Styx bassist Ricky Phillips says that the band is going to have to take a step back and perhaps take a break before they release new music.

"We've been writing and recording stuff for years, really." "But I have not heard a peep about anything for months now.

I think here's what's going to happen: We're going to have to have some time, we're going to have to get off the road.

I think that we always start off with good intentions and it all stops, because we've got to get off. We've got to pull the bus over before we're going to be able to do that.

I think that this is maybe a conversation the band needs to have.

But you know, I would love to see some of this stuff finished. Some of these germs of ideas, maybe they're going to flop.

But we need to find that out. Before we can get in and really be serious about it, we've got to pull the bus over.

I just don't know when that's going to be."

Speaking of not knowing when to pull the bus over, Phillips adds that the band craves being on tour because it makes their relationships at home that much stronger.

"The joke around us is if we take a week off, when we get back on the bus, it's like, 'Geez, it's good to be back on the road,'" he says.

"My charm was wearing thin at home."