tommy shaw

Shaw/Blades take 'Influence' into fall
October 16, 2007 05:10 PM
By Kym Kilgore
LiveDaily Contributor
Classic rockers Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades have booked another month's worth of US dates to support their sophomore album, "Influence."
The duo will play clubs and theaters from coast to coast starting Nov. 7 in Petaluma, CA, and ending Dec. 8 in Nashville. Guitarist Will Evankovich of American Drag will join them on the road. The itinerary is listed below.

Styx guitarist/vocalist Shaw and Night Ranger bassist/vocalist Blades first started playing together in Damn Yankees, which formed in 1989, and recorded their debut album as a duo, "Hallucination," in 1995.

"As writers, we're like two old friends who finish each other's sentences," Shaw said in a statement. "We became best friends as a result of the music and the experiences we've had because of it."

Shaw/Blades' March release, "Influence," comprises '60s and '70s classic-rock covers including The Mamas and The Papas' "California Dreamin'," Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth," and Steely Dan's "Dirty Work." The self-produced album is rooted in acoustic guitar and organic production, with Shaw and Blades playing all the instruments except for drums and occasional keyboards.

The idea for the set was years in the making, Shaw explained.

"The concept had been looming in our conversations for a long time," he said. "We'd always sit around with a couple of guitars and play songs we both knew from our younger days, spontaneous harmonizing and all that, and we slowly eased into the idea of making this record."

Song samples from "Influence" are streaming at Shaw/Blades' MySpace page.

Before they launch their fall trek, the duo will make a return visit to Sirius Satellite Radio's "The Howard Stern Show" Oct. 24 to talk about the outing and perform some songs.

Between their three bands, Shaw and Blades have sold more than 50 million albums and debuted 16 titles on The Billboard 200 album chart, according to a press release. They also share songwriting credit for tunes performed by Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Cher and Alice Cooper.

[Note: The following tour dates have been provided by artist and/or tour sources, who verify its accuracy as of the publication time of this story. Changes may occur before tickets go on sale. Check with official artist websites, ticketing sources and venues for late updates.] and Jack Blades have announced they'll hit the road again this fall in support of their album, Influence.
The new round of dates launches November 7 at McNears Mystic Theatre in Petaluma, California and runs through the first week of December.
Stops on the schedule include The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano (November 8-9), The Music Mill in Indianapolis (November 14), the Rex Theatre in Pittsburgh (November 17), the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale (November 21), Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis, Md. (November 26), and the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville (December 8).
Tickets for most shows are available at www.ticketmaster.com.

Influence is the duo's first new recording since 1995's Hallucination. The album features Shaw and Blades' versions of 11 tracks that have helped shape the musical styles of both musicians, including the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'," Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," and Steely Dan's "Dirty Work." Tommy Shaw
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Tommy Shaw
Birth name Tommy Roland Shaw
Born September 11, 1953 (1953-09-11) (age 54)
Origin Montgomery, Alabama
Genre(s) Rock
Occupation(s) Guitarist, songwriter
Years active 1976 - present
Associated
acts Styx, Damn Yankees
Website Official website

Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the rock band Styx. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with the supergroup Damn Yankees and has released several solo albums.

Contents
1 Early life & music career
2 Styx ― 1970s
3 1980s ― 1990s
4 1990s ― present
5 Hall of Fame
6 Footnotes
7 External links



[edit] Early life & music career
Tommy Shaw was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1953 and played with many local bands in his early years. He left Montgomery after high school to join MS Funk, a Chicago-managed outfit that he played with for 3 years, which gave him a chance to be noticed by Styx during a 2-week club gig in Chicago. After MS Funk disbanded, he went back to Montgomery to join a local group with his childhood friends called Harvest, which performed at a club in a bowling alley called "Keglar's Kove". Following Styx's move to A&M, guitarist and vocalist John Curulewski suddenly left the band shortly before they were to embark on a nationwide tour, and a frantic search to find a last-minute replacement was launched. While playing at the bowling alley bar, as a result of his previous experience with MS Funk in Chicago, Shaw got the call to audition for Styx and was quickly hired.[1]


[edit] Styx ― 1970s
His first album with Styx, "Crystal Ball" (1976), was titled after his own composition and also includes his songs "Mademoiselle" and "Shooz". Its follow-up, The Grand Illusion (1977) became the group's breakthrough album, which went platinum and also featured a radio hit by Shaw, "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)".

Styx's 8th album, appropriately entitled Pieces Of Eight, was the breakout album for Shaw's songwriting talent with his rock-oriented contributions "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man" being the only major hits off this release, which became `70's rock radio staples and perennial Styx concert favorites, reaching #16 and #21 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.[2][3] It also featured another minor radio hit in Shaw's tune "Sing For The Day".


[edit] 1980s ― 1990s
Though the `80's brought the downfall of Styx, it began with Styx riding a wave of commercial success with the #1 pop ballad "Babe" from the 9th Styx album, Cornerstone in 1979, which was written by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. However, tension mounted within the band as Shaw and other band members expressed dissatisfaction with DeYoung's desire to pull the band into a pop radio & theatrical direction, while other members preferred the rock direction of the songs written by Shaw and guitarist James "JY" Young. For this reason, unbeknownst to the public-at-large, Dennis DeYoung was fired from the group in early 1980 for a brief unpublicized moment and quickly rehired[4], but this conflict would arise again. Shaw's ascerbation was furthered with his disatisfaction of the theatrical-themed album Paradise Theater and brought to a boil with the tour for the next album Kilroy Was Here, which featured a progressive stage show combined with an 11-minute movie intro and theatrical performances by the band.[5] Shortly after the tour ended, Shaw left Styx in 1983 to pursue his solo career.

Shaw released 3 solo albums in the 1980s: Girls with Guns (1984), What If (1985), and Ambition (1987), scoring a Top 40 hit with the title track from the 1st album.


[edit] 1990s ― present
In the early 1990s, Shaw, Ted Nugent, Jack Blades, and drummer Michael Cartellone formed the band Damn Yankees. Their biggest hit, "High Enough", was co-written by Shaw. The band had a strong concert following; however, even though the 2nd album went platinum[6], the band separated.

Shaw returned to a reunited Styx in 1995 and embarked on a subsequent tour with them in 1996[7]. Tommy would later record a fourth solo record in 1998: "7 Deadly Zens". Shaw has also worked with other artists on a "Pink Floyd's The Wall" tribute album. He also worked on a KISS tribute album, "Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to KISS", on which he sang "Love Gun". On the Queen tribute album Stone Cold Queen, Shaw sang a stirring rendition of the Freddie Mercury-penned Spread Your Wings.

Tommy teamed up with Night Ranger's Jack Blades in a duo appropriately called Shaw Blades and released an album entitled "Hallucination" in 1995. The duo also recorded the classic Christmas song "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" which was released in 2002 on the album "A Classic Rock Christmas", a compilation of classic Christmas songs recorded by various Classic Rock artists.[8] A second collaboration entitled "Influence" was released in early March 2007 and the duo appeared live on VH1 Classic backed up by famed Nashville songwriter Gary Burr, then did a short tour in Spring 2007. Their repertoire included songs from Night Ranger, Styx, Shaw's solo albums and Damn Yankees.

Shaw currently leads Styx along with James "JY" Young, the only remaining members from Styx's heyday.


[edit] Hall of Fame
Tommy Shaw will be inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on February 22, 2008 at their awards banquet to be held in Tommy's hometown of Montgomery, AL at the new Montgomery Convention Center, which is scheduled to be finished just prior to the ceremony.[9]