Marcus Amaker of tape loop talks synthesizers with TOTO's Steve Porcaro

This is the latest installment in our Unlikely Encounters series, where a local musician interviews a big-name artist. You can check out the whole series at charlestoncitypaper.com/unlikely.

If you open your ears to all of TOTO’s work, you’ll travel to much farther places than “Africa.” Trust me. You don’t have to dig that much deeper to find better cuts. Listen to “Georgy Porgy” and try to deny the funk. I dare you.

The band has had an influence on rock and soul music since the late ’70s. If you research the story of TOTO, you’ll open up some pretty cool music history: original TOTO member Steve Porcaro wrote the music to Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and “The Girl is Mine” from Thriller.

Let that sink in.

In my opinion, if “Human Nature” and “Africa” were his only songs, then he’d have enough for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Steve is a synthesizer geek. A tech nerd. There are hour-long videos of him on YouTube talking about keyboards, composing on MIDI, and working with DSX sequencers. I’m an electronic geek as well. If I had a bigger house, I’d fill my room with drum machines, MOOG instruments, and digital music devices. So, of course, Steve and I had to talk synthesizers. Right?

Could TOTO be the most influential band of all time? We’ll debate that at Cutty’s together, but here’s part of my long conversation with the man.

Marcus Amaker: What was it like working with Michael Jackson? The lead line of “Human Nature” has to be one of the most iconic pieces of music … ever. For real.

Steve Porcaro: It was great to work with Michael Jackson, especially in those days. It was just fun. He just was a force of nature. You know what I mean? What he brought to “Human Nature” was magic. Yeah, he was kind of a strange bird species. His brothers were so earthy, comparative. But we had such a great time working together on Thriller. There was this great time period where for six months he would be coming over to the house all the time.

MA: I listen to everything from Kraftwerk to Sleater-Kinney to Janet Jackson. All the things. And I love electronic music. I spend too much money on drum machines.

SP: I got a feeling I’d be very comfortable at your house! I was listening to some of your music, too. Very good, man. What’s a Digitakt? I saw that on your website.

MA: It’s a box that came out a few years ago. It’s a glorified sampler and can be used a lot for ambient stuff. You can make some really nice ambient tracks. I really enjoy machines that don’t require a laptop. The Digitakt allows you to master right on the spot, out of the box. Just like the OP-1.

SP: When you say “out of the box” you are saying “in the synth, itself” instead of using plugins, right?

MA: Yep, it’s an analogue-type setup. All of the effects are in the machine! I was looking at some of your videos from back in the day, with MOOGs. Can you talk about that stuff? When did your love of synthesizers start?

SP: Sure! All that you want, man! I love this. This isn’t like a typical interview. I could geek out on synthesizers with you all day, man.

MA: Nice.

SP: I was always drawn to the bells and whistles. When I was eight years old, my parents and I went to a convention. It wasn’t some huge thing, it was a local thing. Anyway there was some kid there playing a theater organ — like some home organ, a Baldwin, I think — and he was just working it. First time I’ve seen anyone work an organ like that. All of the stops. Crazy sounds. It really got my attention. But then when I was 10 or 11, I heard Switched-On Bach, and I became really aware of hearing synths in a different way.

MA: Listening to your work, I’ve always felt like you make synthesizers sound soulful instead of robotic. Is that true?

SP: Making the synth soulful. See that was my thing. When I was coming up in the early ’70s, when you’re looking around — the guys who really knew about synths, you know, were nerds with pocket protectors. You know what I’m talking about?

MA: Haha! Word.

SP: For the most part. They weren’t the real players you wanted to hang around with. Real players didn’t want to know about that shit. Of course, there were exceptions. Guys like Chic and Herbie came around, of course, and they had no problem with synths. Early on, though, for the most part, it wasn’t musical. I just saw this gap and it was like “I’m going to go right down the middle and play good. I can play a funky bass part with a synth. I’m going to have a real good time with this and play in the pocket.” So, for a synth guy, I could play real fucking good.

MA: That’s great. Ah, so now I have to do a standard question. Is that cool?

SP: Yeah, yeah, no problem, man.

MA: What would you like people to know about TOTO? Right now.

SP: The band is alive. We’ve got a box set coming out. We’ve got a new album coming out, that no one has heard about. Good stuff. Especially with the technology and the stuff that’s out there. I now feel like I can do anything I want to do. If you listen to our music, especially our new stuff, you’ll hear it. We just covered Weezer’s “Hash Pipe.” Listen to the synth sounds on there. I always go back to what I know.