Styx

Lawrence Gowan, keyboardist and vocalist of Styx (as well as solo artist Gowan) took time out of his day for us and gave u a bit of a recap of what’s been happening with the band since he’s been a part of it, as well as gave us a few hints of what’s to come!

Photo by Ash Newell

John Delaney: Here I am talking to Lawrence Gowan, keyboardist and vocalist of legendary rockband, STYX, how’s it going Lawrence?

Lawrence Gowan: Things are going pretty damn good John, how about yourself?

John Delaney: Things are going well! The current tour looks like its coming to an end in a few weeks, how has the recent tour been so far?

Lawrence Gowan: We do have a little bit of a break coming up in December, but then we start again in January, and this year we’ve been on 2 complete tours, one alone, and one with Yes, and then toured with Journey and Foreigner, through England and Scotland, a big rock festival with Ozzy Osbourne, and now we’re back in the US touring today. And as I said, the next real break comes up at the end of December, so we’re looking forward to the break!

John Delaney: And what’s been your favorite city to play?

Lawrence Gowan: Well, no matter where you play in the world, the audience makes it the same city anyway, they’re all standing, and there’s thousands, and they’re all appreciating what’s just happened between us and them. It really doesn’t matter, and that’s on the one hand. But the truth is we’re playing in London this year, and you see that on the schedule, or you see that we’re playing in New York, or tonight we’re in Chicago and it’s important. For me it’s really important when we play in Canada, so I love any gig we play in Canada. We played this year actually in Montreal, the biggest Styx audience in Montreal ever, we had 45 000 people this year at this festival in Montreal, so they’re all really important!

John Delaney: You’ve still got quite a few shows left however, any of those cities are you looking forward to coming up?

Lawrence Gowan: Well, of course, every single one of them. There’s not really any that I don’t look forward to them, there’s some unusual things coming up in the next little while. Las Vegas will be an exciting place to be, but we have a number of cities coming up, and it always ends up being the same wherever we play.

John Delaney: Now lets go onto you, you started as a solo act and opened for Styx back in ’97, is that right?

Lawrence Gowan: Yeah, well I had a long standing solo career in Canada, so it was a 14 year career, I had 4 platinum records, and 3 gold records, and I played the Montreal Forum, the old one, before. And then when the Montreal Forum promoter asked if I would open for the show for Styx, I thought at first my manager and people thought, you should not do that. You shouldn’t open for anyone, you have enough success in Canada but I wanted to see the new Montreal Forum, so I opened the show for them, just solo on the piano, and that was in 1997, and 2 years later they went through their backstage drama and decided they had to make a change in the band, and so they got me, and I agreed.

John Delaney: What all has happened in those 12 years, what have your highlights been with the band?

Lawrence Gowan: Well we played twice at the Superbowl, so those have to be highlights, just because they’re an incredibly unique opportunity. To play the one in Tampa Bay, and then 4 years later we played the one in San Diego; so those were spectacular events. The first time when I played in the Tokyo dome, that was a spectacular thing to do. Actually coming back to Toronto and playing in Massey hall, which is a place I played many times as a solo act, being back there and playing as a member of Styx was pretty astounding. It’s interesting how the career has unfolded that way, a very unexpected way. In addition to that, some other appearances I love playing in Wembley, and I love playing in Germany, we played in Hamburg, and I love the feeling the audience has in the band.

John Delaney: Would you say being a part of Styx has been the highlight of your career?

Lawrence Gowan: I’d say the highlight of my career is the fact had a career. To have music as a career last decades at this point, I’m always surprised by what’s up the road. If I were to pick the biggest highlight, I have a song called ‘Criminal Mind‘ which made #1 in 1985 and now we play that at Styx, so to have that in my solo career, then to play it with Styx is really a personal highlight right there/

John Delaney: Did you see STYX as an inspiration as you continued on your solo career?

Lawrence Gowan: I really loved progressive rock throughout the 70’s; Yes, Genesis, bands that I saw as progressive rock I was really impressed. But the only one that was really successful outside of the UK was Styx, so I was really impressed with that and I really liked the pallet they used and brought to rock, and the way they use such vocal courses, that’s what I was really struck by. So yea, I saw them as a very successful band that I hoped one day and I finally did, and now I’ve seen them thousands of times!

John Delaney: Starting off did you ever think you were going to be where you are now?

Lawrence Gowan: Well I knew I wasn’t qualified to do anything else, so I hoped there was a way that I could do it, so you know it’s funny, it hasn’t quite gone how I envisioned because we have a certain plan in mind, but life has another plan. But really it’s gone a lot better than I envisioned because it’s the unexpected things that can often lead to the greatest rewards! What’s been tremendous is the the fact that it’s existed and I’ve done as well as the whole career thing. The whole thing has been very enjoyable to be apart of.

John Delaney: Now enough about the past, onto the present and future, do you and the band have any plans for the near future?

Lawrence Gowan: We just put out a record called Regeneration 2, the Styx greatest hits re-done. With our interpretations of the classic songs because there are 2 generations of the band. And now we have a DVD coming out in a couple of months of a show we did in Memphis a few months ago called The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight tour where we played Styx’s 2 triple platinum albums in the 70’s so tons of people have those records in Memphis, so it went great, so I’m looking forward to that coming out!

John Delaney: Right on, well thanks so much Lawrence for talking to us, we’re excited for what’s to come!

Lawrence Gowan: Oh fantastic, well thank you guys!

Styx are ending off their tour with the following dates: