Styx (left to right: Lawrence Gowan, Chuck Panozzo, Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young, Ricky Phillips, ... [+]
Before joining Styx on December 12, 1975, a crucial move that would forever change the band’s fortunes, guitarist-singer-songwriter Tommy Shaw had cut his teeth with a Tennesee-based group called MS Funk a couple of years earlier. “We [MS Funk] were an eight-piece,” he recalls now. “We were like hard rock, soul rock. We had a good following.” At the time, MS Funk considered Styx—who were riding high on the success of the hit single “Lady”—their rivals from Chicago.
“Every year [Styx] were like making a new album and they're on the radio all the time,” Shaw says. “I was like, 'How did these guys do all of this?' We were playing in bars, and they had this ‘in’ with this DJ and he ran all the proms, homecomings and dances in high schools. They played like every high school in Chicago and they really built a fanbase there that still remembers them. We were like: ‘We hate Styx.'”
More than 45 years later, Shaw is still playing with Styx, who have just released their latest album, Crash of the Crown, on Friday. Coinciding with the new release, Styx are back on the road this summer following the pandemic lockdown. “It was a wonderful existence being at home for much as I was,” says Shaw about the time away from touring last year. “I had never seen the apple trees bloom in the spring. So that part of it was really nice. But not getting to perform—that was such an integral thing in my life. It was weird.”
Styx.
Crash of the Crown was recorded by the current Styx configuration of Shaw, guitarist-singer James Young, bassist Chuck Panozzo, keyboardist-singer Lawrence Gowan, drummer Todd Sucherman and bassist-guitarist Ricky Phillips. The one striking aspect of the record, which was produced by Will Evankovich, is how relevant its songs are during these current times. Work on the album actually began in late 2019 before the pandemic, the presidential election and social justice protests took hold of the country—and yet the lyrics on a number of the songs feel quite timely in addressing such themes as overcoming obstacles, refusing to give up, finding common ground, and taking stock in life.
“We're all just like sponges,” says Shaw. “We absorb everything that is going on around us. It's how we express ourselves.” He also adds: “A lot of times when you write about what you're going through. That's what [1977's] The Grand Illusion was—it was what we were all going through at the time, in song form.”
Recording began at Shaw's home studio in Nashville. While the pandemic presented a logistical challenge in which not all the band members were physically present, the results sounded quite seamless thanks to technology. “We tried the Zoom thing and used new software—something that we could use to record the drums remotely and Lawrence Gowan's unfinished parts remotely from Canada,” Shaw says. “Everybody chipped in to finish it all off. That's the way Styx has always been because we're not a jam band thing. It's compositional arrangements. Once you learn it and do the demos, you know what you’re gonna do.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 28: Singer Tommy Shaw of the band Styx performs at Saban Theatre on ... [+]
Like its predecessor, 2017’s The Mission, Crash of the Crown is framed like of a concept record; its sweeping, dramatic and anthemic sound immediately recalls the band's classic works of the 1970s and early 1980s. “We looked at it like the way the Beatles did on Abbey Road—all those songs where they were complete in themselves,” says Shaw. “They just didn't repeat anything. And then they would hard cut to another song with a different singer. That was sort of our goal, too: ‘Let's see if we could do this and mash these all together and have them be one song.’”
The thunderous title track, which was the first single released ahead of the album, definitely carries that Abbey Road vibe in a suite-like way; it has the unique distinction of Young, Shaw and Gowan taking turns at the lead vocals for the first time on a Styx song. Another standout, “Save Us From Ourselves,” one of many uplifting tracks on Crash of the Crown, features actual soundbites from Winston Churchill himself as if to drive home its unifying message further. “That's kind of a throwback,” Shaw says of that track. “He was the great communicator, he was the guy who could bring people together and give them hope. He was the one who helped save them from the enemy. A lot of times here in our country we'll turn on ourselves. Usually, everybody comes to their senses at some point. That's what we look for. Hopefully, that will save us from ourselves.
And then there's tender “Our Wonderful Lives,” one of two songs that were written during the pandemic, according to the guitarist. “As things were starting to open up, in my mind, I was looking forward to things when I sat down and wrote that. At that point, I was getting burned out writing lyrics. I called Will and said, ‘I got nothing. (laughs) I'm ready to throw this thing out into the pond.’ And he said, 'Hang on a second.' He thought for a little while and it helped me do a second verse, which is a lovely verse. It really a point where things did start to change.'
As a return to that sense of normalcy evoked in “Our Wonderful Lives,” the band is touring this summer with Collective Soul, whom Shaw has previously known. “I did a [1998] solo album called 7 Deadly Zens and there was a song called “Ocean” on there, and it had a bridge: “I'm washing the blues away tonight.” When I wrote that part, I was like, I kind of sounded like [Collective Soul vocalist] Ed Roland singing it like that. 'What if Ed Roland sang on this record?' I didn't know him but my manager did. So he arranged that. About a year-and-a-half ago, they did a song “Porch Swing.” So Ed said, 'Okay, I want you to play and sing on my record.' He sent me the track and said 'Play, sing, whatever you want to do.' I played dobro on it, and then I sang in the choruses. It really turned out good.
“We've done stuff together but we're finally getting to be in the same room. I got to hear those guys live and they are unbelievable. Ed's just a free spirit on stage, he's unlike any other front guy I've seen. He's a brilliant songwriter.”
In an example of perfect symmetry, Crash of the Crown comes on the 45th anniversary of Shaw joining his one-time rivals Styx. His presence further helped bolster the band’s popularity and success by bringing a hard rock edge through memorable tracks like “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” “Renegade,” “Blue Collar Man” and “Too Much Time on My Hands.” He still remembers how he fell into the radar of Styx—whose lineup at the time consisted of Dennis DeYoung, John Curulewski, James Young, Chuck Panozzo and John Panozzo—when he was still a member of MS Funk.
“One night, one or two of the [MS Funk] guys—we were in Chicago—they went to a Styx show. They came back and said, 'They're pretty good. We can't keep hating them now.' That's where their tour manager [Jim Vose] came one night and saw me playing at a club.”
Following the release of Styx’ Equinox album in 1975, Curulewski left the band as they had a tour planned, and Shaw stepped in. “The worse thing you can do is cancel a tour and try to rebook it—you're disappointing your fans,” he says. “So they put out an APB and said, ‘We gotta find somebody who can sing that high note in “Lady” and look the part.’ Their tour manager remembered that I lived in Alabama and he got my phone number through directory assistance to call me up. He had me come up for an audition. And that was that.
“They gave me five albums and said, 'Here's 13 songs. Learn these songs, get your stuff and let's go.' That's what I did. We had an afternoon rehearsal and then we hit the road. It just seemed like, ‘Okay, this is what's going on now. I don't know what's going to happen.’ These guys are really good, very smart.”
To this day, the remaining members of the classic Styx lineup—Shaw, Young and Chuck Panozzo—are still keeping the band alive well into their sixth decade of existence. Next year, Styx's self-titled LP turns 50 years old, a testament of longevity that marvels Shaw. As for the present, he's looking forward to playing live again as well as performing songs off of Crash of the Crown. “I can't wait to play it live,” he says. “We hadn't been in the same room to play these songs altogether yet. We’re learning to play three of them just to have on hand when the time comes where we can stick one now in the set, That's what I would like to do. I'm dying to play this [new album]. It'll be a whole different experience.”
