How Phil Collins' Son Nic and Steve Lukather's Son Trev Found Their 'Own Voice' with New Band The Effect (Exclusive)

The pair open up to PEOPLE about their new single "Unwanted" — and why having famous dads can present added pressure

When Trev Lukather started playing guitar in his early teens, he received some sage advice from his dad, Toto rocker Steve Lukather.

“He said, ‘Don’t focus on flashy guitar licks — that does not matter,’” Trev recalls to PEOPLE. “The songs are what matter, because those live on forever.”

Trev, 36, took the words of wisdom to heart as he forged his own path in the music world, which as of late has yielded an exciting, if unexpected, new turn: The Effect, a band he formed last year with Nic Collins (son of legendary drummer Phil Collins), Steve Maggiora (who’s toured with Toto) and singer Emmett Stang.

“It’s been a real crazy process. It’s been fast, but it’s also been great,” says Nic, 22. “Timing works out in a weird way.”

“Unwanted,” the group’s first single, came out in October, the same month The Effect played its first-ever show. While they have 10 songs mixed and mastered for an upcoming album, the group is currently riding the success of “Unwanted,” and hope to tour Europe this summer.

Related: Toto's Steve Lukather and Journey's Jonathan Cain's Children Trevor and Madison Wed in L.A.

The quartet is diving right in, paying no mind to how they should sound. Instead, they’re focusing on what each of them can bring to the table, and how their strengths can combine into something cohesive.

“We never had a conversation as to what genre we were going to be,” says Nic. “It’s just like, this is me playing drums over one of Trev’s riffs, and then this is Steve laying over that, and then Em singing the top line. I’d describe it as a weird, hard pop-rock. The album’s got a spectrum of sound. It’s like a rock band making pop songs.”

The musical fates aligned for The Effect in January 2023, when Trev and Nic met in person for the first time after years of Instagram exchanges. Trev had seen Nic play in 2017 — and he was impressed — so the two arranged a double date dinner in Miami.

“I remember when we first met, Trev had told me about his last band and how he just had no interest in being in a band again at all,” says Nic. “We just went to dinner as friends, but we knew that we probably wanted to work together in some way.”

Related: Phil Collins' Son Nic Says 'Genesis Fans' Will 'Enjoy' His Band Better Strangers' New Song 'Raincheck'

Trev had previously spent time in a different band, though the group was derailed by the pandemic. He says the experience left him “scarred,” as it was a “heartbreak” that ultimately led him to shift gears into production and solo material.

But in Nic he found a kindred spirit — someone who understood what it was to grow up the son of a rock and roll star. Before long, the two realized they’d essentially led parallel lives.

“It was actually weird how similar some aspects of our lives are,” says Nic, the son of Collins, 73, and his ex-wife Orianne Cevey. “We’re very lucky, very privileged in life, but there are some aspects that not a lot of people understand when your life and family stuff can be put in the limelight. So for us to be able to bond over that… was a really helpful thing when starting to get to know each other.”

Both Trev and Nic were bitten by the music bug at a young age; Nic, who’s toured with Genesis and Mike + the Mechanics, has been playing the drums since he was 3 years old, while Trev drummed from ages 4 to 12, then picked up the guitar at 13 after watching his dad shred during Toto’s reunion tour.

“My earliest memories were watching my dad on his last tour and seeing him perform every night,” says Nic. “There was no question that this was going to eventually be what I wanted to do.”

Adds Trev: “The reason why we’re even doing this is because we love our dads and we were inspired by them at such a young age, but we’ve also found our own voice and they’re super supportive of that. There’s always a little bit of influence, but we’re really confident that we’ve developed our own thing.”

Of course, the idea of the “nepotism baby,” or someone with a famous parent pursuing a career in Hollywood, has been a hot topic of conversation in recent months. But Trev and Nic take it in stride, as they know it’s their talent that will ultimately make them or break them, not their lineage.

Still, the two admit their careers often exist under a microscope of scrutiny, something Trev calls a “double-edged sword.”

“Doors open, but you’ve got to walk in the room. You’ve got to own the room,” he says. “I feel like the nepo baby thing is mainly for people that really don’t want to work for anything and get these opportunities and they’re not that great, and then they’re in the spotlight and limelight and getting ahead. I understand the annoyance of that.”

He continues: “I have alligator skin at this point. You just have to cancel out the noise and focus on the positives. It’s all about putting in the work. It does not matter who your parent is, if you’re not good at what you do, it won’t last long and it’s going to be brutally painful.”

Nic says that’s something he learned the hard way while performing with his father and Genesis.

“I chose to look at it as a positive because it is what it is. I remember when I first started doing my dad’s solo gig and you’d get comments like, ‘Oh, it must be nice getting a gig because you’re Phil’s son.’ I totally understood,” he says. “I was like, well, that’s a valid perspective to have. You’ve never heard me play, I’m 16. But to me, I was like, let me go work my [ass] off and do my homework so that when we go and do that tour, nobody can say anything about it. There’s an added bit of pressure. It makes you want to bring your A-game no matter what.”

While Nic says dad Phil has never been “overbearing” when it comes to his career, the “In the Air Tonight” singer has made himself available for tips and advice if needed. Trev, meanwhile, says his dad “loves” the band, and has been a fan of what he’s heard of the album so far.

The Effect got off the ground shortly after that meeting in Miami, when Trev texted Nic asking if he'd be interested in forming a supergroup. Nic was intrigued, and when Trev sent along the riff to what would become “Unwanted,” he was in. Before long, they recruited Stang as a vocalist and Maggiora on the keys; before all four were ever even in a room together, they’d written three songs.

Though Nic lives in Miami and Trev in Los Angeles, the group makes it work by FaceTiming and playing each other things they’re tinkering with. Then there’s Trev’s wife Madison Cain, whom he credits as a “huge part” of the band’s success.

Madison — whose dad is Journey rocker Jonathan Cain — and her sister have helped style the group, and she’s also snapped photographs and directed music videos.

“She’s the band’s soccer mom,” says Nic, whose actress sister Lily Collins also showed support by rocking band merch at their first show in October. “I think the operation would fall apart [without her].”

As for what’s next for The Effect, Trev says his goal is for them to go “to the top.”

“We’re willing to put in blood, sweat and tears and grind the teeth and get on the road,” he says. “The music’s so good and we’re so proud of it that it deserves to be heard. So when it is heard, we’re just going to keep going. So [our] goal is to tour for the next two years until the next record.”

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