{"id":17157,"date":"2017-07-05T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=17157"},"modified":"2017-07-05T10:19:22","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T14:19:22","slug":"interview-with-lawrence-gowan-of-styx-i-think-the-slayer-fans-backstage-were-shocked-to-see-kerry-in-about-150lbs-of-chains-and-all-the-tattoos-come-out-and-go-oh-man-that-last-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=17157","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Lawrence Gowan of Styx: \u201cI think the Slayer fans backstage were shocked to see Kerry in about 150lbs of chains and all the tattoos come out and go, \u201cOh man. That last Styx show was great. I\u2019m really looking forward to seeing you again soon!\u201d\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Nici Lucas<\/strong><\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether you like them or not, Styx has been a strong musical force for nearly 40 years.\u00a0 Styx has a lot of cred in the hard rock\/metal community and rightfully so.\u00a0 While known for their ballads such as \u201cLady\u201d and \u201cBabe\u201d, Styx can also rock with the best of them with songs such as \u201cThe Renegade\u201d, \u201cThe Angry Young Man\u201d, and \u201cGone Gone Gone.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For nearly two decades, Lawrence Gowan has been the \u201cnew\u201d guy in Styx who has just recently released The Mission, their best album since The Grand Illusion.\u00a0 Lawrence was kind enough to take time during Styx\u2019s crazy touring schedule to talk with me.\u00a0 He was a really humble, sweet, and funny guy and I loved hearing his stories such as jamming with Billy Preston, hanging out with Kerry King of Slayer, and his love of symphonic\/black metal.\u00a0 This is hands down one of my favorite interviews to date and I hope you\u2019ll all dig this one.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Lawrence, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to me today.\u00a0 I have to also thank you for not running like hell when you saw you were interviewing with a blog called The Great Southern Brainfart.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] I love it.\u00a0 I\u2019m excited to talk to anyone who\u2019s excited to talk about Styx, The Mission, or even Canada Day which I know has a lot of festivities there on July 1st.\u00a0 Ok, so maybe not so much the third one [laughs].<\/p>\n

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For starters, what is one question you get asked so much that if you get asked it again you\u2019ll kick Tommy Shaw or something?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Is it true that you\u2019re even better looking in real life? [laughs]\u00a0 I actually wouldn\u2019t kick Tommy Shaw under any circumstances.\u00a0 I do get a kick out of him though [laughs].\u00a0 Well, the funny one, the ironic one is, \u201cHow does it feel to be the new guy in Styx?\u201d and I\u2019ve been in Styx for closing in on two decades.\u00a0 Funny enough, if I take a few seconds and think about the question, I kind of like that.\u00a0 Yeah, I\u2019m the new guy [laughs].<\/p>\n

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I grew up listening to my father playing The Grand Illusion all the time and he loved that album.\u00a0 The Mission is such a great album.\u00a0 I wish he was alive to hear it because he would\u2019ve loved it and probably thought it was the best thing you guys have done since The Grand Illusion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to say, that is one of the nicest compliments that I have ever heard.\u00a0 That\u2019s a very nice notion, Don.<\/p>\n

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Lawrence, you have really solidified your position as an integral member of Styx.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even hear you and think, \u201cHe\u2019s a replacement\u201d especially with the new album, The Mission.\u00a0 This album has you guys sounding like a new band in a very good way. This album even brought back this love that I forgot that I even had <\/strong>for the band.\u00a0 Are you hearing or seeing that much because of The Mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you so much for saying that.\u00a0 The album has only been out a couple of weeks, and in that first week of shows, we\u2019ve felt a tsunami coming at us of people embracing the band.\u00a0 The chart numbers came out and were floored to see the album enter at #6 on Billboard.\u00a0 It was a little overwhelming on one hand but on the other hand, the reaction at the shows when we play \u201cGone Gone Gone\u201d and \u201cRadio Silence\u201d has been as if we\u2019re playing \u201cBlue Collar Man\u201d or \u201cRenegade.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing how the audience has immediately embraced the new songs.\u00a0 I guess they were ready for this and luckily we somehow managed to bring them the right album.\u00a0 It\u2019s like your waiter bringing out the exact right thing that you want to eat next [laughs].<\/p>\n

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Hell, it\u2019s more like the waiter bringing out dessert first.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Well yeah!\u00a0 I prefer that analogy.\u00a0 Let\u2019s start it off with the Bananas Foster [laughs].\u00a0 Honestly, Don, we wanted to come up with something that would stand alongside the great legacy of Styx, particularly that era in the 70s when there was such an explosion of great bands making music.\u00a0 I think by staying along those guidelines we have something to be proud of.<\/p>\n

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With The Mission, not only did I love the conceptual aspect of it, I loved that each song stood on its own very strongly.\u00a0 “The Greater Good”, in my opinion, is your shining moment on this album.\u00a0 On a song like this, where do you have to go in your mind in order to get to that place where you can deliver such a performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don, that\u2019s great.\u00a0 Again, I have to thank you for saying that.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always believed that what\u2019s great about singing is when you believe the person who\u2019s singing the song; when you believe what\u2019s coming out of their mouth.\u00a0 This is why I think Mick Jagger is a great singer.\u00a0 There are people with much superior vocal capabilities who are not as good singers because I don\u2019t believe them when they sing.\u00a0 I believe that they\u2019re very much in love with their own voice and trying to make that the shining star instead of the lyric.\u00a0 Many years ago a friend of mine, Tony Levin, was in Toronto and he invited me to the studio where he was recording with Steve Winwood.\u00a0 I was really lucky to have dinner with Steve Winwood and I was able to ask him a question about vocals: \u201cWhat\u2019s one thing you\u2019ve noticed over the course of your career about vocals that you could share as any kind advice?\u201d and he said, \u201cUsually, the very first take you do on a song has something to it that is more honest than any other time you perform the song.\u00a0 You can perfect it from that point on but it becomes a performance.\u201d\u00a0 He said that he\u2019s always retained that first take because it comes across as very true.\u00a0 We had just finished the lyrics for \u201cThe Greater Good\u201d and the very first take of the song is when it happened for me and that\u2019s what\u2019s on the record.\u00a0 I guess I just connected with the lyrics in a more profound way because it was as if it was coming into my head for the very first time as I was reading them from the lyric sheet.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the vibe of the song superseded any one individual and what they contributed.\u00a0 It\u2019s where that Steve Winwood bit of advice finally came into play.\u00a0 A few weeks later, we went back to polish up \u201cThe Greater Good\u201d vocal, we put it on, and we didn\u2019t want to change anything about it.\u00a0 It felt authentic and it\u2019s just one of those lucky moments; it arrived on that day and again, I\u2019m really happy to hear that you enjoyed it that much.<\/p>\n