Trev Lukather on why he loves St. Vincent’s guitars and what he learned from his dad

Trev Lukather’s enthusiasm for guitar and music is infectious. He probably gets it from his dad, Steve Lukather, who not only starred with Toto but has lent his licks to Michael Jackson, Boz Scaggs, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler.

Trev confirms that Steve was the inspiration for his six-stringery – but what’s refreshing is that with his new band, The Effect, the younger guitarist has taken his playing to a newfound space. Latest single Toxic Envy is filled with heavy riffage via his trusty St. Vincent signature Music Man.

“I kind of followed the riff of the bridge in the beginning, and then there’s just some tricks where I said, ‘Oh, this will be fun,’” he explains. “It’s an aggressive song.

“It’s definitely the most shredding I’ve ever done. It fits the emotion, and it became this part where people are really digging and connecting with it. It has a little anger behind it.”

Trev Lukather himself is far from angry – at 36 he’s filled with joy and not at all jaded. He says the advice he’s followed to feel that way is: “create the music you want to create; don’t go with a trend or what’s happening now.”

He continues: “But also, be open. People need to start bands again; we’re a little caught up in the TikTok world where everyone’s on their own. There’s been a lack of the connection that made music so great.

“I suggest collaborating with as many people as you can. Feeding off other people and what they bring to the table will check your ego at the door. Listen to everybody, feel everyone out. Just don’t do anything that doesn’t feel like your stuff – it won’t connect to people if it’s not real.”

It must have been your dad who inspired you to pick up a guitar.

“Obviously, my pop. I grew up in a music household before I really knew what my dad did. It didn't really hit me until I was 12  how my dad’s music has affected a lot of people. As a kid, you just see who’s at the house, who my dad’s friends were, and you just want to be a part of the hang.

“I always describe it as how kids throw baseballs with their dads, or kick the soccer ball. I picked up drums when I was 3 or 4 and just started playing. I was able to play to a click. I had a pocket – it was my way of hanging with my pop and jamming.

“When Toto reunited I was 12. My dad did his first solo and the crowd was reaching out for him. I was like, ‘I gotta do that, man. I have to play guitar. I want to be just like my dad!’”

What are your earliest memories once you picked up guitar?

“There was a Fender collecting dust that I got from doing a photo shoot with Marty Stewart when I was around nine. I busted the guitar out and said, ‘Dad, teach me your ways!’ He tuned my low E to D.

“So I was able to play barre chords that sounded like a power chord, and he said, ‘Have fun!’ After that, I just caught on, man. That was the beginning of my guitar life, which became an obsession.”

What were some important things your dad taught you?

“I didn’t even start soloing until I was five years into playing. My dad always said, ‘Focus on your rhythm and writing songs,’ so I did that. But when I got the itch to start doing solos, I got into Neal Schon, Trevor Rabin and Eddie Van Halen.

“But the number one was David Gilmour – I loved how he was so melodic. He wasn’t a shredder, but he could hold one note for multiple bars and your soul left your body. I took a little bit of every one of them as an influence and started messing with my own style, but it just kind of came naturally, man. I just kind of found my way.”

You primarily use St. Vincent’s signature Music Man. What led you to that?

“Growing up in the Ernie Ball [Music Man] family for my whole life, I’ve always been biased. I think they’re the best guitars in the world. I like things that are outside of the box; I like how weird they look.

“When I picked it up and plugged it in, the sound, tone, and feel of that guitar just connected to me. It felt great. It sounded great. I’ve only recently gotten into St. Vincent’s music, but I’ve always connected with that guitar since it came out.

“So I have four St. Vincent guitars that I absolutely love. Much props to St. Vincent, too, because diving into her music, she’s super-talented. They created a killer guitar together.”

What amps and pedals are you into now?

“I’ve been using Bogner Amps for recordings; and I’ve been using the Shiva a lot. But live, I’m using the Line 6 Helix FX Processor. I’m able to build sounds for each song. I can switch through the six different sounds each. But I explore a lot with pedals. Man, I love the EHX POG [Polyphonic Octave Generator] pedal because I love that octave-heavy sound.”

And you’ve got a new band together called The Effect.

“I definitely didn’t want to be in a band. That was for sure. My last band didn’t end well – it was a heartbreaking situation; we were signed, we had big tours booked, and the pandemic happened. When you have too much time to realize how much maybe guys don’t get along and don’t really see eye to eye… it just didn’t work out.

“So I said, ‘I’m just gonna dive into production.’ I was getting really into that and making a good living doing that. I met Nic Collins through Instagram, and we became fans of each other.

“I ended up getting called to host a pilot show in Miami, Florida, where Nic lives, and it all went to shit because the producer and director were at each other’s throats. I’m stuck in Miami, so I hit up Nic, and we had dinner and connected.”

When did it evolve into a band?

“I was on Instagram again and a singer, Emmett Stang, came across my feed doing this cover of Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes – my and my wife’s wedding song. I was just blown away. We started hitting each other up and loving what we were doing.

“I got on the phone with him, and we just vibed for like three hours. He was just a beautiful dude and a great guy. I was like, ‘Oh, man…’ and started thinking about a band situation.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t do it, but it just felt too good. And [multi-instrumentalist] Steve Maggiora, who plays in Toto, we go back 12 years. He was working on the solo record I was making.

“I thought, ‘Man, this is my own personal dream team band. Let’s do a song for fun.’ And that was Unwanted, our first release. After that, we knew we had a great creative relationship, so we rolled with it.”

You had another single, Toxic Envy, which has some incredible guitars. How do you approach solos these days?

“I always feel that it should be a song within a song. There should be a part where the solo is just as fun and exciting as the chorus of the song. That was what Steve Perry told me when I worked with him years ago.

“I started trying to shred, and he stopped me and said, ‘What are you doing? Who do you want in the front row, guys or girls?’ I was like, ‘Girls, man!’ So he's like, ‘Stop playing those front-row licks. Sing with that guitar, and girls will be in the front row. That will make it just as important as the chorus.’

That really stuck with me. So when I go into a solo I’ll improv, but for the most part I want to make it as memorable and important as the hook of the song.”

“Steve Perry, he’s been like a second mentor to me – and I’m married to Jonathan Cain's daughter, Madison. So Journey has been a huge influence on me. We started messing with a Journey tune called It Could Have Been You, a very deep cut off the Raised on Radio record from '86.

“We kind of tweaked it and redid the chorus in our own way. And when Steve heard it, he was so blown away that he actually got in the studio with us and sang the song. We said, ‘Fuck, we should release this next.’ So The Effect with Steve Perry is our new release! We’re still beaming about it. He sang his ass off.”

Beyond that, what’s next?

“We have a full album done. We’ve got 10 songs mastered and ready to go; we're just playing it by ear. We haven’t shopped it to labels yet – we’re counting on building it on our own before we dive in, and we’re planning each release as it feels right.

“We’re finishing off five amphitheater shows with Billy Idol, then we’re going out in Europe for a month-long tour in June. I think music fans are gonna love it.”

• For more info head to TheEffectBand.com.