Dennis
The Music Of Styx: Live In Los
Angeles (Frontiers Records), which basically trades his previously live project's
symphonic sounds and Broadway samplings for a career-spanning overview of
the group's entire history, including all
the aforementioned, the solo single
"Desert Moon," plus a pretty convincing
Quinn and [Mayor Rahm] Emanuel
demanded I get out of the city because
I've been aggravating the Chicagoans for
far too long, so I said "okay Rahm, whatever you need." [Actually] AXS TV came
to us with the idea of me doing a TV show
called Live From The Grammy Museum. It's
a show they do where artists play acoustically and I thought "oh, okay, we have a
really nice acoustic show," but the more I
thought about it, the more I realized that
since I had the orchestra show on DVD
and album, I didn't want to [also] do an
acoustic show with no documentation of
the [rock] band I'm so proud of playing all
those hits authentic to the sound and the
spirit of Styx. And so I talked with AXS
TV, [they agreed on the idea and told me]
John Fogerty had been offered this same
Dennis DeYoung, 1984
11•2014
stab at Tommy Shaw smashes "Blue
Collar Man," "Too Much Time On My
Hands" and "Renegade." The Grammynominee with four consecutive multiplatinum Styx albums invited Illinois
Entertainer to his sprawling suburban
home to catch up on the groundswell of
recent activity, where he currently stands
with the band, and a hint at his recording
future in light of the modern day music
industry, all laced with his signature wit.
IE: What prompted the geographical shift
from Chicago to L.A. for this project?
Dennis DeYoung: I believe [Governor Pat]
show and he opted for the El Rey Theatre,
which I didn't really know anything
about. So I looked it up- they also did a
tribute to Ringo [Starr] there - and I
thought "okay, we'll go to the El Rey and
we'll do it live with the rock band and
play all those songs people seem to like 40
years later and I'll be able to showcase
this band."
IE: What led you to perform and record a
wider Styx selection than you have in the
past?
DDY: I looked at the first Styx Greatest
Hits record and that's not a bad record to
8 illinoisentertainer.com november 2014
play (laughter). It had the scope of everything, so I started there and we almost
play every song on that package. What do
fans really want? The number one thing
they want is the band to get back togeth-
er. I hear it all the time. Short of that, what
are they saying? "We want to hear all the
songs we love in one concert." That was
my goal. Now there is a small group of
people – the die-hard fans – and their