styx interview with jim kerr 0 1493241607

New York's classic rock q1o four three two one oh four three were celebrating the release of their first studio album in fourteen years which will be coming up soon it's called the mission you know you're on the road so often I mean I've often had conversations with my friends and we're trying to figure out you know like a stick store never really ends does it I mean you just are always working all the time yeah you got to get move into the microphone there yeah there's breaks there's breaks but it's it's like your full-time job is going out and playing music for people all the time it seems well you know a few years ago the record industry kind of dried up and the opportunities for classic rock bands as far as making records and getting on the radio those those sort of dried up and then for a classic rock band to get a new song on the radio it was kind of an oxymoron or a conundrum and we did release an album 14 years ago and there was just nowhere for it there couldn't there was no home for it it just so we did what we knew how to do and that was go out and go from town to town and keep finding our fans that way and it helped that we loved to do it all so why did you decide to come out with a new album well the world changed again you know the there there's now all these great ways to reach your fans that doesn't require those same things you know that getting the radio airplay that we used to get to to sell our records and keep the band going and so so you know our management office is is figuring out all these things and it's actually been a great experience for all of us to just find out how many places there and things that you can do to get the word out but we absolutely welcome radio to jump aboard well III understand it was Lawrence who just jumped in there and and and and and said that but I agree with you Tommy so I mean you're right you're absolutely right it's it's been very difficult I mean there are classic rock stations that play classic rock songs there aren't that many rock stations that play current music anymore and I and and the stations that play current hits tend to avoid even if it is popular the genre so if it is an auto-tuned ain't on the air what are you doing playing new music you know so so anyway sir but well that's that's and that's an argument that goes on and on and on from within just just so you know okay but there I mean but there are our artists who you know I mean they could afford it but have just walked away from making albums because they just say it's not worth the time and the money right that was part of it for us but also I think we found another creative outlet in making actual concert videos which we did first for the Youth Orchestra back in 2006 and then when we did a 2 album DVD in 2010 which ultimately came out in 2012 of pieces evading and grand illusion and then we did one from Vegas a couple years ago but we've sort of run out of songs that we think are worthwhile putting into a live concert DVD so and then Tommy you know all of a sudden said hey I've got I've got something going here I think it's time for us to do another record and I think at some point you have to do another record right well you know I can think of a I can think of a couple of Records that actually came out last year that really revitalized certain performers careers and them get into that in a moment but first I need you because it's not gonna be released until June 16 tell us something about this this album I mean Styx album sorry expect you know well it started with this little song that just sort of presented itself to me in our dressing room but a little over two years ago and it was a result of getting these new practice amps in our dressing room and I was messing around with settings on it and I this setting sort of like picked up my guitar and started playing this [Music] dududududud it it so I like I always do because I'll never remember it if I don't record it I got my phone out and recorded the audit recorded the audio you got to learn that lesson from Keith Richards because it really is just vapor right it looks great where did it go mm-hmm so um so I played it back and oh that no oh there's the chords that should go with that just obvious what comes next and so I got my iPad out and I played the thing and I played along with it on the iPad and I've got a little video of it somewhere huh and so I took it home and I before I forgot it I played it out in the studio and set up the guitars and stuff and so I put a little drum track with it and and then I I and I wrote a little middle section to it well I should put some vocals on it i sat down started writing and first thing that came out it was now I can say that this is the day we'll be on our way on our mission to Mars yes it was kind of Limerick II the whole thing and everything else just flowed from there and then Rose wrote the middle section but up the mic and sang it and actually the the middle section this is also the last song on the record now and in the middle section I sang the thing and I just have you know I've got a really good mic and a good good setup that's the vocal that's on the record so so the some of the original ideas are there's several of those Lawrence's you haven't heard have you heard the album no we just have the the first the first single here some of the things that first takes were just so good that Lawrence has a great first take on this song called the greater good that because he was just the way the song is that the because it was new to him and he was saying for the first time you get this feeling of this is happening right now so uh the the record just has so many great moments and it everything felt like we were going in the right direction you know sometimes you do stuff and all the signs are saying stop do not go any further signs kept saying do this and one of the greatest ones was being invited to to NASA - just out of the blue to witness the flyby of the New Horizons mission to Pluto like Pluto you were just invited clearly we almost missed it we got lost on the way looking for it and as we walked in Alan Stern who's the principal investigator which means he's the guy who dreamed it up and followed it through and and built the team built the rocket all that he was standing by his laptop he says come here and he shows us this little thing that looked like a little checkerboard a little blob he says up until right now this was the best picture of Pluto look at this this just came in and there's this beautiful picture of Pluto that you know we were seeing it for the first time there isn't it cool to be Styx yes now we're gonna hear something for the first time it's the first single and that's gone gone gone well it's not long enough to be anything else [Music] [Applause] well you cannot sit still Wow Wow and you're right it does sound great when it's on the radio doesn't it it does that has to be so frustrating for you guys to have all this music in your head and not put it out for 14 years I mean as creative artists that's got to be tough it is a bit frustrating because I would I would get asked often in interviews you know is there anything new is there anything new there's all there was always been new stuff we've always been had new things have been playing to each other and I think yep we got a yeah we're gonna do that y'all gonna do that and then we'd have another hundred shows to play and there was no pressing incentive to it to to record and to put a new record but then actually I remember hearing jy play that opening riff to that song in the room and then I played it again the next night in the night I hear Tommy in there the third by the third night Tommy's in there the two in are playing together so I just walked in the dressing room and said are we gonna make a song you know something that's in the ether and we'll never perhaps you know go into outer space and it has gone into outer space they finally met each other Tommy would you like to go to Mars I want the Jackie Gleason to the moon Alice there's a return flight yes the return flight is people who say that they would go you know colonize Mars with the idea that they're never gonna come back you gotta wonder about these people well that's why that's part well you may wonder about them and that's part of the theme of the album the mission is that it's the human interaction between this crew who kind of kind of know beforehand that they highly likely will not be coming back so that that's part of what they have to what they have to grapple with and to accept as they leave Mars and move on to Pluto and I should mention that one of the greatest things that happened the day that we went to NASA they had just named the fifth moon that they discovered around Pluto they deemed it sticks cool yes ultimate destination and we invite everyone to come there apparently well the mission the mission the album will be released on June 16th that great song that you just heard gone gone gone well we're putting up the video at it's up now okay at cue 104 three.com for you to to check out and I got a text here 2 2 2 1 4 3 from a listener in Brooklyn who says please say hello to the guys for me thanks Tommy Shaw of Brooklyn New York any other besides the album anything else we should know I mean you guys to town with 3x show with ourselves an REO Speedwagon and Don Felder yes I'm playing Eagles songs and that's I'm gonna be doing I think it's both in August at the Holmdel and and out in Jones Beach right right right and you will of course send our best wishes to Don indeed have you seen this guitar that we have hanging up on the last time I was here ok I mean it's a real played guitar not just a guitar that he signed it was really really cool what a great guy and what it what a great to know an REO Speedwagon and you guys I mean you that would be hour after hour after hour of songs that people love straight and everyone's gonna sing along because we saw that ourselves right yeah yeah lots of songs that you that you know yes all right well thank you you're always welcome to come by here you know that we appreciate it congratulations on the new album we will darken your doorstep again New York's classic rock q1o 43

Channel: Janet Rekesius

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Id: Z5iROuvImB8

Length: 11min 59sec (719 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 16 2017