Steve Lukather returning to the Robin 2 in Bilston

The Wolverhampton show is one of two UK dates to promote Lukather's new solo album Transition.

It's an album which sees the Toto main man in a much happier frame of mind than 2010's All's Well That Ends Well, which was recorded against a background of his marriage break-up, the death of Lukather's mother and a number of his friends falling seriously ill.

Now he says: "You come out of the fog and the darkness into the light. I'm feeling better than I have in a very long time."

He acknowledges though that some of the songs on the aptly-name Transition still look back on the past with some regret.

"Sure, you write about what you do and what you're going through and in some cases you write in the past tense. I have had a spectacular year, things have got better. I'm staying on that course but prior to that I was writing about my experiences, that's where they came from.

"Writing is a bit cathartic, for sure, it always is. But I didn't rush through it. I wanted to take my time with it because I did it over eight months, inbetween doing five different tours over the course of this year. It's been a busy one!

"It was a great year. Everything's good at home, the kids are great. I have four kids, the youngest is going to be two soon. He's great, I love him so much. He was born under extraordinary circumstances (during the couple's divorce), but I get on great with the ex now. The one thing I know for sure is there's nothing for sure."

In addition to his work with Toto, Lukather is a five-times Grammy winner who has played on more than 2,000 albums with some of the biggest names in music including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Miles Davis, Alice Cooper, George Benson and Rod Stewart.

He played guitar on Michael Jackson's milestone album, Thriller, is a member of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, and has toured with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and John Petrucci in G3.

One of the tracks on Transition, Creep Motel, is, as Lukather puts it, "dedicated to all the internet creeps, the ones that spread hate everywhere".

He adds: "Fee Waybill of The Tubes helped with the lyrics on that – he's got a biting wit. It's just about where people need to go, some Creep Motel. They've got miserable lives and they just want to make everyone else miserable so they write hateful things, either on Youtube or Facebook. And you just think why do people even bother doing this?"

Lukather himself has some 90,000 followers on Facebook.

"That's the positive side of it," he says. "Everyone's been really nice and I've seen the results. That's not a lot compared to some people who have millions of followers but I only started this a couple of years ago. It's an important part of the whole process."

The album ends with an instrumental version of the old Charlie Chaplin standard, Smile.

Lukather says: "It's a very important song. It's a beautiful melody and a lot of fun to play live. That's a very personal song to me. It mirrors what I've been through – being the clown but actually inside being really miserable. And my mother loved the song. She's not with us anymore so I dedicated it to her on the record."

He says he's really looking forward to returning to the Robin 2 following his last appearance there in November 2010.

"That was a blast but I think my voice was kind of shot that night. I loved the venue," he says.

This year also marks Toto's 35^th anniversary and the band has a big European anniversary tour planned for 2013, although as yet no British dates.

"We've got big plans coming up," says Lukather. "In the summer time through to October we'll be in the US and Europe. We're definitely coming back, with a big show.

"Last time out we only had a brief window and wanted to do a major city in all the different countries . Everywhere I go I get 'You'd better play more places'. I promise you there'll be some more shows than that."

So can he believe it's been 35 years?

"No. It's actually 36 years since we started working on the first album and if you count high school it's 40. So really it's scary how fast the time has gone. It's bizarre but also kinda cool at the same time."

Are there any stand-out memories?

"Oh man," he replies, "I'm writing a book actually. I've just gotten started with it. Not the usual sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, that's boring, it's all been said and done – although I did a lot of it – but I've got a lot of stories about all the records I've played on.

"So I'm kind of going back and thinking about all these things and am reminded of them. So I can't really give you one memory – it's going to be an encyclopaedia! It'll take me a couple of years. I'm trying to put 2,000 records in 36 years into 250 pages."

* Steve Lukather's new album, Transition, is out now. He plays the Robin 2, Bilston, on Saturday, March 30, 2013. Tickets cost £23 in advance and £25 on the door. Call 01902 401211 or visit www.therobin.co.uk