Guitarist Steve Lukather has confirmed that Toto are done making albums.
“There’s not going to be another Toto record,” the rocker declared in an interview with Mixed Straws. Instead, Lukather and singer Joseph Williams will continue to release solo material — much like they did earlier this year — while also occasionally touring under the Toto moniker.
“Joe and I can make records that have some of the cats on it,” Lukather explained. “We can go out and play as Toto. We get the audience, we pay off the people that sued us and we go forward.”
The legal issue Lukather alludes to goes back several years. In 2018, Susan Porcaro-Goings, widow of drummer Jeff Porcaro, claimed that Lukather and co-founder David Paich “refused to account and pay … for Jeff’s interest in the Toto name.” The dispute cost the band more than $1 million in legal fees, while also fracturing the relationship between Lukather and Steve Porcaro, Jeff’s brother.
As a result, Lukather is the only original member of Toto in the band’s current lineup (Paich is still involved as a musical director and makes occasional guest appearances.)
“I’ve taken a lot of punches over the last 45 plus years,” Lukather noted, explaining the decision to retire Toto from recording. “I can take a punch and I’ve taken a whole lot of them on falsities. But that’s okay. It’s behind me now. I let it all go. Peace and love to everybody. I don’t carry around any hate. I’m like, ‘Okay, life changes. I’m sorry.’ It broke my heart too. It’s like getting over a divorce, you got to get back on the horse again and do it. That’s what we plan on doing.”
The rocker added that he holds no ill will towards anyone, regardless of past problems. “There’s no malicious vibe or no, ‘I’m going to get even with everybody’ or anything like that,” Lukather insisted. “It’s such a waste of time. I’m 63 years old, man. I don’t want to play the games anymore.”
Toto recently released the live album With a Little Help From My Friends. The group has also announced initial plans for their Dogz of Oz World tour, set to take place in 2022.