“Styx, Epic, Adventure.” Those are the three words that Lawrence Gowan used to describe the long-awaited album from Styx. And finally the wait is over! June 16, 2017, marked an historical moment in the music world. It’s been 14 years since the legendary rock band dropped an album, and it was definitely worth the wait. Along with the new album, The Mission, the band will be taking off on tour beginning on June 20th! The United We Rock Tour will not only include Styx but will also include REO Speedwagon and Don Felder, too! If you’re not as excited as we are then you need to hype yourself up ASAP!
To get you pumped, we spoke with Styx vocalist/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan who is extremely excited to release this brand new album! He said, “We hope peope will get enjoyment and pleasure from it as they have from all of the Styx records throughout the course of their lives!”
For the release of the album the band has been doing a quite a bit of promo work.
“Tommy, JY, and myself are going to LA for a couple of days to do some intense couple of days press. Like we did in New York a few weeks ago. Just to kind of let everyone we possibly can on the planet know about The Mission and that Styx have this new album and of course that will likely be coming to your neighborhood at some point because we’ve got about 100 shows right now on the itinerary as I look ahead,” said Gowan. “The first big block of shows with 35 or 40 of them are with Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Don Felder of Eagles and that starts up on June the 20th. So just 4 days after the album’s released we start. So those are just
some of the things we’re really highlighting and focusing on and telling people. On Sirius XM radio we did a live in studio while in New York where they brought in a small audience. It was for the Howard Stern Show. I think they’re going to release that on the day of the album release.”
The band has been on tour for what seem like non-stop over the past few years, and we’re loving it. And all those days performing mean the band is well rehearsed and ready to start the United We Rock tour!
Gowan mentioned that they’ve been rehearsing intensely and are ready to just continue on playing more shows. “We’ve been rehearsing intensely both the new stuff and, of course, all of the standard Styx songs that people will demand to hear. We’re piecing together everything creatively and looking forward what the year will throw at us.”
Before the release of the album, Styx had showcased a few brand new singles from the album that have generated a lot of buzz and have gotten great reception from fans. “We wanted it to sound like it fit with the classic Styx albums, in our mind anyway. But ultimately that’s a decision the fans have to make, and so far t
hey’re saying exactly what we what then to say: ‘It sounds like classic Styx.’ It connects to the great legendary status of the band, and hopefully that will continue to be the reaction and it’ll become part of the great Styx cannon of Classic rock.”
When asked if he thought this was a comeback album or just another addition to the already impressive collection, Gowan laid it out on the table for us explaining that it is of sorts, but not in the usual way. “Well we’ve decided to come back to the studio; that would be the way that I would qualify is as any sort of comeback idea because it’s really
hard to say,” he said. “You know we’re a band that plays. We played our lightest year last year because of all the recording. We played 101 shows.” Which is still an humongous amount for a band to play! So props to the guys for keeping it going! “I don’t think this band could ever sell the notion of a comeback. Quite honestly, the comeback period was way back in 1997 when I first met with them. This is just the next step that we felt we needed to take. And the next thing we wanted to unfold which was we were going to commit ourselves to making another studio record. We wanted to see if we could and if we would be proud enough of it to actually put it out. That’s really what’s happening right now.”
Since joining the band in the late 90s, Gowan says not much has changed for him except maybe his looks, he joked. “It’s funny Tommy was just talking about this, when we see old pictures of us. I never thought that a band that had already been around for a few decades by the time nor did I envision to be looking back at pictures and going, oh my god, I don’t remember us looking like that or wearing these clothes. It has been causing quite a stir. The time that has been so enjoyable that I haven’t felt it go by at all.”
Before joining Styx, Gowan was a prominently known for solo work, so we decided to catch up with him on that as well. “You can absolutely expect that. I’ve been working on that for a few years now actually. It really comes down to when there’s an opportunity to properly promote a new solo venture, I will do so,” he said. “That really comes down to what the Styx schedule dictates. I’m anxious to do some stuff in my solo world in some ways. But the band gives me lots of leeway in that area because t
hey definitely encourage me to go out and play you know 9 or 10 solo shows every year because they feel that it brings something fresh bad to the band. So I derive great pleasure doing those solo shows and it’s enough to keep me going and to hold off putting out any music until I think it’s the right opportunity.”
But no need to rush the solo music because we have a brand new amazing Styx album to listen to over and over and over again.
Styx“We took advantage of every new device in the new digital world offered and recorded as we were living in the present day and you know exploiting all of those possibilities. However, when we made this record, we made a concerted effort to record as if we were living in 1979 and to use all the analog equipment that was available to them back then, too. But it really works.”
“We felt we wanted to make a record feel as if it was recorded in 1979 even though we know it’s going to unfold in 2017. It’s reflective of the band today. But, we really wanted it to resonate as much as possible with the classic records of that past. Once we thought it was as close to that as we could get it we felt proud enough to put it out.”
It was definitely worth the 14 year wait for the new album. But since it’s not 1979 anymore, we decided to talk about how the social media of the 21st century plays a roll on the band’s fan outreach. “I kind of love it because I like talk to people who are fans of the band. I always enjoy talking to people. There’s just so many things in the schedule that inhibit that from happening. Social media is a quick way where you can connect with them and let them know what you’re up to and respond occasionally to what maybe on their minds,” says Gowan.
With all of the social media and modern technology, Styx has been able to reach an entirely new fan base along with those who have loved them from day one. Now there are kids and young adults you’ll find at their live shows rocking out alongside the so called “old timers”.
“It’s the most pleasant and unexpected surprise since my time in the band began. I began to notice a lot of people in the audience who were not there with their parents or their older brothers and sisters but just young people who you know weren’t even born when some of the biggest Styx records were made. And they were enthusiastically responding to the songs,” he exclaimed.
“You know, half of the audience was under 30 years of age. So, to see them so enthralled with classic rock, which you know to us is just rock it wasn’t classic yet. They have just as much emotion and enthusiasm for it as people who grew up with it.”
“It’s really remarkable to witness that and it really underscores the obvious fact that rock music was the giant musical statement of the last half of the 20th century.”
“Now a new generation has embraced it right alongside new bands that you may love. You have this access now through the internet to instantly connect to music even from the classic rock era. And when you see that one of those bands is touring, you take the leap of faith, and you decide to go see them live. And once you’ve experienced a live rock show, I don’t know of any greater form of entertainment that I’ve ever experienced. So it’s great to see that it validates my devotion for it myself to so many young people coming to it go with such gusto.”
Aside from the new music and reaction, we tried to get some dirt on Gowan but instead ended up having a great chat about Stephen King’s novel, 11:22:33! We asked him if he had a regret in the past that he would change, and he admitted it wasn’t something he was willing to confess in an interview. We don’t blame him; we all have our secrets!
“I loved reading this book by Stephen King called 11:22:63. The book really spectacular. If you know the plot of that book, the main character wants to go back and undo to a horrible thing in the past, and of course inevitably he finds that the past is obdurate. It’s highly resistant to change. My feel is that there is really, apart from having a few personal regrets, theres nothing really even worth pondering changing. I’m a happy person today, and I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for all of the good and bad things that happened to me. So that’s my little way of sidestepping that question,” he joked.
StyxAnd though we didn’t get any gossip from the past from Gowan, he did tell us about a memorable gift he used to get from a woman in British Columbia. “Well for years there was someone who lived in British Columbia, and I was in Toronto, and if you know anything about geography you know they’re nowhere near each other. And this person insisted on sending me a crate full of pies. These were homemade pies. It wasn’t like a Three Stooges thing where she wanted to put a pie in my face. She actually wanted me to enjoy the pies. She would crate them up, but by the time they got to Toronto there would be five or six pie containers and a whole pile of mashed up food. It looked like a bomb went off inside that crate.”
“And this went on for several years. She kept sending messages asking how I liked the pies and you know I’d get a fan letter like that. A couple of times I was tempted to write her a letter letting her know I never took one bite because they never arrived intact firstly. And, secondly, I don’t know if I would take a bite because I don’t know if they were intended to end my life.”
“It was undoubtedly a sweet gesture, but I didn’t know whose hand they had passed through. Then again I guess the pies you buy in store you don’t really know whose hands they pass through. So I guess I was a little bit overly cautious. And everyone kept telling me not to eat that, but they didn’t have to because by the time they got to me they were just crates full of mush. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. I just told her the pies were fantastic. So, they kept coming.”
To the pie girl in British Columbia if you see this, Gowan has a message for you! “I want her to know that I appreciated every single pie and that when they wound up in the dumpster I’m sure a lot of raccoons and animals enjoyed all of the remnants. So, the wildlife in Canada along with myself, thanks her.”
Along with is message to pie girl Gowan wants everyone to know that Styx is looking forward to keeping this thing going as long as they can and that they thank us all enough for supporting them with great enthusiasms throughout the years. So let’s keep it going!
The Mission is out now and tickets for the United We Rock tour are available on Live Nation and Ticketmaster. This is an album and live tour you won’t want to miss!
