Keith Carlock new Toto drummer!

Photo: Tom Schwartz

Drummer Keith Carlock will join legendary group Toto according to the band's website:

It has also been announced that long-time member drummer Simon Phillips will be departing the band to pursue his solo career and other interests. 
Luke shares, "He is still a dear friend and we wish him the very best and continued success," 

The band welcomes new addition Keith Carlock (Steely Dan, Sting, James Taylor, John Mayer).  Carlock originally hails from Clinton, Mississippi, and has collaborated with Luke in the past in the jam band Toxic Monkey.

Will Keith be leaving the Steely Dan lineup he's been part of for the past ten-or-so years?
We doubt it. We're sure that Keith can keep both gigs.

Here's a couple of "Steely Dan-quotes" from Keth's website:

Donald Fagen on Keith :

"Keith's attitude, his enthusiasm, and everything is just great. When you're cutting tracks like we do, the band will get to a certain point when things are working and everything coalesces, and everybody realizes they are now going to play a take. To get there you need not just the drummer, but everybody to have refined their parts.

We had that with this band, thanks in large part to Keith. We would get to that point and converge on something, and he would give us a take we could really work with."

Walter Becker on Keith:

"...we're trying to re-create a kind of rhythmic feel that predates the drum machine era, where it's really a feel generated by the players, something that has a swing and a lope to it and still has hypnotically steady time.

With Keith, everything he tried to play worked in that way. He also began with a good idea of where a tune was supposed to go, and he got better as we played it. He actually made this whole thing possible... His groove is just as good at the end of the day as it is at the beginning."

(Thanks to Carsten for the news!)