Scrapbook

This is a scrapbook page collecting photos and videos from Steve’s incredible musical journey.

1975-1976 Gary Wright Band/Boz Scaggs Band
1977-1978 TOTO (1st)

1975-1976

Steve worked with Gary Wright at the beginning of his career.

GARY WRIGHT/Love Is Alive

GARY WRIGHT/Dream Weaver

GARY WRIGHT/Love Is Alive (Live)

Steve shared his memory of the live clip of “Love Is Alive”.

By the way, that live clip of Love is Alive has the first “Intro Tape” I ever made. Gary had a friend with a home studio outside of Boston and he had lots of keyboards and we were just trying to come up with something to record and I said “I have an idea” and we made that intro tape – Gary used it live. And whoever put this clip together included it.

Also this tour was after my initial tour with Boz. Gary asked me to come back and do this 10 city stadium tour. It included a sold out concert at RFK stadium (which does not exist anymore) 120,000 people. On July 4, 1976 (America’s bicentennial)

We can see the huge scale of this stadium tour with Gary Wright even in this photo.

On June 12, 1976, YES, Peter Frampton & Gary Wright’s concert at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium attracted audience of 130,000 people, making it one of the largest concerts in Philadelphia’s history. Steve was 18 years old when he appeared on this stage with Gary! We can see how talented he is.

As you know, like Gary Wright, Boz Scaggs was an important person in Steve’s early career.

BOZ SCAGGS/Lowdown

BOZ SCAGGS/Lido Shuffle

Steve shared some memories from his time playing in the Boz Scaggs Band!

Q.It’s well known to music fans that you and your brothers Jeff and Mike have appeared in Boz videos “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle”, how long did you guys tour with Boz together?

I don’t remember exactly. I’m going to have to look up the dates for you. I know that I started on the first tour after they finished “Silk Degrees” along with Jeff. We toured for a while. Then we did another tour and Steve Lukather joined us. Jeff was still playing drums at that point.
Then Jeff started going back-and-forth and there were a lot of replacement drummers and at one point, my brother Mike joined us. I know that Mike continued on long after I stopped touring with Boz. Again, there was a lot of back-and-forth and I don’t know the exact dates of When who toured exactly when.

（正確には覚えていないんだ。日程を調べてみるよ。『シルク・ディグリーズ』録音終了後の最初のツアーにジェフと一緒に参加したことは覚えている。僕たちはしばらくツアーをした。それからまたツアーをやって、スティーヴ・ルカサーが加わった。その時点では、ジェフはまだドラムを叩いていたよ。
その後、ジェフがバンドを抜けたり戻ってきたりするようになって、代わりのドラマーがたくさん出てきて、ある時、兄のマイクが加入したんだ。僕がボズとのツアーをやめた後も、マイクはずっと続けていたんだ。繰り返しになるけど、何度も出入りがあって、誰がいつツアーをしたのか正確な日付はわからないんだよね。）

Q.What is your best memory from touring with the Boz Scaggs Band?

My best memory from touring with the Boz Scaggs band was of course playing with my brothers first of all and also just being a part of it. Also working with Boz itself. He was such a great boss to work for. He was very generous. It was such an exciting time “Silk Degrees” was very, very successful and the record company and management were always close by and there was always this very celebratory mood in the air. Of course at one point, Columbia records pretty much saw the band that was to become Toto. So there was always this great excitement in the air. A lot of anticipation about what was to come.

（ボズ・スキャッグス・バンドのツアーでの一番の思い出は、まずもちろん僕の兄たちと一緒に演奏したこと、そしてただその一員であったこと。そしてボズと一緒に仕事をしたこと自体だね。彼は仕事をする上でとても素晴らしいボスだったし、彼はとても寛大だった。『シルク・ディグリーズ』が大成功して、レコード会社やマネージメントがいつも近くにいて、いつもお祝いムードが漂っていた。もちろん、ある時点でコロムビア・レコードはTOTOになるバンドをほぼ見抜いていたね。だから、常に大きな興奮が漂っていた。これから何が起こるんだろうという期待でいっぱいだったよ。）

Q.You played keyboard solo on ‘Lido Shuffle’ video, What is your favorite Boz song to play?

We mostly played a lot of songs from the “Silk Degrees” album on the tour. ‘Lido Shuffle’ was one of my favorites. I got to play two Mini Moogs at once! But I loved playing all the songs. Especially ‘Lowdown’ and some of Boz’s older songs like ‘Dinah flo’.

（ツアーでは、アルバム『シルク・ディグリーズ』からの曲を多く演奏した。中でも「リド・シャッフル」はお気に入りだったね。僕はMinimoogを2台同時に演奏したんだよ！でも、どの曲を演奏するのも楽しかった。特に「ロウダウン」、そしていくつかの「ダイナ・フロー」みたいなボズの古い曲は最高だった。）

Q.You’ve been a talented keyboardist and composer since you were very young. Did your experience with the Boz Scaggs Band influence you?

It influenced me very much and that it gave me a lot of confidence at a time when I didn’t have very much. I wasn’t a keyboard player in the way that David Paich, Jai Winding, Randy Kerber, or a lot of the other guys who played with Boz were. I had yet to really develop my own niche. And Boz, as an artist and writer was very influential on all of us.

（それは僕に大きな影響を与え、あまり自信がなかった時代の僕に大きな自信を与えてくれたよ。僕はデヴィッド・ペイチやジェイ・ワインディング、ランディ・カーバー、ボズと一緒に演奏した他の多くの人たちのようなキーボード奏者ではなかった。僕はまだ自分自身の得意分野を開拓していなかったんだ。そしてボズは、アーティストとして、ライターとして、僕たち全員に大きな影響を与えてくれた。）

1977-1978

So, TOTO was finally formed! Since the story behind their debut is so well-known, We decided to ask Steve some questions here, focusing mainly on the songs from their album.

Q. You guys opened your debut album with the progressive instrumental “Child’s Anthem” which is still quite striking even now, nearly 50 years later. Whose idea was that? For example, didn’t you guys consider opening the album with a song that had vocals – like your first single “Hold the Line”?

I remember it being a band decision – although David Paich and my brother Jeff were definitely the senior members of the band, we were all on the same page in those days. We were on the same page for the most part the whole time I was in the band meaning that we all generally agreed on the direction the records took. We wanted to do something different. Something striking. I had just gotten my Yamaha CS-80 thanks to my brother Mike buying one for me while he was in Japan with Larry Carlton. They were not available in the States yet. David and I were very excited about having such a musical sounding synthesizer to add to the sound of the band and wanted to exploit it. It was not just about that though, I think the whole band wanted to do something a little different and heroic.

（それはバンドとしての決定だったと記憶しているな – デヴィッド・ペイチと兄のジェフがバンドの年長メンバーであったことは確かだけど、当時は全員の足並みが揃っていたんだ。僕がバンドに在籍していた間、だいたいずっとそんな状態だったよ。つまり、アルバムの方向性について、全員が基本的に合意していたね。僕たちは何か違うことをやりたかった。何かとても印象的なことを。ちょうどその頃、兄のマイクがラリー・カールトンと日本へ行った時にヤマハのCS-80を買ってきてくれたおかげで、僕はそのシンセサイザーを手に入れたばかりだった。当時はまだアメリカ国内では入手できない機種だったんだよ。デヴィッドも僕も、バンドのサウンドにこれほど音楽的な響きを持つシンセサイザーを加えられることにとても興奮していて、それを積極的に活かしたいと思っていた。ただ、それだけではないよ。バンド全体が、何か少し違った、壮大で英雄的な雰囲気のあることをやりたがっていたのだと思う。）

Q.”Takin’ It Back” was chosen as the B-side to your debut single “Hold The Line” which served as an invitation into the band’s musical world. What did you think of that?

I absolutely loved it. You usually put the song that was never, ever going to be a single on the b-side. (“It’s a Feeling” was the b-side of “Rosanna”) Those b-sides sometimes get discovered by people who only bought the single and just happen flip it over.

（本当に最高だった。普通はシングル曲には絶対にならないような曲をB面に収録するものだけれど（「Rosanna」のB面は「It’s a Feeling」だった）。そうしたB面の曲は、シングル盤を買って、たまたま裏返してみた人たちに発見されることがあるんだよね。）

Q.”Takin’ It Back” has long been a favorite among your fans. Given that you were already able to write such a beautiful song – one that’s so characteristic of you – on TOTO’s first album, at what age did you start writing songs? Was there anyone who taught you how to write songs?

I really had just started writing songs a couple years before. I did a couple first tries by myself but then Steve Lukather and I wrote a couple songs in my bedroom at my parents house at the end of high school. Those were really my first ones. I wrote what wound up being “Lea” early on. “Takin it Back” was written from scratch the day before we recorded it. I had gone out in the studio while all the guys were in the control room working on something. All the keyboards were set up because we were cutting tracks and I wrote the chord changes on the Fender Rhodes that was set up. The next day, David Paich was late to the studio. The guys were anxious to do something and I said “I got something” and it fell together. I remember as we were recording the fade, David walked into the control room and when I looked over, he gave me a big thumbs up. I was lucky that the guys were always very encouraging from the very start and would record anything any of us wanted to do.

（曲作りを始めたのは、本当にその数年前のことだった。最初は自分一人でいくつか試してみた程度だったけれど、高校を卒業する頃、実家の自分の部屋でスティーヴ・ルカサーと一緒に何曲か書いたんだ。あれが実質的な僕の「最初の曲たち」と言えるだろうね。後に「Lea」となる曲は、かなり早い段階で書いたものだよ。一方、「Takin’ It Back」は、レコーディングの前日にゼロから書き上げたんだ。メンバー全員がコントロール・ルームで作業をしている間、僕はスタジオのフロアに出ていた。当時はトラックの録音中だったのでキーボード類がすべてセッティングされていて、そこに置いてあったフェンダー・ローズでコード進行を作ったんだ。翌日、デヴィッド・ペイチがスタジオに遅れて来たんだけど、メンバーが何かやりたがっていたので、僕が「いい曲があるよ」と言ったら、とんとん拍子に形になっていったんだ。フェードアウト部分を録音しているとき、デヴィッドがコントロール・ルームに入ってきて、僕がふと彼の方を見ると、大きく親指を立てて（サムズアップ）くれたのを覚えているよ。幸運だったのは、メンバーが最初からとても協力的で、誰かがやりたいと言ったことは何でもレコーディングしてくれたことだったね。)

Q. Aside from “Takin’ It Back”, please tell us which song on your first album is your favorite and why.

It was such an exciting time and David Paich was just on fire. We were having the best time in the studio doing our own thing. I loved the whole album but “Georgy” and “Angela” were real stand outs as well as Bobby Kimball’s “You Are the Flower”.

（あの頃は本当に刺激的な時期で、デヴィッド・ペイチはまさに絶好調だった。スタジオでは自分たちのやりたいことを存分にやって、最高の時間を過ごしていたよ。アルバム全体が大好きだけど、中でも「Georgy (Porgy)」と「Angela」、そしてボビー・キンボールの「You Are the Flower」は特に際立っているね。）