1 in 5,075: Justin Toto records his first solo EP this summer

This is the first edition of a series in The Brown and White lifestyle section. Each installment gives 1 out of the 5,075 undergraduates recognition of their talents and accomplishments at and outside of Lehigh.

Justin Toto, ’19, second from left, created The Phonies as an output for his original songs. Toto plans to pursue a career in audio engineering and has gained experience through his two bands and his EP. (Courtesy of Justin Toto)

When Justin Toto, ’19, wants to recreate a melody he hears, he sits with his guitar and plays by ear, physically and mentally searching for each note. He does the same if he wants to play a song on a different instrument, switching between guitar and keyboard, for example.

With a guitar in hand, Toto sat in his basement recording his first solo extended project (EP).

Toto recorded songs through a process called multitracking — recording instruments individually, and then placing the sounds over one another on the track to create a cohesive song. Toto sang and played all the instruments for the track, so the process was time consuming.

“I turned the basement of my house into a recording studio,” Toto said. “I’ve collected recording equipment over the years. I had a lot of free time over the summer, so I took advantage (of that).”

Toto said the most difficult part of recording his EP was learning how to sing and to play keyboard.

Toto has been in bands before, but wanted to write and record his own original music, so he created the band The Phonies.

“The Phonies was my way of working on my songs, of creating my own style,” Toto said. “It’s more pop than what I’ve done with others.”

Toto was able to find other musicians to play in The Phonies, while he does vocals and plays guitar.

Ivan Spann, ’20, said they met over the summer after Toto said he was looking for a bass player. He didn’t think anything would come from them practicing together until he realized how talented Toto is at playing guitar.

“We decided after a couple more jams to start trying to get a band together,” Spann said. “He’s very helpful for learning stuff and isn’t afraid to sit down and work on it until something’s right.”

Spann was able to find a drummer in Eric Rizzi, ’20, the next member to join The Phonies.

“(Spann), our bassist, reached out to me over the summer and told me about how his friend (Toto) wrote a sick album and needed some guys to play it with,” Rizzi said.

Rizzi enjoys being a part of The Phonies because of how well he works with Toto.

He said Toto is clear and articulate about what he has in mind when writing the music, and he encourages the other band members to put their own personal touch on the music.

“The combination of those two things makes it super easy to work with (Toto) and always makes rehearsal a fun part of my week to look forward to,” Rizzi said.

Toto has been in bands throughout high school and college, the most notable being Avenue Eight, a 10-piece funk band in which Toto is the only Lehigh student. He joined after finding out they needed a guitarist. Toto said it was the first serious band he’s been in, and they’ve even recorded an album on Spotify.

Toto said that the recording process for Avenue Eight was completely different and more streamlined, as they would record everything as a live band rather than using multitracking.

Despite majoring in mechanical engineering, Toto isn’t certain he wants to pursue that route, additionally looking at audio engineering as a potential career path.

“In terms of making music, I have tentative plans with Avenue Eight,” Toto said. “We have enough songs to record another album.”

There are no definite plans on whether The Phonies will continue after Toto graduates. Rizzi said the past month they have been working together has been an amazing experience and he keeps an open mind about plans for after Toto graduates.