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The Mission , the 16th studio album by Styx, will be released June 16 on the band’s label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe, just in time for their tour with REO Speedwagon and Don Felder. (See tour info below.) Fans can pre-order the album here. The Mission is the band’s first new album in 14 years.

The first single, “Gone Gone Gone,” was released on April 21 at radio and online retail outlets. (Watch the performance video below.)

“The planets truly aligned for The Mission, and I couldn’t be prouder,” said vocalist/guitarist Tommy Shaw in a statement. Shaw co-wrote the album’s storyline with longtime collaborator Will Evankovich (Shaw/Blades, the Guess Who). “It’s our boldest, most emblematic album since Pieces of Eight.”

As founding guitarist James “JY” Young continues, “In the 40th anniversary year of our release of our biggest selling album of all time, Grand Illusion, it just seemed truly appropriate to save our new studio album until this year. Needless to say, I’m very excited.”

The Mission is described as “an aurally adventurous 43-minute thrill ride that chronicles the trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumphs of the first manned mission to Mars in the year 2033. From the hopeful drive of ‘Gone Gone Gone’ to the stargazing machinations of ‘Locomotive’ to the rough-riding blaze of glory that permeates the hard-charging ‘Red Storm’ to the elegiac optimism of the closing track ‘Mission to Mars,’ the album succeeds in delivering the greater good from a band that continues to fire on all cylinders, 45 years after signing its first recording contract.”

The Mission was recorded over a two-year period at Blackbird Studios, The Shop, and 6 Studio Amontillado in Nashville. According to the release, “It displays the best aspects of the ongoing in-harmony musical intersection of the six-man Styx team: the aforementioned guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, co-founding guitarist/vocalist James “JY” Young, keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, original bassist Chuck Panozzo, drummer/percussionist Todd Sucherman, and bassist Ricky Phillips.”

The new music “was created to reflect the viewpoint of the six-person crew enlisted for the maiden voyage of Khedive, the first entry in a new fleet of nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft underwritten by the Global Space Exploration Program (or GSEP, for short). The Khedive team consists of The Pilot, a fully hands-on, seat-of-the-pants born leader; a First Officer who serves as the team’s big-brother figure; an Engineer who is skeptical of every phase of the mission but remains confident in his own abilities to make the best of any technical situation; and a Top-Shelf Trio of science, astrophysics, and survivalist experts,” says the press release.

Track Listing

CD/Digital:

Overture Gone Gone Gone Hundred Million Miles from Home Trouble at the Big Show Locomotive Radio Silence The Greater Good Time May Bend Ten Thousand Ways to Be Wrong Red Storm All Systems Stable Khedive The Outpost Mission to Mars

Vinyl:

Overture (Side A) Gone Gone Gone (Side A) Hundred Million Miles from Home (Side A) Trouble at the Big Show (Side A) Locomotive (Side A) Radio Silence (Side A) The Greater Good (Side B) Time May Bend (Side B) Ten Thousand Ways to Be Wrong (Side B) Red Storm (Side B) All Systems Stable (Side B) Khedive (Side B) The Outpost (Side B) Mission to Mars (Side B)

Watch the video for “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

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United We Rock 2017 Tour Dates (For tickets, click here or here)

6/20 – Ridgefield, WA – Sunlight Supply Amphitheatre

6/21 – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre

6/23 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion

6/24 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre

6/25 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre

6/27 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre

6/29 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center

7/1 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

7/18 – Tampa, FL – MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater

7/19 – West Palm Beach, FL – Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre

7/20 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily’s Place

7/22 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheatre

7/23 – Alpharetta, GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

7/25 – Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre

7/27 – Indianapolis, IN – Klipsch Music Center

7/29 – Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

7/30 – Dallas, TX – Starplex Pavilion

8/11 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Ctr. for the Arts

8/12 – Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata Event Center

8/13 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live

8/15 – Gilford, NH – Bank of NH Pavilion

8/16 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater

8/18 – Niagara Falls, NY – Seneca Niagara Events Center (Styx/REO Speedwagon only)

8/19 – Syracuse, NY – Lakeview Amphitheater

8/20 – Bangor, ME – Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion

8/22 – Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center







