Steve Lukather recently sat down with Vicki Abelson for an interview and revealed his single career regret while discussing his history with drinking.
When the host asked whether he ever did anything that ruined his stage performance while drunk, the guitarist replied:
“No, I dragged. There were parts of my career while I was on stage f*cked up and I’m very ashamed of that.”
Professional Impact Of Lukather’s Drinking On His Career
Then Abelson wanted to learn if it cost him anything professionally, to which Lukather responded by saying:
“I never missed the gig because of it, but I played a couple of performances I wish I erased. Thanks to the miracles of the internet, the more you hate something, the more people want to live it up because they make money from it.”
Still, the rocker expressed contentment with his life overall, explaining:
“It kind of cost the people humiliation; it’s like the whole TMZ sh*t. I’m gonna accuse the sh*t on TMZ I never did. Do you think they were retracted? Who gives a sh*t anyway? But you know, this is my life. I’m peace and love [guy]. I have the greatest life ever. What can I say?”
The Long-Term Battle With Alcohol
The musician’s history with alcohol was not a short one. Still, speaking to M Music and Musicians Magazine back in 2010, Steve disclosed that he stopped drinking and smoking while talking about his solo album ‘All’s Well That Ends Well.’ He noted:
“I’ve reassessed things. I stopped drinking, stopped smoking, and started going to therapy. It’s like the warranty is up at age 50. I have lots of friends who aren’t well due to the ridiculous things we did in our youth.”
Later in 2013, he shared the personal struggles that inspired his 2013 album, ‘Transition,’ and again reflected on his struggle with drinking in a chat with themusic.com.au, expressing:
“My mother was an alcoholic. Me and my eldest son found her on Father’s Day, dead on the couch with the most horrific, scared, terrified, look… frozen, orange from jaundice with a vodka and a cigarette at noon. It f*cked me up. I thought I don’t want my kids to ever find me like that. I love you, mum; all is forgiven. It maybe saved everybody’s life. It was the point where I went, that’s it… stubbed out the cigarette, put the beer away, and never went back.”
In a previous conversation with Music Radar, Lukather also admitted that he used to drink because he was unhappy with himself, but this habit made him dislike himself even more. Over time, drinking stopped being enjoyable and just became a way to cope. Since he stopped drinking, the guitarist hikes daily and feels much healthier.
You can watch his full interview below.
