A Band of Characters
Styx
Cris Cohen: The last time I saw you guys, (at one point) you and Chuck (Panozzo) were alone on stage doing “Lost At Sea,” prior to going into “Come Sail Away.” I loved that, just as you were finishing “Lost At Sea,” you leaned over to Chuck and said, “Are they ready? I think they might be ready.”
I think a lot of people knew what was coming next, but it made it a little extra fun. There was that extra theatrical flair. And I think a lesser-experienced person might have just rushed into it. But you gave everyone a chance to simmer in this anticipation for a little bit.
Lawrence Gowan of Styx: First of all, if you can't make a Styx show fun, you don't belong on that stage. These songs are fun to play, flat out. And you can see how much the audience… there's that interplay of enjoyment, that back-and-forth trading of joy.
That's one of the things I mention quite often. I might have said it to you before, Cris. I'm as entertained by this band on stage from my vantage point as the audience is. Everyone on stage is a tremendous performer, a front man in their own way.
You also have these great personalities. Tommy (Shaw), JY (James Young), Chuck… there are three guys that have been there since the 70s, JY and Chuck obviously since day one. They're friends and they're bandmates, but it goes beyond that. I see them as really great characters. And you can kind of play with that to the audience. I think that's part of why the audience loves them so much. Over the years, they began to see more and more of the fabric of what comprises the band.
And it's been a band of characters right from the very beginning.