& Sugar Ray

WITH TONIC & FASTBALL

For anyone lucky enough to experience the seismic shift of the musical landscape in the early 90's, it was a truly remarkable time as alternative rock took over the airwaves, leaving hair metal temporarily languishing in the dustbin of history. Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam signaled a return to basics; it was no longer about makeup and spandex but passionate songwriting from the heart. In the midst of this revolution, the Gin Blossoms arrived on the scene with New Miserable Experience, their multi-platinum debut featuring a handful of jangle-pop gems harkening back to REM and the Smithereens. "Hey Jealousy," "Found About You" and "Until I Fall Away" all made a significant impact on the charts and announced frontman Robin Wilson as a singular vocalist with a real gift for melody.

BEAVER DAM AMPHITHEATER / SEPTEMBER 2 / 7 P.M.

1996 saw the Gin Blossoms keep the party going with the release of Congratulations I'm Sorry. Lead single "Follow You Down," backed by the equally popular B-side, "Til I Hear It From You," reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. It was around this time that another exciting up-and-coming band tasted mainstream success, rocketing to the top of the Alternative Airplay chart with a rock/reggae fusion called "Fly." Hailing from sunny California, Sugar Ray would go on to rack up a number of other hits, including "Every Morning," "Someday" and "When It's Over." Over the years they've joined forces with the Gin Blossoms on various package tours and now the two 90's-era giants are teaming up again with support from Tonic and Fastball for a fantastic night at the Beaver Dam Amphitheater.

Wilson kindly spoke with News 4U ahead of the show.

As the 90's music revolution took shape, could you sense that something big was happening or were you too close to it, in a sense, to fully appreciate what was happening?

We couldn't have known at the time the full scope of the impact, but it was an exciting time. Having been a person who followed music my whole life and worked at record stores and was always going to concerts and stuff, I could see that something, you know, was shifting because, obviously, leaving the 80's behind and going from a world where hair metal dominated the charts then suddenly alternative music was the thing that was dominating popular culture, you know, you could see that there was something going on. My theory is that all the people - and maybe this isn't my theory, but I mean, I've heard this and I would tend to agree with it - is that back in the 80's all the younger people who were working at college radio stations and breaking bands like the Pixies and REM, they all of a sudden had jobs in radio, in real radio, and that seems to be, like, when the shift really happened. So, as much credit belongs to the people behind the scenes in radio and at MTV as it does those of us who were actually in bands - because those of us who were in bands, we were swimming in the wake of our heroes like REM, the Smiths and the Cure.

Is there a particular moment that you recall from the period when the Gin Blossoms were gaining steam back in the day?

I remember being on tour once and we were backstage with Toad the Wet Sprocket and it was after the show and Toad was back there with us; we were all just signing autographs - we were surrounded by people, all just clamoring for autographs and I remember kind of looking around and this was in, like, Connecticut or New Hampshire or something and feeling like, boy, we are so far from Arizona and now we're a part of something that's so much bigger than where we started. You know, this isn't just some local music scene; we're a part of a national music scene. I remember that moment very clearly and very distinctly. We got in our van and we were driving away and I sort of announced it to my bandmates that we had crossed over - something new is happening to us. It was a really cool moment. And looking back, it was true.

You have a voice that's immediately recognizable - despite a complete lack of histrionics or melodramatic flair. Have you given much thought to what attracts so many people to the sound of your voice and keeps them coming back to hear you sing?

You know, I'm not really sure what it is. Sure, I've thought about it, but... I know I'm a good singer; I know I'm a competent singer, but I stand upon the shoulders of giants. I learned to sing impersonating my heroes, singing along with Queen and Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, and, you know, just singing along with those records. I remember once I was singing along with a record by the Cult - Ian Astbury is definitely one of my touchstones as a frontman. I remember hitting these notes while singing along with the Cult and even being taken aback myself, just alone in a room, and thinking, 'Holy crap, I just sang the sh*t out of that one and I might actually be good at this.' But I'm not sure that other than a pleasant tone, I'm not really sure what it is about my voice. People have said that I have a really distinct voice - I don't think so. To me, like, a really distinct voice is Perry Farrell; that's an incredibly distinct vocal style.

It's crazy to think that you weren't even the original singer in the Gin Blossoms - we might not even be talking today if you'd stayed on rhythm guitar.

Yeah, who knows? You know, I joined the band as a guitar player - they had only been playing out for a couple months and they needed to replace the rhythm guitar player and so I got his job and [singer/guitarist] Jesse [Valenzuela] and I sang so well together... that was the thing that got me the job - our voices blended. You know, I just have to give my bandmates a ton of credit - Jesse especially - that they, that, you know, Jesse's ego wasn't the most important thing, that they were able to step back and say the best thing for the band was to have Jesse and Robin switch places. I mean, when has that ever happened in the history of rock & roll? Where a lead singer's like, you know what? I'll play rhythm guitar and sing background vocals. Lead singers, you know... we have a reputation for being very egotistical and self-centered. But neither Jesse nor I are that way, you know? We've always just been about what's best for the band. It's a really precious thing that we were able to create and I'm really proud that we could make that work.

For tickets and more info, visit beaverdamtourism.com. The Beaver Dam Amphitheater is located in Beaver Dam, KY.

Prepare to sail away once again, tri-state. Returning to downtown Evansville this October by popular demand, the almighty Styx are primed to show why they remain a dominant force in music over 50 years after their formation. Expect to hear all the classic songs that have made the band a timeless fan favorite - the likes of "Blue Collar Man," "Fooling Yourself," "Renegade," "Too Much Time on my Hands" and, of course, the epic "Come Sail Away" - as well as highlights from their 2016 masterpiece The Mission and the ambitious follow-up, Crash of the Crown. As an added bonus, Styx have reinstated their 1983 smash "Mr. Roboto" into the set. Vocalist/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, who recently marked the start of his 25th year with the group, delivers the kitschy techno-pop melodrama with aplomb, and it always goes down a storm.

Gowan kindly spoke with News 4U ahead of the show for a wide-ranging interview. Here's part one of our discussion. We'll be back with part two in the October issue.

How has your approach to playing the keyboard parts in Styx changed over the years in terms of the equipment set-up, replicating the analog synth sounds of the early days in a live setting, etc.?

Ok, great question. I'll answer it this way. The first thing I investigated when I joined the band was what were the main keyboards used [on the early material]? Somewhere in the 1990s when digital sounds came out it was revolutionary in a very positive way for playing live - of course, it's debatable the influence they had in the studio. But I fall very much on the analog side of that debate whenever we're going into the studio and very much 100% on the digital side when we're playing live - because digital stuff is reliable. The piano sounds I had covered; the B3 [Hammond organ] sounds became the next challenge because I thought, well, I can use a real B3, but they had come out with really good digital applications of it as well - good samples of it. And I was sliding over to Roland products because a) they had the piano sound and b) they had this thing back then called the 2080. The JV-2080, I think? Which I quickly turned over to an XV-5080 - I'm getting really technical here - which had great digital samples of old vintage keyboards. There was a card that you could get that was old vintage synths. And there was a place in Toronto that I was affiliated with called Saved By Technology, so I got a couple of my friends there to help me... just to get the best digital waveforms of those analog keyboards, all of which I owned in the past, anyway, and sold for nothing. So we went in like that and very meticulously, I went through each sound on each song to try to replicate it as close as I could in the digital realm, what those analog keyboards were doing. Once I got to a point where I couldn't tell the difference, then I knew, ok, I think I'm close enough now. But that's a pursuit that continues to this day.

Is "Mr. Roboto" the most complex song to replicate live in terms of the keyboards? Yes. So, for that song, because we're into the 1980's now and it became more permissible, I use a sequencer behind me that's covering a lot of the stuff - at least half of the keyboards, because I can't sing that... there's parts where there are five keyboard parts going on at the same time, three of which are mechanical, arpeggiating sequences. And then I play the other parts live. Anything that has a melody [demonstrates on keyboard] I play that live or the main verse riff. The song needs to be mainly sequenced because you could never get it as rigid and robotic as a sequencerthe song sounds right when you do it that way. Whenever we rehearse it without the sequencer, it loses the charm of the song.

Your vocal style is perfect for the song - "Mr. Roboto" has a melodramatic quality to it that's similar to your 1985 solo hit, "A Criminal Mind." Do you see it that way?

Everything you just said there is right on the money. When I first heard that song ["Mr. Roboto"] back in the 80's, I thought, ok, this is kind of a kitschy song - they were trying to do what all the bands I loved in the 70's were trying to do: figure out how to be relevant in the 1980's. What Styx did with "Mr. Roboto" was almost like what Queen did with "Body Language" - know what I mean? Such a complete turn from their sound. So it was a bit of an ear adjustment. But then as the years went on, and technology pervaded our lives to the level that it has now, I just thought it was very prescient. It's well-written and fun with lots of melodrama. Whenever I would bring it up in a band meeting, that maybe we should take a look at [bringing back] "Mr. Roboto," it was never rebuffed in a way where the guys were putting down the song. It was always just more that it brings up bad memories for the band; there was a real disharmony at that point on that tour [in 1983]. But then finally... I think it was one day when we were right about to go out with Joan Jett and [guitarist] Tommy [Shaw] goes, 'why don't we just go in a room and rehearse "Mr. Roboto"?' You know, everybody still asks for it and it's a song that's stood the test of time. And I was really happy - once I dug into it, just as you said, I suddenly realized what I liked so much about the lyric: it's a guy with a secret and he gets to reveal it. The audience is kind of the fourth wall that gets in on the secret that nobody else knows. Well, that is really the essential part of "A Criminal Mind." And I began to kind of equate the two - not as pieces of music, but as a position for a singer to have to sing that song. You know, as you get to learn a song that's not your own, you begin to discover elements that you perceive that may not have been present in the writing of it or the recording of it, but you start to perceive different aspects of it. I actually hear... when I'm playing it, I feel like I'm doing "A Criminal Mind," but also I hear elements of [David] Bowie somehow crossed with Talking Headsthere's a little bit of that going on in my mind as we play the song. And the guitars lean in a lot heavier than they did on the original recording. It gives it a really good live edge, and I really enjoy doing it.

For tickets and more info, visit oldnationaleventsplaza.com. The ONEP is located at 715 Locust St. in downtown Evansville.