“I can’t predict the future,” Lukather admitted, leaving the door open for more Toto projects at some point. “I’m not saying I’m never gonna play this music again. That would be stupid to say; that would be a lie.”
While the future appears hazy at best, Lukather was clear about one thing: "I can tell you that this version [of Toto] is dead Oct. 20.”
Lukather cited Paich’s health problems, as well as his own grueling touring schedule, as reasons for the band’s decision to take a break. In addition to Toto, Lukather plays in a number of other bands, including Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band and Supersonic Blues Machine, which features ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.
“This kind of lifestyle is way harder than people think it is,” he said. “They just think that we float around from city to city magically and live a life of luxury. And I’m not saying that we travel poorly, but it’s a burden to be away from your family 230 days a year, like me."
“Another bummer of our situation and why we’re calling it a day,” Lukather said. “We’ve had some horrendous litigation. Horrendous, horrendous, awful, mean, you-gotta-be-kidding-me kind of lawsuits, and we lost the suit. So it beat us down. So we gotta get away from this. We gotta get away from the whole thing.”
“I don’t know, man. I can’t predict the future,” Lukather said. “I can tell you that this version is dead October 20…We gotta take a break from all this.”
I work so much on the road anyway between Toto and Ringo, which has been a gas, but I need to slow down a little bit and enjoy my work. You know what I mean? Enjoy the fruits of my labor. I’ve still got little kids. I’d like to see them grow up a little bit. I’ve got big ones and little ones.
