Self-styled Dogz of Oz Steve Lukather and Joe Williams, the O.G.s in the latest iteration of mega band TOTO, are bringing a super-group south to Aotearoa. Hold the line as we chat to Joe about hanging with old friends, educating the new kid, and what they’re bringing to Christchurch.

What’s in store for punters on the night?

The songs that are big hits around the world will be there. Also a couple of deep cuts that die-hard fans might recognise and appreciate, and a bunch of songs that were big but are not perhaps remembered as well – I think people in the audience will be going ‘Oh, that was them, I forgot that tune’. We’ve also got a couple of returning members from different eras of the live band. Unbelievable musicians and musicianship and great singers. We’ve been doing better and better in terms of our attendance and venue sizes. So we must be doing something right. 

It’s certainly something of a super-group you’ve pulled together.

Yes, we have Greg Phillinganes back. He was in the band in the 2000s and was a member on the album ‘Falling in Between’. We’re thrilled to have him because there really is none better in terms of a piano player, a keyboard player. Also just his presence on stage – he sings great, he plays amazingly great. He’s been there before so it feels very natural for him to be there again. We have Shannon Forrest returning on drums. He was with us for most of the 2000-teens. And Warren Ham, who’s been a fixture in the band for many, many years including when I was in the band back in the late ‘80s. As Luke puts it, he’s our Swiss Army Knife – he plays many, many different things and sings amazingly well. There’s John Pierce on the bass, who is a childhood friend of both Luke and myself. An amazing bass player and a great sense of humour. He was with Huey Lewis for 30 years so he’s no stranger to this kind of thing. Then there’s Luke and myself, and we have who we call the new kid, Dennis Atlas, who is a phenom. He’s an incredible keyboard player – he's playing a lot of the secondary parts and huge keyboard solos from some of the earlier songs. He has an amazing voice, which allows us to do some songs live that haven’t been done in a long, long time. And he’s an exciting person to watch – he's 27 years old so next to everyone else he’s literally a kid.

Any hazing involved in bringing the new kid into the game?

A little bit but not much. He’s taken to this whole thing like a duck to water and really found his place very quickly. And we love him. Of course there’s a little bit of hazing – we take him to restaurants and introduce him to foods he’s never had, that kind of stuff...

But that’s education!

Yes, that’s education. But he’s got an old soul, as we say. So he’s a great fit in terms of the hang, you know, hanging out. It’s like he’s been doing this for 30 years and he’s not even 30.

How is the view from this point in your career? Are the hotels better? No vans or tour buses now?

We still use tour buses. We like to keep our production costs low so we can put that money to use on the actual production. It depends on the territory. When we come down to you, we are certainly flying everywhere. But when we go to Europe it’s just more cost-effective to have a bus. Now granted, it’s a very, very nice bus, with a lot of places to hang out and a kitchen and all that good stuff. We still like to do a show, hop on the bus, drive to the next town, get some rest, do a show, get on the bus, drive to the next town – it keeps it feeling a little old-school and we all get along great. I’ve thought of it at times like being on a submarine with a crew of guys. And if you all get along and you enjoy each other’s company, it can be quite nice. But in answer to your question, the buses have gotten nicer.

Was it difficult putting together a setlist?

The beauty is that there are so many great songs to choose from. Luke and I will sit down and put together our wishlist. What makes it easy is that you can just go back to a particular album and go ‘Oh yeah, that would be fun to do’. There are certain songs that have stood the test of time in a live setting so we’ll go back to some of them. But we’re always looking to make the set new when we finish a tour cycle. At the beginning of the year we rehearsed the new set for this new cycle. We’ve done a month in Europe already and then we’re coming down to you guys. So it’s a new set compared with what people would have heard in Europe and the United States earlier and of course since we’ve been down there because it’s been a few years. It’s a really fun thing to do, choosing the songs. As I said we do a wishlist then we just start chipping away and narrowing it down. 

You have been performing ‘Africa’ as an encore – the audience must erupt at that point?

They do. By the time we get to that song they are so ready for it. The song has a new life seemingly every year, whether it’s a younger artist re-recording it or it shows up in a movie or TV series or something like that. It’s so widely known and so widely loved that by the time we start playing it they’re yeah, erupting. It’s great fun.

Toto with Christopher Cross, Wolfbrook Arena, Saturday 26 April.
totoofficial.com