1. How does it feel to be performing with TOTO again after a 14-year hiatus and how are you guys getting along nowadays?
It's really been 15 years, but who's counting. The point is, I'm back doing what I really love with the people I love doing it with. I couldn't "hand-pick" a better group of people to work with. The power of that band behind me feels like trying to run and stay ahead of a bullet train most of the time, but as a seasoned vocalist, it's one of the things you live for. I couldn't be more happy about being back in the band. My only wish is that the fans accept us and promote us so that we can continue to give them all we have.
The band has never felt as whole as they do at this very momenjt. We all seem very focused and ready to make some of the best music of our careers. I truly believe the best is yet to come.
2. What are your plans for the new Millenium?
I don't have plans for the millenium just yet. I think I'll have a nice evening with those I love and think about how fortunate I am to have experienced what so few have in my life. There have been a lot of rocky times, but I do have a lot to be thankful for.
3. If you could say one thing (and only one thing) to all your fans out there, what would it be?
That I'm constantly shocked and amazed at the lengths they go to to make us feel like we're a great part of their lives and that we feel their love as if they were family. We're hare because of them and we love them too. (Editor's Note: I wonder if this has anything to do with us crazy mutha's driving to Nashville all the way from North Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, New York, Oklahoma, and God knows where else to see the band. Hmmmmm......)
4. If you had to start over in the music business from scratch today as a new artist, how would you approach it or what what you do differently?
I would probably try to learn first, how to read music. I play by ear and, even though that lends itself to the more emotional side of writing, it leaves a bit to be desired on the mechanical side. I would also really learn more about the technical side of the business, the production (computer level), and the handling of money after it comes in. It never hurts to learn some moves for the stage as well. It is dramatic and should be played out in sort of a serious manner. I think some training in that area, though not the most important to me, is relative to an enhanced performance.
5. Over the years, Toto has had a reputation of being loved by their fans worldwide, but hated by the critics. How are you and the band handling critics nowadays?
I do my best to not let most critics affect my performance. I can usually tell if they're "really listening" by their comments. If I find something they say viable, I try to correct my performance accordingly. I find constructive criticism a very healthy thing, even though I don't think you should ever let the "good press OR the bad press" change your core performance. The good press will weaken you and put you to sleep in a way, while the bad press will usually strike at your confidence and make your performance less desirable. Most of these things depend on the individual being criticized.
6. A trivia question: During the last chorus of "Rosanna" on Toto IV ("....meet you all the way....."), what are the words you're singing in the background? Inquiring dummies wanna know!
I think it's something really earth-shattering like,....."yeah, hey girl"
7. How has today's technology affected or enhanced your career and music making?
Absolutely I would have to say it has enhanced almost everything in the field of music. Today's technology makes it possible for a single person to achieve what, no more than 15 years ago, took an entire orchestra to achieve. It has also made it possible for people, without severe instrumental training, to compose music, play a logical solo along with a band, and synthesize entire themes or symphonic pieces on a computer. I think all musicians are at the mercy of their training and abilities, but I would have loved to hear today's finest synthesizers in the hands of the earlier classical geniuses.
8. During the making of "Mindfields", how was the group's overall atmosphere compared to any other albums you may have made with Toto or any other group?
First you have to consider that there was a different formula involved in the making of the Mindfields CD. Every musician brings a different "color enhancement" to the canvas. With the advent of Toto adding me to the formula, and also having Simon P. on drums, it felt like a whole different band. I had played with Mike Porcaro before, so he felt like a familiar, and Luke and David P. were no surprise to me ( they did exactly as I though they would,.........incredible). I was amazed at how easy it fell together though. After all, there were some initial tensions that had to be dealt with, but it was as if no time had passed between 1984 and 1999. We all had the feeling like we'd been searching through the closet and found that old comfortable pair of blue jeans that were missing for so long. Everything seemed to fit like a glove.
9. Over the years, sometimes bands like Toto have had to deal with the financial strain of losing money on a tour in order to bring the music to their fans and promote their albums (ex. it may cost 30 grand a day or more to take a show on the road, but the band may only make 15 to 20 grand each show). Has the band had to deal with anything like this on any part of the Mindfields Tour?
The management has the tours budgeted so that the failure factor is at a low common denominator. There will always be concerts that might make less than the tour demands on a day-to-day basis. However, it makes more sense to play these concerts than return home or just sit in a hotel and make nothing. You may sometimes just pay the expenses for a week on a certain concert, which is better than not doing it and losing a day that expenses have to be paid. There is a cost for a band to sit out a day on the road. When you have busloads of people, truckloads of equipment, caterers, drivers, managers, rental gear,.......etc., the bills must be paid. The trick is, to play all of the concerts possible and have it average out where "made money" is greater than "expense money". We have some very good planners involved with us and things, now that the band has solidified to this point, will be much better as we go along.
10. Many fans know you're good friends with singers Jimi Jamison of Survivor 2.0 and Mickey Thomas of Starship, and the fact that you're all from the southern U.S. (Louisiana, Memphis TN, and Georgia) must really bond you guys together. Any chance of you three doing an album together as "The Three Southern Tenors" or something along that line?
Funny you should ask that. I work with Jimi and Mickey quite a bit doing a "tenors" kind of thing for the PGA Tour. As of this time, it's mostly just been fun, but there has been a lot of talk lately about doing a CD of material we would all write together. I can't imagine working better people than those two. We have a lot of fun singing together and the conversation is always interesting.
11. About 10 years ago, the song "Goin' Home" was originally recorded for Toto's "Past To Present" project, but got shelved due to lack of interest from the record company. What's the story on how that recording came about?
I had just come in from a concert with my solo band in Germany when I got a call from the management requesting vocals on a song Joe W. and David P. wrote. At that time we discussed my coming back into the band. When I got to David's studio, Joe was there finishing the background vocals. I did the lead track and waited for about 3 weeks. The next time I saw the band was at Dave's studio, where I met Jean M. B. I called Luke and he told me that the label wanted J.M.B. to be the new singer, so I kind of left it at that. My feelings were a little fragile at the time, but life goes on.
12. The All-Music Guide and a few other music reference guides have often listed your given name as "Robert Toteaux"; where the heck did that come from?
That's just a funny story David Hungate came up with during our first big interview with Rolling Stone Mag. He told them my last name was Toteaux, spelled that way due to my coming from Louisiana. The really funny part is, it's one of the issues that made the "R-n-R" history books and it won't go away.
13. As a singer, your voice is probably your most valuable commodity. How do you keep your pipes in shape when you're on the road? (I'll bet it's tough during the winter months....)
We started my first tour back, The Reunion Tour ' 99, in Warsaw Poland in Feb. I think it was about -10 degrees and we were there for 4 days. We did production rehearsals two of those days, and then we played two concerts. I knew it was going to be tough when I started back with the band (1) the trauma and growing pains of learning how to act with eachother as a band again (2) the tour, being a grueling schedule at best[some 10 hour bus trips w/interviews on the other end] (3) the fans expecting 110% out of us each night and (4) very few nights off. I knew I had to adjust my habits and my life to fit into this kind atmosphere. First I knew I had to get stronger, so I started working out everyday. Next, the voice doesn't fare well under the stress of alcohol [I was a pretty avid beer drinker], so I quit drinking for the most part. I will have a glass of champagne "after" a concert to celebrate, but if there is a concert the next day, I prefer to abstain. I think the fans deserve all I can possibly give them, so that's very important to me. I basically just took away all of the things that make the voice grow weak and added all of the things I could think of the make my voice stronger. Sleep is "big important". It may be one of the most important things for a singer. I started drinking a lot of orange juice onstage, along with way too much water. These things seem to help more than anything else.
14. What is one of your most memorable moments on the road?
It has to be the night I broke my leg onstage in Nashville, Tenn. It was during the Toto IV Tour and Mike P. had just taken David H.'s place for that tour. Long story, but I'll leave the answer short.
15. For the fans: Are there any existing pre-Toto recordings with you around and are any of them available?
I have so many I wouldn't know where to start. I have most of the rehearsal tapes, including the first day the band was ever together in one room, the sound-check tapes from the tours I was on{absolutely some of the finest moments of Toto}, several studio tapes {with my vocals on the Isolation Album}, and a lot of bootleg CD's that I got from a store that only sells bootlegs in Japan.
