CHUCK PANOZZO

Styx’s original bass player and founder member checks in

You’ve had a long career with many elaborate bass parts, Chuck.

Well, thank you. When we started the band, the more people we added, the more we added different songwriters. I think that’s the success of Styx: you really have to adapt to every songwriter. My job in the rhythm section is to play the best I can and to understand that rock songs need to sound different than ballads. The vision our songwriters had between them really helped me to diversify my style.

What bass gear do you use nowadays?

I always bring my Rickenbacker. I’ve had that for a very long time. In fact, it was in disrepair, and Tommy said, ‘Here’s your guitar’, and he’d had it completely refurbished. And I have a Fender out there. I used to have an Alembic, but it’s so heavy, so I’ll take a pass on that one for a while, although it was a beautiful instrument. You know, every tour you try to bring something new to the band, whether it’s an instrument or whatever else, but you have to be better – you can’t just be the same guy all the time. That’s not very interesting.

What was your first bass?

Well, my first bass guitar was a Hofner. I was inspired, of course by Paul McCartney – who wouldn’t be? I have my original Gibson guitar from 1961 on my wall. I don’t have a huge collection of things, but what I have is important to me, for sentimental value.

Do you play five-string bass as well as four?

Well, Ricky does a great job on that. I’m comfortable with the way I play with a fourstring. You know, the band has always been very supportive of my health issues, or whatever cause I had on a personal level, and that says a lot about the members of Styx. These are great guys. Our mission was to make an incredible album after being away for so many years, and I think we achieved that goal.