by Morten Nordhagen Ottosen (*note)

It was the friendship between Los Angeles session aces Steve Lukather and David Garfield that made up the fundaments for the formation - or gradual evolving - of Los Lobotomys back in the mid-80's.

Although the two came from somewhat different musical backgrounds, they shared a mutual admiration for each other dating all the way back to high school. As Steve Lukather recalls: 'I always thought David was a brilliant musician. When we were in high school, he was one of the first guys who was really heavily into the be-bop thing. He really heard it, understood it and felt it. I was really attracted to that.' (quote from TOTO Notes dec. 1993)

Whereas Lukather was a rock/blues player, Garfield was always into be-bop, Latin and jazz things and these two different backgrounds were to be mixed, shaken but not stirred into the music of the Los Lobotomys - a group that was to become a fan favorite in the Los Angeles area and later on all over the world. But even though Los Lobotomys did their first gigs in the mid-80's, its roots go back some ten years earlier when Garfield, also known as "Creatchy" formed a jazz/Latin band called Karizma.



Lukather always wanted a chance to play with Garfield's Karizma band and his chance came in 1985, when Landau couldn't make a few Karizma gigs because of other commitments. Lukather got together with Creatchy, wrote a few new songs and decided to bill the show under Creatchy's name, "David Garfield and Friends". The gig was held at the legendary Baked Potato and the very first line-up consisted of, in addition to Lukather and Garfield, Jeff Porcaro, Nathan East, Lenny Castro and Brandon Fields. After a few gigs, Lenny Castro came up with a new name for the group, "Los Lobotomys".

A new, crazy unit was born with a name that seemed to fit these musicians, who appeared wild, crazy and having a great time when they played. At times, various musicians would come in and perform with the band. Lukather and Creatchy would basically invite whoever was in town to play with the Lobotomys and this way artists such as Greg Mathieson, David Sanborn, Carlos Vega, Luis Conte, Vinnie Colaiuta, Mike Landau, Jimmy Johnson, Gregg Bissonette, Joe Sample, Will Lee, Larry Carlton and even Eddie van Halen have played with the Lobotomys, making it an enjoyable experience for both musicians and fans.

Los Lobotomys continued to do semi-regular gigs after its formation in 1985, and in 1989 the time came to record their first album together. Meanwhile, Garfield had done several albums with Karizma in the style of Los Lobotomys, but considering the fact that the Lobotomys had become something of its own, the time to record an album seemed right. Garfield, Lukather, Will Lee, Jeff Porcaro, Vinnie Colaiuta, Carlos Vega, Joe Sample, Lenny Castro and Brandon Fields set up at the Complex studio in Los Angeles on April 29, 1989 and tore through a live set like they did in the clubs. Mixed two weeks later, the album was released in the fall of 1989 and instantly became a fan favorite. It featured a nice selection of cuts, including both stunning originals (like their theme, "Lobotomy Stew") to inspired covers (including a 42-second version of "Purple Haze").


© Stefan Brunkhorst

Although all members of Los Lobotomys were heavy-duty session men, many nights were spent jamming at various LA clubs, and the popularity of the Lobotomys continued to grow through the early 90's. Disaster hit the band in 1992, however, when drummer and Toto backbone Jeff Porcaro died. Unlike Toto, there was never a question as to whether Los Lobotomys were going to continue as a unit or not, but the group was shaken and would somewhat never be the same. After Jeff's departure, Lobotomys seemed to evolve into a steady line-up with the occasional guest joining in here and there. By 1993, the line-up was mainly Garfield, Lukather, John Peña, Larry Klimas, Chris Trujillo and Toto's new drummer Simon Phillips. And indeed, 1993 was going to be an exciting year for the Lobotomys.

Early this year, Steve Lukather decided to go on and record a solo album and the other Lobotomys guys were hired to back him up. The result was the album Candyman - essentially a Los Lobotomys record billed under Lukather's name (although it was released under the name Los Lobotomys in the U.S.). Released in early 1994, the album was mainly a vocal album with a few potential hit singles, but it also featured tons of real Lobotomys music, namely instrumental fusion-based tunes with soloing from practically every group member. Such tracks as "Song for Jeff", "Party in Simon's Pants" (with a 17/8 time signature!) and "Froth" are lengthy instrumentals that prove what Lobotomys are all about: self-indulgent musicianship.

"It's everything. It's hard rock, it's blues, it's Latin, it's jazz, it's be-bop, it's fusion... it's all that mixed into one thing. Throw it up in the air and when it all falls down to the ground in a big mess, that's what Los Lobotomys is. It's a cross between your worst nightmare and a wet dream!". Asked to describe their music, this is what Lukather came up with, and it's an accurate description indeed. He continues: 'It's musically challenging, but also unthreatening to an unschooled ear. It's sort of like all my favorite kinds of music put into one with the ability to change it at any moment on stage. We rehearse the beginnings and the endings, but everything that happens in the middle is supposed to be a 'freak-out' and it's never the same.' (quote from TOTO Notes dec. 1993)

The band members emphasize that their gigs are all about having a good time playing fun music. Their chance to preach that to the world came in the summer of 1994, when the Candyman tour kicked off in England. It was the first time the Lobotomys had toured internationally (although plans for a tour of Japan were brought into daylight in 1989), and although Karizma once toured internationally, they were the first LA club band to tour the world. The Candyman tour proved to be a great success, and is said to have been - of its kind - the most successful tour in Europe in 1994. Los Lobotomys performed to audiences up to 5000 people and literally blew bands such as Saga and Whitesnake off the festival stages. Although they toured as a four-piece unit (Garfield, Lukather, Phillips and Peña), they expressed the same high level of energy and musicianship as always, and in fact they became so popular in Europe that they went back to tour for a second time in the fall.

After the last show was played in Europe in December of 1994, there hasn't been that much activity with the Lobotomys. Except from a few occasional gigs in Los Angeles, the band members have been extremely busy doing other projects and thus Lobotomys hasn't fit into their schedules so often. David Garfield has done several gigs in the style of Lobotomys with various guests (including two tribute concerts for the late Paulette Brown and Carlos Vega, who both unfortunately passed away in 1998), and guests such as Steve Farris of Mr. Mister fame, Phil Perry and Bobby Kimball have sat in with his band.

[ (*note): Morten Ottesen's original article has been augmented with the section below. ]

March 28th, 2007
by Thomas Høyer

David Garfield's latest solo album 'Giving Back' featured a new Los Lobotomys song entitled 'Zuke'. It was in many ways a very classic Los Lobotomys tune, but it would turn out to be the last collective effort of Los Lobotomys as a four-piece band.

After the release of 'The Official Bootleg' in 2004, there were some unfortunate disagreements within the band,  and it eventually led to Steve Lukather and Simon Phillips deciding to leave the band. 'The Official Bootleg' album was withdrawn from the market.

Seen in retrospect, the end of Los Lobotomys as a four-piece seems to have been on the way for some time.  Since the 'Candyman' tour, the band had only reunited a few times. Los Lobotomys had in actual fact been a four-piece for more than a decade, so with this new situation the remaining members decided to return to the original band concept of Los Lobotomys.  A band based not so much on one particular configuration but rather on the community of musicians surrounding it and, not least, a band with both sax and percussion, like in the beginning.

That concept  materialized with the band's gigs in Europe in 2005. Original members David Garfield, Lenny Castro and Brandon Fields teamed up with John Peña , Chad Wackerman and Søren Reiff Jr. to do a week of gigs and clinics in Denmark and later on, Bulgaria.

In January 2007, the group performed in at La Vee Lee to a sell out crowd, and it was said to be the best Los Lobotomys gig yet by many of the fans and folks from the music industri. The Lobotomites on this night were Larry Klimas, Doug Bossi, Lenny Castro, David Garfield, John Peña and Chad Wackerman.

The band is currently planning a new studio album featuring long lost members of the larger community known as Los Lobotomys.