Luke to spill the real reason TOTO broke up?

[The_Noble_Cause]

Luke has announced he is writing a book.
It will encompass his entire career, contain music biz anecdotes, and possibly shed some light on what caused the band to split.
Writing over on totonetwork.com, Luke left this cryptic teaser: "...but as no one knows the REAL reason I left and the band fell apart, I guess you will have to read it in my book."
Interesting.

If his colorful interviews and online exchanges are any indication, this should make for a highly entertaining read.
And no, as best as I can tell, this is not another practical joke on the order of Paich becoming a tranny.

Luke talks further about the book here -

http://totonetwork.com/forums/band/stev ... our-book...
http://totonetwork.com/forums/band/stev ... book-steve
http://totonetwork.com/forums/general/a ... uper-group

[Ehwmatt]

Great, I can't wait to read that - just as interesting as the Toto stuff will be accounts of all the sessions and people he has played with and helped out over the years

[WalrusOct9]

Will definitely be worth a read. Luke is always entertaining in interviews and online (and in person), so I hope that all carries over into whatever he writes. It'd be nice to see him do something completely unfiltered...he tends to online but when you're actually publishing a legitimate book, there's a lot more eyes reading over what you put out.

[JohnH]

Ok I don't get it. He's already been very open and explained the reasons he split. Sick of the band- his high school mates gone, Mike departing, business issues, tired of Hold the Line and he can make more money on his own without 10 trucks driving around Europe. We already know the reasons, Maybe by "nobody" he means the average rock fan or rock dj- who don't come on these boards every five seconds.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Ok I don't get it. He's already been very open and explained the reasons he split. Sick of the band- his high school mates gone, Mike departing, business issues, tired of Hold the Line and he can make more money on his own without 10 trucks driving around Europe. We already know the reasons, Maybe by "nobody" he means the average rock fan or rock dj- who don't come on these boards every five seconds.

Maybe...or maybe not.
Luke has asked fans not to speculate, but when he drops teasers like that, it's almost an open invitation.
My guess is Bobby's deteriorating voice was a big factor.
That, or the band scored a Walmart deal like Foreigner and Journey and Luke simply refused to sell his soul.
For purely selfish reasons, as a fan, I can't agree with Luke's decision, but I DO respect it.

[JohnH]

With Mike gone- and not able to ever return I think the band has run it's course. They went out on top with one of the greatest albums ever put out- Falling in Between. Luke is like Neal Schon and pretty much spills the beans, unless there is an additional reason besides the ones above I already listed from his online statements last year.

[WalrusOct9]

I was very saddened by the news, but I can't blame him. They achieved as much as they could, and were unlikely to put out a better late-period LP than Falling In Between, and they all knew it.

I imagine everyone else in the band wanted to keep going, since they have much less clear paths than Luke's post-Toto...Bobby made a few little-known solo albums, but really, Lukather was the only one who had the pieces in place to jump straight to a solo career (established fan-base, trusted collaborators, etc), but I totally understand his position to not want to run Toto into the ground without most of the original crew.


It is a shame the rumored 30th anniversary tour never happened...would've been nice to get the original lineup back together with Joseph and Bobby (as was rumored) one last time.

[TotoFan77]

This post has been deleted.

[WalrusOct9]

I think it was just an idea being discussed. I think the original plan was for the FIB tour to end, and the band to regroup in 2008 for a 30th Anniv. tour....however, the FIB tour just kept going to the point where the principles (Luke, at least, if not the rest) seemed to lose interest in the idea.

[Brett]

The tour was certainly intended to happen (Fergie had signed up for it) but I think once it became clear Mike wasn't coming back to the band and Luke made the decision he did, that it bit the dust along with any other future plans they might have had. Still a shame that their end came with such an understated fizzle, but at least it was a dignified fizzle!

[Tomulator]

I wish SOMEONE would just come out and tell people what the hell happened to Mike!

Geez...isn't the fan base owed just a "little bit" of information when one of the integral memebers just disappears and is never heard from again? I mean, I respect people's privacy as much as the next person but, we really LOVED this band, Toto, and want to know what happened to Mike!!

[Andrew]

Mike's not doing so great....he has a muscle condition and cannot play. I think the guys just wanted to keep it private...any more than what I've said here at least.

[WalrusOct9]

Yeah...if you saw any of the '06 shows, it was obvious Mike was playing through a lot of pain. (Still sounded great, though...fucking trooper to the end) Really sad it's something they can't seem to treat.

[Ehwmatt]

Yeah...if you saw any of the '06 shows, it was obvious Mike was playing through a lot of pain. (Still sounded great, though...fucking trooper to the end) Really sad it's something they can't seem to treat.

I still love watchin him on the Amsterdam DVD... you could just tell he was having a great time up there. I'll bet that was the last time the guys had fun together whatever year that was...

[JohnH]

I asked his Dad at Namm and he told me what Andrew said- and more that I won't disclose here. It's very very sad. Mike is not coming back to playing music. I thank god I saw the FIB tour in Vegas- Labor day weekend. Had to fly there because of gigs.

[S2M]

I'll save you all the trouble of conjecture....

The music scene changed.....plain and simple.

Happens to the best of 'em.

Toto is not immune.

[steveo777]

I'll save you all the trouble of conjecture....

The music scene changed.....plain and simple.

Happens to the best of 'em.

Toto is not immune.

I'm not buying this. Toto today would be every bit as viable as Journey, who is still playing. Its issues among the band and not the music climate. Unfortunately some cannot go on as alluded to already.

[WalrusOct9]

The music scene "changed" about 20 years before Toto split up.