RINGO & HIS ALL-STARR BAND TO TOUR IN 2016

The 12th All-Starr Band, together since 2012, is planning to hit the road again in the new year. "Yes, we are going out again, I believe next summer," Todd Rundgren -- who was part of the second All-Starr Band during 1992 as well as in the current lineup --  tells Billboard. "We decided to do another American tour, and I hear rumors of possibly going back to the Pacific Rim in October or something like that." There are scheduling challenges, of course -- notably guitarist Steve Lukather's commitments to Toto and keyboardist Greg Rolie's involvement with the reunited early Santana lineup, as well as Rundgren's solo projects. But all concerned seem more than willing to work around any conflicts. 

"As far as Ringo`s concerned, as long as everyone is able to show up he's probably just going to keep doing this until either he can't do it anymore or one or more of us can't do it anymore," Rundgren says. Starr himself notes that "I love this band. I love the guys and we all get on well and everyone is cool. I'm keeping it together." And Rundgren concurs that this All-Starr collective has a little something more than its predecessors.

"I think this is the band he's always wanted, where everyone gets along and everyone has enough musical skill where we can effectively do each other's material," Rundgren explains. "Part of the problem with an All-Starr band is his minimal requirement is that you have three hit records. Well, it's easy enough to find somebody who can play their three records, but they all have to be able to play everybody else's hit records, and often you would get somebody who can just play their own records, and then when it comes to play everyone else's stuff they just turn the volume on their guitar down and pretend to strum. That doesn't happen with this lineup."

Rundgren will be making room for the All-Starrs in his own busy schedule after a busy 2015 that saw him release two albums (Global and Runnddans) and tour in a variety of configurations. And he says the interest in electronic music he showed on those, as well as on 2013's State, is likely to continue. 

"The object is really to try and attract a younger audience," Rundgren, who's 67, explains, "because most of my audience is as old as me, sometimes older, and they are literally disappearing. Not to make light of it, but when people get to be our age they become infirm and they don't go out as much and they do literally pass away. So if you want to continue to have an audience you're gonna have to circulate more people in, and the people most likely to come in is a younger audience. And the music they listen to is EDM, so that's where I'm trying to find a place for myself."