Longevity is a rarity in the music industry these days. It’s an exceptional thing to see bands that have the drive, willpower and strength to keep going with all the changes that have happened over the last twenty years or so. So, how does a band like Styx manage to keep going stronger than ever after four decades in the industry? They’ve fought off getting trashed by the critics, internal turmoil, personnel changes, the death of a band mate and more to persevere in the face of hard times and prevail victoriously. The band is a touring machine of late, and they are about to embark on The Midwest Rock and Roll Express tour on April 18 with REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent. The tour has proven to be highly successful, thus the reason for yet another leg. It’s a night of showmanship loaded with hits that span over 40 years. I recently had a chance to sit down with Styx bassist Ricky Phillips to talk about the tour and how the band keeps this machine rolling after all this time.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: Hey Ricky! How’s it going?
Ricky Phillips/STYX: Hey Johnny, I’m good man. We got into town around 4:00 a.m. and we have another show tonight.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: So, are you guys doing headlining dates right now?
Ricky: Most of the time that’s what we do, but it changes up especially in the summer time when we add other bands. Then, we go back to doing what we are doing now, which is an evening with Styx and we have a local opener.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: Now, I know things are going to change up next month as you start up a new leg of the 
Midwest Rock and Roll Express Tour. I know the tour has been a big success so far, so why not take it back out again? If you book it, they will come.
Ricky: This is our fourth leg so far and it’s been great. We were going to do one leg, but before it was inked, there were a lot more cities wanting on board; that brings us to next month’s tour. On paper, it seems like a weird match to me, but the promoters and the fans absolutely love it. We’re doing huge numbers and a lot of shows have sold-out. Right now, people want more bang for their buck. The time periods just seem to go together very well. The bands may be completely different, but they offer up a good cross section of 70s, 80s and 90s. It’s a lot of classic rock and these guys are firing on all cylinders. We keep changing it up and do a pretty diverse set from city to city.
You know, we recently went back and we did a tour where we performed The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight in their entirety. There were many of those songs that had never been performed live before. It took us to the flip-side, a deep album cut that many fans thought they would never hear live. All you have to do is change one song in the set list and the flow is suddenly completely different. That’s great for us as we refuse to grow stale and stagnant with our set list. We have enough stuff that we haven’t played to keep it fresh. You know, we may think, oh we haven’t played “Suite Madame Blue” in six months and all of a sudden, boom; it has to be in the set. It’s great because it helps to pick up that part of the brain that makes you think. You know, that’s what you need and it’s what you want. You don’t want anything to be a knee jerk kind of reaction and there’s enough material to change it up every night and stay fresh. It’s the M.O. of the band to make tonight’s show better than last night’s.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: That’s a pretty awesome thing to try and maintain because that knee jerk reaction is 
something that the audience can pick up on quickly.
Ricky: Oh yeah, definitely and we stay way ahead of that and make sure it’s a little different from night to night. On the Midwest Tour, it’s tough because with three bands you get cut down to about 75 minutes, so you have to stack it with hits. Now, that’s a great thing, but you have to present it in a way so that it never gets to that point. We absolutely refuse to phone in a set. There has to be something very special going on out there each and every night.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: We actually saw you on the Grand Illusions/Pieces of Eight tour that you just mentioned. I have to say that hearing those albums in their entirety gave me a new found appreciation for them, especially Pieces of Eight.
Ricky: Yeah, doesn’t it? I totally agree with you man. I think it is one of those albums that gets overlooked. It has the songs on it everyone knows, but they forget they are all on that one album; plus it ends with “Aku Aku” which is insane. It’s kind of a (Pink) Floydian piece of instrumental, which is so trippy and cool. There are a lot of Styx fans who don’t know that song; at least that’s how my friends explain it to me. So, totally agree with you.
I never thought about it until I had to sit down and go over the material and learn it. Each guy has his own instrument and they don’t only have to learn their parts, but also how to get everyone else into that flow. When you do a concert, you normally start off with something that everyone knows and you save all the hits for the end of set; you stack it towards the back side. Now, when you play an album in its entirety, it’s exactly the opposite.
You see, back then, you approached a station and asked the director to play something off of your new album. A band would stack the front end with what they thought would be hits, usually the first three songs on album is packed. When you are doing an album on a live show, the energy is changed from what you know. You start with huge hits and then move to deep cuts. The real audiophiles know those songs but, the people who listen to just the radio don’t. It posed a real challenge as to whether or not this would even work. Thankfully, it’s been a huge success for us and for the audience. I would love to see my favorite bands do something like that.
Watch the highlights video:
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Johnny/Rock Revolt: So who came up with the idea? Did you guys come up with it or was it the suits at the label?
Ricky: Our manager Charlie (Brusco) gets that credit. I remember one day that he said we needed to do something different to shake things up. He brought it up in a meeting one day and threw it on the table. We thought it sounded really scary, but also really cool only because there were songs like “Superstars” that had never been played live. There were huge vocal challenges to them as well, but one of the cool things about this band is that everyone is such a great singer. There were some parts where JY or I had to take over for Tommy to make it sound seamless and then I would take JY’s part or he would take mine. We figured out the musical acrobatics that we had to play to make it all happen.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: I know you have to notice it each night because we noticed it at the show we went to. There 
are usually three generations of Styx fans in the audience singing along with you at each show. There’s a younger generation who is hungry for music like this . I know my kids get bored with what’s on radio these days. I guess Guitar Hero can get partial credit for exposing a new generation to your music. How awesome is it to look out and see that from the stage?
Ricky: It’s an awesome feeling to see that. I think we first noticed it about ten years ago when we saw an increase in young people at the show. I 
believe you hit on with Guitar Hero and Rock Band and those kinds of things. One of my close friends is CFO at Activision and I remember when they first released Guitar Hero. It was amazing what happened when the kids were hearing songs that we all knew. I mean, who sat in their office and thought of putting “Turning Japanese” on there? That was brilliant! These games introduced vast catalogs to a younger audience and now we have three generations singing along and there’s something very cool about that.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: I think it’s very cool to see that especially when the critics have trashed the music for the most part since the very beginning. I think it’s a testament to the strength of the music.
Ricky: Man, you are absolutely right about that! You know, I do hundreds of interviews each year and as I talk,
it makes me think of something that usually leads me to think of something later. One of the things that I think is cool is that whenever a kid hears our music through whatever channels they have today, they weren’t around back then to know which bands were hip and which were not. They are just listening to music at face value, they are grabbing it and deciding what is good, bad or ugly just on face value and that’s a very cool thing to see.
Let’s take a Styx song like “Mr. Roboto” for example. I mean, it’s a bit catchy, but it’s not “Fooling Yourself” or “Suite Madame Blue” or “The Grand Illusion”, but there is something about it that a kid hears and is attracted to. All of a sudden, we have a new perspective on songs we pushed to the side, from fresh ears. Every band has their “Roboto…” something in their catalog that they kind of push aside. Then they look at it with fresh ears and some of these songs jump to the front. There’s a musicology behind all of this and I’ve always been fascinated by it.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: Do you mind if I ask about Chuck? How’s he doing? Will he be playing with you any on the tour? (Writer’s Note: For those who may not know, Styx bassist Chuck Panozzo was sidelined back in 1998 when he was diagnosed as being HIV positive. He has since only been able to play with the band on a part-time basis.)
Ricky: Chuck is the iron-man of the band; he will be the last one standing up. He’s playing over 85% of the shows and we bring him out at one point and I switch over to guitar, usually during “Fooling Yourself”. Then, he comes out for the encores and we both play bass, which is the Spinal Tap way and the best way. We definitely have some fun with it (laughs). Hey, thanks so much for asking about him.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: As a long-time fan of the band, that’s really awesome to hear bout Chuck. Speaking of long-time, you are celebrating your tenth year with the band, yet you are still the “new guy”.
Ricky: Yeah, this September marks my tenth year with these 
guys. I guess I always will be the “new guy”. (laughs) One thing Tommy and I talked about before I committed was that he wanted me to be the last member of Styx. He told me that it was an elite club and very few people have ever been a part of this. It was a great conversation. Tommy and I have known each other since 1979 and he was in Damn Yankees when I was in Bad English. We wanted to work together, but we never really got to. So, we finally had a chance and we wanted to make sure all the dots were connected together if we did. It’s really great to see good friends around you on stage, especially in this day and age.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: After all this time with this lineup, do fans ever still sound off about wanting Dennis (DeYoung) back?
Ricky: It does still happen, but the Styx following is so vast and there’s no secret where it has grown from and where it is today. We have new fans from the last ten years who really don’t know anything about the old lineup. I love that the fans are passionate enough to say it because I am the same way about Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green or Genesis with Peter Gabriel. Everybody’s got their own thing and that’s cool. Our fanbase knows that things change and move forward and the proof is in the pudding because they are still coming to our shows.
Johnny/RR: What do you guys have lined up after the Midwest Rock and Roll Tour?
Ricky: I think we’re booked into next year, but they usually don’t give us all that. As a band, we know about two months out and that’s it. We go into meetings and they have everything lined out for us and even that kind of goes in one ear and out the other. We just worry about how long we will be gone and whether it’s warm or cold and all the stuff that we will need to pack.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: I know that the industry has changed so much and touring seems to be the bread and butter aspect of it right now, but has there been any talk of going in and recording new material?
Ricky: Well, there is always talk about it, but whether it happens or not is hard for me to say. I’m a songwriter and it’s one of my favorite things to do. I also love recording and producing as well. When I joined the band, I was already thinking of all the cool songs that I wanted to approach the band with. It’s just not a recording industry like it once was – like you said, it’s now more about touring.
So many things have changed over the last 15 to 20 years; it’s a whole new game. We have radio stations with five older Styx songs in heavy to medium rotation and they don’t want new stuff or want to support it. I’ve seen our colleagues go in and record these amazing albums that stand up to the best things they have ever recorded and they are not getting any airplay. They put all that work into it and thousands of dollars and is it worth it? Sure, as a writer or an artist it is. We have stockpiled plenty of material, so it will happen sometime, but we don’t have those conversations anymore of feeling like we have to go in and record. Yeah, especially when we get these wonderful phone calls to do these great tours because playing live is the best bit of it all anyway. To keep that alive and be on the road over 200 days a year now, that’s our main focus.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: Do you have a favorite song to play live?
Ricky: Yeah, but it changes. I used to love “Snowblind”, but we haven’t done that one in ages. ”Fooling Yourself” is a classic piece of music as well as “Renegade”, “Come Sail Away”, “Too Much Time on My Hands” are all classics that I love to play. I am a different demographic than most people because I love (Led) Zeppelin, (Jimi) Hendrix and anything older. I’m a classic rock kinda guy.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: You guys have become like family and probably closer than actually blood families. Let me
throw a member’s name out there and tell me the first thing that pops into your head. Let’s start with Tommy (Shaw).
Ricky: Tommy is the ultimate giver. I remember one of my very first shows with the band; I jumped up onto the drum riser and crashed into it really hard. At the end of the night, I took my boot off and there was more blood in the boot than anything. I was surrounded by paramedics and there’s Tommy making sure I am ok and reaching in to put a band-aid on it. He’s very giving both on and off stage. Musically, he gives 150%; he gives everything that he’s got on a daily basis.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: What about Lawrence (Gowan)?
Ricky: That guy is a musical genius and a wealth of musical knowledge. We went to Germany and he took me to the house where Beethoven was born and he told me his whole history. He has degrees in music and is just so knowledgeable. He’s also an insanely wonderful comic and an absolute virtuoso on the keyboard.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: What about Todd (Sucherman)?
Ricky: Todd is one of those prodigies who you thank God that he is in the band and that he was a Styx fan when he was younger. The guy is always playing, even when we’re off tour, he goes home and plays. He truly lives and breathes this and we’re very close.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: Last, but not least, Mr. James “JY” Young?
Ricky: JY is the Godfather, he’s everybody’s big brother. He’s the guy who makes sure that everybody is happy and he always asks how you’re feeling. He’d fight off anything that dare came to threaten the band. He is truly one of the best guys that I have ever met. He is very genuine and he’s got our backs at all times. His friends mean the world to him and he will do anything for them.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: Last question Ricky and I guess you might say it’s the elephant in room” one. Is there any communication these days between the band and Dennis (DeYoung)?
Ricky: As my good friend Ronnie Montrose, God bless him, used to say when people would ask him if he ever talked to Sammy Hagar. He would always say “When’s the last time you talked to your ex wife?” (laughs). I mean, it’s the kind of thing where it’s a huge piece of the band and it would be an understatement to point out all the highlights he brought to the band. I think he is happy doing what he is doing and the band has moved in a direction and is so solid right now. I think everybody wishes for his happiness.
Johnny/Rock Revolt: With that, I think we shall call it a wrap. Ricky, it has definitely been a pleasure man. Do you have any closing words to wrap us up with?
Ricky: We look forward seeing everyone as we embark on the fourth leg of this extravaganza. If this leg is half as much fun as the last one, you definitely don’t want to miss it. Oh, let me add that I am hearing things about the show and you never know who might jump into each guys set on any given night. There’s going to be a lot of interplay with each other’s sets.
Johnny Price, Senior Journalist – RockRevolt™Magazine
Photos provided by band PR & found on social media
