Classic JY - the genius of the band
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:38 pmStumbled on the following this evening. I love JY's proclamation of how wonderful the Gowan years have been. Doofus.
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/mundelein/e ... s1.article
By BLAIR R. FISCHER bfischer@pioneerlocal.com
Nowadays it seems more uncommon for classic rock bands not to perform one of their essential albums in its entirety while on tour than the other way around. Groups as far ranging as Steely Dan and Aerosmith to Motley Crue and The Pixies to Illinois-area artists Cheap Trick and Local H have all been among the growing throng of artists who've performed at least one of their albums from start to finish on tour in the last few years. Styx, too, will join the queue this fall, albeit with one major twist: Instead of doing one album in its entirety, the Chicago area troupe will perform both 1977's "The Grand Illusion" and 1978's "Pieces of Eight" successively each night, including at the Genessee Theatre in Waukegan on Oct. 16.
Pioneer Press spoke to founding member/guitarists/vocalist James "JY" Young about surviving the show-truncating thunderstorm during Styx's last Chicago area performance, the possibility of reuniting with original lead singer Dennis DeYoung, and the travails of playing two classic albums back to back.
Q: When Styx last played Chicago, you headlined a show with Foreigner and Kansas at the Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island. Your set was cut short because of a particularly angry thunderstorm. What do you remember about that night?
A: Well, I always love when the elements add a special bit of special effect to what's going to the music because, as human beings, we can't conjure up that kind of power. It was kind of amazing to have the wind blowing up like that, standing up there, and playing the guitar solo and all of the sudden the speakers, instead of facing the crowd, were kind of facing towards me. So, I had the biggest guitar amp I've ever had by a longshot. The adrenaline's going so I don't really consider the type of danger I'm in, but I was thinking a lot about perhaps getting a fan injured and that's not a good thing. People around us said, "We better call this thing."
Q: So many bands these days are performing an album in its entirety, but you're doing two.
A: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Q: Why those albums, in particular?
A: Well, "The Grand Illusion" is our most popular and "Pieces of Eight" is another we also draw from heavily. My favorite era of Styx music, personally, is starting with "Equinox" in '75 through "Pieces of Eight." Then Dennis decided to go in a much softer direction with his writing, which was not something I was particularly keen of.
Q: So it's safe to say you won't be doing 1979's "Cornerstone" [which featured the schmaltzy ballad "Babe"] in its entirety?
A: My guess is that that won't happen ever.
Q: What were the hardest songs to remember?
A: There were some songs we've never played off those albums, like "Superstars" on "The Grand Illusion." We may have played "Castle Walls" a little bit, but not much. I don't know if we ever performed "The Grand Finale." We used it forever as something we would take our bows to because it's only a couple minutes long. And then on "Pieces of Eight," we never did "Lords of the Ring" live. And the song "Pieces of Eight," we probably only did on that tour back in '78. There's at least three songs I believe we never performed, and there were a number of others that haven't been performed in the last 30 years.
Q: And you're going to retain the sequence?
A: That's the notion.
Q: Does that make it difficult because often the hits tend to be on the first half of the album, which can disrupt pacing in a live setting?
A: It's kind of interesting because usually side A is filled with major key songs and side B is the minor key songs. You start out with "The Grand Illusion," which is a great opening song, and then "Fooling Yourself," "Superstars," and "Come Sail Away." That's an incredibly powerful opening and "Come Sail Away" comes much earlier in the set then we'd normally play it. But then the second side is the darker side of that album. Then onto "Pieces of Eight." But the most known songs of "Pieces of Eight" are actually on the minor key side, so we're doing the most known songs from "Grand Illusion" to start the evening and the most known songs from "Pieces of Eight" close the evening. The pacing to me is far from ideal.
Q: The current incarnation of Styx has re-recorded a bunch of songs from "The Grand Illusion" and "Pieces of Eight" for an EP called "Regeneration, Volume 1," which you'll sell at the shows. What was the thinking behind doing that?
A: There's a sense that (because) this line-up has kind of existed for a little over 10 years, and it's doing wonderfully, that it's just a way to put some nuances from the stage shows that weren't in the original recordings. Plus it's a representation of what the band is like live for the last 10 concert seasons and the next 12 concert seasons, as far as I'm concerned.
Q: When was the last time you spoke with Dennis DeYoung?
A: The last time I talked to him was June 1999. Unless you want to call him suing us in federal court in 2000 communication.
Q: Is there any chance for reconciliation?
A: What'd I say in VH1's "Behind the Music?" When they're playing hockey on the river Styx.
Q: That "Behind the Music" is an all-time classic.
We've played at Super Bowls. We never did when Dennis was in the band, but we've done two since (he left) and for both of them Sting somehow happened to be there. And we were label mates with The Police and I became friendly with all three of those guys. So we were talking to Sting (at the Super Bowl) and (singer/keyboarist) Lawrence (Gowan) had never met him. Lawrence says to Sting, "I don't know if you know who I am." And Sting says, "Yeah, I've seen you in your 'Behind the Music.' It's my favorite soap opera.'"
Styx
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/mundelein/e ... s1.article
By BLAIR R. FISCHER bfischer@pioneerlocal.com
Nowadays it seems more uncommon for classic rock bands not to perform one of their essential albums in its entirety while on tour than the other way around. Groups as far ranging as Steely Dan and Aerosmith to Motley Crue and The Pixies to Illinois-area artists Cheap Trick and Local H have all been among the growing throng of artists who've performed at least one of their albums from start to finish on tour in the last few years. Styx, too, will join the queue this fall, albeit with one major twist: Instead of doing one album in its entirety, the Chicago area troupe will perform both 1977's "The Grand Illusion" and 1978's "Pieces of Eight" successively each night, including at the Genessee Theatre in Waukegan on Oct. 16.
Pioneer Press spoke to founding member/guitarists/vocalist James "JY" Young about surviving the show-truncating thunderstorm during Styx's last Chicago area performance, the possibility of reuniting with original lead singer Dennis DeYoung, and the travails of playing two classic albums back to back.
Q: When Styx last played Chicago, you headlined a show with Foreigner and Kansas at the Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island. Your set was cut short because of a particularly angry thunderstorm. What do you remember about that night?
A: Well, I always love when the elements add a special bit of special effect to what's going to the music because, as human beings, we can't conjure up that kind of power. It was kind of amazing to have the wind blowing up like that, standing up there, and playing the guitar solo and all of the sudden the speakers, instead of facing the crowd, were kind of facing towards me. So, I had the biggest guitar amp I've ever had by a longshot. The adrenaline's going so I don't really consider the type of danger I'm in, but I was thinking a lot about perhaps getting a fan injured and that's not a good thing. People around us said, "We better call this thing."
Q: So many bands these days are performing an album in its entirety, but you're doing two.
A: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Q: Why those albums, in particular?
A: Well, "The Grand Illusion" is our most popular and "Pieces of Eight" is another we also draw from heavily. My favorite era of Styx music, personally, is starting with "Equinox" in '75 through "Pieces of Eight." Then Dennis decided to go in a much softer direction with his writing, which was not something I was particularly keen of.
Q: So it's safe to say you won't be doing 1979's "Cornerstone" [which featured the schmaltzy ballad "Babe"] in its entirety?
A: My guess is that that won't happen ever.
Q: What were the hardest songs to remember?
A: There were some songs we've never played off those albums, like "Superstars" on "The Grand Illusion." We may have played "Castle Walls" a little bit, but not much. I don't know if we ever performed "The Grand Finale." We used it forever as something we would take our bows to because it's only a couple minutes long. And then on "Pieces of Eight," we never did "Lords of the Ring" live. And the song "Pieces of Eight," we probably only did on that tour back in '78. There's at least three songs I believe we never performed, and there were a number of others that haven't been performed in the last 30 years.
Q: And you're going to retain the sequence?
A: That's the notion.
Q: Does that make it difficult because often the hits tend to be on the first half of the album, which can disrupt pacing in a live setting?
A: It's kind of interesting because usually side A is filled with major key songs and side B is the minor key songs. You start out with "The Grand Illusion," which is a great opening song, and then "Fooling Yourself," "Superstars," and "Come Sail Away." That's an incredibly powerful opening and "Come Sail Away" comes much earlier in the set then we'd normally play it. But then the second side is the darker side of that album. Then onto "Pieces of Eight." But the most known songs of "Pieces of Eight" are actually on the minor key side, so we're doing the most known songs from "Grand Illusion" to start the evening and the most known songs from "Pieces of Eight" close the evening. The pacing to me is far from ideal.
Q: The current incarnation of Styx has re-recorded a bunch of songs from "The Grand Illusion" and "Pieces of Eight" for an EP called "Regeneration, Volume 1," which you'll sell at the shows. What was the thinking behind doing that?
A: There's a sense that (because) this line-up has kind of existed for a little over 10 years, and it's doing wonderfully, that it's just a way to put some nuances from the stage shows that weren't in the original recordings. Plus it's a representation of what the band is like live for the last 10 concert seasons and the next 12 concert seasons, as far as I'm concerned.
Q: When was the last time you spoke with Dennis DeYoung?
A: The last time I talked to him was June 1999. Unless you want to call him suing us in federal court in 2000 communication.
Q: Is there any chance for reconciliation?
A: What'd I say in VH1's "Behind the Music?" When they're playing hockey on the river Styx.
Q: That "Behind the Music" is an all-time classic.
We've played at Super Bowls. We never did when Dennis was in the band, but we've done two since (he left) and for both of them Sting somehow happened to be there. And we were label mates with The Police and I became friendly with all three of those guys. So we were talking to Sting (at the Super Bowl) and (singer/keyboarist) Lawrence (Gowan) had never met him. Lawrence says to Sting, "I don't know if you know who I am." And Sting says, "Yeah, I've seen you in your 'Behind the Music.' It's my favorite soap opera.'"
Styx
