CL about the tour, session work, the state of the music industry, and his dislike of mayonnaise.
Are you guys ready for the tour?
Well, we’re getting ready right now. We’re working on the album right now. I finished Ringo like three days ago. And I went right in the studio on Monday and did some vocals and a solo on the last tune I had to do. Except for one vocal thing I’m done with all my stuff on the record. Now we’re getting together today to make a point list of everything that’s left to do. We’re very excited about it, it’s a pretty cool record man (laughts), if I may say so myself. I’m not tugging on my own cock right now. We’ve been working on this for months now on and off taking our time with it. Trying to do something that we consider a personal best. I don’t know, you guys will be the judge, people that like our music will. But it’s very exciting, David Hungate, our original bass player is coming into town this weekend. He’s gonna play on a couple of the new tracks and then we start rehearsals next week and we’re outta here, man.
You’ve been working on a book about all the session work you’ve done. How’s that coming along?
I put it on hold, bro, because it’s going to have a different ending. Everything’s changed. Everything in my life has changed. You have to understand this is a huge endeavor to do that. I’m not just a guy in a band that had a career. There’s a lot of records that I did and I’m not going to write the tell all dirty laundry book because what the fuck? First off, it’s the same story, and it’s boring at this point. Yeah, we partied, yeah we did this, we did that, but that’s not really my story. My story is all the records I play on which is a little bit more out of the ordinary than just your typical rock guy tone, tell all bullshit, you know? I played on a lot of really cool records in every different kind of style of music with the best of the best players. I’ve got a lot of shit going on, a lot of things have changed and changed for the better, so I think it’s going to be a happier ending when it’s all over. I think it’s something that I’m going to do later. Right now I’m already booked solid thru 2015 so there’s not a lot of time for it at this point. I’m living my life instead of writing about it. In the next ten years I’ll probably have it together to finish that, assuming I’ve got another ten years. Every day is a fucking blessing at this point. Warranty is up.
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On “Beat it” are you playing ... ?
I played every fucking thing on “Beat It” except for the guitar solo. I’m tired of fucking people giving me shit about that. I played the bass guitar, every fucking rhythm guitar, every fucking thing except Eddie’s solo. And I love Eddie he’s one of my close buddies but if you listen to it you’re gonna go, “that doesn’t sound like Eddie.” I don’t know why people argue about that.
I know that’s you. I wanted to ask you about the counterpoint guitar riff (sings jugga jan’t jugga, jugga jan’t jugga-a).
Yeah, actually I came up with that part. Michael had the beginnings of the germ of that idea and I completed the idea by changing some of the notes and moving that around. Yeah, that’s all me.
And that just came to you as something to throw over the main riff?
Well, he had kind of an idea for a rhythm thing but it was boring harmonically so I changed that and we worked together on that.
“Human Nature” has a very ethereal guitar tone and your guitar part is integral to the song. How did you get that sound?
That was just basically a DI guitar that I doubled. Me and Bruce Swedien came up with the sound with some compression on it. He had this really great reverb with the pre-delay on it and I doubled my part exactly. I came up with the part right on the spot. I mean, that wasn’t a written part, that’s my part, that’s why he gave me arranging credits on the record. It’s funny because it was an old Steve Porcaro song that was lying around for a long time, and then Michael cut it, and then I came up with this part. And at first Steve hated my guitar part, but then he grew to like it because it became a big hook in the song. Yeah, I used to get hired to do this shit. They go, “What do you hear on this song?” There’d be nothing there and I’d come up a part like that (and) it would become a very hooky part of the song. I guess that’s why people hired me all the time. I mean, you know, there’s a lot better guitar players than me. I just had a good sense of what to play at the right time, I guess. And sometimes I got lucky, let’s face it.
Steely Dan was a huge influence on you guys. Which one of their albums would be your desert island pick?
Ewwwwwww…that’s a tough one, man! Today, if you ask me, I’d say The Royal Scam. Just cause there’s such brilliant Larry Carlton guitar work on it as well as the great compositions and production that I adore. But every one of those records is a pearl, even the first Steely Dan record, that’s a great fucking record. That was part of our DNA, when we were in fuckin’ high school, we were basically a Steely Dan tribute band (laughs). It was me and Michael Landau on guitar and we had all that shit covered. And the band was killer to the point where Jeff (Porcaro) was in Steely Dan and brought Becker and Fagen to see us at some fuckin’ high school and we didn’t even know they were there. It was really fun! And that music, I love that music. I still do. I think Fagen’s first solo album, The Nightfly, is one of the greatest records ever made. I need a little bit more harmonic stimulation than just three chords and anybody who tells you that there are only three chords in rock ‘n’ roll has really missed the fucking boat, musically. I mean, I love a good fuckin’ Rolling Stones song, I like a good fuckin’ Clash tune. I’m not a snob. But there’s a lot more to music than 1, 3, 5, as far as options harmonically, most of which don’t even have the three in it, it’s just fifths. Great! It’s Great! I love it. There’s nothing that feels better than plugging into a Marshall and hitting a power chord, man. Moves the fucking earth, I love it! But I like chocolate cake, not at every fucking meal. Variety is the spice of life, my friend.
That’s why people who marry the first chic they fuck in high school end up miserable, and fat, and fuckin’ want to kill themselves by the time they’re 45. That’s the only piece of ass you’ve ever got, mother fucker, you kidding me?!!! And the world is full of people who sit in their cars driving to work hating their life. I’m not that guy! I fucking wake up going I’m the eternal teenager. As long as I don’t look at my driver’s license or read the newspaper, I’m going to live a long time. Like I said, I know that the warranty is up. I know that it’s running on empty right now, man, you know? You get past 50 and you’re looking at 60, and you go “Holy fuck, man! Where did it all go?” I’ve got two generations of children, my oldest daughter is getting married in November and my youngest son is gonna be four. And I’ve got two in between, 27 and 6. So I have young children that keep me young and my older children remind me I’m getting older, but I did a good job and they turned out to be wonderful, soulful, together kids and young adults. So I did ok, considering my insane fucking life. So like I said, I’m looking at the positives. I could look back and go, “oh, I shouldn’t have done drugs, or I shouldn’t have said that, shoulda shut the fuck up and did this, we shoulda done this, shoulda, coulda, coulda.” But everything brings you to where you are today, and…I’m having a great day, so fuck it.