Not necessarily - we could keep touring like we are for quite a while - as long as we change the set occassionally. There is plenty of material to choose from. However, I think our real fans would love to hear some new music and believe me we would love to make some new music too. But on pure business terms I don't believe it is necessary anymore. We would probably sell our usual number as we have a good fan base who would buy a new CD - but given the cost of production, marketing and advertising - we are not breaking any new ground.

We actually did consider mixing the Yokohama tapes but when I listended to them they didn't sound that great. They were recorded on to ADAT without any timecode - using the BRC timecode. I mixed one track for a CD rom to accompany "Livefields" and the sync was all over the place. It is so important to have good source material to work with and dealing with live recordings is always more tricky. So, no plans as yet!

We had3 main FOH sound engineers - Colin Northfield, Dirk Schubert and Jon Ostrin. Depending upon their availability and territory that we are touring - Colin usually does Europe, Dirk or Jon usually do the US and other territories. However one summer no-one was available and we had a new guy called Anthony King who did very well considering this is a tough band to mix - lots of stuff going on. Same goes for monitor engineers and back line crew. When we toured Europe we tend to use an English crew and for the US and others a US crew.

It's always a good idea to have some idea of concept before you start a project - even if you end up changing due to unforeseen events. It is a live concert so I wanted to give the listener a good seat in the hall. However I also wanted to exploit the surround canvas without resorting to cheap tricks - things that sound great at first but get tiresome after a while. In other words, not to distract from the music. Then the next move was to listen to what had been recorded and how and if there were any problems. In fact I found the hall a little dissapointing in that there was much less reverb than I had imagined. The Heineken Hall is actually quite dead - especially from stage, which is probably good if you are at the concert, but can sound a bit lifeless or small once recorded. I had 13 channels of audience made up from about 27 mics - sounds good on paper but actually only 7 channels were really useful. If one uses too much ambience the listening experience can get tiring. However the audience were great joining in on some of the songs so I featured them whenever possible. The most difficult part is making the lo end work well with the 3 different modes of playback. DTS, Dolby Digital Surround and Dolby Stereo. The surround set-ups utilize bass management and everyone's system is different. Some people have active sub woofers which they love to turn up way more than they should, the center speaker is usually a different type of speaker cabinet and the surrounds can also be different. We have to have a reference so typically we use 5 identical full range speakers and a sub. A bass management system is also utilized and the room has to be carefully set up. Some engineers don't mix with a bass management system and some do - it's just down to experience really and it's all so new too. Remember a lot of titles released on DVD have partially mixed surround sources and are not true discrete 6 channel mixes. Much easier when it comes to making a stereo fold-down - but I don't go for that. I want to hear a full surround mix. On the other hand a live concert has it's restrictions. In the end it's all down to taste. I hope you enjoy it when you get a copy!

You know I was never aware of any of those comments, if there were indeed any. My objective was to learn the songs and interpret them the way I do naturally. One of the main reasons the band asked me, and not someone else, was because I had a distinctive style and would approach the songs from a different standpoint - and not copy what Jeff did. I am sure there were some people that did compare the way we played and maybe still think that Jeff's way was better suited - but things change. Life changes and you have to move on. My joining, and the fact that the other guys felt it was right, has made it possible for Toto to continue for another 10 years after Jeff's passing. I am sure he would feel that all his time and efforts were worth it that the band has now reached it's 25th year!!

The songs that they had chosen for the Kingdom Of Desire tour remained the same from day one of rehearsal. Remember I had had many years of learning new sets/songs for many different situations. Actually I had 15 days total of rehearsal - which actually was a luxury. I remember having 4 days to learn a set list for Al Di Meola's Electric Rendevous tour in 1982. But please remember that learning the songs in rehearsal is one thing - but actally owning the songs, playing wise that is, takes much longer!

Oh, I am sure after 10 years they kind of know what to expect now - although I do like to keep them on their toes - ha ha ha. I just like to be creative - especially when playing the same set night after night - to me it's important to keep the flow of new ideas and to always be looking for the best way to play a particular song.

Actually I disagree - I found it way too busy. I love percussion - but in the right setting. Like in a latin band for example - then the drummer takes more of a back step in the music. But Toto is a rock band and I find the way we have it now compliments the music better. We don't use samples to replace percussion - we are using some loops on some songs but they could not be created by a percussion player. If you are referring to "Africa" - that song was created using a loop when it was recorded - and now we are using that same loop - just in digital form.

Actually we were asked to do "Where are they now" which we gracefully declined.

You cannot compare the two bands. I played a show with The Who June 6th 2000  in New York City and then flew to Sweden to play a show with Toto on June 8th - that was a culture shock!!!! I don't think in terms of better or worse when comparing 2 different kinds of music - how can you when you are talking about those 2 bands. All I can say is that I am extremely lucky to be able to play in both bands - they are both fantastic.