Here's an interview from February:
STILL THE BEST OF TIMES: Dennis DeYoung brings back Styx
By David Burke
ByDavidBurke
GO! Editor
When promoter Tim Orchard pitched the idea to Dennis DeYoung about a
concert tour of the latter's songs of Styx — in a symphonic format
— DeYoung was less than thrilled.
"My first reaction was, `Tim, every six months or so you have to empty
the bong water,'" DeYoung recalled from his suburban Chicago home.
"Who wants to see this?"
As it turns out, plenty of people.
DeYoung — who had four solo albums and a handful of concerts, but
never went out on tour by himself — first stepped out on stage to
front his own symphony show four years ago tonight in the Chicago Theatre.
It was the first of two sold-out shows.
"Don't ask me, I don't know anything," DeYoung said. "I never would
have done that."
From 1970 to 1984, and for several brief reunions in years following,
DeYoung was the vocalist and keyboard player for Styx, and the
songwriter behind the band's hits including "Lady," "Come Sail Away,"
"Babe" and "The Best of Times."
But while guitarist Tommy Shaw wanted to take the group in a
harder-rock direction, DeYoung pulled for an artsier side to the band,
including a concert-turned-stage show based on the band's 1983 album
"Kilroy Was Here," and its single, "Mr. Roboto."
DeYoung reunited with the rest of Styx a few times, most notably in
1990 for the comeback single "Show Me the Way."
The rest of Styx has toured steadily through the years, including
several stops at The Mark of the Quad-Cities. DeYoung performs there
for the first time on Friday night.
DeYoung said he still hears from fans wishing he and the band would
reunite.
"People have a romantic notion about bands, and they want me to be in
that band,"
he said. "The comments I hear over and over ... is that it's not Styx
without me. I don't believe in my heart of hearts that it could be,
anymore than I could be Styx without them."
Putting Styx music in a symphony setting allows for more creativity,
he said. "Show Me the Way" is done a capella, and the hint of Ravel's
"Bolero" in "Lady" is more fully explored, he said.
"The first time we played `Lady,' it goes right into `Bolero,' and I
could actually hear the audience going, `Woooo.,'" DeYoung said.
Although the strings and the love songs of Styx will be in place for
the Valentines-eve show, DeYoung said there is also plenty of humor as
well.
"Twenty percent of what I do on stage is me attempting to do a little
standup," he said. "I tell people they pay for the music and the jokes
are free."
Humor is something that members of Styx had, but were cautious to
show, he said.
"The thing that was never allowed to be exposed, unlike Janet
Jackson's breast, was the fact that two or three guys in the band were
very funny people," he said. "Our drummer (John Panozzo), who passed
away, was one of the funniest people I knew.
"There was always the sense that Styx was very serious, because the
music seemed serious. But as people, we weren't serious at all. We
were like the Three Stooges. People who liked the kind of music we
made, they don't want humor in that music. They didn't want Led
Zeppelin to be a laugh riot. That's not what it's about."
A DeYoung performance at the Chicago Theatre was used for as the pilot
episode of the PBS concert series "Soundstage," and DeYoung is
traveling to 22 public broadcasting markets this winter as a guest
during pledge breaks when the show is rerun. Contributions during his
performances have netted PBS stations $600,000. A live album was
released as a premium for PBS contributors, DeYoung said, and is also
available for sale at
www.dennisdeyoung.com.
DeYoung has a rare post-viral symptom that makes him sensitive to
light. He said the lights are always low in his house, and he wears
sunglasses whenever he's outside. Stage lights, he said, are too far
away to affect him. He blames a three-day fever he had a few years
ago, and said it took two years for doctors to diagnose the problem.
The musician, who turns 57 next week, has several new songs in his
show and live album, and has nine or 10 ready to record some day.
In the meantime, he's enjoying his tour, which will last at least
through mid-May.
"For a middle-aged white guy, who couldn't be happier?" he said. "I've
still got a job and people want to hear me sing."