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Dennis DeYoung Interview Posted to StyxCollector.com

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:55 am
by StyxCollector
Well, after a few delays and finishing some stuff up last night, the whole Dennis interview is posted up on
StyxCollector.com. We cover a LOT of ground in this one, and I'm sure you'll find a bunch of new information that you may not have seen to date.

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:32 am
by LordofDaRing
Excellent interview. Excellent dialog on the song First Time from the song's author.

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:38 am
by LtVanish
Excellent interview Allan! DDY is always such an interesting guy.

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:06 am
by Rockwriter
Wow! I'm not kidding when I say this is probably THE most comprehensive interview Dennis has ever given (and I've read them all, LOL). It's certainly the closest look into the work process of Styx. Very insightful. What I find particularly interesting is that when Dennis feels he is wrong about something - and there are several instances - he just comes right out and says, "I was wrong about that." Not quite what some people might have expected.
Great job!
Sterling

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:09 am
by yogi
I just printed it Allan (I wont sell it without your permission), 55 pages, impressive. I've read the first few and it is EXCELLENT!!!
GREAT job!!!!
You should be REAL proud!!!!!

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:23 am
by bugsymalone
Very in-depth, Allan. I enjoyed reading it very much. I give it two thumbs up, 'cause that's all I have.

Well done!
Bugsy

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:36 am
by cinj
So how come Dennis doesn't want to talk about "She Cares"? I actually dig that tune.
Anybody?
Cinj

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:56 am
by chowhall
Great Job Allan.
Dennis seems to be open to reconciliation. He certainly speaks fondly of Tommy for the most part.
I wish he would put his story to a book. I know of one or two guys around here that might help him.
awesome

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:52 am
by Bearded Clam
Excellent interview, thanks. I wish Dennis was able to reach into his bag of tricks and pull out a 16mm print of the Paradise theatre tour, or earlier. It looks like we'll never see any of those.
On another note, you guys mention the drum solo during renegade, any chance someone has copy to throw up on Youtube?
Re: Dennis DeYoung Interview Posted to StyxCollector.com

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:30 am
by froy
StyxCollector wrote:Well, after a few delays and finishing some stuff up last night, the whole Dennis interview is posted up on
StyxCollector.com. We cover a LOT of ground in this one, and I'm sure you'll find a bunch of new information that you may not have seen to date.
excellent
Goes to show how to many cooks in the kitchen can ruin a band
Dennis always did was was in the best intrest of the band.
The others did was was in the best intrest of themselves.
Funny how Shaw broke his hand and needed 4 months to get better,
Did Dennis say its over and kick him out?
I also find it funny that after Kilroy the others in the band wanted to go on without Shaw everyone except Dennis.
Shaw also wanted Cold War over HWBHB to be released how dumb is that.

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:02 pm
by ItsMyLife
Bravo Allan. I'm about halfway through and I'm riveted.
Reading it with the US version of "One Hundred Years From Now" that I just downloaded from Amazon going in the background.
Great stuff... thank you for this.
Now back to the interview...

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:43 pm
by KWH17
Not even halfway done [great Scot it's huge!], but so far very well done, and my favorite DDY interview to date. I will probably have to finish it sometime tomorrow.
Favorite part so far;
AH: But, ironically enough, it came out in Japan on time.
DDY: Probably ‘cause they didn’t give a shit about the video.
I just cracked up at the part.
Great Job Allan!

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:32 pm
by TWOSTYXUP
That was absolutely the best Interview I have read in years with DDY. Good Job Alan
Very Smooth.
Re: awesome

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:16 pm
by froy
- Code: Select all
[quote="Bearded Clam"]Excellent interview, thanks. I wish Dennis was able to reach into his bag of tricks and pull out a 16mm print of the Paradise theatre tour, or earlier. It looks like we'll never see any of those.
On another note, you guys mention the drum solo during renegade, any chance someone has copy to throw up on Youtube?[/quote]
It s to long 15 min
Youtube is 10 max
Re: awesome

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:04 pm
by Bearded Clam
froy wrote:- Code: Select all
[quote="Bearded Clam"]Excellent interview, thanks. I wish Dennis was able to reach into his bag of tricks and pull out a 16mm print of the Paradise theatre tour, or earlier. It looks like we'll never see any of those.
On another note, you guys mention the drum solo during renegade, any chance someone has copy to throw up on Youtube?[/quote]
It s to long 15 min
Youtube is 10 max
So maybe someone can split it... I found an audio version, but I'd love to see it.
In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any concert footage from the Pieces of eight tour.

Posted:
Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:38 pm
by StyxCollector
As far as I know, no footage exists from the Po8 tour. Footage exists from Cornerstone on.
BTW, thanks for all the compliments, folks.

Posted:
Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:49 am
by Bearded Clam
so where did they get some of that footage for Behind the Music? I don't remember seeing a lot of it from their promotional videos of the day. I wonder who has it?
On a related note, I wish Roger Waters would officially release " The Wall" concert from 80.


Posted:
Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:06 am
by MCM
Good read! Thanks for all the time that went into it.

Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:30 pm
by Rockwriter
Congratulations on making the front page of MelRock!
Sterling

Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:36 pm
by bugsymalone
Congrats to Allan.
Question: I have seen two references to "One Hundred Years" going platinum in Canada. Is it being confused with his Live CD, which I know was at least platinum?
Anyone know??
Bugsy

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:57 am
by Jodes
Trust me, if DDY went gold or platinum with 100 Years, there would be pictures, etc on the website. We would have heard about it by now.
Yes it started off great in Quebec, but there was no 2nd single really pushed and the album just disappeared.
Also according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, as of February 09, 100 Years has not reached gold status in Canada.

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:03 am
by bugsymalone
Jodes wrote:Trust me, if DDY went gold or platinum with 100 Years, there would be pictures, etc on the website. We would have heard about it by now.
Yes it started off great in Quebec, but there was no 2nd single really pushed and the album just disappeared.
Also according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, as of February 09, 100 Years has not reached gold status in Canada.
I agree. I think they are referring to the Soundstage DVD and live CD.
Bugsy

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:16 am
by yogi
I finally finished the entire interview.
GREAT,GREAT job Allan!!!!!!!!!
A couple of notes. As I have stated over & over again Styx did play the extra verse to Crystal Ball during their Main Event Tour in 1978 at the MN State Fair. For 100% sure they did.
I believe that I have the Paradise Theatre Concert VHS tape that was recorded in Md. I am going to try and find it to see if in fact I have John's drum solo.
Is this the same concert that circulated on E-bay about 12-15 years ago?? If so Ive got it.
What a GREAT interview!!!!

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 3:01 am
by blt man
bugsymalone wrote:Jodes wrote:Trust me, if DDY went gold or platinum with 100 Years, there would be pictures, etc on the website. We would have heard about it by now.
Yes it started off great in Quebec, but there was no 2nd single really pushed and the album just disappeared.
Also according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, as of February 09, 100 Years has not reached gold status in Canada.
I agree. I think they are referring to the Soundstage DVD and live CD.
Bugsy
I also agree. He is certainly popular in Quebec but could not fill a 700 seat venue in the Toronto suburbs. The CD was not on the charts for that long in Canada so I would be surprised if it hit the gold level status. That said, not sure that CRIA always gets all the data. For example, the Bon Jovi CD was released around the same time in 2007 as 100 Years and it is not showing as having gone gold. Yet, I would be shocked if it did not sell 50k copies in Canada.
Dennis is honest and realistic about his propects at 60+. In one of the recent interviews he said he needed the gimmick of singing a duet in French in order to get a single to go to #1 in Quebec.

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:37 am
by kansas666
Jodes wrote:Trust me, if DDY went gold or platinum with 100 Years, there would be pictures, etc on the website. We would have heard about it by now.
Yes it started off great in Quebec, but there was no 2nd single really pushed and the album just disappeared.
Also according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, as of February 09, 100 Years has not reached gold status in Canada.
Keep in mind that in Canada, a Gold record is only 40,000 units sold and Platinum is 100,000 units sold, as opposed to the United States where Gold is 500,000 and platinum is 1,000,000.
Platinum for a DVD in Canada is only 10,000.

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:49 am
by bugsymalone
kansas666 wrote:Jodes wrote:Trust me, if DDY went gold or platinum with 100 Years, there would be pictures, etc on the website. We would have heard about it by now.
Yes it started off great in Quebec, but there was no 2nd single really pushed and the album just disappeared.
Also according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, as of February 09, 100 Years has not reached gold status in Canada.
Keep in mind that in Canada, a Gold record is only 40,000 units sold and Platinum is 100,000 units sold, as opposed to the United States where Gold is 500,000 and platinum is 1,000,000.
Platinum for a DVD in Canada is only 10,000.
DDY, and/or Current Styx, can only dream of gold or platinum in the USA. On a brighter note, DDY, regardless of numbers, did sell multi-platinum in Canada (CD and DVD), while Current Styx....is still dreaming, I suppose.
Bugsy

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:13 am
by Jodes
kansas666 wrote:Jodes wrote:Trust me, if DDY went gold or platinum with 100 Years, there would be pictures, etc on the website. We would have heard about it by now.
Yes it started off great in Quebec, but there was no 2nd single really pushed and the album just disappeared.
Also according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, as of February 09, 100 Years has not reached gold status in Canada.
Keep in mind that in Canada, a Gold record is only 40,000 units sold and Platinum is 100,000 units sold, as opposed to the United States where Gold is 500,000 and platinum is 1,000,000.
Platinum for a DVD in Canada is only 10,000.
Kansas, yes as of May 1st 2008, Gold is 40,000 units sold, and Platinum is now 80,000. Not sure why the change, but I guess its good for artists that want plaques on their walls! lol
Now that 40,000 and 80,000 are only for releases AFTER May 1st, 2008, so for Dennis (or Styx) they would still have to sell 50,000 units for them to go gold.
Actually, to clairfy Dennis pretty much went platinum in Quebec.. his sales were nowhere else came close to what he sold in Quebec.
As well, if he wouldn't have done the song in French, he wouldn't have had the success he did.
Also, Styx's CYO DVD is nearing close to gold status here in Canada, so that would be cool to see.

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:14 am
by blt man
kansas666 wrote:Keep in mind that in Canada, a Gold record is only 40,000 units sold and Platinum is 100,000 units sold, as opposed to the United States where Gold is 500,000 and platinum is 1,000,000.
Platinum for a DVD in Canada is only 10,000.
Edit: Jodes beat me to this by mere seconds...
Gold for DDY's CD in Canada would be 50,000. The 40,000 level is new. When DDY released One Hundred Years in Canada gold was 50,000 so that is the level required for his CD to reach gold. It was readjusted down sometime last year because of the slump in the music market. Platinum was also readjusted to down to 80,000 (though some albums are still required to 100k for platinum - depending on when they were released)
Keep in mind that 50,000 for gold in Canada is essentially a rough population readjustment of the 500,000 requirement in the US. So selling 50,000 units in Canada would be the rough equivalent of selling 500,000 in the US. US POP = approx 306 million. Canadian POP = approx 33 million.

Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:33 am
by StyxCollector
yogi wrote:I finally finished the entire interview.
GREAT,GREAT job Allan!!!!!!!!!
A couple of notes. As I have stated over & over again Styx did play the extra verse to Crystal Ball during their Main Event Tour in 1978 at the MN State Fair. For 100% sure they did.
I believe that I have the Paradise Theatre Concert VHS tape that was recorded in Md. I am going to try and find it to see if in fact I have John's drum solo.
Is this the same concert that circulated on E-bay about 12-15 years ago?? If so Ive got it.
What a GREAT interview!!!!
Been awhile since I watched it, but I think the JP drum solo isn't as long on the PT tour. There are two videos floating around out there of the
Cornerstone tour and I believe it's on one if not both of those. It may not be 15 mins long, but it's pretty long.