MR

[...]are you still interested in the huge DY arena rock sound as an
artist?

Tommy: That third Damn Yankees record was something we tried to do in a manner that did not suit us. Because each of us was busy with our individual careers, we were never all together in the studio at the same time. That can work for certain bands or projects, but for Damn Yankees. What happens when we’re all in the same room is the magic that people associate with the first two records. It can’t be harvested piecemeal, like so many scattered parts being assembled. Very well crafted record that sounded like a really good band I’d never heard before, just not Damn Yankees.

And yes, once you’ve played in an arena rock band, you never lose the desire to do it some more. Damn Yankees never broke up so there won’t need to be a reunion, just the next record.

when was the quote made?

Recently according to the main MR noticeboard ....

DarrenUK wrote:[...]are you still interested in the huge DY arena rock sound as an
artist?

Tommy: That third Damn Yankees record was something we tried to do in a manner that did not suit us. Because each of us was busy with our individual careers, we were never all together in the studio at the same time. That can work for certain bands or projects, but for Damn Yankees. What happens when we’re all in the same room is the magic that people associate with the first two records. It can’t be harvested piecemeal, like so many scattered parts being assembled. Very well crafted record that sounded like a really good band I’d never heard before, just not Damn Yankees.

And yes, once you’ve played in an arena rock band, you never lose the desire to do it some more. Damn Yankees never broke up so there won’t need to be a reunion, just the next record.

The one that was nixed on Portrait was going to be the 4th. The 3rd was in demo stages before the fallout at WB happened in about 1993.

There are varying stories as to what happened behind the scenes. From what I've been told, Tommy's sugarcoating things with some truth in there. Yes, they were apart for some of that, but Tommy from my understanding was not 100% in and not 100% out. Hence they had the other singer and initially they replaced Michael with Kelly Keagy. It was bound to be screwed up. Michael wanted back in, Tommy committed to Styx full time, and no DY album.

Had Tommy committed to it full time and it had not become the mess it did, maybe it would have been a DY record. I think we can get a taste of what was with the songs that have shown up on other projects since that (such as "Yes I Can" - I wonder what Ted would have done to that lol).

And don't forget Damon Johnson's contribution to the 3rd/4th DY project as well..

Did pictures and the works too!

Hasn't this pretty much been Tommy's stance on DY. IF we can find the time to get together, we'll do somethnig?

I don't see Tommy as putting all of his eggs in the Styx basket. He has continued to work with others.

I hope TS DOES do another DY record and without Michael, there's no DY. Michael brought a GREAT feel to those records and I'd be surprised if he wasn't involved. I've heard from all of them at different times that they'd like to do that again. It looked like a major FUN band to be in.

The 'doing it not together in different studios' didn't work for Damn Yankees or Styx (Brave New World).
I wish that those tracks would see the light of day anyway. I just want to see why they weren't great.
The other albums are still two of my favorite records EVER. I think Ted's one of the biggest aholes on the planet
politically, but with Yankees, he's great and I loved their whole personality. It was kind of like The Beatles where
each guy had a personality and it wasn't just one guy with sidemen.
The production on those albums was also a lot more in your face than which I prefer. Better guitar sounds
than Styx records.