An Intimate Talk With Ricky Phillips of STYX

STYX is a band that seems to slip up on many people who don't realize how busy these guys are, even though you don't seem to hear alot about them in the current music news. Yes, their name pops up from time to time, but they're not media whores like some others who seem to crave the spotlight. They tend to let their music do the talking and usually that's on-stage in front of thousands of happy fans. I got a chance to talk to bassist Ricky Phillips a while back who caught me up to speed on all things STYX. Here's my interview with him that I did for Rock Revolt Magazine:

http://rockrevoltmagazine.com/interview-styx/

STYX, Ted Nugent and REO Speedwagon Take Us On A Rock And Roll Nostalgia Show

Styx, REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent brought their nostalgia filled Midwest Rock and Roll Express to the civic center in Roanoke, VA recently. The rock and roll resume of this tour includes over a century of classic rocking and countless hits solidifying these bands contributions to the history of rock. Although the turnout for the show was somewhat light, less than 4000 in attendance, that didn’t discourage the band from giving the fans their money’s worth.

The Motor City Madman opened the show and quickly made an impact on the crowd. Ted is an artist who tends to make more headlines by what he says off-stage rather than what he does on-stage. He proved on this night that his Gibson guitar is like another appendage when he hits the stage. It becomes a piece of him and he just bleeds rock and roll. There were a few familiar faces joining him on-stage including Mick Brown of Dokken fame on drums and original Ted Nugent Band rhythm guitarist Derek St. Holmes.

Uncle Ted let the music do the talking on this night as he put most of his outspoken views on hold. He may not pack as many “hits” as the other two bands on board, but songs such as “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang”, “Stranglehold” and his signature song “Cat Scratch Fever” definitely fired up the mostly 40something crowd. He definitely knows how to get a crowd out of their seats and fired up at a show.

Styx took the stage next and displayed an infectious youthful exuberance that many bands half their age don’t have on-stage these days. There were some in attendance who shockingly did not know that Lawrence Gowan was handling lead vocal duties for the band. He’s been doing so for fourteen years now as founding member Dennis DeYoung has been out of the band since 1999. Gowan definitely has a style of his own as you don’t see many keyboardists who actually climb on top of their keyboards and use them as a perch to sing to the audience.

Long time members Tommy Shaw and James “J.Y.” Young really do shine when they hit the stage, especially Shaw. He is like a little kid jacked up on Mountain Dew as he is constantly running around the stage and entertaining the crowd. The band cranked out hit after hit including such staples as “Too Much Time on My Hands”, “Come Sail Away” and “Renegade”. Bassist Chuck Panozzo, who has limited stage time due to health issues after being diagnosed HIV positive in 1998, did join the band for a few numbers.

REO Speedwagon closed out the night’s festivities as front man Kevin Cronin took the stage dressed in all black and sporting shades and a fluffy white hair-do that many commented on. The band was also missing several original members, but that did not seem to bother most in attendance as Cronin’s vocals sounded stronger than ever. The hits began to flow with such favorites as “Take It On The Run”, “Riding The Storm Out” and ”Don’t Let Him Go”  blasted from the speakers.

The band also proved that they still had the whole power ballad thing down pat. “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” and smash “Keep on Loving You” saw couples embrace and lighters raised high in the air. Although REO played a set that was a balance of ballads and rockers, they didn’t seem to pack the punch that Styx and Nugent did. I think it would have been a better balance by sandwiching them in the middle of the lineup rather than closing the night.

Overall, it was a great night of music from all three bands. Yes, it was a night of nostalgia as many in attendance exchanged “I can remember when” stories that revolved around the bands. There was an abundance of air guitar being played on this night as well as swooning and drooling over Tommy Shaw’s mane of flowing hair and his tight leather pants. It may be called dinosaur rock by many in the industry, but the fun that the evening provided for all in attendance was far from prehistoric.

There's Nothing QuiteLike A Chat With Uncle Ted

The only thing for certain when sitting down to talk to Ted Nugent is that you are definitely in for a treat. I had a chance to sit down with this icon in music and it was one of the most entertaining conversations that I think I have ever had. Check it out and see for yourself on page 40 of Rock Revolt Magazine:

http://rockrevoltmagazine.com/

STYX Takes Us Back To The 70s

STYX visited the Salem Civic Center on October 25, 2010 and schooled the small crowd in attendance in what’s missing in today’s industry: true musicianship. The band has been on the road performing The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight, two of their huge releases from the seventies, in their entirety. The last few years has seen a resurgence of bands from the seventies packing arenas all across the country and STYX has been riding high on that wave.

The band’s current lineup consists of only one original member, James “JT” Young on guitar and vocals, longtime member Tommy Shaw on acoustic and electric guitar and vocals, Lawrence Gowan on keyboards and vocals, Ricky Phillips on bass and Todd Sucherman on drums. Longtime member Chuck Panozzo is on tour with the band, but is in a weakened state because of being HIV positive and only performs in some of the bigger cities.

As the house lights went down that night in Salem, the large video screen onstage came on and we watched a person in their bedroom flipping through a vinyl collection of such seventies groups as Journey and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Then, you see the STYX album The Grand Illusion and they take it out of its sleeve and place it on a turntable. The band then hit the stage and began “Great White Hope”, song one on side one.

Tommy Shaw’s vocals on “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” were dead on and have aged like a fine wine. Lawrence took the spotlight for a huge hit of theirs “Come Sail Away” and received a huge, favorable response from the crowd.I, personally, miss Dennis DeYoung being in the band, but I do have to give credit to Lawrence Gowan. At times, he did sound eerily similar to DeYoung, but the guy has an amazing voice and he definitely knows how to win over a crowd. As the concluded side one, Tommy looked at the audience and asked “What do we do now? Flip it over!” and the video screen showed the actual vinyl album being turned over. Yea, kind of cheesy, but it does make you linger for those days of the pops and cracks of the vinyl.

James took center stage for a rocking version of “Miss America” that had the diehards on their feet. The band ripped through the rest of side two and then proceeded to take a twenty minute intermission before returning and starting side one of Pieces of Eight. “Great White Hope” kicked it off and the band really seemed to be genuinely having a great time on stage playing these songs. It was very infectious seeing Tommy and James smiling at each other and clowning around.

“Renegade” was without a doubt the big crowd pleaser of the night. Up until this point, the majority of the crowd was rather subdued and sat during the performances, but this song brought the entire place to its feet. The song is a definite staple for the local album rock station in town and the crowd was ignited with enthusiasm.

As side two of Pieces of Eight ended with the very mellow song “Aku Aku”, the band left the stage for a brief moment but then returned for a short encore. It consisted of a great cover of the Beatles “I Am the Walrus” followed by a Tommy crowd favorite “Too Much Time on My Hands” from Paradise Theater. The band then showed their appreciation to the fans by pelting them with STYX beach balls, frisbees and tote bags.

Overall, the show was a feast for the senses. The huge video screen provided a great backdrop all night long of art work and images. The ears were treated to a feast of instrumental expertise as the band sounded as good if not better than the recorded versions of these songs. It is very unusual to see a group that peaked in the late seventies and early eighties to be so on top of their game over thirty years into their careers. The music was top notch as were the vocals of everyone. A band like STYX just proves that these guys are from the old school of music making where you don’t do it because it’s the cool thing to do; you do it because you LOVE doing it.