G3 – Steve Lukather

In addition to being the driving force of Toto for 35 years, Steve Lukather has also carved out a very impressive and strong careers as a solo artist. Add to that the fact that we are talking about a man that has played on over 1500 records as a session artist over that time and even then you are only really scratching the surface as to the influence Steve Lukather has had on the greater musical landscape.

On the back of his latest album ‘All’s Well That End Well, and visiting Australia as part of the G3 tour with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Metal Obsession’s Nick Tevelis had the honour of spending some time with one of the most prolific and influential musicians that has visited these shores.

Metal Obsession: Being out here with G3. How have you found the Australian audience response and reaction to it so far in the tour?

Steve Lukather: Really it was very humbling to have even been asked. Joe [Satriani] and Steve [Vai] and I go back decades since we have been friends. I mean, Im a fan I have to say. It’s takes a lot of nuts to get up and jam on stage with those guys. They’re the highest level that there is and these people want to put these terms on everybody like “what kind of guitar player are they, shred, etc”. What does “shred” even mean? To me, that’s a little kid that sits in his room just noodling away and doesn’t really understand what music is. You can’t say that about Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

These guys are really deep, deep, musicians, who are coming from a deep place and, yes they have an amazing facility but that doesn’t lessen their impact and soul. To me, as a lifelong musician I’m moved by their music and they were kind enough to invite me along on this journey. To even stand on the same stage in the G3 spot where so many legendary guitar players at the top of their game like Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, Andy Timmons. You can see there are no slouches in there and I’m a wild-card I’m not an obvious choice.

It’s like the rock n roll Hall of Fame where they put in the Beatles and the Stones and everybody like that in and then you go “we’ll okay what else we have got out there?”. I think Joe’s really a smart person and he chooses wisely depending on the market. For me, I’ve never been down here as a solo artist and I think the people down here would be more receptive to what I do than say people in the United States who would probably beat the shit out of me for getting up there with these guys [laugh].

I tell ya, I was a little nervous at first to be quite honest with you, but after the first show I’m feeling comfortable right now. I’m having fun with it and it’s not like it’s a competition. I wish people would not think that it would be because, I would lose (laughs), but there’s a lot of love in the room. We’re having so much fun hanging out and sharing the experiences and getting to know each other even on a deeper level because you really get to know people when you’re travelling with them. We’re having FUN. I’m an older guy now. I don’t want to win the race; I just want to be in it.

Metal Obsession: Exactly right. It’s like that old situation where you don’t really know your girlfriend until you marry her!

Steve Lukather: [laughs] Exactly man, you did what Im saying?

Metal Obsession: Yeah, Im married so I know exactly where you’re coming from.

Steve Lukather: [laughs] I’m  a 2-time loser bro!

Metal Obsession::You say you’re a big fan of Satch and Vai, but I bet if I asked that same question to them. They’d say the exact same thing about you and them being fans of your work.

Steve Lukather: Yeah, there’s a mutual love thing going on there. We all respect each other I mean, he [Joe] wouldn’t have asked me if he didn’t think I could do it because it would make him look stupid and I certainly wanted to bring my best game and be the best “me” I could be. Even with my choice of material for the tour I was like “Mmm do a short set, let’s try and show a few different sides and make the most impact” because what’s happening is a lot of young kids don’t know my work with Toto.

They are like “who’s this guy”. It’s even more so down here because in Europe, we’re pretty big and been around since the 80’s so they know me but down here, I get to go on first which is actually the best position to be in easily because I win either way. New people probably think “who the hell was that guy, he’s pretty good” and would buy the new CD on the way out whereas the older crowd would already know me.

Metal Obsession: I heard a lot of that at last night’s gig actually. I saw a lot of younger people at the gig. Younger people and girls at a guitar concert which not so long ago would have been dominated by 30-50 year old men from one side of the venue to the next. I saw one guy in front of me when we were leaving the venue. He had his teenage son with him and asked him who he liked most and his son said “oh the guy that was up first”. The dad told him you were from Toto and the kids was like “really, he’s in Toto”…really trying to connect what he’d seen and heard and link it to Toto. He just turned around and told his dad “Man, I really need to check out this guys albums and the Toto stuff” and I just thought to myself “Score one for Luke…mission accomplished”.

Steve Lukather: [laughs] See this is like old-school touring. Like you know, an artist comes out and they’ve got this new record. I mean, when I was a kid I’d go see a band I like and if there was an opening act I really liked I be saying “these guys are really good” and I’d go out and buy their record the next day. So if I’ve done that to one or two people then I’ve done well, I win. But it’s been more than that it’s been great. I kept waiting after the first night thinking “man, they hate me. I’m gonna go out there and they’re gonna be throwing shit at me y’know? They’re all going…”you don’t deserve to be there with those guys, you suck…Toto suck…etc” but it wasn’t that way. It’s been great. It’s nice to be accepted

Metal Obsession: Yeah I saw it last night and was really pleased in how you went over and the reaction but I was thinking with the short set you get to play on this G3 jaunt how does it bode for a full-blown solo tour. Have you thought about doing that down here?

Steve Lukather: Well, this is my first time here as a solo artist and so far things have gone well. I mean for me, this was (for me) putting my feet in the water and apparently Im making some headway here so I think after my next album comes out next year, a return trip for me as a solo artist playing in some smaller club type dates is a reality. At least, I’m hoping so!

Metal Obsession:  Fantastic! I hope that happens too. We just touched on your solo albums so I want to ask about the latest album (All’s Well That Ends Well). Firstly, thanks for releasing that album. Finally it’s good to hear something get released that comes from the heart and has some soul in it not like a lot of this rubbish we get forced down our throats nowadays by the mainstream media. Really, thanks for releasing it. I for one really appreciate it.

Steve Lukather: I’m trying man. I mean I was going through a really bad time when I wrote that album you know? Marriage falling apart but yet still having a kid, losing my mother, I was getting healthy again. The key to life is being healthy because at my age you hear about these people dropping dead and stuff from too much partying. I mean, I used to party too man. Drink almost got the best of me because I was so unhappy in other aspects of my life and every night is like Saturday night when you go on the road. As you get older you can’t metabolize all that shit and it was affecting me physically, mentally and kind of eating away at my soul so I gave up smoking cigarettes and drinking on the same day 2 and a half years ago and Im over it and so much better for it.

Metal Obsession:: So two and a half years sober going cold-turkey! Well done man that’s incredible.

Steve Lukather: Yeah two and a half years. I didn’t cheat or anything like that. Just gave it up and it’s not a problem for me now. I was just done man. You do it long enough it’s just like anything else. It wasn’t fun anymore. It didn’t feel good anymore and I felt like I was hurting myself. It was like there was a part of me that I was repressing. I wasn’t giving it my best, I think my playing was suffering, my whole life was suffering. It’s like I got a do-over at 52!

Metal Obsession: It makes you wonder though coming out the other side a better person you think “I’m in such a much better place now. How much better would I have been all those years earlier if I did this sooner?”

Steve Lukather: Oh man, I can’t go through the dark side of regrets because I had more than a few. I think that even though I’ve done so much, I feel there were wasted days where I could have done more, I could have been better, I could have made better decisions, I wouldn’t have wasted money and time just sleeping the day away and feeling like shit, and hurting my body and soul. I mean what the fuck was I trying to do you know?

Metal Obsession: It’s one of those things though that if you look back it’s never going to change anything or make it better and Im a big believer in that. All you can do is worry about right now.

Steve Lukather: Exactly man, there a song on the new record “you can’t look back, gotta look forward”. But you look back and you think there were some really fantastic hilariously fun moments. It’s not like every day was bad but after a period of time of beating your head against the wall you realise “you know what, this doesn’t work for me anymore”. It’s a young man’s game but you gotta look after yourself.

Metal Obsession: That kind of leads into something I wanted to touch on with the new album. I listen to it and there’s an honesty and integrity there where you can hear what you were going through at the time. It’s laid pretty bare on the album as to exactly what you have gone through but it got me thinking. Is there anything that’s off-limits for you? Anything that you wouldn’t put out there? If it were me, I don’t think I’d be able to touch on a lot of the topics you covered off on the last few albums especially.

Steve Lukather: The last record was very autobiographical, very painful. I’ve had people walk up me and say “you know that record really helped me through a really bad time because it said a lot of things that I was feeling or views about what the hell happened to the world”. I mean Jesus, what the hell happened to it?

There’s an overwhelming feeling in society now where everyone’s watching you, talking shit, reality TV’s called “entertainment”. Watching people die, not literally but emotionally on TV that’s entertainment? People suffering is entertainment? Have we learnt nothing from history? All these smart phones and things just killing people’s attention span to do anything is so limited. Everyone is so opinionated and off-putting and negative that it just permeates the world. You know…its like, “come on guys, let’s just be hopeful”.

Metal Obsession: I get what you mean. Driving here today I heard a heap of rubbish on the radio and I’m thinking to myself (on a musical front), how did we get from Hendrix, Zeppelin, Floyd, Stones, and all that kind of music to this?

Steve Lukather: We live in a fast-food society man. Why do people make the choice to go to McDonald’s when there’s a beautiful place to eat just down the street that maybe is a few dollars more expensive? Because everybody wants to do things fast, they want it now, and they haven’t got time for it.

See, when I was a kid music was a like a lifestyle. You would sit and listen intensely without any smart phones or computers. You were just like holding the album cover looking at it and listening to the music over and over and over again and just be immersed in it. You would listen to every word. You would listen to what they were saying, to the details of the production and you would learn from it. You’d wanna learn how to play it, discuss it with your friends, and maybe even argue about “I like this, I don’t agree with ya…I think this is the best track…how did he play that…lets work that one out”. Now it’s just background music.

We lived and breathed music, but now it’s become like fast food. I think people are starting to get tired of it though. Everybody is using computers and the same sounds. All of a sudden we are seeing it become the “producers” record and the artist is just lost in it. it’s just like “guys can we just stop making the same sounding record?” back when I was a kid, Yes didn’t sound like Mountain didn’t sound like Jethro Tull didn’t sound like Pink Floyd didn’t sound like Zeppelin or something. People were able to push the boundaries.

What I try to do with my music is take that integrity and put it in there. Im not trying to write hit songs anymore because I don’t give a fuck anymore. If I sell 50,000 units that’s great and I get to do what I wanna do without anybody telling me “I don’t hear a hit single, where is it? where’s that single? I’m not gonna make any money on this”.

Metal Obsession: But the thing with that is that you can live with your album and say “I did what I wanted to do. I gave it my best shot and this is the best that I could do”. You can look at yourself in the mirror and say that record is something you can stand by.

Steve Lukather: Yeah that’s right. Im doing that right now too with the new record. We’re about 7 or 8 tracks into my new album right now. It’s very much stylistically taking “All’s Well” to the next level. CJ (Vanston) and I are doing it together except the musicians this time around are different musicians. I’m using some guys from my band on some of it but Im also using Tal Oakenfeld’s on it, Chad Smith’s on it, Greg Bisonette, John Peers, Lenny Castro, Richard Page, so it’s going to be a little more eclectic but lyrically its around coming out of the fog of “All’s Well” and Im trying to be a little bit more hopeful.

Metal Obsession: That’s what I was going to go with next. “All’s Well” really was coming from a dark dark place.

Steve Lukather: That was the lowest point in my life man. I felt like I had lost my soul. I was sobered up and everything around me was wrong and I was trying to fix it. Mike Porcaro got ALS and it brutal. Just really painful things in my life. My mother dying on father’s day, my life unraveling around me and yet still having a baby son that I adore, my marriage falling apart…there was a lot of agony and negativity with lawsuits. It was like ENOUGH, this is getting ridiculous. I mean is there like a black cloud following me around? I’m coming out of that now man, I did the work, I paid the dues, I’m working hard at it, practicing and loving the music and just forgiving myself.

Metal Obsession: As we sit here today though you seem like you’re in a much happier place. That’s something that people like me who admire your body or work to date would be happy to see.

Steve Lukather: I’m trying man. I think people relate to it because we’ve all had our dark spots. It’s part of the human experience. If you haven’t said it out loud then you’re lying to yourself. Like I said, I stood up and said “hey I fucked up” and unfortunately being in the public eye that makes you a target. I was brutalized on YouTube with some really cruel mean comments.

It got to the point where I almost quit. I was so insecure about myself. I was thinking “everyone hates me…their all just making fun of me…I’m not worthy of any of this” and I went through the darkest depths. I really did think of cashing out and saying “you know what, I’m just gonna move to an island, that’s it, I’m cashing out, Im done” but then I thought “Wait a minute…these are a bunch of disgruntled kids or musicians that didn’t make it and still live at home with their parents or something…I can’t let THAT keep me down”. I have to be able to take a punch. It’s all a part of the gig. It’s not all roses and champagne you know but I’m coming out the other side now.

Metal Obsession: I just want to touch on Toto for a little. First things first and the most important question for me. How is Mike (Porcaro) doing? (note// Mike Porcaro bassist Toto bassist and high school friend of Steve is battling ALS much like Jason Becker and it’s left him paralysed)

Steve Lukather: Not good man. He’s paralysed in bed with a breathing machine. I mean he’s hanging in there and you can talk to him and he still has a sense of humor sometimes but it’s hard for him. You’re imprisoned in your body man but your mind is still sharp as a tack. I always tell him that people are sending love his way and it means a lot to him and his family. I pray for him to find whatever peace one needs and has to do because its brutal for us to watch a brother go down…and his parents. You know what it does to a second child? That’s just not fair. You’re not supposed to outlive your kids and watch them suffer. As a parent I would go “give me the pain. I will take this. Do not hurt my babies.”

Metal Obsession: That’s the thing. ALS is a terrible disease. I see what it did to Jason Becker and what it deprived him of. At the same time though (for me) there is no more inspirational human being than Jason Becker.

Steve Lukather: Yeah. Jason is a friend. He truly is a beautiful soul man.

Metal Obsession: Just getting back to Toto. Whats the current status of the band. I see there are some tour dates coming up in Europe. Are there any recording plans?

Steve Lukather: Nah we’re done recording. We’re actually in the middle of lawsuits because people think they own us and that’s a motivation not to record. We had a DVD that we’re not allowed to release, all kinds of cruel shit. We have to get out of these deals before we can release any more output and we’ve spent a lot of money and time on lawsuits and I hate fucking lawsuits because they’re not fair.

They’re not based on any reality, or “who’s right” and “who’s wrong”. Instead it “who’s more clever at bullshitting”. It’s maniacal. Still, with Toto it’s our 35th anniversary is next year. We’re gonna play a little bit this year in Europe and some in the US and we’re gonna make a big deal about the 35th and that will probably go on a couple of year (laughs). It’ll be a 35th year anniversary that goes on for 5 years!

Metal Obsession: Hopefully there are some Australia plans in there too because that last Toto tour was fantastic.

Steve Lukather: Yeah, we’re talking. We have new management. We’ve got the best intentions at this point but things change. Situations change, people change, economies change, a lot of things. We want to come back, but I can’t say when for sure at this stage. We’ll be back as soon as we can how about that? Also now Im back with my high-school buddies so we’ll see a different version. It will be with Joseph (Williams) singing, it will be with Steve Porcaro, David Paich, the originals so the sound of the band has gone back to where it started. Joseph was a high school friend of ours, Simon Phillips is back, Nathan East is legendary.

He’s a great fit, we’ve known him for 30 something years. He sings great. We brought back some of our old background singers…so it’s all real. Besides the hits, we’re doing some deep cuts and stuff that we haven’t done. We’ve been really really successful around the world with this and we’re helping Mike and we’re helping each other with people going through mid-life divorces and second families…so everybody wins. We’re having with it. I’m lucky to be so busy and have so many neat things going on.

Metal Obsession: We touched on Jeff Porcaro before, and this is weird timing with today being his birthday and everything. What was he like away from the band? [Editors notes: Jeff Porcaro was the original drummer in Toto and also one of Steve’s closest friends. Jeff died in 1992 aged 38 after an allergic reaction to insecticide he sprayed in his garden at home]

Steve Lukather: Well I tweeted today “I want to send a happy birthday and all my deepest respect and love to Jeff Porcaro…the most influential person I’ve ever met in my life”…I don’t think I could pay someone a higher compliment. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think any of us would be the same. He was a magical person. He had an aura about him that was like no one I have ever met and I’ve met A LOT of people. He was gracious. He helped so many musicians get started, gave so much love. He was revered, he was loved like I’ve never seen and funnier than shit! He was one of the few cats that could turn shit into chocolate cake, he really could. He could make anybody sound good and he did, often. Every time he sat down, there was a body language. There was a thing, a look in his eye.

There was a way he’d look at me like it was our own little thing like “Im with you brother”. It brings a happy tear to my eye because ….I can’t believe it been 20 years man…I’m looking back and thinking of the happy times you know. In many ways, if you’re gonna die, go quick as opposed to watching Mikey. Everybody dies and no one knows when or how. I mean look at George Harrison, gets lung cancer 20 years after he quit smoking. I could get hit by a bus, who the fuck knows. It’s all about how you live your life and his legacy lives on. It pisses me off when I see all these drum magazine with their “most influential” drummers lists and the guys that HE influenced are on that list and he’s not there. It’s like, people forget real fast man. The musicians don’t, but these smarmy assed editors and stuff like that, they’re young guys and “oh who the fuck’s that…oh that guy from Toto…blah blah..” They don’t realise the depth of this cat. It was beyond anything by any musician I’ve ever known. For me to say I knew him, he was like the big brother I never had, giving advice, he was class.

Metal Obsession: You just mentioned it, but that was the whole thing with Toto. I saw an interview from 2010 where you mentioned that the band (or individual band members) played on something like 50-60 Grammy nominated songs in a three-year period in the early 80’s and never really got the recognition you think the band deserved. In the interview they were pressing you and asking why that might be and you said you didn’t know. Being a few years down the track now, have you thought about it anymore?

Steve Lukather: You know what, I’ve stopped thinking about it. You know what I think about? I think about how lucky I am to still be doing what Im doing after all these years later. Look at all this. When I stop thinking about things, good shit happens. I can’t change the world. I mean, why’s the world fucked up? Why doesn’t the Vatican sell a few paintings and feed Africa? You know, these are obvious stupid things. Guys, lose the artwork and help some people. Start paying taxes like the rest of us. You’re a church, and Im sorry to tell you but God doesn’t live just in Vatican City. He lives all over the world. I’m not gonna get into some political rant right now, Im not Bono or anything but on the other hand the old “peace and love” thing is something we’ve lost sight of and we need to bring it back.

Metal Obsession:: With your body or work, is there one person / artist living that you’d want to work with that you haven’t yet? It’s probably pretty hard to think of one seeing as you’ve worked with almost everyone I can think of!

Steve Lukather: [laughs] Im actually one of the few people that would have to take a breath and think about it before answering the question! I’ve had a chance to work with so many people at least on a session or something. I mean, there’s people like Peter Gabriel who I revere. I’ve had the honor of meeting him but never worked with him, but he has a great guitar player and his music isn’t really guitar oriented. So I would have to say, he is one person I can think of because the whole Genesis thing was really important to me growing up. I know Dave Gilmour, but we never played together. He’d be another. I worked on Roger’s (Waters) record. I can sit back and think of people but I never really did that.

Metal Obsession: How about someone from the past that’s passed away?

Steve Lukather: [no hesitation]Man, to jam with Jimi Hendrix would be the ultimate! That would have been the one cat. I never got to meet Stevie Ray Vaughn. I almost did because Jeff Beck who’s a friend was doing a show and I was hanging out with him and Stevie had split and he died soon after that. But Jimi would be the one. I think everyone would have loved to hang with Jimi Hendrix. Anyone that’s played guitar would say that would be the guy if they could hang and spend an evening with.

Metal Obsession: Something really off topic, but with this whole Mayan thing and the end of the world. Whats the one thing that you want to do before we all die on 12/12/12?

Steve Lukather: [laughs] The end of the world. That’s pretty funny. I’m one of these guys who’s got all these Egyptian books and UFO’s and shit you know. It’s like a hobby. “The end of the world”…that’s really egotistical to think as the little minuscule thing that we are. I mean look how big this planet is and we ain’t shit…”the end of the world”…Well there may be some truth in it I mean the Mayans just disappeared. Maybe they didn’t get to finish the calendar? I mean there’s something scientific about all the planets aligning but that’s happened before in my lifetime and we didn’t get thrown into the sun! You know if the aliens did come, or Jesus comes, or whatever, it might be a good fucking time for it to get everybody’s mind right on planet Earth.

If nothing happens, then it’s just another day. I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say that just to hedge my bet I’d sure like to have a bbq with all my kids and family at the house on 12/12/12. [laughs] Make it a date you know? I imagine a lot of people are gonna have parties! I also bet you right now, right about mid-summer, all the fear factors are gonna come into it just like Y2K was. There’ll be all the survival kits and I tell you right now…invest in survival kit stores [laughs]. For about 3 or 4 months its gonna be big business and then there’ll be the big letdown. I mean Nostradamus and things, the end of the world has been predicted for a millennia and if we’re gonna go I wanna be at Ground Zero…I’ll go “I’ll catch the fucking meteor!”. I don’t wanna live and see everybody rot and get radiation poisoning and all this shit. I’m gonna die right here and Im gonna volunteer to catch the fucking thing.

I’ve had a bitching life, Im done, Im tapping out! Im gonna catch the meteor because I don’t wanna live to see the pain and suffering of the aftermath….I’d say that the odds are in our favor that nothing will happen though. I still think it would be a trip. I think they are readying us for the disclosure of “we are not alone”. And I think there’s a big fear of that because it blows a lot of the religious dogma right out of the water. Still at the same time, God created the heaven AND the universe. If you go out in the desert at night and look up at the sky and see how vast that is and then imagine what you can see with your eye is but one grain of salt on one beach. It doesn’t even come close to the vastness of the universe which makes you feel really fucking small. It’s really egotistical to think that we matter all that much.

I used to talk to a Catholic priests back in the 80’s and we’d talk all about this stuff you know, and he would have his point of view and I would have mine and the one thing we all agreed on was this…..”We don’t know!” I read books about life after death, I’m curious about it because I really would like to believe that Jeff’s looking down on me today, that my mom and dad are looking down on me today. I FEEL them, I feel it. I had a dream that my father came to me, and he’s been dead since 1994 and it’s was so real. You ever had that dream where you see someone you loved so much and it’s like “it’s so great to see you” and just feels real and they look great and you just know it’s going to be ok man, don’t trip. I find great comfort in that. I’d hate to think all this was for nothing.

Metal Obsession: Is there anything else that you want to say to the people that are going to be reading this?

Steve Lukather: I’m just really, really happy to be down in Oz man as a solo artist and also just to say Hi to everybody. Thanks to Joe and Steve for inviting me and I hope I can come back and spend more time with you guys. Thanks for the support and the good vibe all the way along!

Make sure to catch the remaining G3 shows in Australia.  Tickets available via respected ticketing outlets.

G3 2012 with Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai
03.27.2012     Royal Theatre  – Canberra, ACT
03.29.2012     Newcastle Panthers  – Newcastle NSW
03.30.2012     Hordern Pavillion – Sydney, NSW
03.31.2012     Palais Theatre – Melbourne, Victoria
04.01.2012     Palais Theatre –  Melbourne, Victoria
04.03.2012     Festival Theatre  – Adelaide, South Australia
04.05.2012     Convention Centre – Brisbane, Queensland
04.06.2012     Byron Bay Blues Festival –  Byron Bay, Queensland

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