INTERVIEW: Styx drummer takes ‘Last Flight Home’ during coronavirus pandemic
Photo: Todd Sucherman, drummer for Styx, has released his new solo record. Photo courtesy of Ronn Dunnett / Provided by ABC PR with permission.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are trying out something different, something new, something unexpected. Maybe it’s a new diet, a new book or a new outlook on life.
For Todd Sucherman, the drummer of the hugely successful rock band Styx, these historic times have been centered on his debut solo album, out now from Aqua Pulse Records. Last Flight Home is the first time the famed percussionist has ventured out on his own for a recording effort, and he is beyond happy with the results.
“I’ve had some old friends sort of cajoling me to do my own record for some time, and in my mind, I suppose I always thought I’d do some jazz-fusion record,” Sucherman said in a recent phone interview. “I suppose most people that would follow what I do musically would expect some sort of drum-centric project, but the reality is I’ve always been drawn to songs, stories, melodies and the lyrics. And a friend of mine, J.K. Harrison, who I collaborated with on this record, was kind of on me to do a project.”
Sucherman decided to answer the call because of a chance encounter with an Elbow song called “Kindling (Fickle Flame).” He was listening to the tune with his wife, Taylor Mills, and she suggested that he would sound great on the track.
“‘If you ever do something, you should cover this song,’” she apparently told him. “So the convergence of all these things kind of happened at once, and I had some time in Los Angeles. It grew organically from there working with J.K. We wrote the song ‘Last Flight Home’ in about 30 minutes. It was one of those magical nights where, like lightning, the ideas were going back and forth, and you think, gee, I wish songwriting was always this easy. That really set the stage to continue down this path.”
That inspiration led to the final product, which features such songs as “Sacred Book of Favorite Days,” “Ad Lib Everything” and “An Invitation.” Sucherman would start and stop recording each time Styx had a break on the road, which is quite rare. The classic-rock outfit, known for such songs as “Come Sail Away,” “Renegade” and “Too Much Time on My Hands,” is on a near-constant tour (at least before the coronavirus hit).
“We would record in the holes of my schedule,” the drummer said. “J.K. had various nuggets and demos and sections, and we would piece things together. He had a fully written chorus, and we’d change a line or two, or a melody line. That’s kind of how it came together, and I did this whole project in secret because through most of it I still didn’t believe that I was going to be able to pull this off. My mother didn’t even know, so I didn’t want to announce to those closest to me, ‘Hey, I’m doing a record,’ and then scrap it in the 11th hour. I didn’t want to have that experience, so it was all sort of done under the cover of darkness.”
Even before his friends’ cajoling, Sucherman had the idea for a solo album for quite some time, but it was always relegated to the back of his mind — kind of like, gee, wouldn’t that be nice one day. He likened the chances of actually completing the project to a child wishing to be an astronaut and then becoming one.
“I didn’t know I had the ability to do this, and in working with J.K., I could metaphorically stand in front of him naked and just be terrible, standing and singing into a microphone and not feel embarrassed to suck that bad,” he said with a laugh. “Singing is exponentially difficult. To be able to sing in tune, sing in time, connect each lyric, connect all the lyrics together into a story, and mean it, and have it sound good is incredibly difficult — whether you’re Bob Dylan or Pavarotti or any voice in between. So I’ve been a musician for 48 years, but I never had this experience. So it was an incredible learning experience for me.”
He added: “I’m normally very prepared when I go in to record something, so it doesn’t take long at all. I mean, all the drum tracks were done in one or two takes because I knew what I wanted to play, or like when I played on take one, by take two I had it. So it’s pretty quick in that regard. It wasn’t like working on a Peter Gabriel record that takes nine years. It was nothing like that.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Todd Sucherman’s debut solo album is called Last Flight Home. Click here for more information.
