BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:SoDel X-WR-CALNAME:Styx BEGIN:VEVENT UID:355502026-09-28 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260928 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260929 LOCATION:31806 Lake View Drive\nSelbyville Delaware 19975 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=31806 Lake View Drive\nSelb yville Delaware 19975;X-APPLE-RADIUS=49;X-TITLE=31806 Lake View Drive:geo: 38.466017,-75.112054 GEO:38.466017;-75.112054 SUMMARY:Styx CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Creating and recording new music is often considered the lifebl ood of\nany band — an ethos AOR torchbearers Styx continue to embody wit h\nthe release of Circling From Above\, the 18th studio album in their\nfo rmidable catalog. Spanning 13 tracks\, the album navigates the\ncomplexiti es of the human experience through the intersecting lenses\nof technology and nature. The album\, the band’s third in eight\nyears\, delivers a 41 -minute\, end-to-end listening experience that is\nboth thought-provoking and exhilarating. A masterclass in\nstorytelling\, it blends signature Sty x hallmarks with bold steps\nforward — building on the creative momentum of recent releases The\nMission (2017) and Crash of the Crown (2021). Dri ven by the kinetic\nenergy of lead single “Build and Destroy\,” the al bum is\nimmediately available to fans at StyxWorld.com\, the Universal Mus ic\nWebstore and all tour stops of Styx’s “Brotherhood of Rock”\ntou r\, which kicks off tonight in Greenville\, S.C. The album’s\nofficial p ublic release date is set for July 18. Styx has remained a\ntouring jugger naut for the past 25 years\, but according to\nguitarist/vocalist Tommy Sh aw\, the band’s current streak of artistic\nresurgence in the studio is due to multiple factors tethered to a deep\nsense of harmony. “There’s just a lot of positive flow right\nnow\,” says Shaw. “There’s a lot of people playing great\, and\nthere’s a lot of love\, respect and exci tement about each other’s\ntalents. Bands can go lifetimes and never hav e this kind of rapport\nand chemistry.” Circling From Above features con tributions from all\nseven members of the band\, including founding guitar ist/vocalist James\n“JY” Young (affectionately known as “The Godfath er of Styx”)\,\nShaw\, original bassist Chuck Panozzo\, drummer Todd Suc herman\,\nkeyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan\, and newest members Will\nE vankovich (guitars and vocals) and Terry Gowan (bass). The album was\nprod uced by Evankovich\, who also helmed the band’s previous two\nrecords be fore becoming an official member. All 13 songs were penned\nin various com binations by the band’s songwriting triumvirate of\nShaw\, Evankovich an d Lawrence Gowan. Referencing the trio’s creative\nspark\, Lawrence Gowa n says it’s not a simple case of majority rules\nbut rather a true colla borative endeavor. “I’ve noticed over the\nlast three records\, there ’s a real effort to make sure everyone’s\ngot a smile on their face at the end of it\,” he says. “There’s\ncreative friction\, but everybo dy gets a go around the table and we all\nget a swing at the tree. And tha t’s really\, really good.”\n“It’s a strange three-way democracy fo r sure\,” Evankovich says.\n“We all know that the institution of Styx is the most important\nthing.” Circling From Above is a dynamic collecti on that reflects\nthe full emotional and stylistic range of the Styx canon . It’s\nmuscular yet introspective\, theatrical in moments and layered i n\nsincerity at others — balancing progressive leanings with deeper\,\nt hought-provoking messages. “When you start writing an album\,\nthere's g enerally something that piques your imagination\, and all of a\nsudden\, y ou’re a storyteller starting with the seed of a story\,”\nsays Shaw. “A good song is like a straight road — it’ll get you\nto the next pl ace.” Midway through writing the album\, a loose theme\nbegan to orbit t he band’s creative process — a gravitational pull\,\nif you will\, gui ding them down the straight road Shaw describes. In a\nmoment of studio se rendipity\, talk turned to an app that tracks\nabandoned satellites\, thos e silent relics of once-lofty ambition. From\nthat spark\, the opening tra cks — including the title cut and\n“Build and Destroy” — took shap e\, tracing the tension between\nhuman ingenuity and the dreams we sometim es discard in its pursuit.\n“When they were shot up into space\, these s atellites were\nsomebody’s dream and ambition\,” says Shaw of the once -cutting-edge\ntechnology now floating aimlessly through the atmosphere. “They\nserved their purpose and they were cast aside. It’s a wasteland up\nthere\, but they were once created with love. We’re all humans\, an d\nwho’s to say our love project is better than someone else’s?”\nLo ok closely at the album cover art and you will see this thematic\noverture take flight. Thousands of starlings — chosen specifically\nfor their su preme ability to work in concert together with their\nflight patterns — in the shape of one bird\, soaring over a\ndilapidated satellite dish. “ They’re prevailing and we’re\nfailing\,” notes Evankovich of the cov er. “We’re not like the\nrest of the creatures that work in stewardshi p together\, like the\nbirds and the bees and all the other things. We do things and then\ncreate waste for ourselves that ends up harming us.” Fa ns will\ndiscover no shortage of standout tracks on Circling From Above\, a\nhandful of which could end up as singles or be prime candidates for\nin clusion in an expanded live set once the “Brotherhood of Rock”\ntour — during which Styx will be playing “The Grand Illusion”\nalbum in f ull — concludes in late August. “Forgive\,” the likely\nsecond singl e\, is a perfect example of the current writing collective\,\nfeaturing an emotional core\, tradeoff lead vocals by Shaw and Gowan\,\nand a perfectl y crafted emotive guitar solo by Evankovich. “That\nintro with an acoust ic guitar and Tommy singing is a signature Styx\nthing\, whether it’s ‘Crystal Ball\,’ ‘Radio Silence\,’ or any\nof the others he does\, ” Evankovich says. “That’s just classic.\nGive me an acoustic guitar and Tommy Shaw’s voice and I’m sold!”\n“Michigan” is a song Sha w and Evankovich wrote back in 2011 about\nthe internet’s power for both good and bad. The song exudes a\nfrenetic tension and was written in the style of a James Bond movie\ntheme. “It’s Clear” is another radio-fr iendly tune with brooding\nverses\, powerful\, melodic choruses and a bewi tching breakdown segment\nin the middle. “It’s Clear” also has the d istinction of being\njust the second Styx song to feature three separate l ead vocal\nperformances\, with Gowan\, Shaw and Evankovich all taking a pr imary\nturn at the mic. “That’s a fun song\,” Shaw says. “It’s l ike\na maze.” Young makes a mark with his trademark baritone lead vocal\ non “King of Love\,” a song written specifically for him\, and the\nla st one recorded for the album. In addition to his booming vocal\, he\nplay s a blistering guitar solo\, even using the original G5 Strat he\nplayed o n Styx’s debut album in 1972. \"When JY gets going\, he’s\nhard to sto p\,” says Evankovich. “The Beck/Hendrix/Clapton love\nchild exudes Chi cago blues. It’s always a joy to see the\nimprovisation take shape in th e studio with him.\" Diversity runs\nrampant on the second half of the alb um as Styx pays homage to its own\nroots while also giving pointed tips of the cap to some of the\nband’s earlier influences. The rollicking “Ev erybody Raise a\nGlass\,” for example\, with its exuberant vocal and Bri an May-esque\nharmony guitar solo\, sounds like it would feel right at hom e on Side\nII of Queen’s A Night at the Opera. And rocker “We Lost the Wheel\nAgain\,” buoyed by Terry Gowan’s turbocharged bass performance \,\nSucherman’s other-worldly (dare we say Moon-like) drumming\, and\nEv ankovich’s lead vocal could easily be a leftover track from\nWho’s Nex t by The Who. “We’re not afraid to show our\ninfluences\,” says Lawr ence Gowan. “I like the fact that we're such\nproducts of that entire er a of classic rock that we don't try to\nnecessarily mask in any way what w e're inspired by from that era.”\n“Blue-Eyed Raven” is a gypsy-flavo red tale\, bedazzled by Shaw’s\nSpanish guitar and mandolin stylings and a “Fiddler on the Roof”\nmeets “Devil Went Down to Georgia” manic fiddle solo on the back\nend by Nashville session stalwart Aubrey Haynie. Adding to the\nsong’s mystery is that it was inspired by a true story. “That song\nhas a long arc\,” Evankovich says\, citing previous Styx f orays\noutside the norm on songs like “Boat on the River” and “Our\n Wonderful Lives\,” which feature Shaw playing mandolin and banjo\,\nresp ectively. “The Things That You Said” hooks the listener from\nthe get- go\, with Shaw’s melodic vocal over an infectious keyboard\nriff immedia tely launching out of the temporary tranquility of “Ease\nYour Mind.” There’s some amazing vocal performances\, both lead and\nbackground\, an d the closing section of the song is especially lit. No\none else can stop the maniac\, indeed. “Only You Can Decide”\nfollows in the grand trad ition of choosing your closing song wisely.\nPensive and poignant\, it enc apsulates the album’s theme of examining\nour personal choices and recog nizing how they may fit into the larger\nscheme of humanity in general. “I always heard that as the closing\nsong\,” says Shaw\, noting that h e wrote it in the wake of multiple\nschool shootings. “It’s a broad me ssage. I didn’t want to make\nit about gun issues but I was just trying to suggest that you don’t\nneed to get a gun and do something bad with i t.” Just as “Circling\nFrom Above” unfolds like large doors opening to a new world\, “Only\nYou Can Decide” slowly closes them again\, lea ving the listener to\nponder their individual role in making the world a b etter place.\n“The bigger theme\,” Evankovich says\, “is that Styx i s all about\nhope. We’re always trying to send a message that it’s pos sible\, if\nwe actually work together\, to make things better.” Message received.\nNow\, if you’ll forgive me\, I’m going back for yet another listen.\nVenue: Freeman Arts Pavilion.\n X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Creating and recording new music is often c onsidered the lifeblood of any band &mdash\; an ethos AOR torchbearers Sty x continue to embody with the release of Circling From Above\, the 18th st udio album in their formidable catalog. Spanning 13 tracks\, the album nav igates the complexities of the human experience through the intersecting l enses of technology and nature. The album\, the band&rsquo\;s third in eig ht years\, delivers a 41-minute\, end-to-end listening experience that is both thought-provoking and exhilarating. A masterclass in storytelling\, i t blends signature Styx hallmarks with bold steps forward &mdash\; buildin g on the creative momentum of recent releases The Mission (2017) and Crash of the Crown (2021). Driven by the kinetic energy of lead single &ldquo\; Build and Destroy\,&rdquo\; the album is immediately available to fans at StyxWorld.com\, the Universal Music Webstore and all tour stops of Styx&rs quo\;s &ldquo\;Brotherhood of Rock&rdquo\; tour\, which kicks off tonight in Greenville\, S.C. The album&rsquo\;s official public release date is se t for July 18. Styx has remained a touring juggernaut for the past 25 year s\, but according to guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw\, the band&rsquo\;s cur rent streak of artistic resurgence in the studio is due to multiple factor s tethered to a deep sense of harmony. &ldquo\;There&rsquo\;s just a lot o f positive flow right now\,&rdquo\; says Shaw. &ldquo\;There&rsquo\;s a lo t of people playing great\, and there&rsquo\;s a lot of love\, respect and excitement about each other&rsquo\;s talents. Bands can go lifetimes and never have this kind of rapport and chemistry.&rdquo\; Circling From Above features contributions from all seven members of the band\, including fou nding guitarist/vocalist James &ldquo\;JY&rdquo\; Young (affectionately kn own as &ldquo\;The Godfather of Styx&rdquo\;)\, Shaw\, original bassist Ch uck Panozzo\, drummer Todd Sucherman\, keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan \, and newest members Will Evankovich (guitars and vocals) and Terry Gowan (bass). The album was produced by Evankovich\, who also helmed the band&r squo\;s previous two records before becoming an official member. All 13 so ngs were penned in various combinations by the band&rsquo\;s songwriting t riumvirate of Shaw\, Evankovich and Lawrence Gowan. Referencing the trio&r squo\;s creative spark\, Lawrence Gowan says it&rsquo\;s not a simple case of majority rules but rather a true collaborative endeavor. &ldquo\;I&rsq uo\;ve noticed over the last three records\, there&rsquo\;s a real effort to make sure everyone&rsquo\;s got a smile on their face at the end of it\ ,&rdquo\; he says. &ldquo\;There&rsquo\;s creative friction\, but everybod y gets a go around the table and we all get a swing at the tree. And that& rsquo\;s really\, really good.&rdquo\; &ldquo\;It&rsquo\;s a strange three -way democracy for sure\,&rdquo\; Evankovich says. &ldquo\;We all know tha t the institution of Styx is the most important thing.&rdquo\; Circling Fr om Above is a dynamic collection that reflects the full emotional and styl istic range of the Styx canon. It&rsquo\;s muscular yet introspective\, th eatrical in moments and layered in sincerity at others &mdash\; balancing progressive leanings with deeper\, thought-provoking messages. &ldquo\;Whe n you start writing an album\, there'\;s generally something that pique s your imagination\, and all of a sudden\, you&rsquo\;re a storyteller sta rting with the seed of a story\,&rdquo\; says Shaw. &ldquo\;A good song is like a straight road &mdash\; it&rsquo\;ll get you to the next place.&rdq uo\; Midway through writing the album\, a loose theme began to orbit the b and&rsquo\;s creative process &mdash\; a gravitational pull\, if you will\ , guiding them down the straight road Shaw describes. In a moment of studi o serendipity\, talk turned to an app that tracks abandoned satellites\, t hose silent relics of once-lofty ambition. From that spark\, the opening t racks &mdash\; including the title cut and &ldquo\;Build and Destroy&rdquo \; &mdash\; took shape\, tracing the tension between human ingenuity and t he dreams we sometimes discard in its pursuit. &ldquo\;When they were shot up into space\, these satellites were somebody&rsquo\;s dream and ambitio n\,&rdquo\; says Shaw of the once-cutting-edge technology now floating aim lessly through the atmosphere. &ldquo\;They served their purpose and they were cast aside. It&rsquo\;s a wasteland up there\, but they were once cre ated with love. We&rsquo\;re all humans\, and who&rsquo\;s to say our love project is better than someone else&rsquo\;s?&rdquo\; Look closely at the album cover art and you will see this thematic overture take flight. Thou sands of starlings &mdash\; chosen specifically for their supreme ability to work in concert together with their flight patterns &mdash\; in the sha pe of one bird\, soaring over a dilapidated satellite dish. &ldquo\;They&r squo\;re prevailing and we&rsquo\;re failing\,&rdquo\; notes Evankovich of the cover. &ldquo\;We&rsquo\;re not like the rest of the creatures that w ork in stewardship together\, like the birds and the bees and all the othe r things. We do things and then create waste for ourselves that ends up ha rming us.&rdquo\; Fans will discover no shortage of standout tracks on Cir cling From Above\, a handful of which could end up as singles or be prime candidates for inclusion in an expanded live set once the &ldquo\;Brotherh ood of Rock&rdquo\; tour &mdash\; during which Styx will be playing &ldquo \;The Grand Illusion&rdquo\; album in full &mdash\; concludes in late Augu st. &ldquo\;Forgive\,&rdquo\; the likely second single\, is a perfect exam ple of the current writing collective\, featuring an emotional core\, trad eoff lead vocals by Shaw and Gowan\, and a perfectly crafted emotive guita r solo by Evankovich. &ldquo\;That intro with an acoustic guitar and Tommy singing is a signature Styx thing\, whether it&rsquo\;s &lsquo\;Crystal B all\,&rsquo\; &lsquo\;Radio Silence\,&rsquo\; or any of the others he does \,&rdquo\; Evankovich says. &ldquo\;That&rsquo\;s just classic. Give me an acoustic guitar and Tommy Shaw&rsquo\;s voice and I&rsquo\;m sold!&rdquo\ ; &ldquo\;Michigan&rdquo\; is a song Shaw and Evankovich wrote back in 201 1 about the internet&rsquo\;s power for both good and bad. The song exudes a frenetic tension and was written in the style of a James Bond movie the me. &ldquo\;It&rsquo\;s Clear&rdquo\; is another radio-friendly tune with brooding verses\, powerful\, melodic choruses and a bewitching breakdown s egment in the middle. &ldquo\;It&rsquo\;s Clear&rdquo\; also has the disti nction of being just the second Styx song to feature three separate lead v ocal performances\, with Gowan\, Shaw and Evankovich all taking a primary turn at the mic. &ldquo\;That&rsquo\;s a fun song\,&rdquo\; Shaw says. &ld quo\;It&rsquo\;s like a maze.&rdquo\; Young makes a mark with his trademar k baritone lead vocal on &ldquo\;King of Love\,&rdquo\; a song written spe cifically for him\, and the last one recorded for the album. In addition t o his booming vocal\, he plays a blistering guitar solo\, even using the o riginal G5 Strat he played on Styx&rsquo\;s debut album in 1972. "\;Wh en JY gets going\, he&rsquo\;s hard to stop\,&rdquo\; says Evankovich. &ld quo\;The Beck/Hendrix/Clapton love child exudes Chicago blues. It&rsquo\;s always a joy to see the improvisation take shape in the studio with him.& quot\; Diversity runs rampant on the second half of the album as Styx pays homage to its own roots while also giving pointed tips of the cap to some of the band&rsquo\;s earlier influences. The rollicking &ldquo\;Everybody Raise a Glass\,&rdquo\; for example\, with its exuberant vocal and Brian May-esque harmony guitar solo\, sounds like it would feel right at home on Side II of Queen&rsquo\;s A Night at the Opera. And rocker &ldquo\;We Los t the Wheel Again\,&rdquo\; buoyed by Terry Gowan&rsquo\;s turbocharged ba ss performance\, Sucherman&rsquo\;s other-worldly (dare we say Moon-like) drumming\, and Evankovich&rsquo\;s lead vocal could easily be a leftover t rack from Who&rsquo\;s Next by The Who. &ldquo\;We&rsquo\;re not afraid to show our influences\,&rdquo\; says Lawrence Gowan. &ldquo\;I like the fac t that we'\;re such products of that entire era of classic rock that we don'\;t try to necessarily mask in any way what we'\;re inspired by from that era.&rdquo\; &ldquo\;Blue-Eyed Raven&rdquo\; is a gypsy-flavore d tale\, bedazzled by Shaw&rsquo\;s Spanish guitar and mandolin stylings a nd a &ldquo\;Fiddler on the Roof&rdquo\; meets &ldquo\;Devil Went Down to Georgia&rdquo\; manic fiddle solo on the back end by Nashville session sta lwart Aubrey Haynie. Adding to the song&rsquo\;s mystery is that it was in spired by a true story. &ldquo\;That song has a long arc\,&rdquo\; Evankov ich says\, citing previous Styx forays outside the norm on songs like &ldq uo\;Boat on the River&rdquo\; and &ldquo\;Our Wonderful Lives\,&rdquo\; wh ich feature Shaw playing mandolin and banjo\, respectively. &ldquo\;The Th ings That You Said&rdquo\; hooks the listener from the get-go\, with Shaw& rsquo\;s melodic vocal over an infectious keyboard riff immediately launch ing out of the temporary tranquility of &ldquo\;Ease Your Mind.&rdquo\; Th ere&rsquo\;s some amazing vocal performances\, both lead and background\, and the closing section of the song is especially lit. No one else can sto p the maniac\, indeed. &ldquo\;Only You Can Decide&rdquo\; follows in the grand tradition of choosing your closing song wisely. Pensive and poignant \, it encapsulates the album&rsquo\;s theme of examining our personal choi ces and recognizing how they may fit into the larger scheme of humanity in general. &ldquo\;I always heard that as the closing song\,&rdquo\; says S haw\, noting that he wrote it in the wake of multiple school shootings. &l dquo\;It&rsquo\;s a broad message. I didn&rsquo\;t want to make it about g un issues but I was just trying to suggest that you don&rsquo\;t need to g et a gun and do something bad with it.&rdquo\; Just as &ldquo\;Circling Fr om Above&rdquo\; unfolds like large doors opening to a new world\, &ldquo\ ;Only You Can Decide&rdquo\; slowly closes them again\, leaving the listen er to ponder their individual role in making the world a better place. &ld quo\;The bigger theme\,&rdquo\; Evankovich says\, &ldquo\;is that Styx is all about hope. We&rsquo\;re always trying to send a message that it&rsquo \;s possible\, if we actually work together\, to make things better.&rdquo \; Message received. Now\, if you&rsquo\;ll forgive me\, I&rsquo\;m going back for yet another listen. Venue: Freeman Arts Pavilion.

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:TRUE DTSTAMP:20260928T232822Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR