Not long thereafter the group cut a demo tape that eventually came to the
attention of Wooden Nickel Records, a regional label and subsidiary of RCA, with
whom TW4 signed a recording contract in 1972; label executives insisted, however,
that the group change its name. When TW4 signed with Wooden Nickel, the label told the group to drop the name TW4 and come up with something better. The former TW4 scribbled down plenty of nicknames and bandnames. Eventually it came down to three choices - Torch, Kelp or STYX. "TW4 didn't suit the times," said JY. "And fortunately the guys went along with it. STYX was the one name no one hated. Mystical sort of names were in vogue at that time."

Then came the next step - one night after a successful TW4 concert, Bill Traut, a representative from a small Chicago-based record label, Wooden Nickel Records, offered TW4 a chance to record some albums for them. "A local record company guy from Wooden Nickel came up and saw the band," said DeYoung, "and said to us, 'Hey, wanna make a record?' We were playing Beatles covers at the time, and our goal was not to play the Beatles, but to be in them. We got that record deal, and thought to ourselves, 'here we go.'"