Windy City classic rockers Styx and Chicago bring their co-headlining summer jaunt to Acrisure Amphitheater on Thursday. The interview with Styx keyboardist Lawrence Gowan.
Styx: Still touring, still recording and releasing new music. (Photo/Jason Powell)
Call it a Windy City double-header.
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Chicago-bred bands Styx and Chicago — touring together for the first time — play Acrisure Amphitheatre at 7 p.m. Thursday (July 30).
Styx keyboardist Lawrence Gowan says the band loves touring alongside other groups. In the past, it has shared the stage with REO Speedwagon, Def Leppard, Journey, Boston and Foreigner, among others.
Despite the fact that Chicago and Styx both were birthed in Chicago, and today occupy the same programming niche as other classic rock outfits, they never toured together. Until now.
Indeed, Gowan says this affiliation is a different beast altogether. “We’ve never traveled with a band like this,” he says, referring to a group featuring horns.
Gowan says promoters seek packages featuring bands with stylistic differences, but broad audience appeal. “They tend to have broader acceptance. Putting Fleetwood Mac with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, or a pompous band like Queen,” he cited as examples.
Back in Michigan: Tommy Shaw and Styx. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
Reviews of “The Windy Cities Tour” double bill have been positive, with some noting their styles complement one another, with Chicago’s jazz-rock riffs and ballads opposite Styx’s heavy synthesizers and guitars.
That’s music to Gowan’s ears. The longtime keyboardist and vocalist says working with all the different musicians helps keep his ears open and his creative juices flowing. While some veteran bands have largely stopped recording, Styx continues writing and releasing new music.
As evidence, the band’s latest album, “Circling From Above,” was released just last year. While many such veteran outfits are no longer recording new material, Styx released its 18th studio album last July — demonstrating its intent to remain vital and continue to write and record.
Along the way, the band has created some concept albums, with the whole reflecting a story or theme. They date as far back as 1981, with “Paradise Theater,” to recent works such as “The Mission” from 2017. Sometimes the concept is codified prior to recording, and the songs are written around it, such as the Who’s “Tommy,” Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” or “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” by Genesis.
Other times the concept emerges as the songs are being written. Gowan says that’s largely what happened with “Circling From Above.” “We didn’t set out to make it a concept album,” Gowan says.
Nonetheless, it has that feeling. Gowan describes it as “a series of minuets – a theater of the mind. “Making albums is an art form,” he continues.
The spark for the album came from a discussion of an app that tracks the abandoned satellites that circle the Earth. Once cutting-edge technology, they now silently revolve around the planet. The conversation led to the songs reflecting the theme, encapsulated in the title track and “Build and Destroy.” Gowan, guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, and multi-instrumentalist Will Evankovich were the songwriters for the album. Evankovich, the band’s longtime producer, recently became a full-time member.
True to the band’s ethos, the musical mix offers contrasts between metallic guitar, acoustic interludes and synthetic textures. With the band’s signature high harmonies, it’s clearly a Styx album, one Gowan says the band is enjoying bringing to life on stage amid what he calls Styx’s “unapologetic epic grandeur.”
Chicago (Courtesy Photo)
Gowan notes that the band’s sound has always evolved. The newest member of the band, his bass-playing brother, Terry, contributed acoustic bass to the newest album, while Evankovich is credited on mandolin. “Sty has always painted with a pretty broad palette,” Gowan says of the band’s diversity of styles.
While Styx occupies a place somewhere between hard rock and progressive rock, Chicago’s style melds the jazz-rock of the late ’60s and ’70s that it helped invent with the soft rock and adult contemporary pop with which it topped the charts in the 80s.
With the departure of trombonist/songwriter/arranger James Pankow and keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Robert Lamm last year, trumpet player and vocalist Lee Louchnane is the lone surviving founding member still onstage with the group.
Nonetheless, the band’s sound remains. Loughnane leads the three-person horn section, alongside longtime member Ray Hermann on sax, replacing the late Walter Parazaider, and Nick Lane on trombone.
Justin Avery of Traverse City, long-serving associate music director and arranger for “American Idol,” is the latest keyboard player to join the group, while Rudy Cardenas is now the band’s lead singer.
The two bands alternate opening and closing segments on the tour.
Tickets — $49 for lawn seats, $86.25-$226.35 for regular seating — are available online here.
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