DeYoung interview-Canton Rep

[sadie65]

http://www.cantonrep.com/entertainment/ ... rm-July-17


The best of times at Clay's Park: DeYoung to perform July 17
By Dan Kane
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Jul 09, 2009 @ 04:38 PM

Dennis DeYoung was working on the score for a stage-musical version of “101 Dalmations” when he phoned the other day.

It’s not so surprising when you think about it. Theatrics long have been a part of DeYoung’s musical style, from Mr. Roboto to Cruella DeVille.

About half the songs on his new solo album, “One Hundred Years From Now,” could fit into a Broadway show. But other tunes, such as “Private Jones” and “Turn Off CNN,” rock with authority. DeYoung used to be the vocalist for the rock band Styx, after all.

Launched with the hit single “Lady” in 1975, Styx has sold more than 35 million albums worldwide, and scored nine top-10 singles. DeYoung wrote eight of them including “Lady,” “Come Sail Away,” “Mr. Roboto,” “The Best of Times” and “Babe.”

Styx split up in 1984, then reunited for tours in 1996, ’97 and ’98. DeYoung left permanently in 1999. Today, he and Styx continue to tour separately playing Styx music.

On July 17, DeYoung will take his soaring vocals to the stage of the Rock N Resort Festival at Clay’s Park. His wife of 38 years, Suzanne, is a backing vocalist in his band.

In conversation, DeYoung, 62, was energetic, candid and witty. Excerpts follow.

Q. I was just listening to your new CD. Will you be playing much of it at your show here?

A. No. I will mix in two or three new songs, but the majority are the big ones. They are paying to come hear them and relive their memories of a time when music and youth and freedom all mixed together to give them the illusion of no responsibility. That’s what this music means to people. I know that’s what it does to me.

Q. How has your voice held up through the years? You sound strong on the new CD.

A. I’ve gotten better. That album has no pitch correction. Every note was played and sung as is.

Q. How many concerts are you doing this year?

A. Forty shows. I did 65 or 70 last year, did a tour of Germany. At some point you’ve got to be aware of your age.

Q. Which song gets the biggest crowd reaction at your shows?

A. Usually it’s “Come Sail Away.” That song, of everything I’ve written, is the one where people can sing every word, including both verses from start to finish. I’m in awe of that. A close second would be “Roboto” and “Lady.” They get the same response. People love to sing “The Best of Times.”

Q. How about “Babe”?

A. “Babe” is where people seem to exhale. That’s a song that’s very reflective of who they were with when the song was popular and who they had sex with. (Chuckles) People tell me these things, and that’s knowledge I don’t need!

Q. Are you in touch with the other guys from Styx?

A. We haven’t been in touch for almost 10 years.

Q. But you’ll be standing next to them when Styx gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, right?

A. Well yes, but I’m not so sure that is likely to happen. All I have to say about the Rock Hall of Fame is, would I like to? Yes. Do we deserve to? Well, I see a lot of people in there who meant less. Last year, they inducted Leonard Cohen. I respect him for his achievements, but the Rock Hall of Fame? On what possible criteria? The songwriter hall of fame, certainly, but the rock hall?

Q. Styx is one of many bands that scored a string of big hits but never got a lick of critical respect.

A. Styx, Foreigner, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Journey were all staples, bands whose music continues to please people, but they were of an era that was deemed either too mainstream or corporate, whatever that meant. It was the label put on us by critics who loved the Ramones.

Q. When Styx was hugely popular, did it ever get overwhelming?

A. It was never overwhelming because it happened to us gradually. It wasn’t like Hootie & the Blowfish or Alanis Morissette, where one day you woke up and you’d sold 12 million albums. I fully expected what happened to us would happen — that’s what dreams are about. I didn’t dream of playing the Elks Club Friday night at the fish fry.

Q. You guys were pretty huge.

A. I guess for us what was overwhelming was that from 1972 through 1983, we released on average an album every 12 months, and in between that we were on the road. It’s still the greatest job in the world, but think about people who go on vacation maybe one or two weeks a year, and even that can be exhausting. Traveling musicians are constantly facing the disconnectedness of being away from home. It comes down to the essentials of “Where’s my food, bed and toilet?”

Q. Let’s talk about the Volkswagen commercial that used “Mr. Roboto.” That had to inspire some new fans.

A. That commercial ran for two years! What it did was allow that song to become part of popular culture. “Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto” has become part of the vernacular. I’d been offered lots of commercials using my music, a fast-food chain and an oil company to name two, and I turned them all down. But when I got offered a Roboto commercial for a car stereo, how do you not do that? I re-recorded the song for it.

Q. The music industry is so fragmented nowadays. Any thoughts on that?

A. I lived at the greatest time in the history of mankind to be a musician, from the end of the ’60s through the middle of the ’80s. There was still a common culture, and the audience was not distracted by new technological inventions. Music was the sole outlet for young people’s lives.

Q. You sound like a fulfilled man, Dennis.

A. You know how lucky I am? I play a few notes of a song I wrote 35 years ago and people scream! If you don’t enjoy that, you may have made a poor career choice.

[Babyblue]

Thanks for sharing this. He was great then and still is.

[bugsymalone]

You know how lucky I am? I play a few notes of a song I wrote 35 years ago and people scream! If you don’t enjoy that, you may have made a poor career choice.

LOL. How true!


Bugsy

[LordofDaRing]

Yeah counter this to Tod Rundgren's attitude. He refuses to play Hello its me and I saw the light. His two most well known songs and two great songs I might add. What is the issue? Billy Joel tried to skip out on Piano Man for a while and even dropped Just the way you are because it was about his first wife and he was on #2 or #3 by that time. He put them back in.

[Rockwriter]

Yeah counter this to Tod Rundgren's attitude. He refuses to play Hello its me and I saw the light. His two most well known songs and two great songs I might add. What is the issue? Billy Joel tried to skip out on Piano Man for a while and even dropped Just the way you are because it was about his first wife and he was on #2 or #3 by that time. He put them back in.

I can understand why artists feel that way, but of course every job has things you don't really want to do but have to. In watching Private Sessions the other day, one thing that struck me is that Dennis imbued "100 Years From Now" with far more passion than his other performances. Maybe I'm reading into it, but it seemed to me that he tore that one up compared to the older hits, and perhaps because it's still fresh to him. Everything else was a pretty straight reading, I felt. For me personally, I could never play the same songs over and over and pretend to like it. I have an inborn need to move on to the next thing. Lots of artists do. That's the problem with success, is the fact that it has to be repeated ad nauseam (as Bill Bruford would say, LOL).

I hope all is well.

Sterling

[cinj]

Yeah counter this to Tod Rundgren's attitude. He refuses to play Hello its me and I saw the light. His two most well known songs and two great songs I might add. What is the issue? Billy Joel tried to skip out on Piano Man for a while and even dropped Just the way you are because it was about his first wife and he was on #2 or #3 by that time. He put them back in.

Actually, Billy Joel dropped the JTWYA because he felt like he was on "auto pilot" when he sang it. He stated he was so bored singing it that his mind would wander. He felt that was cheating the audience when that happened, so he dropped the song. I never had a problem with that because he has SO MANY hits. Someone like Rundgren, however - well, he doesn't have a lot of easily recognizable material, so I would be pretty disappointed if he left those songs out.

Cinj

[LordofDaRing]

Yeah wasn't he thinking about the prime rib at the hotel he was staying at during that partiuclar song and completely flubbed the words or something...

[Toph]

Yeah wasn't he thinking about the prime rib at the hotel he was staying at during that partiuclar song and completely flubbed the words or something...

He was probably thinking about his next drink...