MR

From Steve and DeDe's Dawn Patrol with Mad Dog on 96.7, The Eagle....I herd the whole interview but caught most of it on tape...Here's what went down....

Steve: James Young of Styx on the phone, how are you doing, James???

JY: Alright...

Steve: Good morning, thanks for getting up early to join us...

JY: Is this Steve???

Steve: Yes, Steve, DeDe, and Maddog all here on the Dawn Patrol..James, of course, one of the original members of Styx going all the way back.....

DeDe: I bet you love when you get back to Chicago to play...

JY: There's no place like home but there's so many damn relatives and friends that want to come to the show.....(D.J.'s Laughing)

Steve: You barely can get a moment of sleep when you're in town....(JY Laughing)....I got to ask you something...I herd this rumor that Dennis Deyoung quit the group because he was allergic to the sun or was that just a load???

JY: Well, he definitely has a sensitivity to light.......Uhhhh......He says and that was the reason why he couldn't go out on the road with us in 99 and we had all these other wonderful things happening..Like Adam Sandler with the Big Daddy movie where he used three of our songs and there was dialog saying how great the band was which reached a lot of people that might not otherwise be Styx fans which was a great thing for us to capitalize on...
There was South Park with Come Sail Away, there was Roboto in the V.W. commercial, there was public television, a hundred stations airing our concert from 96 which we had self produced....All these things and Dennis felt like he wasn't up to doing it and we felt like that these things don't fall into your lap all at once, you know, so you can stay home.. We got to go out and take advantage of this..We've been sitting around long enough as it is...

Steve: Yea, you guys are working musicians...You guys aren't sitting around just collecting royalties...

JY: We really love performing live..There's no greater hi for me weather drug induced or not...(laughter)... And this is the man( Dennis) that had really stood in the way for us doing the better part of 15 years and I said we can't allow him to stop us anymore...We just said that we got to go and we invited him to join us for part of it or for some of it or even a little of it, but he wouldn't even get in his car to drive downtown to play in front of 70,000 people for the Taste Of Chicago that year, the day of our record(BNW) was coming out and the Adam Sandler movie was being released...I just figured he inclined....

Steve: Yea, he's pretty much done with the deal....

JY: We have to move foward, honestly he is a talented guy and he is in better shape now...

Steve and DeDe: Yea...

Steve: We were at the Conclave and we saw him play the piano...His voice is still great...

JY: He's a very talented guy...It's just like Shaq had to go off to Maimi now because he didn't want to be with Kobe anymore...

Maddog: Wait a minute, one of you Kobe by any chance???( Laughter)

JY: Let's see, who could be Kobe here...( Laughter)...

Steve: Who did you hire to take his( Dennis) place???

JY: The Canadian Rock phenomenon, the biggest thing on the charts in the middle of the 80's in Canada was a fellow by the name of Lawrence Gowan who is a classicly trained pianist, went to the Conservatory, can actually play, in my mind, circles around Dennis and he is a much more athletic perfomer..He's got a different voice..It's like replacing David Lee Roth with Sammy, it's not the same voice but it's somebody that can still bring a whole lot of Rock and Roll to those songs...

DeDe: And he apparently likes the sunlight???

JY: Does he ever...He suffers fron cronic entertainer syndrome...You can't turn him off....(laughter)

Steve: The last time I saw you was........Uhhhhh.....Let me think.......In 94...

JY: We did a reunion tour in 96...

Steve: Yea, it was 96, that's it....

James: We went on tour with Pat Benatar as our support the following year...

Steve: You guys still shake it up man...It's a great show with lots of energy and Rock and Roll music....

JY: I believe the band is the best that its ever been at this stage...Sadly when our drummer, John Panozzo, passed away back in 96, we, of course, had to go out and replace him, the young man that grew up in the North side suburbs of Chicago, Todd Sucherman, to me is the best drummer in Rock and Roll...It's a joy for me to stand on stage with him...He tips his hat to John everytime he sits behind the kit...He's got chops that just don't quit..He brings an energy to all of us that's an inspiration...

(Commercial Break...From the break Steve says let's play a Styx song...DeDe asks Mr. Roboto and steve says no, we're going to Rock the Paradise....1928 A.D. and Rockin the Paradise was played....)

Steve: James Young on the phone..We made refference to what Dennis DeYoung is up to these days....( Opening of Roboto from his Live CD is being played)...Dennis is recording with a symphony orchestra...

DeDe: Yes and he's touring with them as well...

Steve: His CD is the music of Styx..Here it is a clip from Mr. Roboto( Roboto opening still being played)....

DeDe: I feel like I'm on hold with the telephone company..Don't you?? Or the airlines...

Steve: Sounds like something from a Disney movie or something....( He sings: All New World)

DeDe: A boy befriends a robot...

Steve: (Music stops) That was a clip...Not to insult James Young..James, John Panozzo passed away back in 96..What ultimately did him in...

JY: Well, John was a guy that in many ways that the band was everthing to and when Dennis decided to go off and do his own thing back in 83, John wound up getting divorced after that and became the king of Rush Street for a while and his liver did him in....

Steve: Again you got a great band put together and some dates in the area and the Anthology CD coming out as well...

JY: Anthology was actually released on May 4th and it's the most complete career retrospective that's ever been issued on the band, 35 songs spanning from the beginning of our career as a recording act in 1972 up until, uhhh, we have one track from last year's studio album Cyclorama...

Steve: You have everthing on here from Show Me The Way to Come Sail Away to Lorelei to The Best Of Times and Mr. Roboto and Don't Let It End...

(Please note that Don't Let It End is not on the track list...)

JY: Oh Yea..

DeDe: And it's not backed by a symphony orchestra....(laughter).... Like some other members of the band...

JY: No it's not...

Steve and DeDe singing mockingly: Domo Arigoto Mr. Roboto...



Last part of the interview JY was asked does he ever have the problem with the song Mr. Roboto getting stuck in his head.. His reply is that Styx never really done that song in its entirety..When they did that song in 83 it was done to tape... Now they just really touch on it for 30 seconds and it's off to the next song as part of the medley...
JY was asked Cubs or Sox fan and he replies that he goes both ways when it comes to his baseball teams, whoever eeks out a win...
Then they talk about performing at the Vic theatre in Chicago just coming off a tour with Peter Frampton as co-headliners....

That's it...DeeJay.....

Wow......I've seen the light ! J.Y. is right, GOWAN plays circles around Dennis !!! In fact, it's a wonder Styx ever became famous at all with such a remedial talent on Keyboards ! It's very fortunate Jimmy Page
was in the band, er, uh, I mean J.Y. playing lead.....if Styx had a remedial talent like Eric Clapton instead of him, those whole Styx thing just never would have worked ! ( whew ! )

Just imagine how GREAT the band would have been if only GOWAN had been in it the whole time, instead of that no-talent ballad loving wimp DeYoung........Surely Miss America would have propelled Grand Illusion
to top 10 status.........Eddie most certainly would have taken Cornerstone to the top, and been a number 1 hit ! and Half Penny-Two Penny was a CLASSIC that deserved all the airplay in 81 !!

Too bad that bastard Dennis held them all back form real fame and fortune !

Can they do an interview with JY where it's not 75% about Dennis DeYoung? Can't they fucking talk about themselves instead of Dennis? I though the purpose was to promote what you were doing and get people interested, not in trying to tear down the history that 90% of your fans know.

What a bunch of asshats. The only reason to interview JY these days is to take pot-shots at dennis.

I'm putting all my James Young shit on ebay. Fuck this asshole. (sorry for the tude..... I'm just over this fucktard)

JY did say some nice things about Dennis. He's right that Gowan can play and perform better. That doesn't make Dennis nothing-he's an awesome talent himself and I'd welcome him back, but Gowan is great.
Why do you even own JY things to burn? His solo stuff is so hideous you should've burned that crap long ago.
I also think DDY's solo career is pelican poop. He needs to get a clue and start writing real music again, which I doubt he's interested in.

The great thing about music, or any art form, is that people can have diversity in their choices. I much prefer DDY's stuff to Jy's anyday (big shock there huh ).

As for JY, well, from the sounds of that interview, those DJ's seemed to be leading the way. Should JY have taken a different course? I think so. But then, well, it seems that in all his interviews of late, his answers are like a broken record. I guess I should infer from them, he has nothing new or of merit to say these days. It's just too bad he hasn't figured that out yet.

I must admit, I've come to expect these answers from JY. Sadly...sigh

Peace,

Sadie

JY is pretty much sounding like a broken record as of late. Nothing new to say. Dennis-bashing abounds in his comments.

What ALWAYS kills me is whenever they go through all the beating up on Dennis, when they start talking the MUSIC, what do they talk about? --- Everything DENNIS wrote and sang. Without exception.

We never hear them mention the "great" hits James Young or even Tommy Shaw produced for the band. No, only the stuff that untalented, illness-faking, DeYoung guy carried them to the top of the charts with.

And the laughable part is that both the interviewers and JY, in this interview, were too stupid to make that connection.

Bugsy

One more comment...I'm sure Gowan can play circles around Dennis...after all, he does have that revolving keyboard!!!!! All in good fun folks.

Sadie

sadie65 wrote:One more comment...I'm sure Gowan can play circles around Dennis...after all, he does have that revolving keyboard!!!!! All in good fun folks.

Sadie

Actually, Dennis only performs on piano for how many songs during his show? Maybe HALF? Seems to me that Gowan very well could play some of those songs better then Dennis and nobody really knows one way or the other since you don't know what Dennis sounds like.

Is Dennis suppose to play the piano/keyboards during his solo tour?

Larry only plays live with his twirling keyboards on a couple songs. Majority of the keyboard playing are programmed.

I don't have anything against Larry's playing, climbing & jumping all over his keyboards, even though *I* personally think it's kind of funny. I don't have any of Larry's solo cd's or video tapes to determine "who is a better keyboard player".

As for JY's recent comments, YAWN

He should just move on and talk about the current line-up and all the touring. Sheesh!! As for these interviewers, they need to move on too. I think they all watch a little too much of "Behind The Music".

Someone that knows the history of the band should conduct an interview with JY and ask questions that have to do with the music of Styx. I'm sure it would be a decent and positive interview. Hmmmm

Wasn't it just Dennis & JY that re-recorded "Mr. Roboto" for the VW Commercial? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm so glad Tommy has moved on. I haven't seen anything negative for about a year now.

I'm so glad Tommy has moved on. I haven't seen anything negative for about a year now.

I am wondering if Tommy is well aware of how the questioning on these interviews inevitably goes and simply does not want to go there anymore. And good for him if that is true.

JY, on the other hand, seems not to be able to let go of his anger nor his bitterness towards Dennis.

My feeling is JY could simply deflect many of these questions, but often goes along with the negativity, sometimes it seems, with apparent glee.

As to keyboard skills. Apples and Oranges. Dennis has nothing to "prove" on the keyboards anymore. The Styx recordings can speak to that. His current concert tour is all about the voice.

Gowan's skills are fine for what he does and JY is right. He is all about the entertainment.

However, I found the comparison of the change in singers, Gowan vs. DeYoung a bit disingenuous. Not so much Haggar for Roth as Donald Duck for DeYoung.

Bugsy

Sadie,

You are right on about the DJ's...They stated about a half an hour before the interview that they were going to dig up the dirt as to why Dennis wasn't in the band anymore...Plus their atitude toward Dennis's CD, his tour with the orchestra, and their commentary during the Roboto opening showed a total lack of respect for the guy....They pretty much stuck their nose up at the idea of Dennis backed by an orchestra without them actually attending his show and they made it sound like the orchestra travels with Dennis from city to city...

Plus Steve acted like a complete bozo during the interview....."One of the original members of Styx"(Last original member you dumb ass)...." Oh yea you really have a great band put together now....The last time I saw you was back in 94"."Oh 96, that's right"( Oh Golly Gee)....And Don't Let It End on the Anthology????? Where?????Not to insult JY( Steve's line), but I find it humorous that Steve was rattling off all of Dennis's songs on the Anthology and none of JY's or Tommy's (Bugsy's point).....

BP 69,

True, JY had some good things to say about Dennis but he continues to rotate the reasons why Dennis is no longer with the band...The last interview was Rock.com Where he said that Dennis made 10 from broadway in 94 and it's nowhere on the radar of what he wanted to do in music so when Tommy came back they decide to make a change...Plus his attitude toward Dennis going solo being reffered as Dennis decided to go do his thing in 83 (actually 84) but it's O.K. for Tommy to quit the band to go solo.......Oh, btw, I happen to like some of Dennis's solo work...Black Wall for instance, for Vietnam War Veterans....

Classic and Ash

I feel your pain...But I think JY is stuck on the song Idea of "Don't Let It End"......

Bugsy,

I think JY did make that connection...He said "Yea" kind of shockingly....

Monker,

About Dennis's solo tour, Suite is right that Dennis is in the spotlight mainly for his voice and the songs that he is generally known for as opposed to when he was in Styx, the band as a whole was showcased and Dennis was counted on for his Keyboard duties....




DeeJay.....

SuiteMadameBlue wrote:Is Dennis suppose to play the piano/keyboards during his solo tour?

Just saying that you can't compare the two very well since DDY doesn't play the keys as much as Gowan does. Too bad that DDY fans can't hear him play as much as Styx fans get to hear Gowan cover his keys just fine.

Larry only plays live with his twirling keyboards on a couple songs. Majority of the keyboard playing are programmed.

You have gone on and on about this. PROVE IT. Where is some hard verifiable evidence that the keyboards are preprogrammed and Gowan isn't playing live?

I don't have anything against Larry's playing, climbing & jumping all over his keyboards, even though *I* personally think it's kind of funny.

too bad that Gowan acts more like Jerry Lee Lewis then DDY ever has.

It may be funny for you...But, that style of playing has been fun and entertaining for fans for 50yrs or so.

too bad that Gowan acts more like Jerry Lee Lewis then DDY ever has.

Gowan is a good imitator and that's about all.
I will take the original any day than some cheap copy cat

I just think it's odd that JY feels the need to belittle Dennis's talent on the Keyboards........I dont remember anyone ( critics ) complaining about his abilities back when Styx was at their Zenith...

I suppose the band all needs to jump around and twirl their instruments a whole lot more now than they did when they had the money to put on a bigger production.....sad thing is, they are all in, or approaching middle age, when it might be more appropriate to do a little less jumping around....their fan base, the majority being in that same age group, probably see it as being a parody of a younger group anyways......maybe Styx should tour with a Spinal Tap reunion next summer ?

Well hopefully Styx won't sink to the level of DDY and perform at fast food venues.

I just think it's odd that JY feels the need to belittle Dennis's talent on the Keyboards........I dont remember anyone ( critics ) complaining about his abilities back when Styx was at their Zenith...

It wouldn't have been too hard for JY to praise/flatter Gowan without bringing DDY into his comments.

Larry only plays live with his twirling keyboards on a couple songs. Majority of the keyboard playing are programmed.

I am a bit curious about this remark, too. It sure seems like he is playing live at the shows I've seen, but I will be the first to admit that I hardly have the qualified ear to discern.

However, I found the comparison of the change in singers, Gowan vs. DeYoung a bit disingenuous.

Yes, I agree. Maybe if the switch had taken place during their heyday, I could go along with such remarks, but they seem a bit ridiculous in the present time. Gary Cherone for Sammy Hagar would have been a more viable comparison, in my opinion.

You can basically expect this sort of stuff from an interview with JY. He just cannot let it go.
Most DJ'S will push it as far as an artist will let them, and as it went on, he knew how far he could keep pushing it with JY.
JY blaming Dennis for what happened with John. What the fuck is that all about! That's about the lowest thing he's said yet. He's just pissed that his solo shit sucks, and Dennis' sole career was better than his. In '83 they were ALL happy to be taking a break. Sure, lay it on Dennis bonehead.
They sure did talk about Dennis a lot, and when he mentioned the new comp cd, he listed only Dennis songs!
These sort of people are insensitive jerks to keep making jabs about Dennis' heat/light sensitivity, but I expect nothing less from JY or a DJ and they new they could go all the way with him
Almost everything here that was discussed refering to music had Dennis' name on it.
At least we know from this interview that Dennis WAS in the band Styx.
Wouldn't you think you would just want to talk about your music and what's happening in the present and not spend so much time on Dennis. Doesn't JY realize that this is starting to look VERY bad?
"You guys aren't just sitting around collecting royalties" Hell yeah that's right because he ain't getting that many.
These DJ'S had really done their homework. What a bunch of putses.
JY CANNOT answer a question without making a jab referance at, to, or about Dennis.
JY says that 'we just have to move forward.' Too bad that he obviously does not know how to do that.
We know very well how Dennis plays the keyboards. We saw if for YEARS.
Sorry, but Lawrence ain't no Sammy!!!!
Dennis is so much happier than JY and always takes the hide road about these things. Dennis is doing what he WANTS to. JY is doing what he HAS to. You can just tell that JY is evil, easily spurred, and unhappy.
Tommy, or the wives, run the group and JY gets to be the bad guy, which he doesn't mind obviously and Tommy looks good.
They sure didn't talk much about the current happenings of Styx.
I have almost every Dennis radio interview on cd. His interviews are so much more laid back and fun. Not all this negative bullshit that is created when you get an idiot DJ and a reluctant legend. JY is SOOOOOOOOO bitter. Almost feel sorry for the guy. Dennis handles these sort of questions with such class is all I know.

MusicTime666 wrote:Well hopefully Styx won't sink to the level of DDY and perform at fast food venues.

Pfft ... they already are... coming to a six-flags, county fair, corn eating, pig f***ing contest near you.

Good job James....

froy wrote:too bad that Gowan acts more like Jerry Lee Lewis then DDY ever has.

Gowan is a good imitator and that's about all.
I will take the original any day than some cheap copy cat

Everytime you see a solo Dennis show you are seeing some "cheap copy cat" performing keyboards...The only reason it is acceptable for you people is that it is a solo Dennis show. If you took that same cheap copycat and put him in Styx, you people would STILL be complaining.

Well nothing like a broad labeling stroke. "You people". Please note, I never said that one was a better keyboard player than the other. I found it amusing that JY's words of choice were so cute in terms of running circles around the other since one plays a revolving keyboard. Nothing more, nothing less. Froy is Froy. Let's not be lumping everyone together.

Would I like Dennis to play more keys? Of course. Does it take away from his performance...a little, but then, I'm sure there are things that go on at a Styx show that people wish didn't. As I've tried to maintain, enjoy what you wish and move on.

Add something new to discuss once in a while.

Sadie

Monker wrote:

froy wrote:too bad that Gowan acts more like Jerry Lee Lewis then DDY ever has.

Gowan is a good imitator and that's about all.
I will take the original any day than some cheap copy cat

Everytime you see a solo Dennis show you are seeing some "cheap copy cat" performing keyboards...The only reason it is acceptable for you people is that it is a solo Dennis show. If you took that same cheap copycat and put him in Styx, you people would STILL be complaining.

Go crawl gack in your hole Monker

I'm sure there are things that go on at a Styx show that people wish didn't.

I can think of 1 Larry Gowan

JY didn't nearly trash DDY as much as those DJs did.

<----- crawls back into hole in the ground

DJ's by nature are not terribly talented individuals......many of them need to rely on getting cheap/crude laughs by putting down people who have more talent than they do......I enjoy the Skits on Saturday night live with Jimmy Fallon doing a DJ....he really pegs the stereotype.

On the other hand, if people didnt tune in, they wouldnt have a job for long, so the listeners are partly to blame as well.....

Psychosy,

Welcome back, JY was much more respectful in his comments compared to his past interviews with the exception of his "Dennis went of to do his own thing in 83" comment when talking about John Panozzo's death....

Classic, actually these DJ's are part of the comedy show mixed in with the classic rock that they broadcast from 5 to 10 A.M from a radio channel that advertises itself by trashing the other radio stations in the area...I think these DJ's got caught up with selling their programming along with the JY interview....


DeeJay.....

I may have a little different take on Dennis playing keyboards on stage.
I've always sort of thought he would rather just sing.
Without question from his accordion playing came great Hammond organ chops and synthesizer work no one else can match but I feel he saw playing an instrument as something he had to do in a band instead of something he was absorbed in doing. Perhaps he doesn't know how great of a keyboard player he is!

Now he gets to almost exclusively sing which I think makes him very happy.



kiddo

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I kind of doubt Dennis has any insecurities about his abilities on the Keyboards....and I'm sure he has a sense of his talent after all of these years.....so he has nothing to prove to anyone in that regard.

>>>I kind of doubt Dennis has any insecurities about his abilities on the Keyboards....and I'm sure he has a sense of his talent after all of these years.....so he has nothing to prove to anyone in that regard.<<<

I don't think he has insecurities about his keyboard playing. I do think he's never thought it to be the big deal the fans do.

kiddo

Can you imagine having that kind of talent and not recognizing how well admired you are for it? I tend to think you're right Kiddo. Perhaps he does feel his talent lies more in his singing. How nice he has the ability to do both so well.

Sadie