Why Kevin Cronin Can’t Wait to Tour With Former ‘Rivals’ Styx

One of many causes Styx and REO Speedwagon proceed to pair up each few years for a tour comes right down to the truth that it’s only a good cling. As REO’s Kevin Cronin tells UCR, the 2 bands had been as soon as “rivals” however in the end constructed a “lengthy historical past” collectively, one that begins with their Midwest beginnings in Illinois.

They’ll add one other chapter with their Reside & UnZoomed tour, which hits the highway subsequent Might. The tongue-in-cheek video launched to assist hype the trek, which additionally options Loverboy, means that the run goes to be plenty of enjoyable.

We spoke with Cronin on the eve of the tour announcement to debate what followers can sit up for within the new yr.

When did you first meet the Styx guys? 
I turned conscious of Styx earlier than they had been Styx. I’m from Chicago, and all the authentic Styx guys are from Chicago. Now we have a protracted historical past that goes again to once I was in highschool. We had been form of rivals on the south facet of Chicago. They had been a few years older than us, in order that they had been just a little bit higher and their girlfriends had been just a little bit hotter. It’s a protracted and sordid story, nevertheless it’s chronicled in my e-book, which hopefully will likely be out in time to be launched with the tour.

How have you learnt the blokes from Loverboy?
We’ve achieved exhibits with them through the years, many occasions. Nevertheless it was in 2019 that I did a tour in Europe with Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Mike Reno from Loverboy and Andy Scott from the Candy. We took turns each evening fronting a 50- or 60-piece symphony orchestra. Additionally they had a [band featuring] double guitar, bass, drums and Hammond organ, piano [and a] 10-piece choir. It was one of the wonderful [experiences] in so some ways. To listen to your music performed by strings and horns was wonderful. Reno and I bought to know one another very well, as a result of we had been collectively for nearly a month, just about daily. I bear in mind one evening we had been someplace in Germany, and our tour supervisor took Mike and his spouse and Lisa and myself out to dinner. We had been on this Italian restaurant. It was in a cellar. The tour supervisor, an Italian man, purchased this bottle of one thing. I don’t bear in mind what it was referred to as, however he began pouring after dinner and we simply roared. I ran into Reno within the lodge foyer the following day and, fortunately, [we had a] time without work, as a result of there was no approach we had been getting onstage that evening!

Reno’s nice. I’ve recognized him without end, and he’s one of many sweetest guys you’ll ever meet. And he’s bought one of many biggest voices of rock ‘n’ roll. He walks on the market, and he sings his ass off. It’s an attractive factor. Loverboy is 4 out of the 5 guys that made all the information. I used to be so comfortable when [we decided on Loverboy]. We had been making an attempt to determine who [to put in that tour slot], since you want that third band on the present. I used to be like, “Man, it’s gotta be Loverboy.”

After the loopy yr that was 2020, I do know it means so much so that you can be getting again out on a correct tour.
It’s very particular. I don’t take it as a right for one second. This yr we’ve been making an attempt to make up as most of the exhibits that had been postponed due to COVID as we may. I believe we just about coated every little thing, or at the very least we could have, by the top of December. We’ll just about lay low for the primary half of subsequent yr. We’ll do a couple of exhibits, simply because you must, in any other case you get rusty. I’m actually wanting ahead to this tour. On a private degree, REO and Styx, for the final 20 years, we’ve change into this well-oiled machine. All people within the bands and crews know one another properly. We get alongside nice. Our musical method could be very totally different, however our peaks of recognition had been in the identical 10- to 12-year interval. So the those that come to the exhibits, it’s actually nice. We’ve gotten into an excellent groove.

You’ve bought to separate up who’s going to shut the exhibits and who’s going to go on in that center slot each evening. So we simply labored that out. It’s by no means an issue with us. Each REO and Styx, one of many different issues that we share is that we each wish to put plenty of sources into the manufacturing of the exhibits and guarantee that the sound and lights are superior. I want we may tour extra with them, however there’s solely so many occasions you are able to do it. It’s been about 4 years since we’ve achieved a correct tour with Styx, and I’m actually wanting ahead to it. You throw Loverboy in, and that simply brings it excessive.

What are you actually comfortable to doc in your upcoming e-book?
I inform the entire story from my first reminiscence of life. My dad and mom sat me on a piano bench in my grandmother’s home. She had just a little child grand. They took the image, I used to be about two, and I used to be the primary born child within the household. I’d sit there simply beating on the piano and making noise, after which I’d cease. I’d go searching, and I simply bear in mind all of my aunts and uncles smiling and clapping their arms. I didn’t know what I used to be doing. However speaking to my dad and mom in a while, I believe I’ve all the time form of had a pure rhythmic sense. So I believe I used to be pounding on the keys, and there will need to have been just a little little bit of a beat to it. It simply form of labored out from there.

The chapters about what occurred when [guitarist] Gary [Richrath, who died in 2015] and I cut up and again in 1989, how the band carried ahead – these had been actually robust chapters to put in writing. Then there have been different chapters that had been joyful to put in writing. You understand, the chapter about writing the songs in 1980 and making these demos for Hello Infidelity, that was one of the creatively fertile durations of my life. So, there’s every kind of stuff.

You probably did these Camp Cronin movies on YouTube through the pandemic. How a lot did that form of assist to shake some tales unfastened for this e-book?
The Camp Cronin movies had been being made as I used to be rewriting the e-book. I went by I don’t know what number of rewrites. Each time I did a rewrite, extra tales got here into my thoughts, or as I learn by I’d dig deeper into among the tales I advised. Each time I peeled again the onion just a little bit extra. I simply need this to be a real, trustworthy, entertaining story. Who is aware of what it’s going to finish up like. I talked to my pal Richard Marx, who simply put out his e-book a couple of months again. You flip the e-book in [to the publisher], after which that’s just the start. I’m wanting ahead to going by the entire course of. And likewise if you launch a e-book, there’s no turning again. I used to be hanging out backstage with [Styx guitarist and singer James “JY” Young] not way back, and he began speaking a couple of e-book. I mentioned, “Oh, JY, are you writing a e-book?” He’s like, “Hell, no! I don’t wish to write a e-book!” He goes, “If anyone was going to put in writing the story of Styx, it will be me, however man, you write a e-book, you might be simply going to piss individuals off, it doesn’t matter what.” That’s in all probability true, you already know? So we’ll see what occurs.

Have you ever been writing songs in any respect? Is a brand new REO album doable?
Actually, I’m form of aching to get again to writing songs. This e-book has been all encompassing. Now that I’m placing the ending touches on it, I hope I can bear in mind the right way to write a tune. It’s been some time. However I’m wanting ahead to only form of dusting off that a part of my inventive muscle and seeing what occurs. I have to be inventive. If I’m not being inventive, I’m simply depressing. And I’m depressing even when I’m being inventive generally. However that self-expression is basically necessary to me. So, I’m wanting ahead to writing some new songs. Going within the studio, it’s a significant dedication. I’d hate to suppose that we had already made the final REO Speedwagon album. I really feel like we’ve nonetheless bought just a little extra left in us. So hopefully I’ll be capable to faucet into that. We’ll see.