Styx are working on a new album

I saw them in St. Louis in 1999. The opening act cancelled (forgot who the act was but it had Ben Orr from The Cars and Jeff Carlisi from 38 Special and this was around the time Ben got cancer). Styx ended up playing 2 hours that night and did Half Penny, Two Penny, Queen Of Spades and a ton of tracks from Brave New World.

 

From Styxworld.com:

Styx put on a great performance at SiriusXM Radio HQ in Midtown Manhattan on May 15, 2017 for an upcoming episode of Artist Confidential that's set to air between June 16-28 on the satellite radio service's Classic Rewind channel. (Keep an eye out here on Styxworld and the official Styx Facebook page for any potential updates re the air dates.)

The hour-long performance and Q&A was hosted by the one and only Alan Hunter, one of the original MTV VJs. Hunter made a point of noting at the outset of the session, which commenced at 1 p.m. ET, that he and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw both grew up in Alabama, and he later observed that Styx had the ninth video ever played on MTV when the music channel debuted on August 1, 1981: the live performance clip of "Rockin' the Paradise."

Styx performed a total of seven songs and answered Qs from Hunter about the content and substance of The Mission, the band's upcoming 16th studio album that's being released on June 16 via Alpha Dog 2T/UMe (and can still be preordered right here). Styx played inside what's known as "The Fishbowl" to an intimate audience of about 60 enthusiastic SiriusXM subscribers (including yours truly) and their guests, all seated on a tight-quartered tier of metal bleachers facing the band. Tommy later observed that it may have been the closest they've been to an audience in quite some time, albeit literally separated by a layer of glass.

Even so, the band was clearly energized by the immediate and quite energetic audience response. "It felt great," Tommy said later that afternoon. "I loved it!!"

Yesterday marked the first official live performance of a key track from The Mission, "Radio Silence," which was absolutely stunning, to say the least. Tommy also played a few riffs from and sang some of the lyrics to "Mission to Mars" while answering one of Hunter's Qs about the new album. We won't give away all of the songs the band played in The Fishbowl, but it must also be said original bassist Chuck Panozzo totally nailed his signature bass-riff break during "Fooling Yourself."

As is often the case whenever a band performs in The Fishbowl at SiriusXM, a cavalcade of familiar names and faces will pass by and observe the proceedings, and yesterday was no exception. Among the cognoscenti were Sandra Bernhard, Eddie Trunk, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil (who stopped dead in his tracks to listen to "Radio Silence" with a clear grin on his face), Gary Dell'Abate of The Howard Stern Show, and Hoda Kotb of The Today Show, who briefly joined the audience in the stands and literally sang along to every word of "Too Much Time on My Hands" (verses included!).

We're now only a month away from the release of The Mission, and Styx's upcoming episode of Artist Confidential will be a nice companion to the album, without a doubt. Well done, lads!

 

Is there even anybody left from the original band anymore, or is this really an entirely new band which simply has carried on the name and traditions?

 

james "jy "young is still there. tommy shaw who joined in the 70's is still there. the original bass player makes appearances and probably plays on a few songs on the new album. the drummer has been there over 20 years and the other 2 guys have been there 15+ years.

 

Has the "new" bassist been there 15 years?

 

I got an email promotion from the local "shed" venue for the 2017 summer season. It was like 1978 all over again:

Foreigner
Cheap Trick
Styx
REO
Boston
Journey
Asia
Ted Nugent
Chicago
Doobie Brothers
Three Dog Night

The "New Kids on the Block" were Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Huey Lewis and the News - circa 1982.

Of all these acts, to my knowledge Styx is the only ones with original material for 2017. Good for them.

 

-cheap trick released an album last year and has a new release due out this year

-both asia and nugent said probably 2018 for new material but both had releases in 2014

-Chicago also had a new release in 2014

-foreigner has some new songs out this year but an a compilation

-joan jett recorded her first album t the very start of 1980 so she just missed your 70's mark

-same with huey lewis

 

sorry next year it will be 15 years for the new bass player

 

Think Burknik left around 2004 or so. He did the tour for Cyclorama and decided to go back off on his own. After he left Styx he did several shows with Dennis DeYoung and they even played a few never before heard songs from the album that was supposed to follow Edge Of The Century.

New single dropped today, I downloaded it from iTunes. "Radio Silence". Sounds like Man In The Wilderness so they are definitely going for that classic sound.

 

You can hear a snippet here:

Amazon.com: styx radio silence: Digital Music

However you don't get that "Wilderness" feel in this snippet.

And someone apparently has heard the whole thing:

Styx - The Mission

 

Great info. I'll check out the Cheap Trick and Foreigner - and will also check out the Chicago 2014 release which I was aware of but never acquired. Hopefully the Foreigner tune(s) are originals and not remakes of their own or someone else's material. While founder Mick Jones is the only original member - and with his age and health isn't even full time anymore - he has a strong record of songwriting and producing material both for Foreigner and the likes of Billy Joel, Van Halen, etc.

 

Looks like Dennis has added Miss America to his set list. He will also be performing The Grand Illusion in its entirety on 7/7/17.