An Interview with Lawrence Gowan of Styx
“Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me.” When Styx unleashes that epic chorus aboard the ‘70s Rock & Romance Cruise ship as it rests in Jamaica’s azure waters next March, it may go down in history as the most perfect cruise moment ever. And it’s not just the fans who can’t wait for that moment; the band themselves are ready to rock the boat like never before. We spoke with lead vocalist and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan last week about the cruise and the band’s first album in 14 years.
“It’s an intimate thing,” Gowan says about performing on the ‘70s Rock & Romance Cruise. “It’s a unique but perfect staging. You feel like you’re getting this private show and the world is quite a distance away.” And just outside that private show just for ‘70s Rock & Romance Cruisers held in the Celebrity Summit’s Mainstage Theater will be the glittering island of Jamaica, where the ship will rest when Styx holds court, a place that is both idyllic and personally exciting for Gowan. “I’ve never been to Jamaica so I’m very enthusiastic,” he shares. “I’ve got a lot of friends in Jamaica.”
The ‘70s Rock & Romance Cruise concert is a long way from Gowan’s first performance with Styx, which still remains a strong memory even 18 years later. “I think we had about a month or so (to rehearse),” he recalls. “We had to decide how we’re going to approach this because my voice sounds different than Dennis DeYoung and we sincerely wanted to interpret the songs in my own way. We were quick so in addition to Styx songs we hacked our way through the entire second side of ‘Abbey Road’ and had some fun playing all kinds of stuff like that. We just played and played together.”
“So then we get to Branson, MO – the start of a 33-show tour. About 10 seconds before I drew my first breath to sing ‘Grand Illusion’ I thought to myself, ‘I guess I‘ll know in about three minutes whether this is going to have legs or not,’” he laughs. “And then there were high fives and I looked across the stage to big smiles.” When he looked out into the audience, it went wild.
“It really has been great the whole time,” he says of the band’s fans and the way they have warmly embraced him ever since that first concert. “What they’re in love with is the spirit of what Styx is, their memories,” he goes on to explain. “I see new generations who have discovered classic rock and are just as enthusiastic and enamored with it as people who grew up with it. We take that seriously and we live up to their expectations and our own – we are harsh critics of ourselves. We derive great enjoyment in elevating the show to another level.”
And for those fans who can’t get to all of their shows, the band has recreated them in a series of live albums over the past two decades. But this year, Styx are delivering something special and even bigger; their first studio album in over 14 years. “We’ve had so many live records, almost every other year,” Gowan explains. “We like put out something to show where the band is and where the show is at. But we’ve always had the desire to make another record because we’ve had lots of new songs and ideas that we’ve actually been playing during sound checks over the years,” he reveals.
The songs, perfected by months – even years - of surreptitiously playing them during pre-show rehearsals, were ready. But the band’s grueling tour schedule left them little time for recording sessions. “We’d be faced with a schedule of over 120 shows a year. But part of the lifeblood of a band is making new music, to let new ideas ensue and to take us to new places and to give us that jolt of creative enthusiasm that we always have.”
So they stole away into the studio whenever they could, promising themselves that they’d let the creative process lead them, not the pressures of time. “When we started making this record, we decided that unless we really love it at the end, we won’t have to put it out, that we would just have it for ourselves. But about six months to a year into making the record we thought we really have something to be proud of and felt it resonated strongly with the past but also with the lineup of the past 18 years. It turned out to reflect a good swath of the history of the band.”
In the end, Gowan was surprised that finding the time to record the new album wasn’t the hard part - it was keeping their sessions a secret. “I think that was the most difficult things I had to accomplish in the band so far,” he exclaims. “I do so many interviews and am asked ‘are you guys ever putting out a new album. I felt disingenuous so I devised a way to walk a line. I’d say ‘there is new material, whether it comes out on an album we’ll see.’ I think it was a good lesson in self-restraint,” he laughs, “because in this age of social media we want to blurt out everything every moment of the day and every bite we are eating so it’s very difficult to keep your mouth shut.”
Will Styx add any of the new songs to their set-list aboard the '70s Rock & Romance Cruise? “Right now we play one new song off the record, ‘Gone Gone Gone,’” he says. But it is, has and will always be about the fans. “We really want to gauge the audience to see how much of the album they want to hear. If you want to add something from ‘The Mission’ to your favorite list of Styx songs, let us know,” he asks us to relay to the cruise guests, “and we’ll work those songs into the set as it sees fit.” But he assures that the band’s signature hits will always be in the show. “Those are gigantic records that affected peoples’ lives profoundly and we promise they are forever a part of the epic Styx live adventure show. This is what people are coming to see. We have that foremost in our minds all the time.”
When Gowan speaks about Styx, it sounds as if he’s a fan of the band himself. Indeed, he is. “We’re closing in 20 years together, and I still thoroughly enjoy it. I’m amazed at how consistent my enjoyment has been with the band. I’m as entertained as the fans are.”
