Toto is preparing to hit the road in 2025 with Men at Work and Christopher Cross. We recently caught up with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather to talk about the tour and more. Steve told me right away that he has “Known these guys my whole life. I mean we played on all the records.” He explained that at least one member of Toto has played on every Christopher Cross album. Then he went on to talk about how for years now he and Colin Hay of Men at Work have toured together as part of Ringo Starr’s All-Star Band. Steve said he was inspired to do the tour because of all the “Yacht rock madness.” Steve feels this tour is a little different from any other package tours.
That’s when Steve made me chuckle when he said, “It rocks harder than it sounds.” He’s looking forward to it being fun and getting to hang out with his friends every night. As of now there is no concrete plan for the acts to do any jamming together. Steve said Toto was busy trying to put together a new set that of course features their hits but also takes from all their albums. He said maybe they’d do something toward the end of the shows. He quipped that it would be “Fun in the summertime.” Which made me suggest they play some Sly, referencing Sly and The Family Stone’s hit “Hot Fun In The Summertime.” Steve was right there and even suggested it could possibly happen.
Getting back to his comment “It rocks harder than it sounds,” Steve said many people will only hear a few songs and think that it’s a soft kind of rock. I won’t tell you what he called it here in text, you’ll need to watch the interview to get that comment yourself. Steve shared that the idea is people know only a portion of the catalogue and are happily surprised when they learn more of it in a live setting. He expressed how it’s “A pretty good bang for your buck. I mean all three acts have a lot of hit songs.”
Here we pivoted to talk about Steve’s guitar playing. We even joked a little about a viral social media video where Steve blasted his guitar outside in a Hendrixian style as retaliation for a neighbor who was very loud very early. Steve spoke about the Music Man guitars and Bogner amps he plays. He also mentioned having a lot of vintage equipment in vaults. He spoke about someday maybe taking that out on the road. He said it could possibly happen for a 50th Anniversary tour. He discussed how his rig was excessive in the 80′s, which was the norm back then. He said he uses a much simpler set up these days. “Just plug me in, let’s get this going on. You know what I mean?”
A while ago I had read that Toto would be calling it quits. When asked how they moved forward, he said it was a lot of the law of supply and demand. He explained there was a resurgence in their music giving them more opportunities. He also shared that there are a lot of times things are out there that he never said. There is where he added to the conversation about how this is real music all played by real people. He spoke about how they’re bringing a high energy 70′s rock show.
I took a little time to ask how Steve’s son Trevor Lukather is doing with his musical career. I gave him a little chance to brag on him which Steve took, and mentioned not just being proud of Trevor, but being proud of all his kids.
When asked about new music for the future, he mentioned a possibility of doing one or two tracks for the band’s 50th anniversary. Steve told me in here that he’s “Old school. I started my first band when I was nine in 1966. So, that’s all I know how to do.” See the full list of tour dates here.