Styx is a band that has seen so many fads come and go in its 50 year existence and we’re not even referring to the music industry. This band has been through the death of founding member John Panozzo, personnel changes, disco, 80s new wave, hair metal, grunge, pet rocks (Google that one kids), the death of vinyl, the resurgence of vinyl and yet they remain in the musical spotlight. The guys could do the whole nostalgia thing and tour every summer off of thier classic back catalog, but they choose not to. They keep recording new music and damn good music! Their latest two albums The Mission and Crash of the Crown were hailed by critics worldwide. They have been touring in support of Crash of the Crown, but they will doing that whole nostalgia thing in a big summer co-headlining tour with their pals REO Speedwagon with special support from their Canadian brothers Loverboy. What a night of hits that will be! The tour is set to kick-off May 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We sat down with lead vocalist Lawrence Gowan the morning after opening night of a special five show run at The Venetian in Las Vegas with Heart’s Nancy Wilson to talk about their upcoming tour with REO Speedwagon and Loverboy.
It’s the day after a show man and you’re up early! How are you feeling?
Lawrence Gowan/Styx: Real well. It went over so well last night. We have a lot of fun in rehearsals, but when it’s something new like that. We have Nancy Wilson halfway through the show and it segues into a Heart set of four songs, then back into the Styx show. You never know how that’s gonna go, but oh my gosh the audience just exploded with appreciation for it. It was really great.
I am jealous, being big fans of both artists. I pulled up a little bit of footage on YouTube this morning. Oh right, we’re supposed to be talking about another tour or something.
Right! I’ll catch you up real quick. The big blockbuster summer tour has been announced. That starts with REO Speedwagon and my Canadian compatriots, Loverboy. I’m really happy with how things came together. I think it’s a great combination. All these combining of our crafts and the rock era is so enjoyable. I think of all the touring, that’s the most enjoyable aspect for me is that blending. Of course I’m in the midst of it right now with our show last night with Nancy Wilson. It’s some of the biggest music of the last half of the 20th century. The staying power is great to see. A couple of years ago we did a run with Don Felder of The Eagles and it was the same thing. You just get to kind of bathe in the euphoria that the audience is feeling. With the fact that these songs is such a soundtrack to our lives and to get to play some of them on stage with these artists.
Talking about the staying power. You look out into the audience and there are probably at least three generations that are standing there and singing the songs right back to you.
That’s right! On any given night and last night would be the very same. Half the audience is under 40 years of age, weren’t even born when some of these records were made and when they were on the radio and all that. And yet they have embraced the songs and this music. Not unlike how people embraced jazz and swing, previous music styles, or Sinatra. I’m in Vegas, so I’m going to reference Sinatra and Martin and those guys. There are generations beyond what are even walking the face of the Earth that have embraced that style of music and into such an astounding degree. It’s great to see that from the stage.
It’s just unbelievable the reach and the power of these songs to last how they have. I grew up on it and my kids, I took my son to see you guys twice already. Now you guys went out maybe a couple of years ago pre-Covid with REO Speedwagon. Was that a similar summer tour?
Yes. I think about every three or four years we do at least some shows with REO. They’ve been our most consistent touring partners. Even last year. We did 70 shows in 2021 and I think two of them were with REO. We had two with REO and two with Cheap Trick. But REO we just know each other so well. We’re familiar with each other and we really enjoy each other’s company. It’s a great relationship we’ve had. There’s something about that combination.
And you beat me to it, I was going to say you guys must be really good friends and have a good camaraderie backstage because TMZ did not report on any fist fights between you guys. (laughing) You guys – it’s like summer camp in a way with musicians.
(laughing) Yeah. It is like that, I know. It’s nauseating that we haven’t had any fist fights or anything! I’ll tell you how bad it is, Johnny, I’ve never told this one before. Maybe five or six years ago we were on tour with REO and our bus broke down just completely in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Our driver said “Oh you know, the REO bus is within an hour of us. They’re not that far.” He radio’d them and told them we’re stuck on the side of the road if you guys want to come back to us. They were further down the road from us, I think we must have gone on 2nd that night. The guys turned the bus around, came all the way back. And of course, we have five guys on a bus with another five guys and a couple of tour managers. We’re thinking we’ll just figure out the sleeping thing. I’m about to lie down on the floor and Kevin goes “No. You take my bunk, I’m fine. I’ve already slept a bit, I’m just gonna sit up here and work on emails.” Are you kidding? This is too ridiculous. I took advantage of it and slept a good 10 hours.
Like “Well if you say so.”
Yeah. They’re great friends!
With a tour like this I’ve noticed since it’s co-headlining, I guess it flip flops who’s going on last.
I usually find out on the day of the show. Decades ago it was always a really big deal who went on last because it was assumed that act was the headliner. Well really it’s not like that now. And really on the tour most of us are kind of envious of the middle slot because that’s kind of the sweet spot on any night. Over the course of the night you’re gonna get four hours plus of music and the middle part is when the audience tends to be at their peak of energy. You gotta kind of bring them back to you as the night goes on. I kinda like playing the middle spot, I know that there’s sometimes we’ll definitely close. Sometimes it’s determined by if the other band is much much bigger in that city. I find it insignificant on why one should close because it really is just a full night of just drinking in all these tunes.
So many hits! A night full of memories and a night full of hits. But you guys – to work Crash of The Crown in here as well. When you guys finish the dates with Nancy, you’re jumping right back on to that swing. A show like this is kind of a nostalgia show, you know. It brings back so many memories for people, but you guys are not a band that rests on that nostalgia. You could, you don’t have to put out studio albums every couple of years. The stuff you’ve released the past few years, there’s so many great reviews for Crash of The Crown. You keep it fresh. When we saw you awhile back in Durham,North Carolina, I think you had about six songs from the new album and to get that in your set list amongst all the other classic songs. You guys don’t rest on the whole nostalgia thing.
Well you know, it’s good to hear. We know it’s the legacy of the band that people are coming to see. That’s the majority of the audience. But the thing is, there’s so many reasons why you need to engage in playing new music. The new stuff we do, it first has to cross the hurdle of being worthy of being in the show. We are our own worst critics when it comes to deciding is this song worthy of two-three minutes amongst all these classic songs. Personally I look at it like I’ve been in the band now, I’m in my 23rd year. These newer records that we’ve done, they really are a way of me expressing what I’ve experienced in the band and how I feel creatively fulfilled and trying to earn the right to make a record alongside the classic records that the band has done. For Tommy and for J.Y. and for Chuck, they’ve really just wanted to continue adding on to this great catalog of music they’ve had for over 5 decades now.
We’re two weeks away from the 22nd of February and the band will be 50 years old. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed, J.Y. has mentioned many times from stage that both The Mission and Crash of the Crown ironically are the best reviews ever for any Styx albums. That’s a real testament to the fact that they had all that success in the past and were never ever a critics darlings, but after all this time the band had thrived and is still alive, and has gone through many seismic changes. People are beginning to recognize the whole body of work dating right back to 1972. It’s really worthy of the attention it’s garnered over the years. And the new stuff we play as I mentioned before we have younger people coming to the shows. They want something that’s concurrent with their lives. As much as they love the old material, they want something to go “Wow, this is what these guys are doing today.” I can relate to it, it feels concurrent with my own life.
It’s not like we have to ram it down their throats. We wait and see how the records are doing. Crash of the Crown went to #1 on Billboard’s Rock Album charts and we knew there are enough people in that audience we can get away with playing two or three new things and segue into the classic material.
It’s great that you do it, I love how it transitions. You said that very well. I love how it transitions between the old and the new. And here you are starting your 23rd year and you are still the “new guy.”
I love that. At this point in my life Johnny, any time the word “new” is in any way associated with my name, I’m completely comfortable with that. (laughing) I don’t mind if I’m referred to as the new guy and being the new guy right up until the 75th anniversary.
Is it tricky messing with the set list like that? I can imagine you in a room trying to discuss that, how to put new songs in.
When I first joined the band I used to get very heavily involved in what we were going to play on any night. And then I realized, we’ve just got an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great songs to play. So now I look at the set list about an hour before the show to make sure we get all of the keyboard programs in order. But I like that. There are certain things I insist upon, like when we went out on tour last year since we had the new album I think we should definitely play the title track. Just to get those words into people’s mouths. Apart from that, I make no other suggestions. You’re gonna hear “Blue Collar” and “Renegade” and “Come Sail Away” and “Grand Illusion” I know all of those songs are going to be in the show anyway. As far as the running order goes, I like to be surprised.
With Covid and everything, I know there’s still VIP tickets available with merch but were you guys doing any type of meet & greet?
No. That would be irresponsible because it’s such a contagious disease and you’re trying to minimize wherever you can. Of course having said that, we know when you’ve got a few thousand people out there it’s going to be transmitted. We’re not kidding ourselves about the situation, but what we focus on is about what everyone in the audience should focus on. That’s how do we get ourselves healthy enough to get through this day, so we’re going to follow along with whatever the protocols are. We did a lot of shows last year where quite honestly I didn’t meet a single person from the venue. Any of the staff, because the buildings had their own regimen on how they were handling it. They would do all the preparation beforehand and then vacate the area the band had to be. To say that we appreciated that is a huge understatement. It was really great to go into buildings where people were really cognitive of the situation and still wanted the show to happen and wanted people to enjoy themselves and have an uplifting experience that they’ve been denied for over a year. And we got through last year without anyone getting it until the very end and that was a drag. Now quite a few of us have had it and we’ve recovered and we’re off to business.
Before Covid set in were you guys doing any kind of meet & greet packages with the fans?
Oh God, yeah. We had a huge one! We did them daily for several years and it would be roughly 50 people. That was always the fun thing. And you never know, that could come back again. I think it will quite honestly just not for the foreseeable future.
Well we’re gonna wrap this up because I know you have another interview coming up. We end this with something called “3 For The Road.” If you could have any actor, or any character be the inner voice in your head for life, who would you choose?
Joe Pesci.
Great voice! Oh my gosh!
(In his best Joe Pesci impersonation ) Ya know something? Ya know something? When you’ve got Joe Pesci in your head, you don’t hear any other voices. (laughing)
Did you have a favorite cartoon growing up?
Oh, I did. Yeah. That was Popeye the Sailor Man.
Classic! There ya go. So last one if, heaven forbid, music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Oh. Okay. That’s too good of a question. You’re making me think of cartoons now. Remember when Bugs Bunny had to fight The Crusher? I’m gonna be “The Keyboard Crusher.” He comes out at the end of every fight as he’s losing, a giant piano comes from above and squashes the opponent. I think we just invented a whole new thing here, Johnny.
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor, Johnny Price
