Photos and Interview by Alitzia Tyminski – Styx is an American rock band that formed in Chicago in 1972. They gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s with hits such as “Come Sail Away,” “Renegade,” and “Babe.” The band’s music is known for its combination of progressive rock, hard rock, and pop elements. Styx has released numerous albums and continues to tour and perform to this day.
Touring since you were 19 years old, do you have a pre-show ritual before performing on stage?
I do! It has altered over the years, it’s been fairly routine for the past 10 years is I like to get to the venue usually there is sound check around 4pm, the quick things I will get out of the way, 4pm I usually arrive I have a coffee (laughs) and then we go do a sound check, then after that is dinner. I prefer to eat earlier than later because I like to be as digested as possible about three hours before a show, nothing to eat after that.
Then this is where the rituals begin, about 2 hours before the show, I go through all on my piano, I have a piano backstage to go through all the scales and technical requirements, scales, chords, various patterns that I learned at the conservatory back when I was 17 years of age.
I just go through them basically to get my mind and fingers in action ready to play and more in depth, and more than that gets my mind kind of settled and brings me back to my original intentions about doing this which is to go out and perform really well. (Laughs)
In order to do that I gotta get warmed up but it also puts my mind, if I have to focus my mind basically is part of what I’m doing as to what’s coming up next.
After that comes the all important, the most important decision of the day which is going through my wardrobe case and try to figure out what the outfit is going to be, the outfit du jour (laughs), that can happen really quickly or it can take place over the next half an hour.
Basically once I have decided on that, then following that the band usually gets together if we’re not all in the same dressing room already, we start a vocal warmup that lasts about 20 minutes which is basically just singing together and going through vocal exercises and running through some choruses etc.
Then I have a couple of last minute things that I always squeeze in, one is I make a cup of ginger tea, two is I put my eye drops in, three (laughs) I start doing warmup exercises basically moving my whole body and stretching and that sort of thing and then that’s it!
Then I head for the stage, the tour manager says 5 minutes! I head for the stage stand there, drink my tea and keep warming up, keep jumping in place and doing basic things to get my body ready to perform. Those are my basic rituals.
You’re very energetic and active on stage, how do you keep yourself healthy and in such great shape?
The shows themselves are at the top of that list, I spend a fair amount of energy in the show without even noticing that I’m doing it quite frankly, I’m exerting myself without feeling any certain effort in it because adrenalin is coursing through me and the audience’s energy itself is what I’m feeding off of like some kind of vampire (laughs) and kind of drinking that in as much as I can and reflecting it back.
The energy of the audience is very much what I’m tapping into, so there’s that.
Throughout the day my general thing is to go for a walk is number one, address any particular issues I might be having let’s say this morning I woke up my left achilles foot was a little bit stiff so I’m going to go through some exercises today to address that and get the show ready.
Yesterday was a day off, I went and lifted some weights nothing extensive maybe 15-20 minutes and again of course went for a walk and try to eat healthy. That’s probably the main thing, try to eat healthy and not eat too much and have a couple of really good espresso coffees will go a long way to keep you in good shape. (Laughs)
This past May, your brother Terry Gowan was unveiled as the newest member of the Styx family on bass guitar and vocals and made his first debut recently with Styx in Moncton, New Brunswick.
On a personal note, what is your favourite memory growing up with your brother?
(Laughs)
I am sure there is many! (Laughs)
That is a great question! No one has asked me that!
There are so many!
Mainly there are things that we laugh about in life now and there are musical ones, I’ll give you two.
First the musical one, just a couple of weeks ago we finished that Canadian run of shows in Quebec City, (I know we’re coming back to Toronto this week), the venue we played at in Quebec City we had played together in Gowan 9 times, 9 times we sold out that venue and here we were with Styx.
What I remember what we were laughing about before we went home was one of the first times we played at that venue was 1986, the second time we played there, our mom and my two aunties from Glasgow, Scotland they were at the show and there’s a band called Nazareth they were playing in the same venue the next night but they came to see us.
After the show we came back to the dressing room, same dressing room we were in just a couple of weeks ago, our mom and our aunts were in there partying it up with the guys in Nazareth (laughs) and we laughed so hard at that back then because they had this thick Glasgow accents and they were cheering with their Johnnie Walker whiskey. (Laughs)
Then here we were 38 years later playing on the same stage and in the same dressing room where that happened except now we’re playing together in Styx, we’re still going out to play Criminal Mind by the way, we still have that song it’s still there from the past, that memory that was the most recent, that’s definitely a high point of something that only he would fully understand to the degree that I told the story to the other guys in the band who all found it funny but with Terry it goes much much deeper, it’s a far more profound thing to reflect upon.
The other funny thing is (laughs), this is weird, being the eldest in the family, I always had full control of over what programs we were watching on television back in the 1960s, because my other siblings are all younger than me (My sister is 5 years younger, my other brother is 6 years younger and Terry is 8 years younger), so I definitely controlled everything in the room by the time I was about 10, 11, 12 years old.
I had this one program I used to love watching a black and white television show, it was shot in Canada funny enough, it’s called Hawkeye, it was a show about early settlers in North America in their adventures, he wore a raccoon hat and was basically friends with all the Indigenous people that live here.
At the end of that show, there was a piece of music, I always loved to get up and do this dance (laughs), it was just a stupid dance and then one by one I would invite them up to dance along to join in, I would go around the room and point at each one, depending on who had my favourite at that time. (Laughs)
My favourite got chosen first, that’s another goofy memory that we have, we talked about it and in fact we did the sound check yesterday because I play on my spinning keyboard, I did a little bit of that dance around, he cracked up harder than I have seen him laugh in a long time! (Laughs)
He recognized it, 10 years old again instructing him, “Okay now It’s your turn, get up and dance!”. (Laughs)
That’s another great one! I could go on and on about those, the next level would be all kinds of things when we played in hockey tournaments together when I would go to my younger brother’s hockey games, those kinds of experiences as well.
Great question I am very happy to answer that, first time anyone asked that!
Canada is one of Styx’s biggest fan bases and now with two Canadians in the band! With an upcoming date in Toronto on June 14th, how does it feel when you perform in your hometown Toronto where you laid down your roots since you were a child?
There’s nothing like it, quite honestly, nothing compares to that as far as the emotional connection that I have with Toronto, having grown up there, I was born in Scotland but I grew up in Toronto.
I’m close to all the venues that I played, going through all the various steps it has taken to get to this level, particularly playing at Ontario Place (Budweiser Stage) I still refer to it as Ontario Place because that is where I tasted my first real sense that musically that I had done something that has connected with a lot of people.
We played Ontario Place for the first time in 1985, Gowan played at Ontario Place, we did a couple of nights and then over the next 5 years we would up playing there 13 times in total.
I’ve been on stage with Styx at Budweiser Stage maybe 3 times I believe since I have been in the band, there is an emotional connection to that piece of earth for me that really ties in with so much of my own musical trajectory.
I’ve said to Terry already, what you felt in Quebec City that is one level but when you walk on stage in Toronto this Friday night, (the first time he played with me at Ontario Place he was only 19 years old, I was 27 so I’ve been through a lot) here he is all these years later, 10, 20, 30, 40 years later, walking on stage with this band, I think it’s definitely going to be a moment for him.
The other thing is I basically see my whole life laid out before me when I walk on stage in Toronto, it really feels like that, I feel connected to being 10 years old again. That’s basically how I feel and I love that sensation and having that rise in me from music is I think the best that life can offer.
In the spirit of the name of the summer tour “Renegades and Juke Box Heroes Tour”, if you were to pick a song to play on a juke box, what song would it be?
(Laughs) If it’s going to be a Styx song, it’s going to be Renegade, that’s my favourite song for us to do only because it’s usually at the very end of the night, because I don’t have the responsibility of having to sing that song, Tommy Shaw sings that song, I get to really observe the audience and take in the entire day in that moment of ecstasy wherever we’re playing in the world, there’s always this incredible feeling of euphoria that the audience they’re in a state of that euphoric moment and I get to kind of observe that, feel it myself and so that would be my choice in that regard.
Funny enough I do have a juke box at home and because it only plays 78 records, I usually put on something like Elvis singing Hound Dog. (Laughs)
There are still restaurants and bars in Toronto with juke boxes, that is so cool you have a juke box in your own home!
It’s great it was built in 1940s and only plays 78 records, it’s all early rock n’ roll records that I have in there.
Some of them I have been lucky enough to see in my lifetime like Little Richard is one, I was on stage with Jerry Lee Lewis together he’s another one that’s in there, I’ve seen Chuck Berry -these are guys that were big when I was just born, born in ’56 I love that!
In your career you have collaborated and performed with many great artists that were your heroes growing up such as The Beatles and recording at Startling Studios in Ringo Starr’s home for your album, Strange Animal, what a dream come true!
What is the Gowan philosophy to manifesting one’s dreams and creating magic in their own life?
That’s a really tough one to answer. I alter that as my life goes on I think, recently I saw one life guru (laughs) who uses various philosophies but I agreed with it.
He said it’s best in life to discover your talent, discover what your talent is, and then pursue it vehemently, mercilessly, pursue that talent that you discovered in yourself. That talent does not have to be music, it does not have to be sports, it does not have to be anything in the entertainment field, it can be banking, it can be anything, it can be firefighting, basically anything at all.
Discover what your talent is and developing it to a point where it becomes a passion in your life, I’m paraphrasing what this guy says, and I believe that because when I reflect on it I know that’s what I have done.
Beyond that quite honestly, you just have to be lucky, I don’t know how you cause that to happen, the moment that luck happens you have to be ready for it.
I already said this to a friend of mine this morning, I believe that life will probably hand you 2 or 3 really good cards as in opportunities you know what I mean by that, and hopefully you’ll be smart enough to recognize that opportunity on the moment it arrives and hopefully you’ll be ready to take advantage of it because you’ve done all the preparation it takes to meet with that moment.
That is really insightful, you have such an interesting history where you manifested many dreams throughout your career.
I’m very lucky. (Laughs) At the same time, there’s always been a clear understanding of myself as I went with the discipline not just the discipline but the devotion to doing it I thought these things could happen, it’s not necessarily that it will but when these things came along I thought you know I’ve done everything I need to do to make it if it did happen I would be ready, or at least close enough to being ready that I can excitedly pull my stuff together. (Laughs)
But at the same time, these are lucky things that the universe will place before you and you have to kind of recognize them when they come as well.
I’ve seen tons of people in my life that missed their opportunity because of some unfortunate reasoning on their part. I think you have to assess honestly your own abilities and be ready for the opportunities that come along where you can take advantage of them and there won’t be that many but the ones that do arrive hopefully you’re ready for them.
Filming on the Mayan pyramid for your music video Moonlight Desires was one of the most ethereal experiences you have encountered. What did that spiritual journey symbolize for you?
I’m in awe of all the things that are still just beyond our understanding, that’s part of why I am for example very enamored with the space program because they are constantly pushing for knowledge that we have yet to achieve.
Often when I look at the past, people were very much in line with that thinking, they wanted to find out what’s beyond us, I don’t mean that necessarily in any one particular facet.
When I was on that pyramid about five in the morning with Jon Anderson on the opposite pyramid when we were doing that video, the song Moonlight Desires was blaring on this PA system down below, we paid off the guards to let us in, all kinds of things had to kind of click in place for that moment to happen.
It felt like a timeless moment where I thought, I know what year it is, I knew it was 1987, I knew what my name was (laughs) and I was physically alive at that time, but it almost felt timeless there’s really no way that I can articulate it, it was a moment that lifted me beyond my own moment in time if that makes any kind of sense where I stood in awe of the universe, what it can do and as I mentioned earlier connecting to that through music is to me the most profound way that humans can inspire themselves or feel the vibration of everything that’s around them and how to connect to it.
I don’t know if any of that made any sense, that’s the best way I can express what that moment meant.
That definitely makes sense, even though I wasn’t there you still feel a magical and spiritual experience just watching the video and listening to the song.
When I play that song, the thing that I love about doing that song is I’m back in that moment again, I’m on top of the Mayan pyramid, not necessarily connected to the Mayans sacrificial practices (laughs) just the sense of something much much larger than our own existence is being embraced in that moment, that sounds lofty when you talk about a pop song but the song is still around, it’s over 40 years later and people still get up and sing it and embrace that moment, maybe it’s not too lofty who knows.
I would consider having Moonlight Desires as my wedding song! (Laughs)
Great do that! That’s one of the things I love hearing when someone comes up and says some special occasion where they used a song like Moonlight Desires, there’s another one called Dedication I know people walk down the aisle to or some life celebration where they connect that song, I feel we’re really connected, that’s a really special thing when people tell me something like that – yes do that!
In 2010, Elton John performed to nearly 7,000 fans on the Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza in Mexico. Given the opportunity, would you consider doing a performance in a similar fashion?
In a moment!
(Laughs)
It wouldn’t even be a decision, if somebody told me that Elton John did it I would definitely do it right away. (Laughs)
I would love to see that, I would travel all the way to Mexico to see that!
Let’s hope for that!
I know you’re always up for new adventures and thought it would be so cool to see Gowan do that!
Me too, I would promote that idea strongly!
If man is the strangest animal, what is the second strangest animal?
(Laughs)
Second strangest animal would be, it’s obviously the aliens we have yet to encounter, they’ll never match our strangeness, we’re definitely going to out strange them I just have a good feeling, I believe in us! (Laughs)
(Laughs) I would also like to mention you’ll be performing solo shows for a week in July on a week off in Canada touring with Styx?
Yes, thanks for bringing that up, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton!
