Dennis' Update

by **Ash** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:37 pm

Looks like Dennis updated the home page of his web site yesterday. Didn't see any post on here about it so I thought I would oblige:

Hey Everybody,

Long time no speak. I happened to look at my website and noticed me and Robin Gibb and talk about a German tour which I believe took place two weeks after the invasion of Normandy, so it might time for an update.

THE NEW BAND

With the additions of August Zadra and Craig Carter the sound the look and the spirit of the new band has reached heights I could have only dreamed of. This has begun stage two of my solo live performance career.

I began stage one of these solo journeys some 10 years ago with an out of the blue offer from Tim Orchard to put together an orchestra show for a single concert at the Rosemont Theater in 2000. I enlisted a group of fine musicians I had worked with several times in the past. There was no intention to create anything other than a good show with rock band and orchestra. Dawn Feusi was brought in to sing Styx harmony and perform selections from the Hunchback of Notre Dame as part of a retrospective on my career. This included Styx, my solo rock work and Broadway. Because of the success of this show I was chosen to be the pilot for the new Public Television Soundstage program. "Dennis DeYoung and Friends" went on to be the most lucrative pledge show for PBS from this series, pledging over 100 cities across the country raising over 2 million dollars in the process, thanks to viewers like you. From this initial concept I began to get offers to perform with and without the orchestra and simply kept the same band for both shows. My set list consisted of the Styx songs that I had written and sung and remained that way until January this year.

Hank Horton my bass player and high harmony singer informed me last fall that he would be leaving the band to play in the pit orchestra for 100 Dalmatians, so I was compelled to consider changes. As I searched for a bass player Craig Carter was suggested and a demo was sent." Great Caesars Ghost" was it good. Not only could he play bass and sing lead but he was an accomplished songwriter as well. So the search was over. Not so fast, late one night my son woke me at 12:30 at night and told me to go down to the computer and check out something he found on youtube. There was August Zadra singing Blue Collar Man in a Styx tribute band, "Mother Of Pearl" are you kidding me.. I knew then and there it was time for action .Needless to say my son Matthew is still in the will and may be receiving a slightly higher amount then my daughter CarrieAnn. (Not really). August was so good at recreating a sound that both you and I have come to love that I knew I must give this thing a shot. And what a shot it has been to me personally. When we perform our new show the audience is ecstatic for they're finally getting what they have wanted from the beginning and that's ALL the songs they have come to know and appreciate. No longer would they have to settle for less. Alleluia!

The new blood has given more responsibilities to Jimmy Leahy on lead guitar and brothers and sister he's laying down guitar work that's both dazzling and tasteful. Tom Sharpe has found the perfect balance between being true to John Panozzo and modernization, without trying to over complicate. Good drumming should always serve the song. John Blasucci continues to recreate layers of keyboards that best remind us of the brilliance of the original keyboardist.(Sorry John I couldn't help myself) These changes have also brought me back to the keys, something that many of you have been wanting for some time. I must admit it has been great fun reminding myself that I was the guy who invented that stuff and played it.

The interaction between August and Jimmy both musically and in terms of stage presence has made feel like I'm back in 1981 until I look in the mirror and wonder how my dad has gotten into this band.

Special thanks to August for authenticating a vital part to our sound and to Craig for the effortless high harmonies. (Remember dude as a rule I never higher any band mate taller than me so practice the crouch). As always Suzanne sings her heart and always has my back.

Finally if you haven't seen the new band I urge you to come out and take a look see, you won't be disappointed.

072910

by **brywool** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:17 am

Dennis has a great sense of humor. Love the line about his dad being in the band.
Some grammar checking would be good though.
By the way Dennis, while you're recreating your sound- Can I recreate your web site?
It's really pretty dated!

Seems like he kind of took kind of a shot at Todd's drumming there. I can't say I agree with that. The guy is one of the best drummers out there these days.

by **Toph** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:48 am

Well the strategy is clearly outlined here. Dennis's goal is to give his audiences ALL the Styx hits. Something that hasn't existed since at best..RTP (but even then they didn't touch Kilroy). His show is the best and most complete representation of STYX hits out there. And the most true sounding to the actual recordings. His goal is to out Styx thp band calling themselves Styx. Good for him. It takes balls to do this, but isn't it the best thing for the fans? Shouldn't you be able to get all the Styx songs you love for one concert ticket? This has the potential to be huge and be some sweet revenge against the carrots. I bet promoters figure this out. All Styx has is the name. Dennis has the material.

by **Archetype** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:09 am

brywool wrote:Dennis has a great sense of humor. Love the line about his dad being in the band.

He made a bunch of old jokes at his concert in Niagara Falls. He makes you laugh in a way that few performers can do. He's truly a great entertainer.

by **brywool** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:11 am

Archetype wrote:
brywool wrote:Dennis has a great sense of humor. Love the line about his dad being in the band.

He made a bunch of old jokes at his concert in Niagara Falls. He makes you laugh in a way that few performers can do. He's truly a great entertainer.

Yeah, his interviews are always funny too. Like I said, he's got a great sense of humor. I hope that he's lost some of his standard Styx banter and replaced it with other stuff.

by **yogi** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:35 am

They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

by **froy** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 2:56 am

yogi wrote:They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

No Thanks I would walk when Gowan opened his trap

by **Abitaman** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:40 am

brywool wrote:Dennis has a great sense of humor. Love the line about his dad being in the band.
Some grammar checking would be good though.
By the way Dennis, while you're recreating your sound- Can I recreate your web site?
It's really pretty dated!

Seems like he kind of took kind of a shot at Todd's drumming there. I can't say I agree with that. The guy is one of the best drummers out there these days.

I did not take it as that.

by **brywool** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:48 am

Abitaman wrote:
brywool wrote:Seems like he kind of took kind of a shot at Todd's drumming there.

I did not take it as that.

I dunno. Seemed like it. He's entitled to that. They're his songs after all, but still...

by **kansas666** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:55 am

yogi wrote:They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

A couple of months ago I would have laughed at that proposition.

But now that his band has stepped up, it could make for a very compelling opportunity for a promoter somewhere.

by **Everett** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 4:15 am

froy wrote:
yogi wrote:They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

No Thanks I would walk when Gowan opened his trap

Too bad you'd miss a hell of a performance

by **styxfanNH** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:44 am

Abitaman wrote:
brywool wrote:Dennis has a great sense of humor. Love the line about his dad being in the band.
Some grammar checking would be good though.
By the way Dennis, while you're recreating your sound- Can I recreate your web site?
It's really pretty dated!

Seems like he kind of took kind of a shot at Todd's drumming there. I can't say I agree with that. The guy is one of the best drummers out there these days.

I did not take it as that.

I didn't take it as that either, but could see how you could. The bigger shot was at JY. The hits people want to hear are his or Tommy's....

by **styxfanNH** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:46 am

He pretty much says what those of us that have seen the show have said. New info here was that Craig is a song writer and he considers this the second phase of his solo career. Let the new material flow....

by **styxfanNH** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:46 am

Odd that there was no mention of Tommy Dzaillo leaving, but mention of Hank.

by **Ash** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:08 am

My bet... Tommy didn't "leave" .... he was "let go".

by **Everett** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:14 am

Ash wrote:My bet... Tommy didn't "leave" .... he was "let go".

Or took the highway

by **Ash** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:53 am

Everett wrote:
Ash wrote:My bet... Tommy didn't "leave" .... he was "let go".

Or took the highway

Who knows... I was never really enamored with how Tommy played the classic Styx stuff. He was good enough for the solo stuff, but to hear him play the guitar on Rockin' The Paradise just left something woefully to be desired. He was nice enough and all... I rode the elevator with him at the first Glen/DDY show in Morristown, NJ way back when as we both happened to be in the same hotel. But .... I just was never a big fan I suppose.

by **Boomchild** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:11 pm

Ash wrote:
Everett wrote:
Ash wrote:My bet... Tommy didn't "leave" .... he was "let go".

Or took the highway

Who knows... I was never really enamored with how Tommy played the classic Styx stuff. He was good enough for the solo stuff, but to hear him play the guitar on Rockin' The Paradise just left something woefully to be desired. He was nice enough and all... I rode the elevator with him at the first Glen/DDY show in Morristown, NJ way back when as we both happened to be in the same hotel. But .... I just was never a big fan I suppose.

I always felt that he was more of a studio musician then a on stage performer. He seemed to lack any stage presence.

by **Boomchild** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:16 pm

Everett wrote:
Ash wrote:My bet... Tommy didn't "leave" .... he was "let go".

Or took the highway

Maybe he was sick and could not start the tour as planned. So Dennis went on without him. I think Dennis learned somewhere that is what you are supposed to do in that situation.

by **Boomchild** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:19 pm

yogi wrote:They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

If by some chance this were to come up, I think it would never get off the ground. I could just imagine the arguments over who is going to open and who is going to close the shows.

by **Mr JY Roboto** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 12:30 pm

Toph wrote:Well the strategy is clearly outlined here. Dennis's goal is to give his audiences ALL the Styx hits. Something that hasn't existed since at best..RTP (but even then they didn't touch Kilroy). His show is the best and most complete representation of STYX hits out there. And the most true sounding to the actual recordings. His goal is to out Styx thp band calling themselves Styx. Good for him. It takes balls to do this, but isn't it the best thing for the fans? Shouldn't you be able to get all the Styx songs you love for one concert ticket? This has the potential to be huge and be some sweet revenge against the carrots. I bet promoters figure this out. All Styx has is the name. Dennis has the material.

Strategy/Out Styx the band calling themselves Styx....laughable. If you were in Dennis' shoes that would be YOUR motivation, not the real Dennis. He is past all that petty bullshit..why can't you be.

by **Boomchild** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:55 pm

Mr JY Roboto wrote:
Toph wrote:Well the strategy is clearly outlined here. Dennis's goal is to give his audiences ALL the Styx hits. Something that hasn't existed since at best..RTP (but even then they didn't touch Kilroy). His show is the best and most complete representation of STYX hits out there. And the most true sounding to the actual recordings. His goal is to out Styx thp band calling themselves Styx. Good for him. It takes balls to do this, but isn't it the best thing for the fans? Shouldn't you be able to get all the Styx songs you love for one concert ticket? This has the potential to be huge and be some sweet revenge against the carrots. I bet promoters figure this out. All Styx has is the name. Dennis has the material.

Strategy/Out Styx the band calling themselves Styx....laughable. If you were in Dennis' shoes that would be YOUR motivation, not the real Dennis. He is past all that petty bullshit..why can't you be.

My thoughts exactly. He seems to be focused and on a roll. He is able to what he wants, when he wants.

by **brywool** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:54 am

Boomchild wrote:
My thoughts exactly. He seems to be focused and on a roll. He is able to what he wants, when he wants.

That's what I've been saying. Everybody in the situation got what they wanted. For Dennis, it took awhile, but everybody seems happy these days. So to keep whining about it just seems so dumb.

by **Archetype** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:56 am

yogi wrote:They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

I saw Styx June 24th and Dennis DeYoung on June 25th. That's pretty close to a double bill, and I'll say that Styx would be very foolish to sign off on such an gig.

by **brywool** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:11 am

Archetype wrote:
yogi wrote:They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

What a GREAT show this would be!!

I saw Styx June 24th and Dennis DeYoung on June 25th. That's pretty close to a double bill, and I'll say that Styx would be very foolish to sign off on such an gig.

The two bands really need to make sure they're on opposite ends of the country on their tours. Kind of lame that there are two concerts playing nearly the same stuff...

by **froy** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:12 am

"Archetype"They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

I saw Styx June 24th and Dennis DeYoung on June 25th. That's pretty close to a double bill, and I'll say that Styx would be very foolish to sign off on such an gig.

Your right why be out done by a better band. Who happens to sing the same songs and more.
No Thanks I have 0 intrest in seeing Gowan run around in circles

by **Boomchild** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:18 pm

froy wrote:
"Archetype"They need to double bill together and let the fans decide.

I saw Styx June 24th and Dennis DeYoung on June 25th. That's pretty close to a double bill, and I'll say that Styx would be very foolish to sign off on such an gig.

Your right why be out done by a better band. Who happens to sing the same songs and more.
No Thanks I have 0 intrest in seeing Gowan run around in circles

Maybe Gowan is just chasing his tail? :lol:

MR

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