CAN'T STOP ROCKIN' TOUR 2009- Las Vegas, NV 05/16/2009

[LordofDaRing]

Chuck tends to waffle back and forth about this. One day he can be reflective and even sentimental and say,"You know, a reunion would be cool, we should do it before the chance is lost." On another day he might be feeling bitter about the past and say, "I never want to see that guy again, he fucked us all over, blah blah blah . . ." it just depends on when you catch him. You know, he and Dennis have more history than anybody else involved, it's extremely complicated.

I hope all is well.
Sterling

Well uncomplicate it for us Sterling, I love a good gossip...

[Zan]

Zan,

You know better.

Of course I do. What's your point? lol

[Rockwriter]

Chuck tends to waffle back and forth about this. One day he can be reflective and even sentimental and say,"You know, a reunion would be cool, we should do it before the chance is lost." On another day he might be feeling bitter about the past and say, "I never want to see that guy again, he fucked us all over, blah blah blah . . ." it just depends on when you catch him. You know, he and Dennis have more history than anybody else involved, it's extremely complicated.

I hope all is well.
Sterling

Well uncomplicate it for us Sterling, I love a good gossip...

I don't really have any gossip to share. The issues between those guys are the same ones that are between most guys who started out friends and then had a successful band together. When a band is failing everyone is equal, because everyone is a failure. When that band succeeds, inevitably some people succeed more than others in terms of public perception, in terms of influence over the course of the band, and in terms of financial rewards. Dennis and Chuck started this thing with John, but of course Dennis ended up making far more money and receiving far more public accolades than those guys because he's a lead singer, lead instrumentalist and principal songwriter. That never, ever fails to breed jealousy and discontent, and it never ever fails that the person who has the most influence uses that influence to steer the course of the band more than the others. That of course leads to more jealousy and more discontent. (By the way, this still goes on in the band today; don't think for a second it doesn't).

In this case Chuck and John and Dennis were once very good friends, so you have to factor in that thin line between love and hate as well. There's no relationship quite so bitter as one that used to be friendly and then soured. It really is like a failed marriage, how do you talk about that person after the fact? But you married them, right? Had kids them, built a life with them, went home to them every night and so on. Looking back after it's failed, it's just human nature to forget the best things about that person and build up their negatives in your mind. It's that stupid human trick that we do in order to justify ourselves to ourselves, and we all do it. So Chuck can sometimes look back and think of the good times they had and remember that with some fondness, but at the same time he can turn on a dime and really get angry about certain things, too. After EOTC he and John basically said, "Don't bother calling us unless Tommy's going to be back." The band at that time was just Dennis, JY and Glen. The brothers just had too many old issues, with Dennis in particular. As I always say, it's sad how that business twists people and turns all those positives into negatives. The Styx thing is just sad. That's the only word I can use.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

[epresley]

Chuck tends to waffle back and forth about this. One day he can be reflective and even sentimental and say,"You know, a reunion would be cool, we should do it before the chance is lost." On another day he might be feeling bitter about the past and say, "I never want to see that guy again, he fucked us all over, blah blah blah . . ." it just depends on when you catch him. You know, he and Dennis have more history than anybody else involved, it's extremely complicated.

I hope all is well.
Sterling

Well uncomplicate it for us Sterling, I love a good gossip...

I don't really have any gossip to share. The issues between those guys are the same ones that are between most guys who started out friends and then had a successful band together. When a band is failing everyone is equal, because everyone is a failure. When that band succeeds, inevitably some people succeed more than others in terms of public perception, in terms of influence over the course of the band, and in terms of financial rewards. Dennis and Chuck started this thing with John, but of course Dennis ended up making far more money and receiving far more public accolades than those guys because he's a lead singer, lead instrumentalist and principal songwriter. That never, ever fails to breed jealousy and discontent, and it never ever fails that the person who has the most influence uses that influence to steer the course of the band more than the others. That of course leads to more jealousy and more discontent. (By the way, this still goes on in the band today; don't think for a second it doesn't).

In this case Chuck and John and Dennis were once very good friends, so you have to factor in that thin line between love and hate as well. There's no relationship quite so bitter as one that used to be friendly and then soured. It really is like a failed marriage, how do you talk about that person after the fact? But you married them, right? Had kids them, built a life with them, went home to them every night and so on. Looking back after it's failed, it's just human nature to forget the best things about that person and build up their negatives in your mind. It's that stupid human trick that we do in order to justify ourselves to ourselves, and we all do it. So Chuck can sometimes look back and think of the good times they had and remember that with some fondness, but at the same time he can turn on a dime and really get angry about certain things, too. After EOTC he and John basically said, "Don't bother calling us unless Tommy's going to be back." The band at that time was just Dennis, JY and Glen. The brothers just had too many old issues, with Dennis in particular. As I always say, it's sad how that business twists people and turns all those positives into negatives. The Styx thing is just sad. That's the only word I can use.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

Sterling, when the band was WITH Dennis, but WITHOUT Tommy, how did JY and Dennis interact? More/Differently than JY and Tommy do now???

[LordofDaRing]

Interesting interview along the same lines with Lou Gramm on Melodic rock. He wrote part of I want to know what love is. In his opinion about 40%, but Mick Jones thought it was significantly less. They were trying to divvy up the royalties prior to release. In the end Gramm says he completely caved on it and Jones got all the money for the song. I am sure that is one of many reasons they are not together.

In Chuck and John's case, did either of them ever take a stab at writing songs? Sitting here today, I can't think of a major act that gave writing credits to the entire band reagardless of who actually wrote the song.

[Rockwriter]

Interesting interview along the same lines with Lou Gramm on Melodic rock. He wrote part of I want to know what love is. In his opinion about 40%, but Mick Jones thought it was significantly less. They were trying to divvy up the royalties prior to release. In the end Gramm says he completely caved on it and Jones got all the money for the song. I am sure that is one of many reasons they are not together.

In Chuck and John's case, did either of them ever take a stab at writing songs? Sitting here today, I can't think of a major act that gave writing credits to the entire band reagardless of who actually wrote the song.

Hmmm, I don't know if either one took a shot at it. If they did I certainly never heard about it. But with Dennis, Tommy and to some degree JY in the band, that's not the easiest atmosphere to take your first baby steps as a songwriter, LOL. Talk about intimidating.

As far as the money thing, as I say, it's in every band, but here's the thing: it's an issue no matter how you slice it. Kiss is an example of a band where everyone wrote to a degree, but the vast majority of the songs were written by Gene or Paul. But in the prime years they split everything four equal ways, and of course you wound up with the two weaker members being enabled to remain weaker because there was no financial spur to get in there and work harder, while the guys who were producing more for the team were resentful of the deal they'd made. Then when they did the reunion Gene and Paul changed it up and Ace and Peter were their salaried employees, and of course that didn't sit well either.

It's an issue no matter what. If non-writing members DON'T get credit/money, they say, "I'm getting screwed, I work just as hard as anyone else to make this band what it is." If they DO get credit then the people writing/producing the songs say, "I do a lot more to make this band as visible as it is than this other guy, how come he makes money off songs I wrote?" It's just human nature to be self-involved like that, and with artists it's even worse because of the egotistical nature of artists, especially the successful ones. Most of them are kinda spoiled, self-involved idiots who haven't been made to grow up because everyone around them indulges their stupidity.


Sterling

[Rockwriter]

Chuck tends to waffle back and forth about this. One day he can be reflective and even sentimental and say,"You know, a reunion would be cool, we should do it before the chance is lost." On another day he might be feeling bitter about the past and say, "I never want to see that guy again, he fucked us all over, blah blah blah . . ." it just depends on when you catch him. You know, he and Dennis have more history than anybody else involved, it's extremely complicated.

I hope all is well.
Sterling

Well uncomplicate it for us Sterling, I love a good gossip...

I don't really have any gossip to share. The issues between those guys are the same ones that are between most guys who started out friends and then had a successful band together. When a band is failing everyone is equal, because everyone is a failure. When that band succeeds, inevitably some people succeed more than others in terms of public perception, in terms of influence over the course of the band, and in terms of financial rewards. Dennis and Chuck started this thing with John, but of course Dennis ended up making far more money and receiving far more public accolades than those guys because he's a lead singer, lead instrumentalist and principal songwriter. That never, ever fails to breed jealousy and discontent, and it never ever fails that the person who has the most influence uses that influence to steer the course of the band more than the others. That of course leads to more jealousy and more discontent. (By the way, this still goes on in the band today; don't think for a second it doesn't).

In this case Chuck and John and Dennis were once very good friends, so you have to factor in that thin line between love and hate as well. There's no relationship quite so bitter as one that used to be friendly and then soured. It really is like a failed marriage, how do you talk about that person after the fact? But you married them, right? Had kids them, built a life with them, went home to them every night and so on. Looking back after it's failed, it's just human nature to forget the best things about that person and build up their negatives in your mind. It's that stupid human trick that we do in order to justify ourselves to ourselves, and we all do it. So Chuck can sometimes look back and think of the good times they had and remember that with some fondness, but at the same time he can turn on a dime and really get angry about certain things, too. After EOTC he and John basically said, "Don't bother calling us unless Tommy's going to be back." The band at that time was just Dennis, JY and Glen. The brothers just had too many old issues, with Dennis in particular. As I always say, it's sad how that business twists people and turns all those positives into negatives. The Styx thing is just sad. That's the only word I can use.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

Sterling, when the band was WITH Dennis, but WITHOUT Tommy, how did JY and Dennis interact? More/Differently than JY and Tommy do now???

You know what, during EOTC JY served essentially the same function that he does now. He was the power behind the throne, you might say. Dennis would make his decisions with input from JY, and JY would serve as somewhat of a liaison between Dennis and the rest of the guys. JY would try to provide Dennis with info to make decisions and then he in turn would interface with everyone else and get them on board as much as possible with decisions Dennis made. The band was pitched toward indulging Dennis then because he was the marquee star. I was aware even back then of some push-pull between them as far as JY being somewhat resentful of his secondary role, but he certainly interacted with Dennis successfully all the time. They were partners back then in running the Styx enterprise. I've said this before, I'll say it here again, those guys are far more similar than different. That's part of the problem between them. They kinda wanted to play the same role in the band, but in the end only one guy can do that.

These days Tommy is the marquee draw and the band is somewhat about meeting his needs, and JY is still the guy that does that. The difference is, Dennis had some head for business, while Tommy does not and basically knows it. So JY is, more than ever, really in a position to steer the band now as long as he keeps Tommy happy. Tommy is the creative leader and figurehead of Styx now, but JY is the day-to-day go-to guy for the band's business and its internal dynamics. It's a role I think he's probably ideally suited for, and probably why he's so much happier now. Tommy just isn't a forceful personality and is just as happy to let JY do his thing as long as it ends up meeting Tommy's needs. An unlikely partnership that seems to work, at least to the degree it needs to to make Styx continue.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

[DerriD]

You know what, during EOTC JY served essentially the same function that he does now. He was the power behind the throne, you might say. Dennis would make his decisions with input from JY, and JY would serve as somewhat of a liaison between Dennis and the rest of the guys. JY would try to provide Dennis with info to make decisions and then he in turn would interface with everyone else and get them on board as much as possible with decisions Dennis made. The band was pitched toward indulging Dennis then because he was the marquee star. I was aware even back then of some push-pull between them as far as JY being somewhat resentful of his secondary role, but he certainly interacted with Dennis successfully all the time. They were partners back then in running the Styx enterprise. I've said this before, I'll say it here again, those guys are far more similar than different. That's part of the problem between them. They kinda wanted to play the same role in the band, but in the end only one guy can do that.

These days Tommy is the marquee draw and the band is somewhat about meeting his needs, and JY is still the guy that does that. The difference is, Dennis had some head for business, while Tommy does not and basically knows it. So JY is, more than ever, really in a position to steer the band now as long as he keeps Tommy happy. Tommy is the creative leader and figurehead of Styx now, but JY is the day-to-day go-to guy for the band's business and its internal dynamics. It's a role I think he's probably ideally suited for, and probably why he's so much happier now. Tommy just isn't a forceful personality and is just as happy to let JY do his thing as long as it ends up meeting Tommy's needs. An unlikely partnership that seems to work, at least to the degree it needs to to make Styx continue.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

Sterling,

That may sum up the Styx situation better and more concisely than the last 10 years worth of posts, interviews and sound clips combined.