Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images
Debra L Rothenberg/Getty ImagesLast month, ex-Styx singer/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung released a new solo album titled 26 East, Volume 1, a collection of songs partly inspired by his journey to rock glory, which began in his childhood basement playing music with his twin neighbors and future Styx band mates John and Chuck Panozzo.
DeYoung last played with Styx in 1999, when he was acrimoniously pushed out of the band he co-founded, but he tells ABC Audio that he’d still love to reunite with his old group for a farewell tour.
“I don’t want to be back in the band anymore,” the 73-year-old musician maintains. “I just want to do the last tour, wave to the fans and say, ‘This is why you love this thing.'” And believe me, they did…Four triple-platinum albums consecutively, [and] sold-out shows through the whole thing.”
DeYoung, whose exit from Styx stemmed from a rift with singer/guitarists Tommy Shaw and James “JY” Young, says his two former band mates still don’t want to work with him, but he doesn’t feel the same.
“I have said from the beginning I should have never not been in the band,” he declares. “And it continues with Tommy and JY…keeping that position. So I’m powerless.”
Dennis adds, “All you fans who say, ‘Bury the hatchet’…I got no hatchet to bury. I’m ready to go, and I’ve said so. I can go on that stage and give you the night of your life, if Tommy and JY say, ‘Yes.’ They have not, and it’s a shame.”
DeYoung, who continues to tour as a solo artist, also notes that neither he nor the current version of Styx can draw anywhere near the number of fans who came to see the group’s classic lineup play live.
By Matt Friedlander
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