20 Questions for Jim Cahill

[bugsymalone]

Yep beautiful song. So the next one would be Polythene Pam eh....

She's so good looking but she looks like a man!

Julia is a name I've always liked because of the song.

Beautiful photo, of Julia, Zan. We have some Julia's in my family and I think it is a lovely name.


Bugsy

[Toph]

Jim -

What is with the total image change? You were a pretty average looking dude in Tommy Shaw's solo special filmed during Girls With Guns - now, dude, you look and act a bit.....well homosexual - (Behind the Music) - you definitely have a new image. Did you come out of the closet?

[LordofDaRing]

"Jim -

What is with the total image change? You were a pretty average looking dude in Tommy Shaw's solo special filmed during Girls With Guns - now, dude, you look and act a bit.....well homosexual - (Behind the Music) - you definitely have a new image. Did you come out of the closet?"

Ha, I bet Sterling steers clear of that one. You know he did come across a little that way during the show. But I would describe his appearance as more of one of those clowns, the way the makeup on the mouth turns downward. The change in appearance I would describe more as his job description, travelling a lot and partying to all hours of the night. That can age you.

By the way Sterling, when is the interview, looking forward to reading it.

[Zan]

Tough crowd.

It must be a curse to be so damn gorgeous, huh?
(Have any of you seen Jim's wife? She's pretty hot, if I do say so my hetero self)

[Rockwriter]

"Didn't CSA top out in the 20's on the chart? I'm not arguing the merits of CSA a great song without equivocation. It wasn't a blockbuster hit like Babe or even Roboto. Styx is living proof that it takes more than talent and good songs to be sucessful. They have always had the talent but it took a few nudges to get them heard nationally. I'm sure all that were involved take some measure of ownership of the success of the band, some more than others."

Not really arguing the point that it takes more than talent to get there (i.e. Lady). I would go back to one of my first comments, I would love to see Sterling or anybody interview DDY and ask him point blank, how do you see Jim Cahill and/or Derek Sutton's contribution to the sucess of the band. As for Babe or Roboto, I think the established name at that point certainly had something to do with those songs, over and above the marketing.

Wow, I would LOVE to do exactly that; interview Dennis with an eye toward asking him some of those kinds of questions. That would be fascinating stuff for sure. Maybe one day. In the meantime, if there's anybody here who hasn't yet read Dennis' most recent interview with Allan for Styxcollector.com, get yourselves over there and read it. I'm not kidding when I say it is, in my opinion, the best interview Dennis has ever given. http://www.styxcollector.com/intvframe.html

Sterling

[MiaHalliwell]

Jim, who was the first member of the band that you met and what was it like?

Also, what were the years before the band was famous like?

[Rockwriter]

Wanted to let everyone know that Jim has got the questions and he wants to take a bit of time to give good, well-thought-out answers. I added some questions of my own in among those you guys all sent and the result is a 25 question interview that I think is going to be very, very enlightening. I'll let everyone know when it's posted.

Thanks!

Sterling

[StyxCollector]

"Didn't CSA top out in the 20's on the chart? I'm not arguing the merits of CSA a great song without equivocation. It wasn't a blockbuster hit like Babe or even Roboto. Styx is living proof that it takes more than talent and good songs to be sucessful. They have always had the talent but it took a few nudges to get them heard nationally. I'm sure all that were involved take some measure of ownership of the success of the band, some more than others."

Not really arguing the point that it takes more than talent to get there (i.e. Lady). I would go back to one of my first comments, I would love to see Sterling or anybody interview DDY and ask him point blank, how do you see Jim Cahill and/or Derek Sutton's contribution to the sucess of the band. As for Babe or Roboto, I think the established name at that point certainly had something to do with those songs, over and above the marketing.

Wow, I would LOVE to do exactly that; interview Dennis with an eye toward asking him some of those kinds of questions. That would be fascinating stuff for sure. Maybe one day. In the meantime, if there's anybody here who hasn't yet read Dennis' most recent interview with Allan for Styxcollector.com, get yourselves over there and read it. I'm not kidding when I say it is, in my opinion, the best interview Dennis has ever given. http://www.styxcollector.com/intvframe.html

Sterling

Thanks for the kudos Sterling but it was about as unexpected as an interview gets. Rule #1 for any interview is not to get confrontational unless you want that sort of thing. I think that Dennis probably would have answered that question if I had asked him at the time, but the reality is at this point, I'm not sure what his answer would mean to most people here. It's pretty clear DDY talks about Derek a lot so I think DDY's position on him is pretty easy to figure out. All of these guys have a long and complicated history - and we're not just talking about DDY, JY, TS, and the Panozzo brothers.

At this point, I think it's going to be quite awhile before you see another DDY interview like mine. Call it a hunch ...

[yogi]

What I would REALLY like to know is some in depth information on John Curulewski.

Jim may not be the best person to ask, but in my opinion Styx got WAY WAY better when they left Wooden Nickle and released Equinox on A&M. Well, John was in Styx with their release of Equinox.

No doubt Tommy Shaw was a great addition, still I think Styx would have been just as big had Tommy not entered the band and Styx stayed with their orginal lineup.

Their sound was defined on Equinox not with the addition of Tommy.


What happened to John? What did he think of the bands success? Regrets? Who did he stay in touch with. His money situation?? There are tons of questions that have not been asked in regards to John Curulewski.

Thats what I would like to know & find out.

[brywool]

Didn't JC pretty much die broke?
I also heard that nobody from the band kept in touch. This happens in bands. When a guy goes, or gets fired, there are usually reasons there.

[yogi]

Am I the ONLY one who believes that with or without Tommy Shaw Styx still would have made it big??

In my opinion their switch to A&M was their defining moment. Equinox while not a platinum was still a GREAT album and sold well compared to their Wooden Nickle releases.

Crystal Ball was actually not near the quality of album that Equinox was.

[Higgy]

Am I the ONLY one who believes that with or without Tommy Shaw Styx still would have made it big??

In my opinion their switch to A&M was their defining moment. Equinox while not a platinum was still a GREAT album and sold well compared to their Wooden Nickle releases.

Crystal Ball was actually not near the quality of album that Equinox was.

I agree. I think that Styx was headed for multi-platinum status with the success of Lady. They had their formula down. I think Tommy fit in nicely with that formula - as kind of an acoustic pop edge for the pomp rock Dennis was writing. My problem with the stuff on the pre-equinox albums is that it was like having 2 JYs in the band. So the albums feel disjointed. Man Of Miracles is a great album, but Havin' A Ball and Golden Lark sound like two different bands on two different albums and that doesn't mix well.

[Rockwriter]

Am I the ONLY one who believes that with or without Tommy Shaw Styx still would have made it big??

In my opinion their switch to A&M was their defining moment. Equinox while not a platinum was still a GREAT album and sold well compared to their Wooden Nickle releases.

Crystal Ball was actually not near the quality of album that Equinox was.

For whatever my opinion is worth, I agree with the prevailing sentiment that Tommy had tremendous commercial value to Styx. I'm not saying that Styx would not have made it without Tommy, but the band would not have been nearly as big. Yes, Dennis wrote the biggest hits, but you can't discount how important a role Tommy played in making those songs hits by his availability to radio stations for interviews and such, as well as his visual appeal to teenage girls, which is a market that otherwise would have been closed to Styx. Add that to his performing ability, it had an enormous impact on the commercial fortunes of the band. Without him you are probably looking at the level of success of Uriah Heep or Wishbone Ash, something more cult-like and with a predominately male audience. Of course you'd have still had Dennis' pop strengths, but with JC still in the band a lot of what happened would not have happened, because he just had the wrong sensibilities for it. Styx needed the pop melody and songcraft strengths of both Tommy and Dennis to do what it did in my opinion.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

[Higgy]

Am I the ONLY one who believes that with or without Tommy Shaw Styx still would have made it big??

In my opinion their switch to A&M was their defining moment. Equinox while not a platinum was still a GREAT album and sold well compared to their Wooden Nickle releases.

Crystal Ball was actually not near the quality of album that Equinox was.

For whatever my opinion is worth, I agree with the prevailing sentiment that Tommy had tremendous commercial value to Styx. I'm not saying that Styx would not have made it without Tommy, but the band would not have been nearly as big. Yes, Dennis wrote the biggest hits, but you can't discount how important a role Tommy played in making those songs hits by his availability to radio stations for interviews and such, as well as his visual appeal to teenage girls, which is a market that otherwise would have been closed to Styx. Add that to his performing ability, it had an enormous impact on the commercial fortunes of the band. Without him you are probably looking at the level of success of Uriah Heep or Wishbone Ash, something more cult-like and with a predominately male audience. Of course you'd have still had Dennis' pop strengths, but with JC still in the band a lot of what happened would not have happened, because he just had the wrong sensibilities for it. Styx needed the pop melody and songcraft strengths of both Tommy and Dennis to do what it did in my opinion.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

Sterling,

Did you get the feeling in your research for the book that JC was generally a negative presence in the band? What would you say was the not-talked-about reason for his departure? Do you think there was commercial pressure to replace him?

[Rockwriter]

Am I the ONLY one who believes that with or without Tommy Shaw Styx still would have made it big??

In my opinion their switch to A&M was their defining moment. Equinox while not a platinum was still a GREAT album and sold well compared to their Wooden Nickle releases.

Crystal Ball was actually not near the quality of album that Equinox was.

For whatever my opinion is worth, I agree with the prevailing sentiment that Tommy had tremendous commercial value to Styx. I'm not saying that Styx would not have made it without Tommy, but the band would not have been nearly as big. Yes, Dennis wrote the biggest hits, but you can't discount how important a role Tommy played in making those songs hits by his availability to radio stations for interviews and such, as well as his visual appeal to teenage girls, which is a market that otherwise would have been closed to Styx. Add that to his performing ability, it had an enormous impact on the commercial fortunes of the band. Without him you are probably looking at the level of success of Uriah Heep or Wishbone Ash, something more cult-like and with a predominately male audience. Of course you'd have still had Dennis' pop strengths, but with JC still in the band a lot of what happened would not have happened, because he just had the wrong sensibilities for it. Styx needed the pop melody and songcraft strengths of both Tommy and Dennis to do what it did in my opinion.

I hope all is well.


Sterling

Sterling,

Did you get the feeling in your research for the book that JC was generally a negative presence in the band? What would you say was the not-talked-about reason for his departure? Do you think there was commercial pressure to replace him?

I got the impression he was simply in the wrong band to suit his interests. He really would have been happiest in a straight progressive rock band that afforded him more opportunities to record songs that were further and further "out there". His departure was due in part to his growing unhappiness with that, in part due to the fact that when the band went to A&M, A&M was clearly going to get on board from a marketing perspective with Dennis' vision of the band (because it was more likely to sell records, which is what record companies do), and partly due to the fact that he had a son at home and was not happy with the band's touring schedule. As far as I know there was no pressure from outside the band to replace him, but certainly none of the people involved with the business side of the band were terribly concerned about him going, either. When Tommy came in, everyone to a man recognized that Styx had just taken a giant step forward.

I hope all is well.

Sterling

[chowhall]

Sterling,

Is this still in the works?

[Rockwriter]

Sterling,

Is this still in the works?

Yes, as a matter of fact I got an email from Jim a few days ago saying he was about half way through. This is his busy season, he's a huge advertising guy now and TV is rolling out new stuff. I think he still may do the Super Bowl, too, so this is not really top of the list for him LOL. He also wants to give the most complete answers possible because I asked him some pretty thorough questions.

Thanks for your interest! I hope you are well.

Sterling

[Zan]

Sterling,

Is this still in the works?

Yes, as a matter of fact I got an email from Jim a few days ago saying he was about half way through. This is his busy season, he's a huge advertising guy now and TV is rolling out new stuff. I think he still may do the Super Bowl, too, so this is not really top of the list for him LOL. He also wants to give the most complete answers possible because I asked him some pretty thorough questions.

Thanks for your interest! I hope you are well.

Should make for some great reading - I'm really looking forward to seeing what he has to say!