STEVE LUKATHER

Massive in the late 1970s and ’80s, US rock band Toto has enjoyed a resurgence thanks to a new generation discovering “Africa”. Ahead of their Australian tour – Toto play the Falls Festival from Fri., Dec. 28 and their own side shows in early January – founding member Lukather, 61, talks about their re-found popularity and the current music scene.

We all have an idea of what it must have been like being massive in the ’80s. How wild was it? We had our first success in the ’70s with “Hold the Line” and that was when it started firing up. In the ’80s, it came to a head with the MTV era and the excess. There was so much going on, it was almost hard to get a grip on it. But these rumours about how crazy we were supposed to be are not true. We weren’t angels, but we were working so much you couldn’t be trashed all the time. There were some moments, but there was more work than play. Indeed, as well as being in Toto, you worked as a guest musician on countless albums, including Michael Jackson’s Thriller. What was that like? I’d worked with Quincy [Jones] prior to Thriller and he took a shine to me. I was 24 years old – the same age as Michael, and he’s a real pro. I didn’t see anything too weird. Those were weird times, though. How do you feel about “Africa” taking off again? It’s a great thing for us. Our value has gone way up. Our old records are selling out. Younger people are in the audience at our shows and are like, “Wow, these old cats can really play.” You wrote “I Won’t Hold You Back”, which had a new life when Roger Sanchez sampled it for “Another Chance”. What did you think of that? Well, Mr Sanchez forgot to get a licence or give me any credit so he got spanked by having to give me 90 per cent of the song. We got the lawyers in and I said, “You make the deal you want to make and let me know how it turns out.” I got the better end of the deal. Roger never spoke to me again. What do you make of the music industry today? We’re in a period of transition, trying to figure out the new technology with streaming and the pay scale. The artists are getting burned, man.