They might have achieved huge commercial success and been respected for their high levels of musicianship, but Toto were never the epitome of cool. However, in the streaming and social media age, cool is whatever the people want it to be, and with their songs now being streamed three million times a day on Spotify alone, the Toto business is booming.
Now, in an interview with Australian TV show The Project, guitarist Steve Lukather has been reflecting on how it feels to have their music being appreciated by such a huge number of younger fans.
“It’s a demented thought but at the same time it’s kinda cool to think that people around the world like our music that we wrote in North Hollywood when we were much younger,” he says.
The gateway for many of Toto’s new listeners is, of course, Africa, but Lukather says that he has no idea how that song became such a huge hit and has remained so popular.
“Ask anybody who’s ever written a hit song. If you knew how to do it you’d do it every time,” he admits. “Some you’re sure are going to be a hit are not. Like, in the case of Africa I was like, ‘There’s no way. Are you kidding me? Listen to these lyrics.’ We laugh about it now but it’s been very good to us, and if that’s what it takes to get everybody to dig the rest of it… that seems to be the case now. We got a younger audience all of a sudden for some reason, and that’s kinda cool.
As for why these fans are so happy to snap up tickets for Toto’s live shows, Lukather says: “I guess they want to go out and see what guys who actually play without Pro Tools sound like.”
The silver-haired Lukather says that he’s noticed the change in audience demographic from the stage, too: “It’s been that way for the past couple of years, you know, and we’re so grateful for it,” he confirms. “I don’t really see a whole bunch of people with my coloured hair out there.”
Toto are set to hit the UK next month, before heading on to mainland Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and back to the US. “It’s been a wild ride, man, [and] it’s still riding high,” says Lukather.
You can find all the upcoming tour dates on the Toto website.
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