PSL: Now that the United We Rock summer tour has ended, Styx will play longer sets in the fall. What can we expect to see at the Agua Caliente show?
LG: I’m hoping we’ll be able to add at least one more song from The Mission to that set. We’ve already been playing Gone Gone Gone and Radio Silence, and we’ve just started doing Locomotive. Since the new album is continuing to chart really well, it merits us adding at least one or two more.
But I also like it whenever we add in extra songs from albums like The Grand Illusion (1977) and Pieces of Eight (1978). I think those songs are the most seamlessly connected to The Mission. Those two albums are most in the paradigm of what The Mission is.
PHOTO COURTESY OF STYX
The Mission, released in June, is the first all-new material album from Styx in 14 years.
PSL: Was some of that connection born out of you playing the Oberheim keyboard synthesizer on The Mission? Did that connect them all structurally, sonically, or a little of both?
LG: It’s both. It connects them structurally and sonically, quite honestly. We went to great pains to arrange the songs in a manner where you could hear the five-piece combo, and you never lose that. Personally, that’s what I think the magic is of those few albums. There was never any extraneous sound, and yet it is a very full sound that you could pick apart to find those five individual voices that still sound like one voice.
Ever since we finished The Mission, I feel we’ve found our one voice as a unit. We have always been a very entertaining band of very disparate parts that puts on a very strong, epic rock show, but that’s what’s made this the most enjoyable chapter of my career in the band. I’ve enjoyed the whole ride — there’s never been a time where I didn’t like it — but this is the most satisfying and greatest time to observe what we do.
I also love the fact that the debate now among the fans is, ‘Where does The Mission sit in the Top 5 Styx albums?’ That’s a fantastic place for the album to already be in!
PSL: You never really know if you’re on the right track until you release the new music you’ve labored so hard over and get that response from the listening public.
PHOTO BY SOUNDBARD
Styx rehearses during its summer tour in Ridgefield, Washington.
LG: That’s exactly it. And without sounding immodest, we kind of knew we were on the right track — but knowing that yourself doesn’t mean others will get it like you do. They may just go, ‘What are you talking about? You’re way off in some other universe that’s not connected to anything you’ve done before!.’ (both laugh)
Styx, 9 p.m., Sept. 15 at Agua Caliente Casino Resort & Spa, 32-250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage, 888-999-1995. hotwatercasino.com
