DDY Interview

by **DarrenUK** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:41 pm

http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/int ... eyoung.htm

by **FormerDJMike** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:45 pm

Wow, great read, would love to hear a remix of man Of Miracles from the original masters. Wonder how someone "lost" them?!?

by **Abitaman** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:34 am

FormerDJMike wrote:Wow, great read, would love to hear a remix of man Of Miracles from the original masters. Wonder how someone "lost" them?!?

Would love to hear DDY redo the mixes on all the early stuff, plus BNW and Cycl.

by **yogi** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 3:12 am

GREAT GREAT read.

I would love to hear if Dennis has heard of Dream Theatre and have him listen to their latest ' A Dramatic Turn Of Events' to say prog or prog metal is dead and then listen to that masterpiece I would beg to differ.

Best DDY interview I have read. Some of the stuff he said I have never heard before. To think the 'braintrust' at A&M wanted to release Superstars first???? I knew that some critics said that Suite Madame Blue was a Stariway To Heaven ripoff, but to hear Dennis say it and how Aerosmith's Dream On and other songs were influenced by Stairway To Heaven makes total sense.

The guy is in a class by himself. We too were lucky that Dennis & Styx came along when they did. GREAT GREAT interview!!

by **Boomchild** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 5:43 am

FormerDJMike wrote:Wow, great read, would love to hear a remix of man Of Miracles from the original masters. Wonder how someone "lost" them?!?

I wonder what masters were used for the "Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings" release then? I think it would be interesting to see how Dennis would re-master those releases. From this interview you can se how Dennis took Styx' successes and failures so personally. I liked his commentary on how he never wanted to respond to critics and reviewers.

by **Hollywood** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:04 am

Boomchild wrote:
FormerDJMike wrote:Wow, great read, would love to hear a remix of man Of Miracles from the original masters. Wonder how someone "lost" them?!?

I wonder what masters were used for the "Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings" release then? I think it would be interesting to see how Dennis would re-master those releases. From this interview you can se how Dennis took Styx' successes and failures so personally. I liked his commentary on how he never wanted to respond to critics and reviewers.

The original masters for these recordings were remastered and used for the 'Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings'. The parts that are lost are the original tapes. Dennis would need the original tapes to remix the records and then the new mix would be mastered for production.

Although some artists are involved in mastering and remastering the vast majority of the times they are not.

by **Boomchild** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:49 pm

Hollywood wrote:
Boomchild wrote:
FormerDJMike wrote:Wow, great read, would love to hear a remix of man Of Miracles from the original masters. Wonder how someone "lost" them?!?

I wonder what masters were used for the "Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings" release then? I think it would be interesting to see how Dennis would re-master those releases. From this interview you can se how Dennis took Styx' successes and failures so personally. I liked his commentary on how he never wanted to respond to critics and reviewers.

The original masters for these recordings were remastered and used for the 'Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings'. The parts that are lost are the original tapes. Dennis would need the original tapes to remix the records and then the new mix would be mastered for production.

Although some artists are involved in mastering and remastering the vast majority of the times they are not.

Your right. I keep getting mixed up on those two terms. Maybe Bill Traut has them hidden in a closet at his home. Knowing that he blames Styx' departure from the label as the sole reason the label went belly up.

by **Baron Von Bielski** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:38 pm

Great read. Dennis always gives an excellent, well-descriptive interview.

by **FormerDJMike** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:01 pm

Just imagine what could be done with today's technology. I believe Dennis could get them to sound "Equinox" good. Imagine those releases with that "thin" sound gone. I personally like the sound of John's drums on those WN albums but on Equinox they had a deeper sound. WOuld be intersting to hear what those albums would sound like if they had heavier guitars and louder drums (and I have often wondered what Equinox would've sounded like if it were a Wooden Nickel release).

by **bugsymalone** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:39 pm

I always enjoy reading DDY's take on all things music. He does sound a bit prickly in this interview and I disagree with him on some things he said, but, overall, he is pretty spot-on about the music industry today.

It is always fascinating to hear him talk about the early life of the band.

Bugsy

by **LtVanish** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 4:21 am

Wow lots of F-bombs in there too, Dennis sure sounds off on the music industry.

by **BlackWall** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:29 am

Darren, thank you for posting this link. Wow.. great interview. I agree with DDY's take on a lot of the songs, and also thought it was interesting that they wanted "Superstars" to be the first single from "TGI". "TGI" only had two singles(which has always seemed insane to me). It seems like they never had more than three per album, but for such a smash success as "TGI", they should have released more songs. I think that both "Superstars" and the title track could have been hits(not before "Come Sail Away", however).

Dennis does seem to come across as... well, a little.. hmmm, let's say, "confident" in his contribution to the band.. not that he shouldn't be, but I also wonder if some of that stems from the events of the last 13 years. It would have to. How would anyone respond to a band they more or less created trying to rewrite history without them? Truth be told, he's also probably not too far off with his perspective, either. Even if he didn't sing lead on a lot of the early songs, he wrote most of them.. This was long before Tommy was part of the equation. Tommy brought a great deal to the band, but the sound was already there. This is not to diminish anyone's role in the band, I think they all were important, but.. "Suite Madame Blue", "Come Sail Away", and "Lady"? All are trademarks of the classic Styx sound, and what they are identified with.

by **Boomchild** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:40 am

BlackWall wrote:Darren, thank you for posting this link. Wow.. great interview. I agree with DDY's take on a lot of the songs, and also thought it was interesting that they wanted "Superstars" to be the first single from "TGI". "TGI" only had two singles(which has always seemed insane to me). It seems like they never had more than three per album, but for such a smash success as "TGI", they should have released more songs. I think that both "Superstars" and the title track could have been hits(not before "Come Sail Away", however).

Dennis does seem to come across as... well, a little.. hmmm, let's say, "confident" in his contribution to the band.. not that he shouldn't be, but I also wonder if some of that stems from the events of the last 13 years. It would have to. How would anyone respond to a band they more or less created trying to rewrite history without them? Truth be told, he's also probably not too far off with his perspective, either. Even if he didn't sing lead on a lot of the early songs, he wrote most of them.. This was long before Tommy was part of the equation. Tommy brought a great deal to the band, but the sound was already there. This is not to diminish anyone's role in the band, I think they all were important, but.. "Suite Madame Blue", "Come Sail Away", and "Lady"? All are trademarks of the classic Styx sound, and what they are identified with.

I think that this comes from Dennis being very proud of what they did and doesn't see the logic in bashing things that were successful for the band. Dennis clearly feels that a good song is a good song no matter what style or label you attach to it. He didn't like putting boundaries on the types of music Styx could present while the other seemed to want to do that.

by **BlackWall** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:12 am

Boomchild wrote:
BlackWall wrote:Darren, thank you for posting this link. Wow.. great interview. I agree with DDY's take on a lot of the songs, and also thought it was interesting that they wanted "Superstars" to be the first single from "TGI". "TGI" only had two singles(which has always seemed insane to me). It seems like they never had more than three per album, but for such a smash success as "TGI", they should have released more songs. I think that both "Superstars" and the title track could have been hits(not before "Come Sail Away", however).

Dennis does seem to come across as... well, a little.. hmmm, let's say, "confident" in his contribution to the band.. not that he shouldn't be, but I also wonder if some of that stems from the events of the last 13 years. It would have to. How would anyone respond to a band they more or less created trying to rewrite history without them? Truth be told, he's also probably not too far off with his perspective, either. Even if he didn't sing lead on a lot of the early songs, he wrote most of them.. This was long before Tommy was part of the equation. Tommy brought a great deal to the band, but the sound was already there. This is not to diminish anyone's role in the band, I think they all were important, but.. "Suite Madame Blue", "Come Sail Away", and "Lady"? All are trademarks of the classic Styx sound, and what they are identified with.

I think that this comes from Dennis being very proud of what they did and doesn't see the logic in bashing things that were successful for the band. Dennis clearly feels that a good song is a good song no matter what style or label you attach to it. He didn't like putting boundaries on the types of music Styx could present while the other seemed to want to do that.

I can see that. I've always been a little torn on how I feel with that perspective. On one hand, I can totally appreciate the idea of not putting limits on creativity, but then, if you're supposed to be part of a unit, shouldn't everyone be on board with the direction of the group? Maybe when DDY got an idea like "Babe" or "Mr Roboto", those directions should have been held back for a solo project? I think he definitely had a keen sense for what would be successful, but it wasn't just about Dennis, or at least, it wasn't supposed to be. I can see, though, where the need to try to stay on top, and keep pumping out hits to stay relevant could get to anyone. I wonder what kind of pressure he got from A&M?

by **Boomchild** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:54 pm

BlackWall wrote:
Boomchild wrote:
BlackWall wrote:Darren, thank you for posting this link. Wow.. great interview. I agree with DDY's take on a lot of the songs, and also thought it was interesting that they wanted "Superstars" to be the first single from "TGI". "TGI" only had two singles(which has always seemed insane to me). It seems like they never had more than three per album, but for such a smash success as "TGI", they should have released more songs. I think that both "Superstars" and the title track could have been hits(not before "Come Sail Away", however).

Dennis does seem to come across as... well, a little.. hmmm, let's say, "confident" in his contribution to the band.. not that he shouldn't be, but I also wonder if some of that stems from the events of the last 13 years. It would have to. How would anyone respond to a band they more or less created trying to rewrite history without them? Truth be told, he's also probably not too far off with his perspective, either. Even if he didn't sing lead on a lot of the early songs, he wrote most of them.. This was long before Tommy was part of the equation. Tommy brought a great deal to the band, but the sound was already there. This is not to diminish anyone's role in the band, I think they all were important, but.. "Suite Madame Blue", "Come Sail Away", and "Lady"? All are trademarks of the classic Styx sound, and what they are identified with.

I think that this comes from Dennis being very proud of what they did and doesn't see the logic in bashing things that were successful for the band. Dennis clearly feels that a good song is a good song no matter what style or label you attach to it. He didn't like putting boundaries on the types of music Styx could present while the other seemed to want to do that.

I can see that. I've always been a little torn on how I feel with that perspective. On one hand, I can totally appreciate the idea of not putting limits on creativity, but then, if you're supposed to be part of a unit, shouldn't everyone be on board with the direction of the group? Maybe when DDY got an idea like "Babe" or "Mr Roboto", those directions should have been held back for a solo project? I think he definitely had a keen sense for what would be successful, but it wasn't just about Dennis, or at least, it wasn't supposed to be. I can see, though, where the need to try to stay on top, and keep pumping out hits to stay relevant could get to anyone. I wonder what kind of pressure he got from A&M?

Sure when your part of a unit you need to try and have everyone on board. That's one of the points that I think gets missed or glossed over when speaking about the song Babe. Since each member had a vote, there is no way Dennis could just dictate to the others to go with that song. Sure it may not have been some of the others first choice but they must have seen something in it to go along with it. The other point to the matter is that the types of songs Dennis wrote was where his strengths were\are. That's what comes naturally to him so I don't think you can fault him for that.

by **StyxCollector** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:16 pm

It's definitely one of the better DDY interviews since he's gone solo, but he's said a lot of that before - some of it in the one I did a few years back (for example, some of the WN stuff). Catch him at the right moment and give him good questions, and he'll answer. Hell, he did mine twice since the tape got messed up!

Let's face it - most interviews by artists are done to promote an album or an upcoming local show. With sites like mine and Jeb's, we may get them around certain promotion times, but often times, not, so the subjects can be more wide ranging.

by **FormerDJMike** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:11 am

On the topic of remastering and remixing: Anyone can remaster. You can do it from vinyl, CD or even cassette. Remixing, however, takes the original tapes. You have to break them down track by track. I am assuming the Wooden Nickel stuff was probably recorded on an 8 or 24 track analog tape (kind of looks like a reel to reel machine). That is what Dennis would need to remix these albums but apparently they are now "gone".

by **gr8dane** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:20 am

Nice find Darren.
I did not read the whole thing this time around.It was a long interview and I just did a scan.
Liked the way Jeb's daughter, who is in law school thought all art should be free.
I wonder how she would think about getting lawyers to work for free,since they are helping the unjust?

by **StyxCollector** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:44 am

gr8dane wrote:Nice find Darren.
I did not read the whole thing this time around.It was a long interview and I just did a scan.
Liked the way Jeb's daughter, who is in law school thought all art should be free.
I wonder how she would think about getting lawyers to work for free,since they are helping the unjust?

That part was interesting. <soapbox>We've raised a whole generation of kids that barely knows what physical product is, maybe never used iTunes to buy, and has done a lot of pirating. Music has always been "free" to them - so they can't fathom someone needing to actually make money doing it. </soapbox>

by **RedWingFan** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:16 am

Can't believe he admitted to voting for Obama.

Now "Boomchild" is his life's 2nd biggest mistake! :lol:

by **Hollywood** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:22 am

StyxCollector wrote:
gr8dane wrote:Nice find Darren.
I did not read the whole thing this time around.It was a long interview and I just did a scan.
Liked the way Jeb's daughter, who is in law school thought all art should be free.
I wonder how she would think about getting lawyers to work for free,since they are helping the unjust?

That part was interesting. <soapbox>We've raised a whole generation of kids that barely knows what physical product is, maybe never used iTunes to buy, and has done a lot of pirating. Music has always been "free" to them - so they can't fathom someone needing to actually make money doing it. </soapbox>

This is totally a sad, but true statement. I understand that I am in the minority of music fans who spends their entire disposable income on either concerts, Music CDs, Music DVDs, or musical instruments, but people just ten years younger than me have never been to a live show and really have no interest. They are not vested into their music because they have not invested anything into their music.

I had an 18-year old cousin brag that his music collection was larger than mine, and although he was sadly mistaken, he had over 15,000 songs on his PC and none of them was paid for. The sad thing was that as I looked through what he had most of it had never been played. Who cares if you have something if you never listen to it. He is not interested in live music at all.

Most illegal downloaders will justify that they are not stealing from the artist, but the record company, because artists make no money on their records. Part of this myth was the artists' fault for claiming poor, but their are plenty of musicians that are rich off of album sales and never tour so this is a fallacy. Artists today do make most of their money touring, but starting artists are having an incredibly difficult time getting anywhere to play because they do not draw. The new bands that are drawing have a much older fan base. The Avett Brothers are doing very well in 2,000 - 4,000 seat venues, but the crowd is in their 40s.

When you look at arenas very few artists outside of country can play arenas unless they been around a long time and most have to put a package tour together to even accomplish this. Like Dennis I am saddened by this trend.

by **pinkfloyd1973** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:34 pm

RedWingFan wrote:Can't believe he admitted to voting for Obama.

Now "Boomchild" is his life's 2nd biggest mistake!

by **Zan** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:11 pm

What's wrong with Boomchild? I don't get it.

by **masque** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:27 pm

Zan wrote:What's wrong with Boomchild? I don't get it.

well other than Harry's Hands it sucks as an album......

by **Abitaman** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:16 pm

masque wrote:
Zan wrote:What's wrong with Boomchild? I don't get it.

well other than Harry's Hands it sucks as an album......

I like the whole CD, excerpt for Outside Looking In...
Some good piano work on it, something that was missing from his first two solo Cd's.

by **Abitaman** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:26 pm

Hollywood wrote:This is totally a sad, but true statement. I understand that I am in the minority of music fans who spends their entire disposable income on either concerts, Music CDs, Music DVDs, or musical instruments, but people just ten years younger than me have never been to a live show and really have no interest. They are not vested into their music because they have not invested anything into their music.

I had an 18-year old cousin brag that his music collection was larger than mine, and although he was sadly mistaken, he had over 15,000 songs on his PC and none of them was paid for. The sad thing was that as I looked through what he had most of it had never been played. Who cares if you have something if you never listen to it. He is not interested in live music at all.

Most illegal downloaders will justify that they are not stealing from the artist, but the record company, because artists make no money on their records. Part of this myth was the artists' fault for claiming poor, but their are plenty of musicians that are rich off of album sales and never tour so this is a fallacy. Artists today do make most of their money touring, but starting artists are having an incredibly difficult time getting anywhere to play because they do not draw. The new bands that are drawing have a much older fan base. The Avett Brothers are doing very well in 2,000 - 4,000 seat venues, but the crowd is in their 40s.

.

Have to agree with a lot of this. I have a huge collection, but 95% gets played each year. I pay for most all my official releases, either from I-tunes, Rhapsody, Amazon...When I was buying Cd's from stores either that sold new Cd's or resold used Cd's. Usually if it was a CD that I did not pay for it was were I traded my original for another original, either at a store or on line. So I have spent a good deal of money in my life, on music.
I do, however download concerts or other things (demos, TV appearances, etcc...) that can not be bought in a store on on line. Of the 3,000 Cd's I have, less than 50 are a physical copy of the release. I have them backed up on two different hard drives. And like you said, I take care of these. A friend of mine downloads illegal copies of stuff and has had stuff "disappear off her computer... no big deal she downloads it again? I would have a cow if I lost my songs....Saw her collection on her Phone, asked how she like this one song, I don't know haven't listened to it. Had it for six months....

by **pinkfloyd1973** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:50 am

Abitaman wrote:
masque wrote:
Zan wrote:What's wrong with Boomchild? I don't get it.

well other than Harry's Hands it sucks as an album......

I like the whole CD, excerpt for Outside Looking In...
Some good piano work on it, something that was missing from his first two solo Cd's.

Boomchild and Back to the World are two of his better early albums

by **masque** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:53 am

pinkfloyd1973 wrote:
Abitaman wrote:
masque wrote:
Zan wrote:What's wrong with Boomchild? I don't get it.

well other than Harry's Hands it sucks as an album......

I like the whole CD, excerpt for Outside Looking In...
Some good piano work on it, something that was missing from his first two solo Cd's.

Boomchild and Back to the World are two of his better early albums

back to the world i really most of it.......for me dennis's solo work was just decent at best......i could take the best of his first three solo cd's and come up with one really killer album.

i like tommy's solo stuff better but alas i more of a tommy fan.....with that said he had his fair share of solo crap and once again I could take the best songs from his stuff and make one super killer cd.

most of jy's solo stuff could kill ecoli it was so bad but there were a few good tunes.

where am i going with all of this??? take the best that each of them had to offer from all of that and you have about two additional really good styx albums......what could have been

by **Zan** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:10 am

I liked most of Boomchild, with the exception of 2-3 songs, including "Harry's Hands!" I swear, that song never grew on me, and I was always amused at how well-received it was by pretty much everybody. It's not terrible, I just never really cared for it.

by **Zan** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:13 am

masque wrote:where am i going with all of this??? take the best that each of them had to offer from all of that and you have about two additional really good styx albums......what could have been

Well, that's the rub, isn't it? They could shitcan anything that wasn't amazing, and have fewer, but better songs, or they could include everything and let the fans decide what works for them. Personally, I'll take the latter. I like having more options.

MR

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