By Mitch Lafon

To Canadian audiences he is simply known as GOWAN. A man who dominated Canadian airwaves in the 1980‘s and brought them the monster hits 'Moonlight Desire', 'A Criminal Mind' and 'Strange Animal', but to US audiences he’s the guy that’s ‘not the original’ lead singer in STYX. Over the last decade and dust, he’s been slowly winning over all audiences and to many he has become the voice of Styx and this will only be further entrenched with the band’s recent release Regeneration Volume I & II. Gowan was kind enough to call into BraveWords.com to talk about his incredible career.

BraveWords.com: You took over or replaced Dennis DeYoung...

Gowan: “It’s always hard to find the right terminology for it. When people use the word ‘replaced’ - I always cringe. I used to use it myself, but I’ve come to an understanding that no one replaces anyone else in a band...ever. No more than Ringo ‘replaced’ Pete Best in THE BEATLES. What happened is that Ringo joined the band and it continued on. The same thing happened with GENESIS when Peter Gabriel left. It was the same with VAN HALEN and a good number of bands.”

BraveWords.com: As a KISS fan, I understand ‘changes’. I think KISS is a better band today thanks to those changes.

Gowan: “To extend the life of a band a full blood transfusion is necessary at a certain time. Tommy (Shaw) reminds me often that Styx had made five albums by the time he joined the band. That was a pivotal time in their career. They had had success and they went on to further success because of his inclusion in the band. I’m going on to my thirteenth year with the band and the success the band has had since 1999 is due to the fact that they made the hard decision, but right decision (I guess). The fact is that the band still exists and is doing better and better every single year that we’re out there. That’s quite a testimonial to the fact that if you want a band to last - you might have to make some very hard choices. Styx has been around since 1971 (I believe), so for a band to have lasted that long (and in their history only have had ten guys) is quite remarkable. That’s over four decades now.”

BraveWords.com: ‘All the original members’ is certainly a nice concept, but many bands (including Styx) would have broken up without the changes.

Gowan: “It wouldn’t exist or it would exist in such a hollow shell of what it was. You’d have a very brief tour filled with animosity and that comes through in the performances.”

BraveWords.com:  You mentioned Van Halen before and when they toured in 2004 with Sammy Hagar. They hated each other and the shows were miserable.

Gowan: “That’s really what it is. So, I ‘joined’ the band.”

BraveWords.com: I welcome the change. On the new album, Regeneration, you’ve re-done and sang on 'The Grand Illusion', 'Come Sail Away' and 'Queen Of Spades'. Some critics will say, ‘you’ve replaced Dennis DeYoung’s vocals. How dare you?’

Gowan: “They might say that. It’s so incredibly subjective.”

BraveWords.com: So what do you say to those critics?

Gowan: “This incarnation of the band has performed more than any other incarnation of the band. I’ve stood there and seen tens of thousands of people on their feet at the end of every night - with high-fiving and fists in the air screaming for more and I take that as fairly strong acclamation that they liked what they heard and saw. So, usually the people that have ‘that’ to say have never seen the band live. If they take ‘Come Sail Away’ and hold it up against the original, they will hear two different renditions of that song and they will like one more than the other, but for all the people that have said to me ‘I absolutely loved your version so much better than the original’ - there is a counter part that says ‘you’re version of that song was terrible’. That’s because they happen to embrace in its entirety the original and they hear nothing that they can embrace about the new one. It’s the same with people that say the opposite - ‘I never liked that song until I heard this version’. I really like the people that say, ‘I like both versions’. I had one person say to me that was is great about that song is that in Dennis’ voice he heard that optimism of youthful person who wanted to get away, but in my voice he hears a melancholy... an angst of a person looking back and looking forward at the same time. I think that’s the fairest assessment of it because I do hear that. If I were to sing the song like Dennis - it would sound silly. For me to give the most sincere rendition of those lyrics that’s the way I would sing it and that’s the way it makes sense to me today, so that’s the way we do it live. In some ways it’s like a science project having to reconstruct and reinvent a piece of material that was recorded twenty-five years ago.”

BraveWords.com: And also using two different technological standards...

Gowan: “And what a hurdle that is. I used everything original. What I use live is all digital and it sounds tremendous through the PA, but when it comes to recording there’s just no way. You have to go back and use the old gear and old compressors as much as you can. That meant, for me, getting back on a real Steinway, a real B3, a real Oberheim and making sure the sounds were intact. Those are things that can be replicated to a great degree and I have a different way of playing keyboards...my own flourishes are different from the original flourishes. It’s a tightrope - you have to make sure you don’t lose anything that was a tremendous strength of the original and not lose any bit that may be a strong addition to the live show. For example, the solo in the middle is double the length than the original. The second half of the solo is what I’ve added to it.”

BraveWords.com: Vocally, how do you approach it? Do you try to copy the original or just be yourself?

Gowan: “Both. I started off by entirely being myself... let me rephrase that - it’s entirely myself. However, once I’ve done that first rendition that I’m happy with... I would then listen to the original and realize there’s a couple of... not so much the phrasing, but rhythmic timing of things... If I stretched this note too long, it didn’t feel (rhythmically) like the original. That, to me, is of critical importance. So, I would go back and tweak those notes and re-do those phrases in order to match up the timing... Those are almost subliminal parts of what works within a song. You’re down to splitting hairs of newtons at that point. I have the tone that I think is right for me to be singing this song... it sounds sincere and every time I pop in the original I go, ‘this sounds really sincere the way he’s rendering it.’ I see both as viable.”

BraveWords.com: Gowan was a staple on Canadian radio and TV in the ‘80s. 'Moonlight Desires', 'A Criminal Mind' and 'Strange Animal' were top hits...

Gowan: “Moonlight Desires was a #1 video. A Criminal Mind was #1 in Montreal.”

BraveWords.com: A friend of mine, SEAN KELLY, just did a cover of 'A Criminal Mind' on his new solo album - Where The Wood Meets The Wire (Universal).”

Gowan: “I heard that. It’s great.”

BraveWords.com: It just goes to show that people still love that song, but how come Gowan didn’t break through in the United States?

Gowan: “I’ll explain that, but it’s a terribly long, drawn out and boring story. So, last year when I did the Return Of The Strange Animal record - I decided to tell the story in cartoon form. The link is: Gowanstrangeanimal.com. What you’re getting at here is the two completely different music businesses that exist today and existed in the ‘80s. Yesterday, Todd came to me with a new artist from Australia that I had never heard called GOTYE. I immediately put in on, looked him up on Youtube... There’s the difference today. If somebody came to me back in the ‘80s and said there’s this new Australian band called AC/DC. How can I get their record? I’d have to go to the import section of my local record store or... But today you can access anything from around the world instantly. Everyone now, automatically gets a world wide release because of the Internet, but the way it was in the 1980’s was the polar opposite of that. The record companies decided who got released where and why. A terrific example would be THE JAM in England. They’d play Wembley Stadium in England, but you could barely find their records in the United States and that was the same situation for PLATINUM BLONDE and me in Canada. We were signed to CBS records and although we had international deals and out sold some of the biggest international stars (in Canada) - we couldn’t get a guaranteed release in the United States. It seemed like the hurdle just kept moving and moving and moving...”

BraveWords.com: I could never understand that. 'A Criminal Mind', 'Strange Animal' and the hits just kept coming - you’d think , at some point, they’d say we can export this artist. They tried to break Platinum Blonde’s 'Crying Over You' single in the US, but for you they didn’t seem to try at all.

Gowan: “It was very strange and unusual. In all those years, I was managed by the same guy that managed RUSH (Ray Daniels). I was managed by him for fourteen years and it was a constant daily frustration. We just could not convince them (CBS) to put it out. They’d say ‘we have this artist or that artist coming out’. When I tread back over this that’s basically what the story is - my records were just not released in the United States. I did an interview recently with a Buffalo radio station and a lot of the border cities that I talk to mention 'A Criminal Mind' because they got it from St. Catharines or Toronto. Plenty of records made it across the border or they heard the airplay or played it themselves, but it did not translate to the big giant record company putting it out nationally in the United States. So, as a result you have these songs that become tied to one country. I’ve met artists in Germany who’ve had the same experience. They’ve had monster hits in Germany, but were never released elsewhere. Same in England. Same in Japan. It’s the same in every country. My records were never released in the United States and it was a terrible frustration at the time and it was an ongoing frustration throughout my entire solo career. It didn’t matter how many top ten songs I had or how many gold and platinum records I amassed. It was just the way my deal was structured with CBS (who later became SONY). Finally, when I left them (after my Greatest Hits record) - I went to England for a few years, I started doing tours over there and I noticed that the internet was picking up and I could release my records independently. It was at that time that the people in England suggested that bands were looking for new members (because they were still around)... My publicist started bringing people out to see me, but I didn’t want to do that because ‘I’m a solo artist’ but a month later I got a call from Tommy Shaw and I figured the universe is telling me something. It was tied to the fact that I never got the big release in the United States and now I had the opportunity to join this worldwide band and the first thing out of Tommy’s mouth was, ‘I want to make 'A Criminal Mind' a Styx song’.”

BraveWords.com: So, he was just using you...

Gowan: “In a way (laughs). He just thought that should be a Styx song. I had opened up for them at the ‘new’ Montreal Forum in 1997 (The Molson Centre) - it was the first or second concert ever performed there and I remember that every member of Styx were standing side stage (well, all but one) and after the third encore - I played 'A Criminal Mind' and when I came off stage that night JY, Chuck, Tommy and Todd... Tommy said ‘we’ve never heard these songs before and some sound like Styx songs or they could be Styx songs’. I thought - ‘what a curious comment that was’ and two years later when the went through their biggest backstage upheaval - they saw me as the solution to that, so I joined the band and I’ve been very happy going around the world and playing with them ever since, but that’s not to say that I haven’t always had this strong identity as a solo artist that, at some point, I want to address again.”.

BraveWords.com: Is Gowan the musical entity and touring artist finished or will their be new music down the road? If so, how do you write a new song and not give it to Tommy and Styx and keep it for a solo album?

Gowan: “That’s the dilemma at the moment. I have a lot of new material, but because we tour over a hundred shows a year - I wait. I don’t have time to properly spend the time - six months or whatever it takes to do a Gowan record and we’re in the same dilemma in the band. We can’t afford to take that much time away to make a full on studio record because the band is in such demand around the world. We just did it with Regeneration 1 & 2, but even that was tough and we had to use the few days off we have in the year. So, it’s a question of how many days there are in a year and you really hit the nail right on the head as well - I can’t decide if ‘this’ is a Gowan song or should it be a Styx song?”

BraveWords.com: I can also imagine the band’s reaction. Let’s say you have a top ten hit in Canada with the new Gowan song - Tommy probably comes to you and says, ‘why didn’t you give that to us?’

Gowan: “Exactly and why wouldn’t I give it to them? I’m just as much a part of this band as I was in my own band. So, I’m a little bit stingy with the material - I’m hanging on to it to see which way it should go. You never know what can happen with a band and we may suddenly have that opportunity to have several months off and we may need that material. So, I don’t want to toss it out there just for the sake of tossing it out. I’m really proud of all the studio records I made as Gowan and I don’t want to do one just as a tertiary project. Having said that, last year, I did release the Return Of The Strange Animal. I put a DVD with that and did put a new song on there called ‘Tittenhurst Park’ which was to give you my emotional impression of recording that album back at John Lennon’s house twenty-five years ago. I added all the videos and it took months and months to put together. There’s a documentary on the DVD with a new little cartoon...”

BraveWords.com: I’d also like to know about yours and Styx’s relationship with the Quebec audiences. A lot of the live recordings you’ve released come from Le Spectrum in Montreal or from venues in Quebec City...

Gowan: “That’s right.”

BraveWords.com: You even went as far as singing a HARMONIUM (French Canadian band) song ('Pour Un Instant') in French. Not a lot of artists would go out of their way and do something like that. You took that extra step - so what is your connection with the Quebec audience and also would you consider recording a full-length French album?

Gowan: “Another curious co-incidence between myself and Styx is that the first number one song that I ever had was ‘A Criminal Mind’ and it was in Montreal. The first hit that Styx ever had was ‘Sweet Madame Blue’ and it was in Montreal.”

BraveWords.com: Styx is completely revered in Montreal. Even Dennis without Styx will do a string of five or six shows in Montreal on a tour and in other cities he’s doing a single night.

Gowan: “I know and prior to me joining Styx I put out a solo record called Gowan Au Québec. It had ‘Pour Un Instant’ and an original French song called ‘Stéphanie’ - the lyrics were written by a guy called Jean-Guy Prince from Montreal and I did the music. First of all, I love trying to speak French. I’ve always enjoyed it right from the very first time I went to Quebec and that was prior to my Gowan days. I had a solo band that used to go to Quebec and I always felt embraced there and coincidentally - Styx - same thing. It goes beyond just an affinity. We have an emotional connection to that place and that obviously rings true for Dennis DeYoung as well because he was part of the band when that happened for them.”

BraveWords.com: The three acts (individually) all have a great love and respect from the people in Quebec. It’s almost a mania. People around here go see a band, but they ‘live’ the Styx experience...

Gowan: “It’s a great thing. Originally, when I joined the band, we thought (of all places on earth) that Quebec was going to embrace us like crazy, but in fact it’s taken us a few times of going back there until they finally accepted that the band had changed and that the solo artist that they knew as Gowan is now part of this band. It’s taken a while for the audience in Quebec to really accept that. I feel they’ve come to it now because the shows we’ve played there in recent times have been tremendous. Two years ago in Quebec City we drew (at Les Plaines D’Abraham) - 78,000 people. That’s the biggest audience (around the world) that Styx has ever played to. So, Quebec City has definitely embraced us. At first, I think there was this perception that one plus one would equal two - meaning that this solo artist (me) in a big band would be the diminution of two acts rather than accept it as something greater. It was, ‘oh we’ve lost a solo artist and the band (the way we liked it) has changed’. I fully understand that emotional response. It didn’t make sense to me at first, but then it began to sink in whereas in Japan, America and England seemed to embrace it right of the bat and had no problem with it. That emotional thing that I’m talking about runs both ways, but it’s taken some time and people getting used to the fact that the band saw this as a positive step and I saw it as a positive step personally because I needed to play to an international audience (just as a performer). I wanted to be part of an internationally successful act of this caliber. It’s just a tremendous band to walk on stage with - that’s really what it comes down to and I knew I couldn’t let that opportunity pass me by. In Montreal - we just had 40,000 people at a show (Festival Of Choirs). So, the two biggest shows Styx has ever done in Quebec is with this incarnation of the band. We finally feel this major validation that we’ve done this and the great thing was that I got to go play two solo shows (last March) in Montreal and Quebec City.”

BraveWords.com: I know you have shows until the end of this year, but have you started making plans for 2012?

Gowan: “Oh, yeah and as I mentioned before Mitch - they’re just aren’t enough days in a year for the band to play all the offers it receives. There’s always about three different tours set up a year in advance and because I’m coming back to playing my solo shows our manager is also slotting those in. He saw my solos shows last year and said ‘we have to do more of those’. So, there will be some solo Gowan shows next year (maybe ten) and in addition to that there will be a hundred plus Styx shows. That’s all being put together right now.”

BraveWords.com: Are you amazed at the success Styx is currently having? When you joined the band they weren’t Styx at the height of their popularity and you weren’t at the level of Gowan circa 1985. Yet together you went from almost nothing to this big machine doing over a hundred shows each year. It could have gone the other way and been a complete disaster.

Gowan: “Absolutely, it could have been and we knew it. This might last three months and then back to the drawing board, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead, the band... well, that’s what Regeneration addresses. There’s been a couple of generations now that only know this incarnation of the band and this is the band they love as much as the previous fans loved the previous incarnations of the group. So, we had to address that because there’s a whole new audience out there - at least 50% or more that are under the age of 30 and many weren’t even born when the original records where done. So yes, it is staggering to see what all the touring, all the cultural references to the band (on South Park, various TV shows and the Simpsons) - have turned into a pretty massive audience that want to go see the classic bands like KISS, Journey and Styx...”

BraveWords.com: Was there a ‘magic moment’ for the band or was it just the constant hard work of touring and so on...

Gowan: “That’s a very good question. If we were to pick the ultimate moment so-to-speak - both times that we played at the Super Bowl were ultimate moments. You’re playing to 75,000 people and a ridiculous audience on TV (worldwide). So, those were gigantic moments, but also it’s the on-going fact that we tour so much and gained this critical mass audience that just keep coming back. The number of people that’ll go to twenty or thirty Styx shows a year shocks us. They’ll go around the world. We’ll see fans from the States show up in Sweden. We’ll see fans from England show up in the States - it’s pretty outstanding and not something the band takes for granted. It’s quite amazing and seeing a band live is the only thing you cannot download. So, as the world of the music industry has changed so dramatically - the value of the live show and the fact that you can’t get that any other way than physically being in the building... People are drawn to those experiences because they’ve become so rare and different from the virtual experiences that we are all tied to every single day.”

BraveWords.com: Right, I can see you singing on YouTube, but I can’t feel the sweat.

Gowan: “Right - you can’t get any real sense of it. Last year, I was so mad that I couldn’t get out to see ROGER WATERS doing The Wall. I wanted to get to that so badly and I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube clips. They were tremendous and what a show, but I knew (in my gut) that if it’s this good on YouTube - than what was it like to have been there? If it’s a good experience on YouTube than it must be outstandingly good to have that emotional impact of being in the room and people are addicted to that. I’m addicted to it. Mitch, when was the last time you saw Styx?”

BraveWords.com: The last time you played the Bell Center in Montreal.

Gowan: “With DEF LEPPARD?”

BraveWords.com: Yes in 2007.

Gowan: “That’s alright. We’re still around (laughs).”

BraveWords.com: A few years ago, you did the special show with the Youth Orchestra in Cleveland. Any other special shows being planned?

Gowan: “What we just did in Montreal - we had a hundred piece choir sing with us on 'Come Sail Away', 'Sweet Madame Blue'... This was in Laval - on June 26th of this year. It was a great great show. That was the biggest audience we’ve ever played to in the Montreal area.”

BraveWords.com: Would you ever take the ‘orchestra thing’ on the road?

Gowan: “It’s difficult to say, but the success of that DVD and how many times it’s been played on TV... There’s a lot of demand for the band to do that so it’s possible, but I stay out of those decisions. Whatever our management decides is going to be the right thing to do. To tour around with an orchestra is one hell of a commitment. It’s better to to one or two or three great nights with them in one city.”

BraveWords.com: As a musician - what is your perception of Tommy Shaw? He’s been successful with the DAMN YANKEES, SHAW/BLADES and Styx. He’s got an ear for melodic rock. He’s the guru of melodic rock. What’s it like to work with him? Is he that brilliant or just lucky?

Gowan: “He’s THAT brilliant... in every sense. There’s nothing like walking on stage with a guy like that. To use a hockey analogy - it’s like stepping on the ice every night with a guy that you know is a goal scorer every year. He can put so much on the stage that he’s just a joy to watch.”

BraveWords.com: Have you learned anything from him?

Gowan: “Tons, but we’re so like minded when it comes to performing and recording. He uses the expression ‘like attracts like’ - and I think there’s a lot of that.”

BraveWords.com: It goes back to what you said before about 'A Criminal Mind' sounding like a Styx song. You’ve both got that ‘pop’ sensibility.

Gowan: “It’s a ‘pop’ sensibility wrapped in a progressive rock idiom. Tommy has such a range. He even put out a bluegrass record this year. He’s treat to play with. Both he and JY are the best guitars teachers I’ve ever had in my life.”

BraveWords.com: Tommy runs off with Jack Blades (NIGHT RANGER) every so often to do acoustic albums. Would you like to work on a project with Tommy - some kind of acoustic with piano thing?

Gowan: “Sure I would, but I think if we started something like that - the other three guys would freak out. Why isn’t this a Styx record? I’d have to agree with them and Tommy would as well. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to do that at this point, but maybe in the future.”

BraveWords.com: You and Tommy could do acoustic versions of 'Moonlight Desire' and 'Strange Animals'.

Gowan: “That would be pretty damn good.”

BraveWords.com: Perhaps on Styx Regeneration 3 then...

Gowan: “That would be nice. That would be good.”

BraveWords.com: Anything else we should mention about Regeneration 1 & 2?

Gowan: “My main vocal on Regeneration 2 is 'Queen Of Spades' and all the harmony parts - that signature Styx three part harmonies - which are so important and vital to the band. I’m also playing all the keyboard parts and we should mention the inclusion of High Enough and Coming Of Age on Regeneration 2 - adding those two Damn Yankees songs in there was neat. We Styx-ified them.”

BraveWords.com: Night Ranger just re-recorded 'Coming Of Age' as well and it includes a TED NUGENT guitar solo. Goes to show that a great song is a great song...

Gowan: “Absolutely. We played it at a few shows earlier this year and it went over so well that we decided to put it on the record too.”

BraveWords.com: Styx has recorded a live version of 'A Criminal Mind', but not a studio version...

Gowan: “Yeah, but we haven’t had time to do that. We did a live version in 2001 and again with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra.”

BraveWords.com: Finally, when you did The Grand Illusion and Pieces Of Eight album tour - was it special for you?

Gowan: “I loved doing that. That tour was tremendous. It was a great undertaking for us to tackle playing an entire album from beginning to end and to stay true to the order of the record. We even had the record flip over on the screens. Normally, we play Come Sail Away at the end - in this show it was fourth because that’s the way it appears on the record. It’s pretty amazing to tackle a show in that manner, but the audience’s appreciation of it was tremendous. This is the way people experienced the record at home and we really tried to give them that same experience, but in a live context. It was a great challenge and one that we want to come back to again because it went so well. We actually made a DVD of it that will come out later this year. It was recorded it Memphis.”

For more visit Styxworld.com.