Long Live the Tech, Part IV
Styx guitar tech Scott Rottler remembers the first time he ever heard Styx music growing up, and he shares what his favorite song is in the current live set.
Text & photos by Mike Mettler, resident Styxologist
Band photos by Jason Powell
“Just the fact he is still a songbird, and he can hit some of these notes he wrote decades ago, blows my mind. And there’s something about that solo he goes into too!” —Scott Rottler, on his favorite song in Styx’s live set, Tommy Shaw’s “Man in the Wilderness”
Hello friends! How great has it been seeing the huge crowds that have witnessed the first two shows back on the second leg of Styx’s 45-date Live & UnZoomed Tour (a.k.a. L&UnZ) with good friends REO Speedwagon and Loverboy? (See the above and below photos for the proof!) The reception L&UnZ received in Denver on July 8 and Salt Lake City on July 9 only portends great things ahead as the tour continues onward here in July, and beyond! Washington state sees the next two stops on July 12 (Auburn) and 13 (Ridgefield), and then it’s down to good ol’ California after that.
Naturally, if you want to get out there and see any of these or other upcoming Live & UnZoomed dates, not to mention learn about what other cool shows are on the live horizon in band Year 50, you can head on over to our Tour section to discern all the necessary tour locale details. More dates are constantly being added to Styx’s touring schedule, so keep staying tuned!
In the meantime, we now return you to our regularly scheduled interview series with Tommy Shaw’s A-level guitar tech, Scott Rottler. Scott’s been a longtime friend of the Styx family who occasionally filled the guitar tech role here and there in recent years in a backup capacity, and the Indiana native has long since been a beacon of tech wizardry from the moment he was anointed Tommy’s fulltime right-hand guitar-and-gear man.
Recently, Scott and I got on the phone during one of Styx’s short touring breaks to dive into the details of his life and how he got to where he is today. Last week, we talked about a fellow favorite Hoosier musician of his, why he wants to have his new studio equipped for doing Dolby Atmos mixes, and which two of rock’s most legendary acts he’d love to remix the catalogs of in Atmos himself. This week, we discuss the first time Scott ever heard Styx music, how videos on MTV made him even more aware of the band, and what his favorite song is in Styx’s current live set.
Mike Mettler: We were just talking about listening to music mixed in stereo, and also how much we’re both interested in Dolby Atmos as a format that’s on the rise. Now, let’s jump into The Wayback Machine here for a moment. What’s your first memory of ever hearing a Styx song, and/or the very first time you interacted with their music?
Scott Rottler: My uncle — one of my dad’s brothers — was really big into Styx. My cousin was about my same age, so we were always over there at their house. I remember him playing Styx on a reel-to-reel [tape] on one of those little, quarter-inch Sony reel-to-reels. I wanna say it was probably [July 1977’s] The Grand Illusion, because I remember the cover art.
Mettler: That’s interesting. I think there are only five Styx albums that were actually released officially onto reel-to-reel — unless he recorded it onto that tape himself, which is possible.
[Your Styxologist clarifies: The five Styx albums released by A&M Records on reel-to-reel tape were Pieces of Eight, Cornerstone, Paradise Theatre, Kilroy Was Here, and Caught in the Act.]
Rottler: Oh, maybe so. He might have recorded it himself. I mean, I think it was The Grand Illusion. I just remember the name of the album, and the name Styx.
But I really remember the name Styx from around the time MTV started getting popular. I mean, I remember seeing the video of “Too Much Time on My Hands” [the classic combination bar-scene narrative/performance clip from January 1981’s Paradise Theatre], and I remember seeing “Mr. Roboto” [the high-concept video from February 1983’s Kilroy Was Here]. And then I remember everything they did after that stuff came out.
Mettler: Those are two all-time classic Styx videos right there. So, would you consider Styx music to have been in your wheelhouse as a kid, or not? Was that something you liked?
Rottler: Oh yeah! It was definitely something I liked. I was once in a band called Waltz for Venus, and we were playing rock. One of our big influences was Styx. My lead singer, he idolized Styx He loved the theatrical side of the band because he was a very theatrical type of character himself.
I produced and engineered all the records, and you’ll be able to find Waltz for Venus on Spotify. That was back when I used to play music before I fell in love with the other side of music — which was engineering.
Mettler: Did you ever wind up buying any Styx albums yourself, or did you not have to because your singer was into them?
Rottler: I never really bought — I’m a weird person. As a person who makes records and wants them to sell (chuckles), I never really got heavily into buying records — which is weird.
Mettler: Umm, yeah. It is weird, dude! (laughs)
Rottler: It is! It is weird, right? Well, I guess I did buy a lot of CDs, but back in the day, your CD book would get stolen outta your car and then you were like, “I’m not re-buying all these-hundred CDs,” you know? So it was weird. But then, as I got older — I’m 41 now — I buy vinyl. But it’s only the stuff I want — the collectible stuff.
Anyway, yeah, my singer in Waltz for Venus definitely had all the Styx records. This was like 15 years ago. When he found out I engineered [June 2021’s] Crash of the Crown, every day, I was getting his texts: “What mic are you using? What guitar tone? What pedal?” And I was just like, “Wow! Ok!” (laughs)
Mettler: Who knew, right? Not that you could have ever predicted that happening — working with Styx, I mean.
Rottler: Yeah, I would have never predicted it.
Mettler: Now that you’re out there on tour with Styx night in and night out, what would you consider to be your favorite song or songs in their set?
Rottler: Ooh, man. Favorite song? Of what they’re playing live right now, “Man in the Wilderness.” [“Wilderness” is, of course, one of Tommy Shaw’s most heartfelt tracks, originally found on Side 2 of The Grand Illusion.]
Mettler: Ah, one of my favorites too. Good call.
Rottler: Yeah, it is. I mean, Tommy [Shaw]’s lead — let alone the big vocal ending — it’s phenomenal! Just the fact he is still a songbird, and he can hit some of these notes he wrote decades ago, blows my mind.
And there’s something about that solo he goes into too. When he switches from acoustic, where it’s a little more stripped down and personal, and then he goes into this screaming solo that just rips your face off — it’s like, “Yes!” And then the song just rises to a whole other level. That’s probably the one I’ve liked this year of touring the most.
Mettler: Hard to argue with you there. And you’re the one doing the physical guitar handoff in the middle of that song too.
Rottler: Oh yeah, yeah. That’s right, because Tommy starts with the six-string acoustic [Gibson] J-45, and then we go into his Les Paul R9 [electric], and — yeah. It just rips every time.
And then, off the new record [i.e., Crash of the Crown], I love “Reveries.” That one always hits the crowd really good. I also hope they bring out “A Monster” at some point.
Mettler: Oh yeah, me too — that would be something!
Rottler: (exclaims) Yeahhh!! I really wanna see that one live. Me and Will [Evankovich]’s guitar tech John [Ptak] have already charted it out, and we’re all ready to go — but they’ve yet to drop the hammer to play it. (chuckles heartily)
Mettler: Well, eventually, they’ll have to do a whole album show of Crash of the Crown anyway, so it’s gotta happen.
Rottler: Yeah, and that’s what I’m hoping, after doing these last two Mission ones [i.e., the full-album Mission shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York City back on March 16, and the next night at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC on March 17]. I’m hoping they do something like that with Crash later this year, or even sometime next year.
Mettler: That works for me. Personally, I’d like to see a Mission and Crash combo show, kind of like how they did it with The Grand illusion and Pieces of Eight together back in 2010.
Rottler: That’s what I’m thinking too. That would be a cool thing to do as a follow-up after all the 50th anniversary stuff, and whatever else they already have planned. I could see that.
Mettler: I could see that too — and, hey, we’ve just suggested it! (laughs) You did so much work on Crash in terms of the engineering side, it just seems like a natural idea to me for them to do the whole album live — and, of course, have you right there doing the guitar tech thing while they’re playing it.
Rottler: Right. As you know, I met Tommy through Will, and where we really hit it off was in the studio, recording Crash. Because then, it’s day in and day out, and that’s how you get to see how somebody works and how somebody lives, you know? I was there dialing in all the guitar tones and the bass tones, and that’s how we hit it off.
And that’s how this all happened. I was pretty content up in Fort Wayne [Indiana] with my studio [Berry Street Records] and everything. But when Tommy’s like, “If you’re down here, you can help me with anything I need recorded,” I was like, “Well. . .” (chuckles)
But my buddy just happened to buy this building down here and he needed a business partner to go in with for a new studio — and then I was like, “No better time than now to move down to Nashville!” (laughs)
Next week: Scott Rottler lets us know what it was like working with Tommy and the guys in the band the first time they really got down to it — and much, much more. See y’all right back here in 7 days!!
