Jim Peterik isn`t the only successful rocker to make his home in the southwest suburbs. Palos Hills resident Gary Loizzo has produced a slew of gold records-including four Styx albums that have sold more than 12 million copies-from his recording studio in Oak Forest.
”Basing my operation in this area has been a blessing in this respect:
you have none of the hustle-bustle of downtown studios, none of the commercial pressure or parking hassles,” says Loizzo.
The 46-year-old record producer got his start in the music business as lead singer and guitarist with The American Breed, which in the mid-`60s played the same teen club circuit as the Ides of March, Cryan` Shames, Shadows of Knight, and Buckinghams.
”Nowadays,” says Loizzo, ”they don`t have high school hops, but back then, you had deejays at WLS and WCFL, guys like Dick Biondi, Art Roberts, Clark Webber, and they`d affiliate with bands, and make appearances every weekend at high school dances and teen clubs to hype their shows.
”Well, the Breed became (WCFL deejay) Ron Riley`s band, and every week on the air, he`d give us lots of air play. Then (deejay) Dex Card started his Wild Goose circuit-basically, he`d ask a club owner, `Hey, can I call your club the Wild Goose on Saturday?`-and we started playing all of his places. We got quite a nice following, and Dot Records signed us to a contract.”
Carole King wrote the Breed`s first two singles, followed by a near hit, the psychedelic ”Step Outside of Your Mind.”
But it was their fourth release, ”Bend Me, Shape Me,” that became the first single from Chicago`s teen-rock scene to hit number one on the pop charts.
By the late `60s, The American Breed was winding down, and Loizzo started singing jingles, an experience that inspired his interest in engineering. ”I had no training at the time, but my gift of gab opened up some doors for me,” recalls Loizzo.
”For a lot of these engineers, recording was just a 9-to-5 thing; they just did their job and left; if you were in the middle of a vocal at five `til five, they were off to catch their train. Or if you`d want the drum to sound a little different, they`d say, `why bother?` So I`d be sneaking in the control room twisting the dials whenever I could.”
In 1969, Loizzo, a native of Chicago`s South Side, moved with his bride, Diane, to a house in Palos Hills. Soon after, he decided to quit commuting downtown. ”I was working with a lot of songwriters, and I needed some kind of situation to make demos, so I built a four-track recorder in my garage.”
The studio eventually outgrew its space, and in 1975, Loizzo moved his recording gear into a storefront in downtown Oak Lawn, which he christened Pumpkin Studios. Three years later, he began his collaboration, as engineer-producer, with Styx.
In recent years, Loizzo has become something of an expert in building home recording studios.
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He designed Peterik`s and is currently putting together a studio in the Frankfort home of Styx lead singer Dennis DeYoung. Last September, Loizzo sold Pumpkin Studios and moved his 24-track recording gear into their home. In the fall, the Loizzo family, which includes three boys and a girl, is moving into a new house with built-in studio in Orland Park.
Like Peterik, Loizzo recently returned to his roots by re-forming the rock band of his youth. On Friday, they will play at 9 p.m. at Oak Lawn Family Days, 9401 S. Oak Park Ave.