Sometimes, to be honest with you, our lyrics were written a day before the vocal had to be done.
Steve Porcaro
But Toto is something that's very near and dear to me, and we feel so fortunate and blessed to have been able to have a career playing music for all this time.
Although he loved performing live, and was great at it - Jeff was as solid on stage, as he was in the studio - performing for two hours at a stretch really took a physical toll. It was very hard on him.
Jeff and Mike had taken drum lessons at a young age. When the Beatles came out in '64, we all wanted to play guitar.
I look over and Mike's not there, I hear the drums and know it isn't Jeff. I guess there is some survivor's guilt, but I'm happy to be here every day, still doing what I love most.
Jeff was the coolest, hippest older brother I could ever dream for.
You don't put your only No. 1 single on the last cut of side two!
There was no real poet in the band, but we tried.
It was a lot of insensitivity, especially as maybe as far as the 'Africa' video goes. But the song was about a fantasy.
We started off as a garage band who played a lot of rock 'n' roll.
I want to show everyone what a good rock 'n' roll band we can be.
We just want to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. Be true to ourselves and make the best music we can. Entertain people which is what we were put on this Earth for.
When I did my solo album, I put on a song that I'd planned for Toto that never made an album constructed from a great drum track with Jeff and a bass track with Mike and the guys loved it.
If it's an evening with Toto, that usually means there's no opening act.
There's songs like 'Africa' that just have kind of become part of pop culture.
I was in the band for the first six albums.
Art was a huge passion of Jeff's from a very early age. He took a few lessons one summer. He always had a huge passion for art. Loved Dali. Jeff drew and sketched constantly.
Jeff always had a huge part in making a song a record. You felt like you were capturing lightning in the studio. It was never boring. He always was there to serve the song.
I can't wait to get out on the road with Michael McDonald and his band. There is some deep history between us, and it's always a great hang.
We listened to 'Beverly Hills.' I wanted to maybe even do a real 'Africa'-type version of that, I was thinking about for a minute.
Session work is not a steady thing at all. You do eight of them in one week and then go three months without any. That's the way it really is.
We always just go out there and do what we do. That's the way we approach all of our records.
