Rock band Toto transcends jokey reputation

Toto guitarist Steve “Luke” Lukather is used to his band being the butt of jokes.

Since its heyday in the late 1970s and early ’80s, the Grammy Award-winning group behind classic rock hits “Africa,” “Rosanna” and “Hold the Line” has been spoofed by the likes of late night host Jimmy Fallon, pop star Justin Timberlake and the creators of “Family Guy” and “South Park.” Even celebrity pranksters Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have gotten in on the act, releasing their own “Africa” music video in January.

Whenever he sees a Toto gag, “I laugh my ass off,” Lukather said. “I go, ‘That is just amazing. I can’t believe someone went to the trouble to do that.’ ”

But for Lukather and his bandmates, who perform Sunday at Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles, music is no laughing matter.

“We have a great sense of humor about ourselves, but we take our music pretty seriously,” the guitarist explained. “This is our passion. This isn’t about making money and taking a victory lap.”

Reached by telephone on tour in New York City, Lukather talked about what makes Toto tick.

For starters, he said, the band’s members are stellar performers who have worked with everyone from Barbra Streisand and Cher to Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs.

Keyboardist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro — the sons of pianist Martin “Marty” Paich and percussionist Joe Porcaro, respectively — were seasoned session musicians by the time they teamed up with Lukather, bassist David Hungate and Porcaro’s brother, keyboardist Steve Porcaro, to form Toto in 1977.

“It always cracks me up when people say, ‘Wow, this guy can really play’ or ‘Wow, this guy can really sing,’” Lukather said, pointing to the band members’ decades of wide-ranging industry experience. “No other band in history can say ‘We worked with Michael Jackson … and Miles Davis’ in the same breath.’ … We’re a diverse bunch of cats.”

They’re also a band with a rich back catalogue of signature songs. “We have a lot more hit records than people realize,” Lukather said, including lesser-known cuts such as “I’ll Be Over You,” “Pamela” and “Stranger in Town.”

In 1978, Toto released its eponymous debut album, featuring the hit singles “Hold the Line,” “I’ll Supply the Love” and “Georgy Porgy,” and earned its first Grammy nomination — for best new artist. Two follow-up albums, 1979’s “Hydra” and 1981’s “Turn Back,” failed to generate the same buzz.

Then came 1982’s “Toto IV,” which generated triple platinum sales on the strength of three Top 10 hits: “Roseanna,” “Africa” and “I Won’t Hold You Back.” The album garnered seven Grammys, including album of the year and record of the year for “Rosanna.”

“It’s the song where everybody gets to shine,” Lukather said, describing “Rosanna” as “a very trailblazing record” that served as a turning point for Toto. “It really features everybody at their best.”

“Africa,” in contrast, is “one of the weirdest songs we’ve ever recorded,” the guitarist said, but “definitely our biggest hit.”

“Toto IV” marked the last time Toto’s founding members would play together. Over the following decades, the band saw several lineup shifts while releasing a steady stream of albums.

Hungate left the band in 1982, ushering in bassist Mike Porcaro as his longtime replacement. (Porcaro died in March due to complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Hungate rejoined Toto in 2014 but has since departed again.)

Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992. And Paich and Lukather both took breaks from Toto before joining forces once more in 2009.

Meanwhile, the band cycled through a series of lead singers, including Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen and Joseph Williams, who first joined Toto in 1986 and reunited with the band for good in 2010.

Now, Lukather said, Toto is back on tour and better than ever.

“We like to think of ourselves as the gift that keeps on giving,” Lukather said.

As such, he said, it’s essential that the band keep writing and recording new material on a regular basis. “If all we did is go out and play the hits and nothing but the hits, we probably wouldn’t be together 40 years later,” Lukather said.

“We all still get up and practice our instruments,” the guitarist said. “(And) writing is just as important as practicing. If you stop doing it, you lose the muscle. … You become stagnant as a human being.”

“We’re not driving around in fast cars and going to clubs and (having sex with) girls. We’re not that age,” Lukather said, so Toto’s newer songs don’t reflect those themes. “We’re writing about relevant things from our hearts and not just cheesy love songs.”

That said, he added, “We’re not shouting politics at people. We want to take you away for two hours and make you forget about all that.”

At Saturday’s concert, the last show of Toto’s current tour, the band will play a blend of new songs and old favorites. “It’s a well-paced, well-balanced set of hits, deep cuts and a few surprises,” Lukather said.

“We’re going to give it our all. We’re bringing you the best show of the tour,” he said. And that’s no joke.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 10:41 AM with the headline "Rock band Toto transcends jokey reputation."