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Dennis DeYoung

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As a longtime Styx fan, I was hesitant to go. After all, without Tommy Shaw and James Young, it's no quite the same, right? And many of my favorite Styx songs had Tommy on vocals, anyway.

First, I was absolutely stunned at how good Dennis sounded (both vocally and on keyboards). Time has not diminished him at all.

His backing band was exceptional,too, particularly August (didn't catch his last name), who was one of the guitarists an also sang Tommy's parts (including Renegade, Crystal Ball, and Blue Collar Man). He sounded GREAT on the songs and the whole band really nailed the songs.

Still can't get over how good Dennis sounded, and at 68 I hope I have that much energy and am that spry!!

Highly recommended!!

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Very enjoyable show. Dennis' voice sounded great and he has a wonderful sense of humor.

I have been a Styx fan for 40 years and have seen the band with and sadly without Dennis, and I thought the "Music of Styx" show was excellent.

I only hope I have Dennis' level of energy when I am 70.

This was my first visit and concert at the Goodyear Theater and I really enjoyed this venue. I would like to see more classic rock shows there.

The show was absolutely magnificent. So good to see Dennis DeYoung live on stage again doing all of Styx greatest hits and Grand Illusion album. The venue was quite crowded but I would easily forgive that in the face of a great show as he delivered that night.

At 72 Dennis DeYoung stills rocks. The band that he has put together sounds better the the original Styx. August Zadra who sings the Tommy Shaw songs sounds better than Tommy himself. Go see Dennis when he is near you, you won't be disappointed.

I saw Styx without Tommy Shaw and was disappointed because I love Tommy shaw but Mr. DeYoung put on one hell of a show in the early 90's at Universal Studios L A. I would love to see him again because he is such a talent.

Your concert in Austin,Tx was AWESOME.

This is our 2nd time we seen you.

We saw you in san Antonio tx the first time.You're so fun to watch Hope to see Y'all again soon.

The concert was great! Dennis deyoung sounds as good as he did 40 years ago and his band rocks! It was very sweet to see his wife so involved too!

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Styx founder Dennis DeYoung announces new solo album and tour

Listen to Dennis DeYoung and Julian Lennon singing To The Good Old Days

Styx  founder Dennis DeYoung releases his new solo album 26 East, Vol 1 on April 10 via Frontiers.

It includes the track, To The Good Old Days , which features Julian Lennon. Says DeYoung, “It was written specifically for Jules and I to sing together. He nailed the vocal and I harmonised. Harmony baby, I love it. It’s the final song on my album and it’s a simple farewell from me as I recall the sweetest days of my past with my fans, friends, family and forgiveness.” 

The album title, 26 East , is where DeYoung grew up in Roseland, IL on the far south side of Chicago. Styx formed in his basement in 1972 and his future bandmates the Panozzo twins, John and Chuck, lived just across the road from him. The cover artwork, featuring three locomotives travelling through space, represents the original members leaving Chicago on their journey to the stars.

"This was supposed to be my final album but there were so many songs written that Serafino Perugino, CEO of Frontiers, suggested dividing it into two albums rather than one,” says DeYoung. “This is Volume 1 , which sounds pretentious to me, but the marketing folks wanted you to know there are going to be two of them."

DeYoung will preview the album at Chicago’s House Of Blues on April 3. Fans will also be able to take part in a Q&A session with DeYoung and co-writer Jim Peterik.

The full tracklist 1. East Of Midnight  2. With All Due Respect 3. A Kingdom Ablaze 4. You My Love 5. Run For The Roses 6. Damn That Dream 7. Unbroken 8. The Promise Of This Land 9. To The Good Old Days (with Julian Lennon) 10. A.D. 2020

Dennis DeYoung 2020 North America tour Mar 13: Northfield MGM Northfield Park, OH Mar 14: Newark The Midland Theatre, OH Mar 20: Portland Revolution Hall, OR Mar 21: Bremerton Admiral Theater, WA Apr 03: Chicago House Of Blues, IL Apr 04: Fort Wayne The Clyde Theatre, IN Apr 17: Huntington The Paramount, NY Apr 18: Morristown Mayo Performing Arts Center, NJ Apr 24: Atlantic City Resorts Atlantic City, NJ Apr 25: Bethlehem Wind Creek Event Center, PA May 01: Quebec City Le Grande Theatre De Quebec, QC May 02: Montreal Theatre St. Denis, QC May 03: Montreal Theatre St. Denis, QC May 08: Harris Island Casino Showroom, MI May 09: Harris Island Casino Showroom, MI May 22: Kansas City Star Pavilion at Ameristar Casino, MO Jun 04: Ashland Paramount Arts Center, KY Jun 05: Florence Belterra Casino, IN Jun 12: Davenport Rhythm City Casino, IA Jul 10: Grand Prairie Verizon Theatre, TX Jul 11: Austin ACL Live @ The Moody Theater, TX Aug 14: Saskatoon Rock The River, SK Oct 02: Nashville Brown County Music Center, TN

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Dennis DeYoung says “there should be one last Styx tour” featuring him

Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images

Founding Styx singer/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung hasn’t played with the group since 1999, and although longtime members Tommy Shaw and James “JY” Young continue to insist they have no interest in reuniting with him, DeYoung says he’d like to tour with his ex-band mates one more time.

"I don't want to beat a dead horse, but there should be one last Styx tour," the 74-year-old musician tells ABC Audio. "You know, with Moe, Larry and Curly on the same stage, to wave goodbye to the fans…and tell them, 'Hey, you made us wealthy people and you gave us incredible lives. Thanks. Bye.'"

Acknowledging that Shaw and Young don't want to work with him again, DeYoung declares, "I don't want to be in Styx anymore...Styx is Tommy and JY. [Founding bassist] Chuck [ Panozzo ] plays once in a while, but it's Tommy that makes the decisions. It's his band."

Having said that, Dennis maintains that most Styx fans would love to see a reunion trek.

"Even if you've bought into Tommy's new Styx with JY, and you love 'em and you think I'm a poop face, based on lies told about me, if you see the Styx reunion [is happening,] you're coming," DeYoung says.

Dennis says his feeling is based on Styx fans' social media posts and the continuing popularity of the band's music.

"[I]t does mean a great deal to them," he declares, then quips, "And to see it one more time would be grand...and it would not be an illusion."

Dennis also points out that next year marks the 50th anniversary of Styx's debut album.

In June, DeYoung released what he says will be his final solo album, 26 East, Vol. 2 , a collection of tunes that features multiple nods to Styx songs.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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• Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoung Says Farewell By Going Back To Where It All Began

by Jim Beviglia July 5, 2021, 8:20 am

Breaking news heard here first at American Songwriter : Dennis DeYoung is reneging on his promise that his recently-released album 26 East, Vol. 2 will be his last. He has one condition though: “I will make another album if Beviglia buys 250,000 of this last one,” he vows. “I got my price.”

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All right, maybe this writer doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to bring DeYoung’s condition to bear. But rest assured this is not a retirement for DeYoung, who will still tour and occasionally release new songs as he writes them. If it is to be the last long-playing utterance from the former Styx frontman, 26 East, Vol. 2 is a properly grand way to go out, a heady mix of anthemic rockers, touching ballads, and, yes, even some proggy profundity like the early days.

In a sprawling interview, DeYoung tells American Songwriter how much the outpouring of support he has received for both volumes of 26 East (the first came out last year) has meant to him. “First and foremost, all people who aspire to do these things, to try and gain approval that they never thought they got from one or both of their parents, or whoever raised them, to try and fill a need or a hole in themselves, whether real or imagined,” he says. “Looking for approval, reinforcement, love that they never felt they got. And that’s why people aspire to great heights.

“Without fans, you’re in your basement. It’s just that simple to me. I don’t think I have ever consciously in my life treated a fan shabbily when they’ve met me. I go way out of my way to be aware of the fact that without their support, I’m a school teacher and a frustrated musician and a guy who really sits around all day long wondering why he never got what he thought he deserved from life. These people have erased all those thoughts from my mind, which is a huge thing.”

DeYoung originally thought he was going to be doing just one grand finale until the owner of his record company asked for a follow up. That caused him to rethink how he would apportion the material that he had in the hopper.

“I had seven songs written, recorded and mixed from Volume 1 ,” he says. “I had to divide them. I had to keep some songs that I thought were marvelous off the first record, because you couldn’t front load it. I didn’t want to read these reviews: ‘Dennis’ Volume 2 , he should have stopped after Volume 1 .’ So I divided them. And that’s just a guessing game. Then I wrote four songs during the pandemic. All I was trying to do, and that’s all I’ve ever done, is just to write the best song in the time allotted.

“The subject matter of the music: It’s an old fart who’s not going to talk to you about twenty years from now. He’s not going to say, ‘Don’t wait for heroes.’ Because I said that as a young man. Now, I’m going to reflect. I’m going to try to put into music and words the things I believe I’ve learned and the things that are still a mystery that I won’t ever know the answers to. That’s all I tried to do. And I thought it would be nice to have some good melodies.”

Love songs have always been one of DeYoung’s strong suits, and they’re well-represented on Vol. 2 , although he insists that only one on the album was written as a way of paying tribute to Suzanne, his wife of over 50 years. “‘Your Saving Grace,’ though dedicated to my wife, it’s not a love song,” he explains. “My wife did save me at one point when I needed being saved. But when I wrote this song, it was dedicated to the concept of a higher power. It can be taken either way. We want to be saved. We feel small, insignificant, incapable. I sat down to write my take on ‘Let It Be.’ It had a lot of permutations. But my wife acted in that role for me on Earth.”

“Made For Each Other,” however, was written, without a doubt, for his wife. “And I told her this is the last one, so don’t bug me,” he jokes.

DeYoung also addresses the folly of modern mankind on songs like “Little Did We Know” and “Isle Of Misanthrope.” He explains his concerns, specifically when it comes to social media: “We’re broken. Humanity is broken. I’m gonna say it. It’s not the connectedness of social media. It’s the anonymity. It allows human beings to act out with their worst angels. It’s a worldwide audience.

“I’ve been trying to lead a campaign that says bring back the fistfight. You say something, say it to me, and I’ll punch you in the fucking face if I don’t like it, and you can punch me back. That will stop that stuff. But now there is no risk. Consequence to action is what all religion is based on. It’s how you keep these apes with brains too big from killing each other. Now it’s a free-for-all. The technology has allowed that to happen.”

Still, DeYoung isn’t giving up on us. “Human beings are such a mysterious bunch,” he marvels. “When people will say the stupidest, self-destructive things and live a life that supports those self-destructive tendencies, and then turn around and run into a collapsing or burning building to rescue people that they don’t know. This is too much for my old brain. I’m having a hard time putting those concepts together.” 

While most of the material on the album came naturally, DeYoung did write one track mindfully as a way of capturing the vibe of Styx’s ambitious origins. “The one song where I said, ‘Ok, I’m going to sit down and do this specifically’ was ‘Isle Of Misanthrope,’” he explains. “Because of the rather tortured history of Styx and my unceremonious exit, it took this fan base and split it apart. You have a small minority in the middle that will say they like both, the new and the old. And you have camps that seem to hate one or the other. This is a tragedy for me personally to imagine that Styx fans either hate me or Tommy (Shaw). It is a disgusting thing to live with.” 

“So I said ‘It’s 1975. What would you do?’ And I wrote ‘Isle Of Misanthrope.’ Pulling from the Wooden Nickel records and the first four albums on A&M. I went there and did that.”

DeYoung went back even further on “Hello Goodbye,” paying tribute to the Beatles while also referencing his first musical fumblings with brothers (and future Styx members) Chuck and John Panozzo. “This is how it happened, 26 East,” he says, referring to their Roseland, Illinois roots. “That basement. Three nobodies. Me playing accordion. Chuck was barely a guitar player. And John was a good drummer. There we were. That’s how it turned into this thing.”

And to bring it full circle, DeYoung closes out this swan song of an album with “GIF,” which is essentially a brief rehash of Styx’s classic “The Grand Illusion.” He was struck by how those words, written about 45 years ago, suited the current occasion. “What I say there, ‘Deep inside we’re all the same,’ those are the last words I sing in my recorded career,” he contends. “I couldn’t make it up in my mind to be any better.”

As for his former band, which still enjoys an active recording and touring career, DeYoung just wishes that certain fans would stop trying to pit one entity against the other. “I’ve said from the beginning, when I first saw this stuff happening in the 2000s when the fan base would just go right at each other,” he says. “I asked them please stop doing that. It’s heartbreaking to me. Rejoice in the music that was created by us. We all know that the music that we love is created by people who are imperfect. It’s the things they try to create, they’re trying to rearrange the world and their small part to make it perfect.

“Styx is a four-letter word. That’s all it is now, to me. It’s come to represent too many things, in my opinion. It’s just a word. That’s a legal term now. The only things the fans should concern themselves with, whether I create it or the other guys create it, is the music. Put all the other stuff aside. If you hear something that I do that you love or that they do that you love, that’s all you need to know. After all, our goal was always to please people.”

DeYoung is also happy that his music, both old and new, means so much to so many people, even if those meanings sometimes diverge from his original intent. “We played ‘Come Sail Away’ at my Dad’s funeral,” he says. “And when I wrote it, I couldn’t imagine it being a funeral song. It was a song about yearning and hope. Is there a greater compliment to have that song chosen for someone you love as they move on to the next thing? I can’t think of it.

“You read the fans’ comments on YouTube sometimes and you say, ‘Well that’s completely fucking wrong,’” he laughs. “But then you stop yourself and say that doesn’t matter. Because it’s not mine, It’s theirs.”

Photo by Kristie Mayfair Schram

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Dennis DeYoung Hopes to Do a Styx Reunion Tour ‘For the Fans’

It’s been 20 years since Dennis DeYoung last spoke with his former Styx bandmates Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young, but that doesn’t stop the rocker from holding out hope for a reunion.

"We should do one last tour for the fans,” DeYoung proclaimed during an interview with Rolling Stone . “Let’s go do 80 or 100 shows. Let’s put Moe, Larry and Curly back on the stage.”

He was Styx original singer, founding the band as a teenager alongside his neighbors Chuck and John Panozzo in the early ‘70s. Guitarist Young was brought on shortly after that, with Shaw joining the group in 1975.

DeYoung sang and wrote many of the band’s biggest hits, including "Lady,” “Babe,” “Show Me the Way” and “Come Sail Away.” Following a couple of successful reunion tours, he separated from the group in 1999 while Young and Shaw continued performing under the Styx name. The reason for DeYoung’s dismissal differs depending on whom you ask.

Shaw and Young insist the impetus came from the band’s 1983 concept album Kilroy Was Here . The project, most remembered for the popular but polarizing track “Mr. Roboto,” created severe tension within the group, leading to its initial breakup in 1984. Even though they were able to put lingering issues aside for reunion tours in the ‘90s, Shaw and Young say the Kilroy Was Here experience poisoned any chance at reconciliation with their former frontman.

DeYong, on the other hand, believes his former bandmates use Kilroy as a scapegoat, when their true motive was more about power. “They said in 1999 that the reason they had to replace me was because of something that happened in 1983," the singer explained . "And we’d just done two successful reunion tours in 1996 and 1997 and we were recording a new album! But if you tell a lie long enough and with enough enthusiasm, people are going to believe it.”

DeYoung adding that Shaw and Young “wanted to assume control.” Despite these feelings, the former frontman still hopes to reunite with Styx.

“Let’s get together and give the fans one more run at this thing, and then I’ll ride off into the sunset,” DeYoung declared while imagining a conversation with his old bandmates. “You’ll keep doing your Styx thing and using the name. I don’t care. I want it one more time for our fans.”

In spite of these comments, the odds of Styx making up with DeYoung appear low. “It was an ugly time, but I'm not bitter about it anymore," Young noted of DeYong’s tenure during a 2018 interview with Billboard . "It's clear that moment in time was a huge mistake. We gave [DeYoung] enough rope to hang himself, and us, collectively, and that's part of Styx history. We killed the golden goose, at least for the time being. It's taken a long time to resurrect it, and we've succeeded, mightily. I'm not mad at [DeYoung] anymore. I've forgiven him and I wish the man well and happiness. I just have no desire to work with him."

One occasion which could theoretically bring the Styx members back together would be a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. The band has been eligible since 1997, and DeYoung clearly feels the honor is overdue. “I want to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because we deserve to be," the singer stated. "I’m sickened by the fact that we’re not.”

The current incarnation of Styx recently postponed a series of March tour dates due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The band has many more concerts currently in place for spring and summer 2020.

DeYoung, meanwhile, is prepping 26 East: Volume 1 , his first album of original solo material in more than a decade. The LP is due on April 10.

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By kslx | july 27, 2021, dennis deyoung says “there should be one last styx tour” featuring him.

Founding Styx singer/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung hasn’t played with the group since 1999, and although longtime members Tommy Shaw and James “JY” Young continue to insist they have no interest in reuniting with him, DeYoung says he’d like to tour with his ex-band mates one more time.

“I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but there should be one last Styx tour,” the 74-year-old musician tells ABC Audio. “You know, with Moe, Larry and Curly on the same stage, to wave goodbye to the fans…and tell them, ‘Hey, you made us wealthy people and you gave us incredible lives. Thanks. Bye.'”

Acknowledging that Shaw and Young don’t want to work with him again, DeYoung declares, “I don’t want to be in Styx anymore…Styx is Tommy and JY. [Founding bassist] Chuck [ Panozzo ] plays once in a while, but it’s Tommy that makes the decisions. It’s his band.”

Having said that, Dennis maintains that most Styx fans would love to see a reunion trek.

“Even if you’ve bought into Tommy’s new Styx with JY, and you love ’em and you think I’m a poop face, based on lies told about me, if you see the Styx reunion [is happening,] you’re coming,” DeYoung says.

Dennis says his feeling is based on Styx fans’ social media posts and the continuing popularity of the band’s music.

“[I]t does mean a great deal to them,” he declares, then quips, “And to see it one more time would be grand…and it would not be an illusion.”

Dennis also points out that next year marks the 50th anniversary of Styx’s debut album.

In June, DeYoung released what he says will be his final solo album, 26 East, Vol. 2 , a collection of tunes that features multiple nods to Styx songs.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Former Styx Singer Dennis DeYoung Teams Up with Tom Morello for New Song "The Last Guitar Hero": Stream

The collaboration is featured on DeYoung's upcoming album, 26 East, Vol. 2.

May 11, 2021

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Dennis DeYoung: ‘Styx Should Do One Last Tour for the Fans’

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

For the past 20 years, Styx have put their fans in an impossible situation. Anyone who attends one of their shows not only misses out on seeing founder and ex-frontman Dennis DeYoung, but the current lineup doesn’t even play many of the hit songs he wrote and sang, including “Babe” and “The Best of Times.” They only recently gave in to years of pressure and added “Mr. Roboto” into the set.

DeYoung plays everything in the Styx catalog at his solo gigs, but he doesn’t have the name or any other members of the group, even though his guitarist, August Zadra, does a stellar impression of Tommy Shaw. DeYoung is desperate for a reunion and is happy to look past all the battles of the past, but Shaw, along with guitarist J.Y. Young, refuses to even consider it. They also bash the singer in the press whenever his name comes up and insist that the band’s 1983 concept record Kilroy Was Here and the supporting tour, which was all DeYoung’s brainchild, irreparably damaged the band.

“It cut our album sales in half because the male audience was absolutely alienated by ‘Mr. Roboto,'” Young told Arizona Central last year of the Kilroy era. “Not all of them but a large chunk. And our concert tickets were down from sold-out arenas in 1981.”

The whole thing is a giant mess without any sign that the two parties will ever reconcile. DeYoung, however, is carrying on with his career and plans to release his new solo album, 2 6 East: Volume 1, on May 22nd. It’s his first collection of new songs since 2007 and quite possibly his last one. We spoke to him about the album, his hopes for a Styx reunion tour, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, politics, and the eternal legacy of “Mr. Roboto.”

What made you decide it was time for a new record? I didn’t decide that. What happened is that I did a live thing for AXS TV a few years ago and then they gave me the rights to it. Some guy in Mexico posted it about two years ago on YouTube and it’s moving towards a million views. That’s unbelievable for a live concert. We’re talking about me now, not Sting. I thought when it was first posted, “Should I leave it up? Yeah. I’ll leave it up.” I was stunned.

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After that happened, I heard from Frontiers Records. Their president Serafino [Perugino] asked me to make a new studio record. This was about three years ago. I said, “Why?” Can you imagine saying those words? But I really felt it. Even three years ago I said, “Have you looked around and seen that rock music is dead?”

Now I don’t mean the music, but the format for which it can be delivered properly to people has been choked at the neck. There’s plenty of classic-rock stations, but the two most dreaded words in the English language to a classic-rock fan are “new music.”

I just said to him. “Look, Serafino, it’s a lot of work. I produce these records. I end up mixing them. I have to write songs.” I didn’t know if I had it in me to sit down and do all this work. But my neighbor and good buddy Jim Peterik is friends with Serafino. The two of them kept working on me. Jim said to me, “Den, the world needs your music.” I said to him, “Have the world text me. I don’t believe it.” But he wore me down. We sat down to write songs and before I knew it, we had eight of them.

What was the idea behind the songs? It was a concept record from the very beginning. The concept was, “Don’t suck.” I don’t wanna go any further than that. You know when you saw Willie Mays and he’s at the end of his career? I didn’t want to be Willie. I’ll stand on what I did; like it or hate it, there it is. Then I got talked into it.

In the final analysis, I owe Jim Peterik a big thanks. I would have never, ever done a duet with Julian Lennon without him. I never would have written that song [“To the Good Old Days”]. I never would have had that opportunity to basically wave goodbye and say, “Thanks for everything, you people. You have given me this wonderful life.” So I feel good about it.

How did you get Julian on the album? I don’t know if you know this, but he’s a degenerate gambler and he was late on the vig !

How did it actually happen? I wanted this album to be a chronology of my life, my feelings, everything. I wrote one about watching the Beatles in 1964. It was going to be a song about that moment when my life changed. It was really a musical homage to all things Beatles, though some people may call it a rip-off. I wrote it like Lennon and McCartney. Remember in the early days, they used to sing the whole song together?

That’s what I did. I thought, “Man. I need another singer.” I started thinking about guys I knew and so I thought, “Julian Lennon!” How could I not want to be the Paul to his DNA? I composed an email and was about to send it with this song. I listened one more time and I thought to myself, “He can’t sing this song. This is my story. And it sounds like a Beatle record.”

I thought he’d be criticized. I turned around and went into the other room, sat at the piano and I said, “Julian Lennon and I singing together. What can we do?” I wrote the song. I came back and did a little demo, just piano, and I sent it to him. Now, I don’t know him. Never met him. And so I sent it, never expecting even a response. And he wrote back and said he’d be honored to do it.

Flashback: Styx Perform a Soaring 'Come Sail Away' in 1996

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I don’t want to sound like a sentimental old fluff, but it meant so much to me to acknowledge, in the best way I could, the great life that his dad’s band and my fans have given me.

Where does the title of the album come from? The title of the album is 26 East. The basement of that house is where John and Chuck Panozzo and myself formed the nucleus of Styx that would eventually, adding guitars players here and there, make a record in 1972. I just wanted to go full circle and bow and leave the stage because that’s what I should do.

Tell me about “All Due Respect.” You’re clearly singing about cable news in that one. I say it right in the beginning: “They got the answers for me and you and royal blue.” I’m an equal-opportunity insulter. What’s happened is that over the past 30 years we have slowly taken this ugly march that confuses entertainment with news. And so now what do we have? We have all these mooks realizing that if we put these polar opposites to represent the extremes in a room like the WWF, eyes and ears and clicks start happening.

It becomes spectacle. It becomes entertainment. It’s dangerous. It’s killing democracy. It’s going to ruin us because they just want to sell you beer under the guise of ruining the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Do you think the left and right are equally guilty here? No. The left is more guilty. You want to know why? Because they have all the outlets! Here’s the thing that gripes me. I find myself to be, always have been, center right. Now, if you write that, they’re going to hate me. What I mean by center right is I’m right for two reasons. One, I believe tonight there are people that are willing and able to come into your house, kill you and take everything you have if you give them the opportunity. I believe that because as much as I like human beings, I’m suspicious.

Two, I would like to keep as much of the money that I make for my family, knowing full well that there is a common good and a common wealth that must be addressed, so tax me a good amount of money. I’m not against it. But at some point, you know, I want them to act like parents.

Are you a Trump supporter? No! No! Are you kidding me? I voted for Obama. Imagine that! I listened to what he said. I’ve voted for Republicans and Democrats all my life. I try to judge the man or the woman knowing full well that as a collective we’re imbeciles. To look at these individuals and think they’ve got the answer — they’re morons just like you and me and making it up as they go along. Everybody, wake up! These people are not saviors. They are humans.

In the last election, I couldn’t vote. I just couldn’t. I wanted to, but I couldn’t vote for either of them for obvious reasons. Politically, I am the guy who is sick and tired of the extremes who have suddenly started running our country. I don’t want these people. I want them to try and come to … dare I say middle ground? And I’m pissed at these people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Both sides now claim that neither side has ever had a good idea ever, which we know is historically untrue.

Look, liberals imagine the world the way it should be, not the way it’s gonna be or the way it is. I applaud that. Without liberal thought, we’re lost. I believe that. But when you ask me, it’s not a level playing field. The left screams about Fox. Do you know whey they’re so successful? The same way Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow were so successful. Not a lot of options for those people! It’s not like me. I’m competing against 10,000 bands just like me. When Fox came out, you can’t beat them because there’s only one.

To switch gears here, are you going to add any of these new songs into your live show? One I’ve chosen to play immediately is “East of Midnight” because that was written for Styx fans who are, shall we say, romantically trapped in a time period. And I don’t blame them. That’s why I wrote “To the Good Old Days.” Those two songs lyrically are about the fans saying, “Please, Dennis. Take me back for two hours out of the chaos that I live in, the stress and pressures that I didn’t feel when I first heard your music.”

You’ve also been playing Styx’s Grand Illusion album straight through at some of your shows . That is what I would call the height of nostalgia. People need the ability to, rightly or wrongly, go back and feel the way they did when they were young. And I understand it completely. Listen, music is magic. Of all the arts, none of them come close to music. Music can ignite actual physical change in the body. It gives you goosebumps or raises the hair on the back of your neck. I could stare at the Mona Lisa for the rest of my life, that ain’t happening to me.

People come up to me and they thank me. Nobody thanks a 73-year-old for anything anymore. They come up and thank me for the music constantly and say what an impact I had on their lives. You know what I think? I was just trying to beat Queen and Foreigner. That’s what I was trying to do.

It’s interesting that when you go and see Styx, there are so many songs they just don’t perform. That’s because they’re mine. They’ve taken a stance. But since the last time we’ve talked, they’ve added “Roboto.” It’s like going into a deli and the guy going like, “No, we’re not giving you any corned beef.” “What?!? I’m in here for the corned beef!

They still bash that song, though. Aren’t you tired of hearing that? They’re doing that while they’re playing it! Look, when J.Y. and Tommy and myself were the only ones left in the band, I got really sick. And I’m still carrying the scars of that Influenza A I got. I still have light sensitivity. It doesn’t go away.

They wanted to assume control, the two of them. And need I say there’s an increase of a third of the money as well? They wanted the power to do that and they did it. But you can’t tell your fan base we got rid of this load over here because he was sick and couldn’t go on tour when we wanted him to, so they came up with this story that they’ve told for 20 years.

They said in 1999 that the reason they had to replace me was because of something that happened in 1983. And we’d just done two successful reunion tours in 1996 and 1997 and we were recording a new album! But if you tell a lie long enough and with enough enthusiasm, people are going to believe it. And I didn’t respond right away because I was sick. They wanted to tell that story: “If you didn’t like ‘Mr. Roboto,’ which apparently tens of millions of people disagree with, he’s to blame.”

Here’s what they don’t understand and I’ll say this on the record: All boats rise with the tide. Styx fans were not in a contest to see which member they liked best. They liked the band. Most of them loved the variety.

And for context here, when you brought Tommy into the band in 1975, you’d already had a big hit with “Lady.” He was joining a successful band. The reason that I’m focusing on John, Chuck, and I is that we were the closest. We lived on the same street. We had the same ethnic background. That’s what kept the band going. Over the years we had various guitar players. Every guitar player that joined us, joined a successful band.

Every guitar player that joined the band, they joined because we had gigs. J.Y. joined in 1970 after his band had imploded. He was looking to make money. We had the gigs and he joined us. We were a cover band. It was only temporary in his mind. But then boom! He and I joined together and the Styx sound was forged.

But it was only temporary for him. He wanted to run his own band. So every guitar player joined a successful band, including Tommy Shaw. He joined a band that had just recorded an album that would go on to sell 2 million copies, a band that had a gold album and a Top 10 single. But the core was always the Panozzos and me.

Do you get any money from their ticket sales these days? We had to come to an agreement. The reason I sued them … and they made this big thing, “They sued me!” They took the name after they replaced me. The used it for a year and a half on the road and I never sued them or said a word to them. They never paid me a dime. And then I saw the Behind the Music segment where they started this campaign of going after my music and me. I cried. I cried and I called my lawyer.

Throughout that year and a half I was hopeful they’d just call me back in and say, “You’re better now, let’s go.” But they were out to get me. The only reason I sued them was to get my share of the Styx name. I’m part owner. I mean, am I starting to sound like a whiner?

No. This feels very justified to me. Here it is. I’m a lucky guy, buddy. I still go out and play. They pay to see me. I’m not even in the band I made famous. I don’t want to sound like a whiner. I have moved on. I have probably said over and over again we should do one last tour for the fans. I don’t have to have the name. Let’s go do 80 or 100 shows. Let’s put Moe, Larry, and Curly back on the stage.

When was the last time you spoke to Tommy or J.Y.? Twenty years.

If you were talking to them right now, what would you say? I’d say, “Let’s get together and give the fans one more run at this thing and then I’ll ride off into the sunset. You’ll keep doing your Styx thing and using the name. I don’t care. I want it one more time for our fans.”

And can I say this? I want to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because we deserve to be. I’m sickened by the fact that we’re not. I know that’s going to look really bad in print. There was a time the Hall was controlled and run by a certain mentality, which I respect. I do. The people who raise the money and got it, those people have the right to put who they want in there. It’s their deal.

But in recent years, too many of our peers have gotten the nod. Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the be all, end all? Of course, it isn’t. But it’s the only one. Would you like to be in the Rock Journalism Hall of Fame, if there was one, even if they said all your articles were poo-poo? We’re human. We’re looking for a pat on the head. We’re asking for someone to tell us, “Nice job! You’re not as bad as we thought.”

Journey got in recently. Maybe it’ll happen in a few years. I don’t want to die first. Simply put, Rush inducted Yes. But there is no Rush without Yes. Led Zeppelin and Yes made a baby, it was Rush. I look at that and think, “Wow!” Number one, I want the fans to see this thing that I gave my life to. It defines who I am outside of being a father and a husband.

I still don’t understand why Tommy and J.Y. continue to bash you and then go onstage every night and play your music. Look, they’ve decided to try and capture that percent of the audience that may have been turned off by anything that wasn’t how they define the band now in retrospect. But I was there. “Renegade” was not a rock song. I made it into a rock song. Image is different than reality.

They speak about Kilroy Was Here like it was the worst thing that ever happened to mankind. Here’s the thing. You were too young to see it. It was really my brainchild and I wanted to do three things. I wanted to get us on film. This was before MTV. I didn’t know MTV was going to be invented, but I knew being on film was important. How did I know? The Beatles. And so I come up with this story because these fundamentalist dudes were burning records and the only reason Styx was in there because they are idiots. “Oh, it’s the river in hell.” They thought there were backwards satanic messages. I was actually on Nightline and Donahue talking about this stuff.

I thought to myself, “The band that just gave you ‘Babe’ are satanists? This is dangerous shit.” This is before the PMRC. I wrote a story about rock being being banned by a fundamentalist. He’s really an entertainer. He’s not a religious guy. He’s just a big-mouthed charlatan who owns his own TV network. And he’s a big bullshitter. That’s the original story. And he gets rock banned because he says that everything bad happening in the country was because of this stuff.

It was just a story. I thought to myself, “Let’s do something different. Do I have to go back to Madison Square Garden and stand on the stage and do songs?” I wanted to push the envelope. And so I did it. Did I push too far? Maybe.

The two overriding factors are that the First Amendment is due respect. Number two, watch out. “The problem is plain to see/Too much technology/Machines to save our lives/Machines dehumanize.” That’s what I was trying to say about these Japanese robots because Japan ruled the world in technology in 1981 and 1982 when I was writing it. I was saying, “We have to make a bargain with these machines creating.” I didn’t know there was going to be the internet. I didn’t know there was going to be AI.

I just looked around at my working-class buddies who went to factories to make money. You see what happened. It decimated those people I loved and grew up with. It turned them into opioid users, alcoholics, and victims of suicide because the machines took their place and they couldn’t earn the money and dignity that people need to have a decent life. That’s what I believed. It wasn’t like, “Oh, Dennis. He’s so precious.” I just knew machines could replace human beings.

To wrap up, are you thinking yet about a release date for Volume 2 of your new record? No. I don’t really care. The songs are recorded and I’m really happy people are enjoying them. I didn’t do this for people to hate what I’m doing. I didn’t do it so people could say, “Dennis DeYoung’s music, he’s a poo-poo face.” Quite the opposite.

Over my life, I’ve had people look at Styx songs and you’d think we invented the coronavirus. It’s insane because they had a point of view that was different than what we did musically. This is music, kids. Take a breath!

As far as the second ones goes, the songs are mostly recorded. After I talk to you and everyone and see what they think, I’ll probably put a song or two new on it. At this point in my life, I’m not here to reinvent the wheel. I’m here to be liked. Should I be ashamed of it? I’m not.

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DENNIS DEYOUNG: TOMMY SHAW Said 'No' To STYX Reunion Tour

Ex- STYX vocalist and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung has once again said that he wants to reunite with his former bandmates for one final tour.

DeYoung , the voice behind such STYX classics as "Come Sail Away" , "Best Of Times" , "Pieces Of Eight" and "Babe" , spoke about his previous group while chatting with Joe Rock of Long Island, New York's 102.3 WBAB radio station .

Asked if he is still hoping for a reunion of STYX 's classic lineup, Dennis said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET ): "I've been riding that bandwagon for the last five or six years, but to no avail. Really, the people that are vested, the promoters around the country, have this past year gone through back channels to see if there was interest. 'Cause everybody, every STYX fan would like to see that one more time. And one person spoke, and it was Tommy [ Shaw , STYX guitarist/vocalist], and he said 'No.' I don't know why; it makes no sense to me.

"We owe the fans who made us what we are today — rich, successful human beings — one last opportunity to experience Moe , Larry , Curly and Shemp , when he's available, to come out there and see 'em," he continued, referring to "The Three Stooges" , one of the most successfully comedy acts in history.

"It's not in my hands. I have no ax to grind. I have no hatchets to bury. I have nothing. I wanna go out and do it. It's not me. So, please send your cards and letters to the appropriate address."

DeYoung co-founded STYX as a teenager alongside his neighbors Chuck and John Panozzo in the early 1970s. James Young joined shortly after that, with Shaw coming on board in 1975.

Three years ago, Shaw likened STYX 's relationship with DeYoung to a divorce. "You get married when you're young and everything's rosy," he told "The Big Interview" . "Then, as you start to get a little older, you realize you didn't have that much in common and then you go through a tough divorce… We still have songs that we co-wrote together, and those are our children, and we've managed to find a way to keep those things in play."

Shaw went on to say that he is content to let the past remain in the past, choosing instead to surround himself with positivity as he enters the next part of his career. He continued: "Personality-wise, at this stage in my life, I want to be happy. I want to be around people who love me and that have my best interest at heart, and I don't have to fight with. There's just not enough years left that I would want to risk not having that again."

DeYoung will release his final studio album, "26 East, Vol 2" , on June 11 via Frontiers Music Srl .

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Dennis DeYoung: Not Retiring, Heartbroken Over Styx

Dennis DeYoung still hasn't gotten over the fact that Styx exists without him fronting the band. DeYoung, who was replaced as the band's lead singer in 1999 by guitarists Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young , still holds out hope for a final reunion with Styx. DeYoung recently released his latest — and final — studio set,  26 East, Vol. 2 .

During a chat with Classic Rock , DeYoung spoke candidly about his thoughts on being ousted from his frontman position, explaining, "I’ve tried, in vain, to be in that band from the moment they replaced me. In the beginning it was my band, my idea, but now it’s really Tommy Shaw’s band. I’ve said that we should do one last tour together, for those people who made us rich men. They know I’m ready to do it. And recently it was floated as a possibility. But Tommy Shaw was the only one who spoke, and he said no."

Both Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young have painted a picture of DeYoung being at times insufferable to work with — something DeYoung maintains is a false narrative: "Let me tell you, all this stuff they said about me was the biggest exaggerated bunch of lies I’ve ever seen in my life. We liked each other. We never had a punch-up. We never screamed at each other. We weren’t those guys. We made music together. So when you cast aspersions — not only on my musical contributions, but also on my character — it’s been the greatest heartbreak in my career."

As far as the band besmirching their past by ignoring or mocking some of DeYoung's material, he said, "I can’t think of a band that’s worked harder than Styx at diminishing its own reputation, and to denigrate the music that we created together. And it serves no purpose. Our fans loved us because what we did musically was very uplifting and positive. That’s what we stood for. And to harm that in any way is insane. Not to give the fans one last glimpse of us together on stage, it makes no sense to me. And I know that all Styx fans would want to see that one more time."

Regarding  26 East, Vol. 2 being DeYoung's last album, he said, "I’m not retiring. And if the spirit moves me I might write a song from time to time and put it out through Apple or whoever the local robber baron is. But I’m not going to go through the tortuous effort of making a complete album again, because my audience will go: 'Hey, that’s nice, Dennis,' pat me on the head and then say: 'Please play 'Come 'Sail Away.' This is a fact for all classic rockers. The people who still support us are emotionally bound to the music of their youth, which is true of all generations."|

Although his former bandmates, guitarists Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young forced him out of the band over 20 years ago — Dennis DeYoung still yearns for a final shot at fronting Styx. We asked him what it would take to see that happen: ["Those two guys. I would always have been in Styx, except for their decision — that's a fact. I don't have a grudge. I have to ax to grind. No hatchet to bury. I should've been in the band, I wanna be in the band — well, the last coupla years I've been sayin' — 'Hey! I don't wanna be in the band anymore.' But we should do one last tour — get Moe, Larry, & Curly on the stage, and show people what it was."] SOUNDCUE (:24 OC: . . . what it was)

When we last caught up with Dennis DeYoung, he told us that although he and the rest of Styx no longer have contact, he can’t help but still love the creative connection they once shared and be thrilled about what they accomplished together: [“You can’t find anywhere where I’ve ever said anything denigrating about what we created. It doesn’t exist. I just don’t believe it. I think, by and large, we did really good work. We stood for something; we stood for something positive in our music — it’s a joy to do it (live). To know I was part of all that stuff and here I stand and I can still duplicate it, so I think: ‘Hey, no complaints from me!’”] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . complaints from me)

The Real Reason Dennis DeYoung Left Styx

The legendary 1970s-1980s band Styx has been around a block or six, and their music has been surprisingly multifaceted. They've done the kind of hard-rocking fare you'd expect from a band called Styx, and prog-rock that, to be honest, you'd also expect from a band called Styx. Yet, two of their best-known songs include the famed synth-pop tune "Mr. Roboto," and the chart-topping soft rock ballad, "Babe." Of course, you have to look at the guy who wrote and sang those particular songs and many others, keyboardist-singer Dennis DeYoung: The talented musician's pop sensibilities may have brought the band some huge hits , but after he left the group, Styx utterly refused to play "Mr. Roboto" live until very recent years.

But why did DeYoung leave the group in 1999, in the first place? It seems like "artistic differences" might be a pretty sure bet in this particular scenario, or maybe some remaining animosity from the band's first break-up way back in 1984. As is so often the case, the truth is more complicated. Here's the real reason Dennis DeYoung left Styx.

Touring troubles

In a 2018 appearance on  The Big Interview (Via ABC News Radio ), Styx members James Young, Tommy Shaw and Lawrence Gowan noted that their problems with Dennis DeYoung stemmed from the singer's refusal to tour at a time when the band wasn't selling albums, and had to rely on live show revenue. To be fair, DeYoung quoted medical reasons for his reluctance to hit the road, so he wasn't just feeling lazy.

Young says things came to a head when the band started considering a replacement for DeYoung, with the man himself stepping onstage whenever he felt up to it. Unfortunately, the idea proved unpopular with DeYoung. "He said, 'I don't want you to do that,'" Young says. "And I said, 'Well, we're going with you or without you.'" The band eventually went with the "without DeYoung" option, and DeYoung proceeded to sue them for the band's name. The case was settled out of court, and ... that was that, really. 

 Though Andy Greene of Rolling Stone notes that fans have been clamoring for DeYoung and Styx to reunite, this seems unlikely. DeYoung himself could possibly be persuaded to make a comeback, though. In an appearance on  Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon  (via Ultimate Classic Rock ), he said: "I believed [...] and still believe, the magic was when we were together. So, becoming a solo artist is nothing I ever aspired to. I don't wanna be a solo artist. I wanna be in Styx."