Toto: Still holding the line 40 years on
Remixing old tracks with new style gives the band the time to do the things they never had
Like most of the members of Toto, keyboardist Steve Porcaro has a staggering resume. Porcaro’s brother and original band member Jeff is one of the most recorded drummers in rock history. Bassist brother Mike, also in the band later in its history, proved a fixture in the studio and touring scene.
American jazz drummer Joe Porcaro, founder of this illustrious musical bloodline, recorded and played with everyone from Frank Sinatra to the Monkees and Sarah Vaughan to Pink Floyd.
But as Toto heads out on its 40 Trips Around the Sun tour in support of the greatest hits package of the same name released in honour of the band’s four decade run, Steve is the sole Porcaro playing. Mike died in 2015 from ALS. Jeff died from cardiac arrests at age 38 in 1992.
“Yeah, I think about it every day,” said Steve Porcaro. “I look over and Mike’s not there, I hear the drums and know it isn’t Jeff. I guess there is some survivor’s guilt, but I’m happy to be here every day, still doing what I love most.”
Toto has rotated its lineup many times over with numerous member changes. Porcaro is pleased that this version of the band includes him, guitarist Steve Lukather and keyboardist David Paich.
“It’s actually one of the biggest original lineups we’ve had in years and we’re sounding just great,” he said. “Plus, this time we have Shen von Schroeck on bass, who is a singer too. All these years, we had all these muso bass players and I always wondered ‘why can’t we get someone who can sing too, the Eagles did?’”
You get the sense in talking to the musician that this kind of nitpicking is a constant part of the creative process in the band. It’s what happens when you have that many “chefs” in the studio and on stage. But it certainly worked out well for Toto. From its debut single Hold the Line, through such radio staples as Rosanna and Africa, the group was one of the biggest sellers in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Its 18 studio albums have sales in excess of 40 million.
So why bother to re-record a collection of the band’s biggest songs, and three new songs? To say Toto’s albums were meticulously recorded is a gross understatement.
“Let me straighten you out about this, this is not a case of us going through the vaults and sending it to some guy to make it louder for compressed listening on modern devices,” said Porcaro. “David, Steve, Joseph Williams (singer) and I grabbed the original, unmastered tapes from Sony, sat in studio with the engineer and his assistant and re-did the songs. Frankly, some people may be a bit pissed at some of the changes to correct what were the limitations of the mixing at the time and how we tweaked and altered.”
You’ll hear a difference in the mix, he promises.
Where you won’t hear a difference is on the stage. While many of the members of Toto have left an imprint on the band sound — legendary English drummer Simon Phillips comes to mind for his 22 years of service — this touring unit aims to play it like the fans want to hear it.
“Oh, we could jam it out and do things differently,” he said.
“But people know these songs and what they want to hear and we want to give them that to say “thank you” for all the support.”
That said, the setlists are including some surprises.
One of the few things to come out of director David Lynch’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert sci-fi book series Dune was Toto’s first and only soundtrack. Out of print for quite a number of years, the album has experienced a resurgence due to being uploaded to streaming services such as Spotify. The Dune (Desert Theme) has been regularly included in concert as well as the previously unreleased Spanish Sea and Alone. Struck By Lightning is the third new song to feature on 40 Trips Around theSun.
“When I did my solo album, I put on a song that I’d planned for Toto that never made an album constructed from a great drum track with Jeff and a bass track with Mike and the guys loved it,” said Porcaro.
“We didn’t have a whole bunch in the vaults of unfinished material, but they found five things. We brought them in, spruced them up with re-written lyrics and did it all at my house with just the four of us and nobody else in the way.”
Writing nose-to-nose, Toto eventually came up with a total of nine new songs. Three went to the greatest hits rework. The rest will appear on a new album coming later in the year.
“We’re not just doing a 40th anniversary, we’re back,” he said. “It’s flowing, so we’re going. David Paitch won’t be joining us touring that album as he has some health and personal issues he wants to deal with. Corny as it sounds, at 60 years old, I feel like I’m just getting started and so do the rest.”
Along with a definitive box set, titled All In, 40 Trips Around the Sun and the as-yet-unnamed new album, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather dropped a new album on July 16. Titled the Gospel According to Luke, it’s another showcase for the guitarist who has played on thousands of albums. Porcaro jokes that it’s all about output now.
“Every bit of it you can put out there, the better,” he said. “And it seems like the technology is finally catching up to the ideas too. I can really get things done quicker, easier and that’s great because there is a lot inside here.”
Among the non-Toto work from the composer is his film scoring and work for TV shows such as the FX network’s Justified and collaborating with his daughter Heather on her debut album The Heartstring Symphony in 2009. One of Porcaro’s career highlights was composing the song Human Nature with John Bettis which Michael Jackson put on Thriller.
Porcaro’s daughter played a key role in the song coming to be.
“I picked her up from school and she had been getting bullied and was asking me why and I offered up the explanation of human nature,” he said.
“Later, during a break in recording Toto IV in the studio, I played around with “why, why, tell them that’s it’s human nature,” and the chords went so well with the lyric that the song came together. It wasn’t originally written with Michael in mind at all.”
Toto came out of a bunch of players who put stamps on albums and groups as varied as Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees and Ringo Starr’s All-Star Band, but always wanted to do their own unique thing. But has Steve Porcaro ever felt the rains down in Africa?
“You know, I have not, I would love to someday.”