http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006/06 ... ures02.txt
Thursday, June 29, 2006 9:39 AM CDT
DeYoung Takes Pride In Career With Styx
By Scott Smith
TIMES RECORD • SSMITH@SWTIMES.COM
Infighting has fractured countless bands, long before VH1’s “Behind the Music” series was ever pitched to TV executives.
Lines drawn in the sand within groups have caused fans to pick sides on occasion, and Chicago-born Styx is one of the premiere examples of a band — and its fans — scuffling years after the drawing of first blood. Second only, possibly, to the on-again, off-again Roger Waters-David Gilmour feud, the split down Styx’s middle between co-founder, keyboardist and singer Dennis DeYoung and his former bandmates came to a head almost a decade ago. The wound is still sore.
Styx continues to tour and release compact discs as a hard-rock band fronted by original guitarist James Young and longtime guitarist Tommy Shaw, while DeYoung soldiers on as a solo artist. The guys in Styx now are happy to sidestep some of DeYoung’s hit ballads on their set lists and focus more on the heavier LP numbers. DeYoung is delighted to do whatever he pleases without the headache of venturing through a committee.
He’s able to do things like performing the bulk of his hit singles — those created within Styx and during his 22-year solo career — with a symphony orchestra. DeYoung and his solo band will perform part of their “Music of Styx Tour” with the North Arkansas Symphony at 6 p.m. July 21 at the Arkansas Music Pavilion, next to the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville.
“This show will have all of those songs that people still hear on the radio,” DeYoung said during a recent telephone interview. “A lot of the songs I’ve written have somehow finagled their way into people’s hearts. It really is amazing.”
Boasting such Styx cornerstones as “Come Sail Away,” “The Best of Times,” “Light Up,” “Rockin’ the Paradise,” “Show Me the Way,” “Lady,” “Babe,” “Mr. Roboto” and “Suite Madame Blue,” the unique show originated from an idea by DeYoung’s manager about seven years ago. DeYoung then staged a symphonic version of a Styx concert for PBS-TV’s “Sound Stage Series” in 2000. DeYoung’s taped performance, which was the “Sound Stage” pilot, has raised almost $1.7 million for public television since its initial airing.
“The ‘Music of Styx’ compact disc is a platinum album in Canada,” said the 59-year-old DeYoung. “Man, I’m old and I have a platinum album. Can you believe it?”
DeYoung considers himself fortunate that his vocals, an example of the best voice-preservation job this side of Paul Rodgers, still sound the way they did back in 1981.
“My voice, it’s because of wearing thong underwear, two sizes too small,” DeYoung joked. “Really, I never drank and I never smoked. My wife, Suzanne, took care of me. We’ve been married for 36 years.”
DeYoung said it’s a dream to perform his “Music of Styx” show, and he embraces a natural buzz while his ears carefully balance the sound of his stage monitors and the cheers of his audience.
“I just played The Hummingbird, which is the place in Toronto, and then somewhere called Rice Lake, Wis., and a lot of the people in those audiences were younger than 25,” he said. “And they knew the words to ‘Mr. Roboto’ and ‘Come Sail Away.’ My songs have been used in at least 20 different TV programs and 14 different movies. I’m astonished by that, and I’m grateful for all of the support over the years.”
DeYoung freely discusses his love for theater, a passion that formed the backbone of Styx’s 1981 concept album, “Paradise Theater.” However, his desire for larger-than-life rock eventually threw a wall between him and some of his Styx bandmates.
“I loved singers like Roy Orbison, Johnny Mathis and Gene Pitney, and Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Great Balls of Fire’ was great,” DeYoung said. “And I love show business, baby. The theatrical part with Styx, that was about making us not look like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Lynyrd Skynyrd did their thing, and they were great, so we had to decide what we were going to do.”
DeYoung’s theatrical flair was an extension of his influences, even when critics and punk rock fans fiercely opposed Styx’s sound and success — DeYoung and company scored six consecutive multi-platinum-selling albums with “Crystal Ball,” “The Grand Illusion,” “Pieces of Eight,” “Cornerstone,” “Paradise Theater” and “Kilroy Was Here” between 1976 and 1983, and were named the Most Popular Band in America in a 1979 Gallup poll.
“If you look at Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry, they had show business in mind, too,” DeYoung said. “Elvis’ gold-lame suit? That didn’t come from J.C. Penney. There was a little bit of show business in all of that.”
As for the tension that still resides between DeYoung and Styx, the former is polite when addressing the conflict.
“I worked hard since I was 17 to convince the public that Styx was a good name,” DeYoung said. “Then, suddenly, I couldn’t use the name again after 1999. But I’ve been out there now, and not that DeYoung is a bad choice.
“And I never tire of the songs I play,” he added. “You play a few notes and people scream. If you tire of that, then just stay home. I can’t tire of that. The people sing with me at the shows.”
While touring with Styx, DeYoung would become ill after running through two-hour sets. He eventually discovered that he suffers from what he calls “light sensitivity,” a condition in which his skin can’t tolerate bright lights and hot temperatures. Once diagnosed, DeYoung had to say farewell to the piercing spotlights of large-scale tours, but his statement seemingly fell on deaf ears in the Styx camp.
“A Styx reunion, really, is up to (Shaw and Young),” he said. “I’ve been open to it.”
In a strange twist, Glen Burtnik, who was Styx’s second bassist, is now playing guitar in DeYoung’s solo band.
“Hey, you have two guys over there now in Styx, and you have two guys — Glen and I — over here, so there you have it,” DeYoung said. “I think we’re doing good. Glen is happy to be with me.”
When asked what part of Styx’s history matters the most, DeYoung answered without hesitation.
“‘The Grand Illusion’ album, without a doubt in my mind, and its single, ‘Come Sail Away,’” he said. “Come on, who is Styx? When people ask that in 200 years, they will play ‘Come Sail Away.’ That song is energetic and it has the artsy-fartsy part in the middle, and there’s the ballad-part beginning. ‘Come Sail Away’ has it all. That song is Styx.”
, I have been busy following the Journey wars, the lippers vs the non-lippers (for lack of a better word).
Thought I would wave at you two from a quieter thread, but I doubt it will stay that way for long. 
