Hold the line? I'm not 'Mr Toto', says Steve Lukather

When Toto guitarist Steve Lukather brings his solo tour to the Robin 2 in Bilston in November it will be in the spirit of a man looking forward, not back, after a wretched year,

.

It's that spirit that shines through on his forthcoming album, All's Well That Ends Well, a nine-track collection that stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of Toto's work, full of Lukather's trademark jazz phrasings and intricate rhythms wrapped around a core of solid rock.

"Well man, I've had a really, really tough year," says the guitarist as he explains how the album came about.

"My Mom passed away, I have a lot of friends that are sick and my marriage is falling apart. Life's just been a little more difficult so I started writing about my feelings.

"I was telling a friend of mine about everything that was going on and about the record and he said, 'Well, all's well that ends well . . . there's your title'."

Although the music on the album is resolutely upbeat, some of the lyrics take a darker and intensely personal turn – never more so than the songs Don't Say It's Over and Can't Look Back.

"I'm going through lot of crap but I'm hopeful that I'll pop out of it OK," says Lukather. "That's the point of writing music . . . that you hope it somehow connects with people of a like mind. It's tough times for everybody I know right now.

"I've bared it all, warts and all. I'm at the age now where writing about going to the club and getting laid and getting high just really doesn't interest me.

"I was kinda writing it in real time and there it was. I would just sit, pen and paper man, old school, and just write down what I was feeling and then try to put it into some sort of a song format after I'd written something of a diary."

He adds: "The music kinda creates the mood of the lyric. Like for Don't Say It's Over, I just started singing that immediately the first time I heard it. My songwriting partner CJ Vanston and I came up with that F sharp minor tritone change that works melodically and I just started singing that and he said 'Oh man, that's a killer, we're going to run with this one'.

"It's from a real life and sometimes it's even painful for me to listen to. I'm right in the middle of it man and I have a baby coming in January with the woman I'm getting divorced from.

"It's even weirder and worse than you can even imagine and I still love her and we're still friends. We're not screaming at each other or anything. We even talked about it. It would be easier if we hated each other."

So what sort of set can we expect at The Robin 2 on November 19? Well for a start, Lukather insists it will be about his own material and fans shouldn't turn up expecting to hear any of Toto's multi-million-selling hits, even though that band officially split up in 2008.

"I've got like 22 years worth of solo material to call from. I'm out here to prove myself as a solo artist. This is no side project for me," he says.

"I've done a lot of records, I'm sure we'll throw a few surprises in there but I'm not the kind of guy who's going to go out there and do Rosanna. I take that stuff very seriously. Toto for real should do that, otherwise it feels like a karaoke version of it and it cheapens the value of it.

"I'm really establishing myself as a solo artist outside of that. No-one who's come to see me solo in however long I've been doing it expects me to play Hold The Line or something like that, I mean I didn't sing it anyway. I have done a couple of obscure (Toto) songs that I wrote and sang and, you never know, some might sneak in.

"But I'm really in touch with the social networking thing (Lukather has more than 35,000 fans on Facebook) and what people say and the people that buy the records and come to the shows know what I'm going to do and what to expect . . . I'm not 'Mr Toto'."

Despite splitting in 2008, Toto did reunite briefly this year for a short European tour to raise cash for bassist Mike Porcaro, who has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Lukather explains: "Toto kinda had its end. When I was the last one standing from the original band it was time to move on. We did have a brief reunion. Mike is paralysed in a wheelchair. He's got medical bills, kids in college, the royalties aren't flying in and he can't work, he can't play. It's taken his livelihood away and the future for him is not good.

"So we helped a brother out and we had fun doing it. Everybody was sober, everybody was fun again, we let bygones be bygones, and we had 25,000 or 30,000 people a night and we raised a lot of money. Four of us are going through divorces or in a similar situation, so we had a lot to talk about and help and prop each other up with."

He holds out the hope that Toto may periodically get back together to hit the road.

"Occasionally we may reach out and do a few weeks here and there. We're not going to reform and do new records and new music, we're just gonna every once in a while maybe go out and do a few weeks here and there, to help ourselves too."

Apart from his solo and Toto records, Lukather in his roles as session musician, producer and arranger has worked on more than 1,000 albums, including Michael Jackson's groundbreaking Thriller album. Who stands out with whom he's played?

"It's so hard," he says. "It's really a matter of what style of music are we talking about. One minute you're playing with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Short and the next you could be playing with Eddie Van Halen.

"I've gotten the chance to work with some of my heroes in pretty much every style of music. When you're around greatness, no matter what it is, it rubs off on you. It's really good fun, man. I'm not your typical guitarist in a rock band that plays his 20 songs and that's it. I'm constantly doing weird projects and trying to stretch my limitations as a musician, songwriter and producer. I'm constantly pushing the envelope."

So does he ever take a break?

"Do you know what, man? Right now in my life it's better that I don't. Thank God I love my work and that I get great pleasure from it. I'm going to be doing it until they find my dead ass in a hotel room," says the 52-year-old.

"I never thought that I'd still be taking care of children when I'm 75 years old but that seems to be in my cards, you know. I've got to eat, I've got seven dependents and a 50 per cent tax bracket.

"I've got to keep running. I make a good living but I never get to keep any."

* Steve Lukather will play at the Robin 2 in Bilston on Friday, November 19, 2010. Tickets cost £23 or £25 on the night. There are also 25 VIP tickets up for grabs, costing 150 euros each which include a 30-minute meet and greet, a VIP pass for early entry to the concert, a signed, limited edition digibook album, autographed tour poster, exclusive tour T-shirt, and an opportunity to watch the sound check. For more details visit www.mascotrecords.com/luke/vipticketsshop.htm

* Lukather's album, All's Well That Ends Well is released on October 11, 2010.