If it were physically and logistically possible, Lawrence Gowan would love to play music every night of the year, and no doubt it would be to adoring throngs of fans. This is not only because he loves his craft and profession so much, but also because he is that much in demand.
The longtime Toronto resident has been a full-time member of the legendary classic rock band Styx since taking over for co-founder Dennis DeYoung in 1999, and has toured the world numerous times with the band, playing between 115 and 120 shows a year. Since reviving his remarkable solo career in 2010 (with the full support of Styx and their management) he has also hit the stage across his home and native land for a few short runs annually, interspersed throughout the year, whenever Styx’s schedule permits.
The demand for Gowan solo shows has become so intense that he could theoretically be as busy under the ‘Gowan’ brand as is the keyboardist/vocalist for Styx.
“In 2010 it was the 25th anniversary of my Strange Animal album. We started by doing three shows at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls. Those came up because when Styx was there in 2009, the people that ran the venue said they had been getting a lot of calls about wanting to see a Gowan show, and wondering if I did them at all. That was the incentive that made me realize that, even though I had been in Styx for 11 years, it was a milestone anniversary and came up with the idea of playing Strange Animal in its entirety and then add some other stuff,” Gowan explained from a Styx tour stop in Lexington, Kentucky.
“So we did the three nights and they booked three nights the following year and then again the following year. And it was our own management in Styx that booked those shows to be absolutely certain that it wouldn’t coincide with a Styx show. So then I asked if I could do a small run each year in Canada, doing as many shows as I can squeeze in, because I love doing them and the reaction from the audience was like it was back in 1985 again. I just dug the enthusiasm and that’s why we continue to do them.
“And the offers for more are always there. I might be able to do another smattering in July and maybe another short run in December, but I have a day job with Styx. I am as committed to that as I was committed to my solo stuff for 15 years or so. But you’re right; I would play 300 nights a year if I thought it was physically possible, because I love doing it.”
One of those aforementioned runs happens later this month as Gowan tours Ontario for four shows, starting at the Richmond Hill Performing Arts Centre April 19, followed by an April 20 return to the Empire Theatre in Belleville, then on to the Festival Hall in Pembroke April 21, before wrapping things up at the Rose Theatre in Brampton the next evening. The Pembroke show, called The Red Carpet Concert Event, is actually going to be a truly solo performance with Gowan onstage alone with just a guitar and piano. Gowan will be playing both Styx and Gowan material.
He is still grateful that Styx has allowed him to reconnect with his Canucklehead fans each year and keep the Gowan banner flying high.
“Tommy Shaw [longtime Styx vocalist/guitarist/songwriter] has mentioned every single time that I come back from doing a string of Gowan shows in Canada that when I come back it seems like I have upped my game in some way. So I guess it benefits Styx and it benefits me, and it’s one more way of reinforcing that I am pursuing the only thing that I am any bloody good at,” he said with a chuckle.
On this upcoming mini-tour, Gowan has assembled an amazing band with which to reproduce hit songs from his impressively prolific and successful solo recording career, which began with a self-titled album in 1982.
“I have a great band. First of all I have Todd Sucherman from this little band called Styx. He is on drums and is always voted at the
top on a bunch of best drummer polls including Modern Drummer. We all know who he is and he has a gigantic following worldwide. On guitar I have a guy named Ricky Tillo, who is a Canadian but has played with Lady Gaga for the past five years. He is a spectacular talent and grew up listening to Gowan and really wanted to play those songs,” he said.
“On this run of shows we have Divine Brown, a great vocalist who people know from her solo career and from singing with Nelly Furtado. She has been in a ton of musicals in Toronto too. My brother Terry plays bass, and has been with me since the 1980s and continues to do all kinds of things throughout the year. I think he works more than I do. And then we have a young guy named Ryan Bovaird on keyboards. I really like the blend of this band.”
One unforeseen, but very welcome benefit of being in as massively popular an act as Styx is that many Styx fans have migrated over and also become fans of Gowan as a solo artist.
“Playing Fallsview seven times as Gowan from 2010 through 2013, each night I would do a survey and would see that at least 40 per cent of the audience were people who found Gowan music through Styx. And they were among the earliest to buy their tickets because they had to build sometimes long distance travel into their plans,” he explained.
He is also impressed and heartened by the fact that at both Styx and Gowan shows, there is a significant proportion of attendees at the younger end of the demographic spectrum.
“It is an interesting phenomenon that I began to notice about 10 years ago with Styx wherein the audience began to skew younger and younger until now half the audience we play to on any given night is comprised of folks under 30. So they weren’t even born when some of the biggest Styx records were made,” Gowan said.
Fans of Gowan will be thrilled to know that there is new material coming from both Styx and Mr. Gowan himself in the near future. His last solo album was The Good Catches Up, released in 1995.
“I do have a new studio album, which is actually ready to go but I want to make sure that I have the time to promote it properly before I just toss it out there. We recorded it very faithfully to the 1970s and 1980s manner of recording. I got an old multi-track tape machine and used an old Neve console on it and I am very happy with the results,” he said, adding that some of the guest players on the album including indie darling Emm Gryner, Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta [from Peter Gabriel’s band] as well as Sucherman.
The Styx album has been in the works for some time and, considering the band’s touring schedule, has been coming together rather well.
“We started it in Nashville last year. What’s funny is we have had new music for a long period of time; we just haven’t had the time to go and record it. We have been undertaking quick little clandestine recording sessions here and there, so a lot of those bits are being pulled together. I don’t know when it’s going to come out, but what I hear sounds pretty damn strong and I am looking forward to it,” he said, adding that it’s the band’s first album of original material since Cyclorama in 2003.
Gowan also recently participated in the innovative Sessions X project, under the direction of noted producer Gavin Brown (Tragically Hip, Billy Talent, Barenaked Ladies) whereby artists come into a studio environment and perform some of their songs, with the performances captured by state of the art sound and video recording equipment, and posted on the Sessions X website, http://series.sessionsx.com/artists/gowan/.
“Gavin asked Styx management if I would do this Ultra-4D video project that he was involved in. I saw the clip he did with Metric and said I wanted to do it because it looked and sounded tremendous. We took six classic Gowan songs and did them live in the studio and it was very successful. When you see them online they are feature film quality and just beautifully done. I am really proud of how they turned out,” he said.
With a plethora of hit songs off of his six solo records, crafting a set list for any Gowan tour is always a challenge, but one he relishes, hoping that the songs he chooses please most, if not all, listeners.
“If you come to a Gowan show, you are guaranteed to hear Moonlight Desires, Strange Animal, A Criminal Mind, Dancing on My Own Ground, All the Lovers in the World and When It’s Time for Love – the six best known songs. And then we will do at least a couple more from Strange Animal, a couple more from Great Dirty World, a couple from You Can Call Me Larry and Lost Brotherhood, and at least one song from the first album, and from The Good Catches Up. So it’s going to be a good representation of my catalogue with some surprises even for the die-hards,” he explained.
For more information on the four Gowan shows in Ontario, visit http://www.gowan.org/tour.htm
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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