May 09, 2005

Interview with Ricky Phillips

I had the pleasure to speak with Ricky Phillips at length one Saturday morning while he enjoyed a cup of coffee and the start of a beautiful California day. During the time that we talked I asked Ricky about being a member of Styx, what makes him tick; along with some of the other projects he’s been working on. One of the highlights of the conversation was Ricky’s feelings, insights and excitement into the making of the newest release from Styx “Big Bang Theory”.

Enjoy!

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Kathy: Ricky thanks for making the time for this interview and I guess to start off I’d like to get a perspective of who you are, not just that you’re in STYX right now but to get a little bit of your history. I wanted to start today with; while most of us know who you are, and of course the bands you have been part of but, as a personal introduction of yourself, Ricky Phillips the man, please tell us a little about makes you tick and what your passions are away from the music…

Ricky: OK. Away from music most people who know me know that I’m a golf nut and if I’m not in my studio I’m usually on a golf course. It’s also one of the ways I’ve kept myself sane on the road; especially after being on the road after being away and in the studio for the last several years. When I finally came back on the road I found that the sound guy from STYX plays golf and a couple of the crew guys do and our manager plays golf although none of the guys in the band do. On a day off when you can go out and walk on the green for four and a half hours you can definitely find yourself a little peace of mind.

Kathy: A little de-stressing there…great!

Ricky: I have been playing golf all my life. It’s a challenging game but people who don’t play golf well they scratch their heads, they don’t understand it, they make jokes about it but, you’d be surprised by how many rockers play golf! Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper on down.

Kathy: Excellent! I enjoy the mountains as a way to kick back but I can definitely understand when you have to focus and you get out there and it’s just you and that little white ball, very relaxing!

Ricky: It’s true!

Kathy: Your career has spanned years, the continents and many well-known bands; currently none other than STYX! I know that the “Big Bang Theory” is being released in May and that this coming summer is going to be crazy with touring. So I guess the question is - Are you ready and are you looking forward to experiencing the STYX fans here in the US and of course all over Europe?

Ricky: Well, I joined the band in September in of 2003, here we are April 2005! I mean we haven’t really stopped touring, we’ve been off now for two weeks so we’ve been doing a lot of press interviews for the “Big Bang Theory” but we haven’t really stopped and we haven’t really come off the road for more than three and a half weeks since then. We’ve made the realization, or it just is what it is, that we are a touring band and we record when we can. We were actually surprised with “The Walrus” taking off so much like it has. That’s the reason or the importance of going in and doing a cover CD- we were in the midst of writing a STYX CD and the success of “The Walrus” took off and then it was explained to us that you can’t just put one single out, you’ve got to have some place for it to live so we were gently talked into doing a cover record. At first I wasn’t that excited and a few other people weren’t but the more we thought about it we thought; how can we make this good for us and give it a purpose? We decided to approach it from finding the songs that made us who we are or who we all became as individual musicians who ultimately is who STYX is now, rather than do our favorite songs of our contemporaries. We reached back into the 60’s and maybe a couple of things from the early 70’s that really were reflective of us. It was a huge list and I would say that we could even do five or six more of these and not that we will, but I am just saying that these are the first ones we grabbed and we went in and cut the tracks. We didn’t rehearse them but we tried to play them the way we would individually and see how they came together. Some of the songs sound like the originals, some pretty much like the blueprint goes, which is surprising it wasn’t discussed to be that way it just kinda came out that way. They all have a STYX vocal harmony sort of flare…

Kathy: Well, you can’t change that! You guys all have your certain style that you perform and that will give it your flavor and the band’s signature sound.

Ricky: Exactly!

Kathy: I can definitely understand the need to find a place or can I say the right home for the one song – When I listen to an album and look at the songs there is usually some sense of logic or collection of songs.

Ricky: Yeah it’s got to have cohesiveness, but it’s kind of all over the map in a way. There’s the thread that its us playing it but for instance I was into British rock from the time I was a kid … From starting with the Beatles and going through the Yard Birds and any thing Jeff Beck did and anything that Jimmy Paige or Eric Clapton did, especially the Cream and then to Led Zeppelin. I mean that was me … I loved Jimmy Hendrix, he was my man. And then you’ve got Tommy Shaw who grew up in the south and who was into the Allman Brothers and Delta Blues and a lot of other influences. Those aren’t really that far removed but they are so different when you hear them soloed out, but it all comes together nicely and you know that’s the bridge stole American Blues artists, that’s where that amalgamation of British Rock carried music for so many years.

Kathy: I know that Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades were going to going to be doing a 70’s album together. Are you free to elaborate or talk about that? Is that going to still be something possible or did this album sort of take its place?

Ricky: No, I heard some stuff that Tommy and Jack have in the can, they did a cover record. This is totally, totally coincidental that there’s two of these. The only reason we are doing this is because … Well do you want me to tell you about how “The Walrus” came up?

Kathy: Absolutely … That would be fantastic!

Ricky: Well, Lawrence had played that song in sound check and every once and a while during sound check you’re not starting form the beginning of the song or you just start playing a riff and everyone starts joining in. So when we were invited to the Eric Clapton Event last year at the Cross Roads, which is basically a blues event or a blues based event and STYX not being a Blues band but us being fans of the blues, we said why don’t we change up the set list so we’re not playing just STYX songs. Let’s throw some other things in so I think we did “You Can’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover” and it came up lets do “I Am The Walrus”- that’s kinda trippy especially since that would be something no one is going to be doing there. So … we didn’t really rehearse it (laughs). We were on the road with Peter Frampton at the time and we left Peter to go to the event and then came back with Peter the following week. It went over so well that we started doing it in encores and performances and Greg Solk who used to be at “The Loop” WLUP in Chicago and a long time supporter of the band said “Hey, if you guys ever record that I would love to put that on the air”. So a few weeks or a month later, we had a ProTools recording rig on the road and decided to record it. We recorded that version that’s been getting all this airplay live in an encore in Lincoln City, Oregon – and actually my Mom was at the gig! The next thing you know it went from the Loop, to this station to that station and somebody said a week later “Do you know you’re on 26 stations with I Am the Walrus”

Kathy: That’s just incredible! What a great story!

Ricky: Yeah because we didn’t go in the studio, we didn’t have anybody pushing this thing. Then it got up to over 100 stations, then 150 and then 200 and I think there are over 300 if you count all the affiliates and the people who have played the CD! It got to #2 on the rock chart just under U2!

Kathy: Fantastic! That’s really pretty amazing!

Ricky: It fell off but I heard it is climbing back up and is in the top 20 I believe, but it just won’t die this thing!

Kathy: It seems to have taken on a life of it’s own!

Ricky: Yeah and that’s why we’re doing it. I’m not trying to downgrade it but, I have had a lot of questions asking, “Now why would you guys, do a cover record?” – And that’s the explanation. Really we want to be able to have a platform for Walrus viewed and listened to but also after talking about it, it made sense and it was a fun thing to do. We had time to do it, we had somebody behind us who would try to make it a little bit special and we talked about it and then we got together and went in and recorded these songs. It gave us also a place to put a little swampy version of “Blue Collar Man” that we did…

Kathy: Oh yeah – I just love that song!

Ricky: We went in to 2120 South Michigan Boulevard in Chicago where Willie Dixon’s Studio once was and brought a mobile truck in and set up and recorded with Johnnie Johnson, hall of famer, piano player who was Chuck Berry’s piano player and Koko Taylor and we wrote a song with Johnnie Johnson called “Hey Mister Johnson” there on the spot which is probably my favorite thing of all. I don’t know where that’s going to live but we did put a version of “Blue Collar Man” on this CD. It’s very cool, every time I hear it, it’s one of those things, that – I never listen to anything I’ve recorded over the years – I don’t care what it is, I just don’t. But I mean every time I hear that thing its just it gives me goose bumps cause I can feel all the great blues artists, Howlin’ Wolf, and everyone back in the day you know, a big huge life size pictures on the wall of Willie Dixon … It’s just unbelievable and when I hear it it’s like “Why does this sound so good?” and I know its part of the all of the ghosts that are in that studio.

Kathy: All that history! Going along with the “Big Bang Theory” there is so much talk about it and this huge excitement. My own thought is - Could it be that some of these songs come from a time when folks just look back and remember the good times; or do you think it’s something else all together. What do you think it is that’s lit this fire in everyone – Is it STYX?

Ricky: Ok, now explain your angel on that; do you mean back when people were writing songs in the 60’s or do you mean now in reflecting back?

Kathy: I mean back at that time - STYX has been a band that has been around quite some time and you have people in their 40’s and 50’s that have followed the band for years.

Ricky: Undeniably there is a body of folks that have followed the band back from the day, and let’s face it, everybody thinks their music from their generation is the best music ever. And why is that? It’s because Rock and Roll that comes under that huge umbrella, because there’s so many different kinds and forms. Everyone’s got their own music and it even gets to the point where kids don’t want their big brothers music, not just Mom and Dads music or Grandma and Grandpas music. Every generation wants their own and that’s because that music is a sound and reflection of their time. They feel it’s an emotional expression that is really probably the best picture or snapshot of any moment in time. So, when you go back and you hear those songs you’re not just hearing those songs and how great those songs are but, you’re reflecting on so much that happened to you and all the things you learn when you are young, that shape and mold you, to become the person you’re going to be. I’ve seen people I don’t know how many times, the same faces following us all around the country, I’ve signed autographs for people who say it’s their 130th show and it blows my mind! But, there are certain bands that have that sort of a following and we don’t take that for granted, I mean, it’s something you definitely feel fortunate to have. But, the thing that’s been tripping us out recently in the past year or more are all the 13,14, 15 year old rock and roll head-bangers – some with Mohawks – sitting there with their fists in the air singing all the lyrics – and I mean even to “Lady” and certain songs like that.

Kathy: Perhaps some of that was influenced from their parents?

Ricky: Some of it is from the parents, some of it is that a lot of urban music, rap, all kinds of other kinds of musical expression have strayed away from melody and song for many years now and a lot of the younger kids and I am talking basically 13 to just through college age have been looking for something else and right now as music always goes full circle melody and structure are something that hasn’t been around for a while. And when they hear it it seems to strike a chord and that’s what seems to be happening. We do see kids who come with their parents but I’m not talking about that I’m talking about something else. For example, we were in Nashville last year and we looked out at 4,000 – 6,000 thousand people all soaked in the rain singing every song. I’m sorry but my older contemporaries are not going to be out there in that rain! And they were singing and chanting to every song and that was a real eye opener to us. We thought we had been seeing it all but when you see die-hard fans getting soaked in the rain, smiling, laughing and singing you realize -WOW! We have seen it progress and we talk to other bands about it, other bands that are out there, and they’re seeing a similar thing. It’s just a big turn around in music right now.

Kathy: So would you say you see a resurgence in the music? I firmly believe that there is indeed a resurgence and that the time has come.

Ricky: I didn’t think so a few years ago when people were talking about it I couldn’t see it, I didn’t think there was. But, here’s the deal – radio has in general the charts for example, I don’t think that means that forty year old guys can put the band back together and go get a record deal and become big like whoever but I think it’s a young man’s game. I think it should be I think music should evolve and should change and as a matter of fact the young bands that glean what ever they do from the STYX and whatever other band that they choose they’re going to take the music and put it in to their young minds and with the flavors of the times of today and it’s not going to sound like 70’s and 80’s music its going to sound like year 2005 or ‘6 you know whenever it’s done. That will be something the same way that when we were listening to the Muddy Waters and all the old blues artists and I was listening to that filtered through Led Zeppelin and whoever else I came up with my music and so and so on and so and so on. So, it’s not coming back in the way that it’s going to be music just like it was 20 or 30 years ago, it’s going to be redefined and re-molded and re-shaped and it’s going to come out with the flavor of the times.

Kathy: I’m counting on it! One of the best points of STYX is the ability to adapt through the years which obviously you have spoken about and the challenges a band faces. The current line up is very deep with talent, Tommy and James the long time members, Todd Sucherman on drums, the master of the keyboard Lawrence Gowan, he’s just incredible! And of course you! I am sure you have been asked a thousand times what it is like working with them but, what I would really like to know is what the creative energy is like when you walk in to a room full of so much talent?

Ricky: You know what, I can answer that. The first time I walked in the room with the guys and it was set up, I had been asked to join the band and we had never played together. So we got together and we set up in L.A. In fact the band was still on the road, just going off the road on a huge tour with Journey and REO in 2003. We set up while every body was here in Southern California and we just started jamming. I think someone started playing something from Abbey Road, I guess Lawrence probably did, and we blew through all the changes. If you don’t know the second side to Abbey Road then you’re not going to know what I’m talking about, but it goes through; “She came in through the bathroom window” and goes through 5,6,7 pieces of music one joined to the next and we somehow off the cuff including most of the vocals blew this down! Now the guys that are coming from the same point of reference couldn’t do that. So, that more than playing the STYX songs, which actually we jumped into after had broken the ice for me. And they may not even know but that made me realize these guys are deeper than I realized ..Wow! Most of us know people by their music but you don’t know completely what’s behind it. Another connection also to the Big Bang Theory was that it re-affirmed that I made the right choice when asked. I was honored when they asked but you still have your own reasons for doing what you do and that day when I left I thought these guys are amazing! They are amazingly talented and gifted and although you already know that when it’s reaffirmed you are in a good place it makes it all the better.

Kathy: Good decision!

Ricky: Without a doubt!

Kathy: With your experiences with The Babys, Bad English and now STYX, one has to wonder what those experiences have added to your life. What I mean is where does Ricky Phillips the artist and Ricky from the tiny town in Iowa differ? You have shared your music and your life with the world, I guess what I am really trying to ask is how is it to be so successful on such a grand scale?

Ricky: Well you know I never dreamt as a kid that I would be doing what I am doing now; I wasn’t even part of the dream. That’s too big of a dream! I am a small town kid from Iowa who was raised to live within my means and live within the world around me. At a certain point, I think in my senior year in college at San Francisco State, I had still been playing music I hadn’t really left it, but it was a point when I was 19 years old and it was more important than the degree I was going to get. I then realized, because I was a phsyc major I was going to have to go to graduate school and I was just burnt out. The Vietnam War was going on – part of the reason I think I was staying in school rather than just launching out and going on the road is because I needed to stay out of the draft. When I did set out I started traveling all around the country, I played all over the United States and Canada, in probably one or two different bands and I guess you could say I went to Rock and Roll College. I played 5 sets a night, sleeping on floors in motel rooms – saying there’s two of us when there was like 6 guys piled on top of each other just to make ends meet and travel on the road. When I came to L.A.I was so over prepared that I would just walk in the door basically and get the audition. There were a lot of posers in L.A. – a lot of guys that had the right haircut and the right kind of shoes; but I had played with some remarkable musicians too which helped. You wear this kind of thing like a tattoo and at a certain point you can’t take the tattoo off; it’s a part of you. It’s who you are and who you’ve become. Who was it, John Lennon, that said “Life’s what happens while you’re making other plans.” I am a perfect example of that, I committed myself body and soul. In fact I’ve got pictures of me hiking in Yellowstone with a spiked shag hair cut and platform shoes – It’s a crack up! Because that’s the only shoes I had, a couple of pairs of platform shoes, a couple of nice basses and some girl’s tops! That was the look we were trying to mimic, Rod Stewart and The Faces, Robert Plant and others – All the guys that wore all this crazy stuff. Part I think just to do anything that would shake people up! It’s no different now, that’s just what was going on then.

Kathy: Your music has been heard live, on albums, on television and film and you have been expanding to helping develop new talent. What artists have you been working with currently, could you tell us a bit about the styles of music you have been working with them on and how you find time for this with the busy schedule of STYX?

Ricky: You know to be dead straight with you – I don’t anymore… I can’t! We are on the road so much. There are a couple of projects that I have been able to work on. There is a guitarist that I have been trying to do his album for a year, and he has been patiently waiting on me but there just hasn’t been a gap in time where I can dive in and properly produce it. There is also Tomasina Abate that I think is a Star! I have been trying to work with her for a year and a half. It’s just now that I’ve joined STYX there’s really no time. It’s really consuming – I just had 2 - 3 days to record the lyrics and melody for 5 songs for Fergie’s new record.

Kathy: Now that’s also a project on my list I want to talk about!

Ricky: OK - Then I’ll wait for you to get to that question.

Kathy: I did take a look at your touring schedule and it looked like you were home this week but by next week …

Ricky: Well, what the tour schedule doesn’t show is for instance. Well my Mom, she’ll call and say, “Oh honey I see you’re off” And I say, “No Mom, I’m in Delaware” or whatever. Then she says, “Well it’s not on your schedule.” There’s about 30-40 dates that get added while we’re out on the road. I talked to our t-shirt guy night before last and I said, “Oh my god, where am I!?”

Kathy: But really you guys always seem to be having such a great time – It’s a terrific show and always very entertaining!

Ricky: It’s funny you should just say that. I was trying to explain to some other people who are not musicians that there is a band that is huge that is boring as boring can be to watch but people will go see them and really have a great time because they are great musicians and great singers. But then there is a certain body of people who only want to see people singing and playing their instrument and anything beyond that leaves the bounds of being esoteric and becoming “showy” and it ruins it for them. It’s a very snobbery upper crowd circle. I noticed when I lived in San Francisco that’s the way it was … People didn’t move, they just sang. If you did any kind of move or you got caught up in the emotion of your instrument and started doing windmills like Pete Townsend then you are demeaning the music. It’s like going from John McLaughlin to KISS. I mean John McLaughlin isn’t going to move probably more than a 3 ft. circle on the floor and people will sit there and go, Oh my God! What a great musician! That’s what they want. They don’t want John McLaughlin going down into splits or anything! (laughs) But the guys in STYX, there are no excuses made, we get caught up in the moment and we love letting wherever it takes us that night. No two shows are alike!

Kathy: Exactly! What I have noticed is you guys really interact with the audience - Throwing picks out into the crowd and making eye contact. You can tell that you guys love the little ones there. I think everyone can feel that even though you don’t know who they are you are connecting with them on another level…

Ricky: My brother, made an observation. He came to a show at The Beacon, he is one of the directors in the New York City Opera but he had never seen the band. He was in Europe when I was in The Babys so he hadn’t really seen any of the bands I had been in and so his observation after the show was that he loved the material, thought the band was awesome. But, what he said he was blown away by was he had never seen so many happy people in an audience before, ear-to-ear smiles – responding, reacting singing whatever! He said he was more caught up in watching the audience than watching us at a certain point! I thought Wow, what a great observation! We do feel that from night to night, which probably helps us do what we do. The fans give us reason to do it and give it new life night after night!

Kathy: Ok, I have a few more questions, You have also become a very respected song writer, which in itself is a great gift, the different facets of your creativity I’m sure bring different rewards and accomplishments so is it the writing, creating, performing or perhaps even listening to the final product is the most rewarding to you, could you tell us which brings you the most pleasure?

Ricky: Yeah, I think so, sometimes “I hate writing but I love having written”. That’s really not a quote from me it’s a Paul McCartney quote but when I read it I went, Oh my God, is that the truth!? Because, sometimes I have nearly thrown things across the room because I can’t get the lyrics to just fit. You know you work with something, the song is done but there is a song that’s killing you – you know it’s not good. The weakest line is how good the song is, so you’ve got to make it right, you have to live up to the rest of the song. There is a process that I really enjoy. I have to say John Waite inspired me years ago in his writing style and what he calls walking the beast. I will write some music and I’ll just put a microphone and I’ll sing to it and I find that instead of trying to find lines rhyming with a piece of paper in your lap, like your at the office or something. If you just put on some headphones, and play the music and jam the vocals until you get the proper phrasing and melody that really suits it; the story will begin to evolve around that. Then you can sit down with your paper and fill in the gaps. For years I wrote pretty much pen to paper and it takes like three times as long to do it that way. And although everything will match and rhyme, you know button up really nicely, it just doesn’t seem to have the same spice to it that this other method has for me. So I enjoy that process of playing music with the headphones on and just letting your personal emotions flow and you’ll find that a story line will start to evolve after you look back on it. It’s very reflective of what’s going on in your life and I think that’s also a really cool part of songwriting. You can usually tell a lot about a person if you read their lyrics.

Kathy: So, you would say when you are writing a song it’s the lyrics that come first or the melody or maybe just something running through your head?

Ricky: Sometimes I will see a catch phrase or somebody will say something and I’ll think that could be a good song title, or a good idea for a song. I may be in my car driving or hear something on the radio in a commercial, something said, or a catch phrase and a melody will pop in my head and I’ll start singing it and be racing home so I can get it down. I have a little ghetto blaster that when I come home from having a few Margaritas or something I’ll sit down at the piano and I’ll always click this thing on because I just begin to flow and when you’re not expecting it, not trying, not sitting in the studio trying to force it - well it can come from anywhere. I do often sit and just jam and record myself with a guitar or a piano and a musical melody will come up and if it’s a good enough melody it will inspire some sort of lyric. I may not know what it means and then I’ll have to weave the tale.

Kathy: Oh that sounds quite interesting and fascinating. All right now … Fergie Frederiksen. Fergie is one of your best friends and is of course one of the greatest voices in melodic rock. I that the two of you have been spending time with Tommy Denander lately and I’d love to hear how that is going and ask you to maybe tempt us with some insider info on how this project’s going?

Ricky: Sure! Basically those guys sent me a CD and it had a bunch of Tommy’s music on it. He’s a great guitar player – make that an amazing guitar player! Each song had like 5 parts - Very power based rock and I basically didn’t have much time and Fergie was really wanting me to dive in and take some of this music and sort it out and cut it into song form and write him some melodies and lyrics. I was doing so much STYX stuff and there was a period of about two days before I was leaving for the road. So I set this stuff up and I started – I was very inspired by Tommy’s guitar playing, and the music was very cool. I just basically found a part I was inspired by and started creating songs by cutting them up on the computer and I threw up the microphone and the next thing I knew one would be done. I would have all the lyrics and I’d sing all the background harmonies and then I’d send it to Fergie and say, OK, I’m starting on the second one. The next thing I knew I had 4 or 5 songs done.

Kathy: It’s amazing what can be done with computers these days!

Ricky: Yeah because the editing in the old days was taped and to do that would have been so time-consuming. I never would have been able to do it that quickly but with the computer I can just snip and paste. I even cut some of Tommy’s riffs right in the middle and created my own riffs out of his playing and he heard it and he cracked up! He got a great kick out of it! He plays in such amazingly impeccable time that I was able to cut and it almost sounded like he played it that way. A lot of what I was able to do is because of how good he is. So I wrote some songs that way. Then Fergie and Tommy came to town - Tommy started doing sessions in L.A. and got busy and was here to produce Fergie. Since he was running out of time to do both they asked me if I would help produce Fergie’s vocals. We had started working in my studio and they were all set up and I got a little bit more involved in that project than I really had anticipated at first. Now Tommy is back in Sweden and he is cutting all of these performances together, re-recording some of them the way I had edited them. I think because Fergie and I work so much together and Tommy is so good that this should be a great record! Fergie sounds tremendous on it .. It is back to the power melody rock stuff!

Kathy: I’m so looking forward to that one! When ever I hear the phrase Frederiksen/Phillips my ears perk up and I feel the excitement and hope for what I know will be a fantastic album! Is this a project something we can hope to see in the next little while or is it one of those that we will just have to wait until the time is just right?

Ricky: I’m trying to figure out a way to afford to do it, because I have never even counted how many guest stars are on the first one. But that’s what it became – My songs, with a couple of co-writes, Fergie’s voice and a zillion great, very talented friends! To put that together, there were so many things working in my favor to get all those people on this record, to orchestrate and fly people in, put them up and that’s before paying them a penny! That’s another thing, today record budgets are so small and people are forced to work within a budget that really, really reflects the outcome of the record.

Kathy: Do you think that stops some of the creativity then, or makes people rush to produce an album and get it done?

Ricky: My point is, there was a lot of excess in the 80’s way too much money! We spent $700,000 dollars doing a Bad English record! Each guy had his roadie and each guy had his apartment to live in because he didn’t live in L.A. and then he had to have a rental car. It was stupid stuff going on. I’m just saying if you want someone to play on a record it would be great to have a budget where you could at least fly them in, put them up for the night – Not have to stay and hang out for a month but a few days. It’s really hard to do since people are all over the map. You can send files around but how can you produce somebody and get out of them what you want as a produce. I really like to be face to face with my artists when I am producing them and I want to be pushing them to go a little higher than they would be able to normally go. It’s a little frustrating at times but it’s very different than when you are sitting there by yourself.

Kathy: And yet another project that is in the making is the much-anticipated Montrose album, which by the sounds of it is nearing the final stages. What can you tell us about that?

Ricky: Sure, that was Ronnie I was on the phone with. We have to get this track to Paul Stanley before he goes to Hawaii so he can take the track with him. There is also a track we really want Sammy Hagar to work on and we’re trying to flip-flop and see who the right singer is for what track. We cut the tracks some time ago and they’ve been in the can for some time - It’s taken us a while to do the transfer so that we can get rough mixes for all the singers and find out who the singers are going to be and commit to it and get this thing done. The tracks were done on 2 inch tape in a room - Some of them created on the spot - Some of them had a couple of ideas that formulated into a song in the studio but we tried to do it the way we used to record. Where it wasn’t so much to get on the radio or to satisfy somebody at a record company – It came from the real soulful roots of the musicians in the room and if there was a single - Great – If not who cares! We didn’t go in there with a computer, we didn’t use ProTools, we went in and cut all these bits of music like we used to on 2 inch tapes, room mics, all of us playing at the same time, no over-dubs. There are some mistakes on there – We might fix the mistakes because you have the beauty of the computer after the fact, but the recording of the music wasn’t with the computer. It wasn’t using the computer to make things easier. None of that stuff, the convenience of recording has ruined the spontaneity of music and why it feels different as a song develops and grows. Hopefully when we try to put the vocals down we’ll follow the same formation. We may not put the vocals on 2 inch tape but we wanted to get the rest on there because there is a certain sound of tape over digital computers that we all miss. The singers that are involved are Alex Litgerwood who was with Santana for years and years, and Terry Reed who is a great English singer who actually was offered a Led Zeppelin gig but he was such a big star in England he turned it down. Terry is a big influence to a lot of singers. He’s here in L.A. and has agreed to do a song with us. He has been a friend for years. Of course, Edgar Winter where Ronny got a lot of his notoriety-playing guitar for Edgar. Glenn Hughes is a favorite singer of both Ronnie’s and mine from Deep Purple days. Glenn’s awesome, and Eric Martin from the band Mr. Big, who Ronnie and I have always been great fans of Erik’s voice. Mark Farner from Grand Funk. Gregg Rolie founding member of Journey, who also sang in Santana, I always loved it when Greg and Steve Perry would do the dual lead vocal thing. Paul Stanley, I have always been a huge fan of his and always wanted to see him do something with other musicians away from KISS, because I think the guy has got that rootsy rock n’ roll throaty voice that is just so cool, that drives a lot of those songs. Ten singers, ten different songs!

Kathy: Wow, that is going to be some album, thank you for the info! While we’re on the topic of what you’ve been up to is there anything else that you’re willing to tell us about … Even if it’s just a thought rolling around your mind for some time in the future?

Ricky: Well, I have been thinking about doing a solo record, I have such a wealth of material… but, what I am probably going to have to do is do it on the road. What I will probably have to do is compile and write the songs and find out which ones I would be able to do. Then I probably would go in and record it all very quickly. I would love to do it with Todd Sucherman, he’s the best drummer in the freakin’ world and he and I have a sort of magic that I’ve always wanted another drummer to care enough to develop. Drummers are an interesting breed, and a lot of them are impatient people …But drummers and bass players get along. Usually as edgy as drummers are bass players are on the kick-backed, more relaxed side and it’s a good yin and yang. But, Todd has a drive and cares about the music to the point I’ve never seen before and he’s a genius! He’s been playing and making a living in drums since he was 6 years old. His father was a jazz drummer and he just has the gift. Whenever I go in with Todd I can’t even remember recording; we get tracks so quickly it’s wild! But, it’s stuff you listen back and go Oh my God we did that! He brings the best out in me as a player.

Kathy: That’s something we can all look forward to for the future! Thank you Ricky! OK, last question … First though Thank you for this time to answer all my questions and before we say good-bye … Is there a closing message you’d like to send out to your fans?

Ricky: Yes, actually, the fans have been really, really great to me since joining STYX and inheriting a legacy accepting me into the family in a long standing group of folks who have supported the band for years and years, and years. To have embraced me as the new guy with very thoughtful cards and letters on birthdays and holidays and gifts sent back stage – Just nice things! I think some times fans think, OK, on to another city and the same old thing. It isn’t like that at all and it means a lot, and it is very cool to look out and see that people do care. In other words we don’t just jump on the bus and drive away and go, OK, who’s next.

Kathy: That’s very nice to hear and I know the fans will appreciate reading this!

Ricky: Yeah, it definitely goes in and it’s well appreciated!

Kathy: Again Ricky … Thank you very much!

Ricky: Absolutely!

Posted by Kathy at May 9, 2005 02:02 PM