Interview with Lawrence Gowan and Todd Sucherman of Styx (Part One)
My second feature interview for We Will Rock You is a conversation with drummer Todd Sucherman and keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan of Styx.
A veteran of the Chicago recording and performing scene, Sucherman has played with the band since 1995, when he filled in for ailing Styx drummer John Panozzo on a re-recording of Styx’ first hit single “Lady”for a greatest hits package. He became the permanent drummer in Styx in 1996 upon Panozzo’s untimely passing. Gowan set aside a multi-platinum solo career in Canada to join Styx in 1999, replacing Dennis DeYoung.
Since then the band has kept up a relentless touring pace of 100-plus shows every year, also releasing several live albums, a full-length studio album called Cyclorama, and a covers record entitled Big Bang Theory. This summer Styx is on tour with fellow classic rockers REO Speedwagon and 38 Special. Styx and REO have recently released a single entitled “Can’t Stop Rockin’”, and Styx has three newly re-recorded tracks on Rock Band.
I spoke with Todd and Lawrence from a hotel room in Washington, DC where the band was slated to perform. I have interviewed Todd twice before; once for a book I wrote about Styx entitled The Grand Delusion, and once for Classic Rock Revisited in support of his wife Taylor Mills‘ solo album Lullagoodbye. Todd was exactly as he has always been, funny and sharp.
Lawrence Gowan I have never interviewed before, although I very nearly landed him for the book as well. I had even gotten a confirmed date and time, and when that date and time arrived the call never came. It turned out he had changed his mind, perhaps because the principals of Styx, Tommy Shaw and James “JY” Young were not participating in interviews for the book. So I always looked upon Gowan as one that got away, and I’ve always thought to myself, ‘One day, Gowan . . . one day we’ll meet again.’ It so happened that when I was promoting my Styx book I got booked on a radio talk show in Canada called Rock Talk, on which the other guests were Lawrence Gowan and James Young. That went very well - Gowan turned out to be a blast - and when I decided to ask Todd for an interview in support of the Styx summer tour I thought it couldn’t hurt to see if Gowan would be inclined to participate. He was, and again, he was very funny throughout. This is a pretty light-hearted interview; in fact the only hard part about interviewing these guys is keeping them focused on answering the questions instead of joking around with one another.
Part One covers the band’s recent private tour of the White House, lack of an overt public political stance, the summer tour with REO and 38 Special, the recording of “Can’t Stop Rockin’” and the three new tracks for Rock Band.
Thanks to Todd Sucherman and Lawrence Gowan for granting this interview. Stay tuned for Part Two, which I will post on Friday.
I am LOVING your interview with Lawrence and Todd! Excellent questions, bringing insights that I have not heard before about my favorite band. Thanks so much! I’m looking forward to part 4 on Thursday.
Thanks! Those guys were a pleasure to interview. Part Four is very, very funny. That’s all I’m going to say. I don’t want to give too much away.
Sterling