Over the course of five decades, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter Steve Lukather has placed an indelible stamp on pop culture. Alongside his tenure as the only member of ToTo to never take a hiatus from the band, he has performed on thousands of albums as a session musician. Amongst these musical contributions are some of the most successful, influential and enduring records of all-time including Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Additionally, he released a memoir titled The Gospel According To Luke which was a global best-seller. He continues to be ToTo’s band leader, a long-tenured member of Ringo’s All-Starr Band, and a solo artist.
In June this year, Steve Lukather released his wonderful new studio album titled BRIDGES. Joshua Munday caught up with Steve Lukather for Australian Musician over a zoom call to chat about the creation of the Bridges album.
MORE ABOUT STEVE LUKATHER’S BRIDGES
In June this year, Steve Lukather released his new studio album titled BRIDGES. His ninth solo album, Bridges, could not be more accurately titled. Luke shares, “I see it as a bridge between my solo music and ToTo Music. The fact that Joseph Williams, David Paich and I wrote most of the record, and the fact I invited many of the old ToTo gang to come and play, co-writers like Randy Goodrum and Stan Lynch brings all this together. It also proves that most of my old pals and I are still great friends, and I wanted to do a record ‘in the style of,’ as ToTo will never record another studio album. This is as close as we will get.” He continues, “We still love writing and creating and recording together, and we will no doubt continue to work with each other on our respective solo works. It’s complicated, and at the age I am now, I do NOT wish to do anything complicated.”
Bridges presents deep roots and branches from ToTo’s family tree. Past and present members contribute on both the writing and performance side. Joseph Williams has writing credits on six of the songs, while David Paich does on four. Williams performs on all recordings contributing background vocals, synths, percussion or keys pending on the track, while Paich plays keyboards on five. Drummer Simon Phillips performed on “Far From Over,” “Not My Kind Of People,” “When I See You Again,” and “Burning Bridges.” While Shannon Forrest returned to play on “Someone,” “All Forevers Must End,” “Take My Love” and “I’ll Never Know.” Both old friend and former member Lee Sklar and Gov’t Mule bassist Jorgen Carlsson perform bass on a couple of tracks, while Luke himself performs on several others. On “Far From Over,” Trev Lukather performs guitars, bass, background vocals, and synths. Current ToTo keyboardist Steve Maggiora co-wrote “Take My Love” and performs all keys alongside singing background vocals on that track. Luke shares, “Some people think cause someone has left the band or moved on to their own thing that we stopped being friends or stopped wanting to work together. I think this proves that is not the case, and I wanted to make music with my old friends, alongside having a laugh or two. It was a lot of fun and it also has a sound that is familiar.”
Steve Lukather heads to Japan with Toto in July before more dates with Ringo Starr’s Allstar band. In between there’s a very special gig in LA at The Orpheum Theatre in September, a concert for the Ed Asner Family Center, featuring Ringo Starr, Stone Temple Pilots, Joe Bonamassa, Toto, Colin Hay and Hoobastank with each artist playing three songs with an all-star band. The best news though, is that there’s talk of an Australian Toto tour for 2024.
Check out Lukather’s Bridges album here https://lnk.to/SteveLukather
instagram.com/stevelukatherofficial
About the interviewer, Joshua Munday
Joshua Munday is a talented multi-instrumentalist with decades of experience in performing and teaching music. Joshua has presented hundreds of clinics and workshops for the major musical instrument brand Roland. He has also built a reputation as a world-class presenter and musical product demonstrator within the music industry which has seen him travel all over the world performing, presenting and training other presenters for the international NAMM Show in Los Angeles. Joshua is also a solo recording and performing artist in his own right.