Dennis DeYoung to revisit Styx hits at the Genesee
You don't get through 45 years in the music business without stories to tell, and Styx co-founder Dennis DeYoung is ready to share some of his in an upcoming autobiography. It's a tale about growing up in Chicago at the height of Beatlemania and eventually dropping out of prejournalism classes at the University of Illinois to write music that would help his band become a goliath of '70s and '80s arena rock.
Although DeYoung's book is still very much in progress, you can expect it to have the same largesse and boldness as songs such as “Mr. Roboto” and “Come Sail Away” - judging by the opening passage alone.
“Are you ready?” he asks excitedly over the phone from his Burr Ridge home, clearing his throat with the effect of a drumroll before reading the first few lines.
“I lived in the greatest time in the history of mankind to be a musician. Never before, and I don't believe ever after, will there be so many musicians who had the opportunity my peers and I had to have long, fruitful careers. We were lucky by birth. We hit the sweet spot.”
If the book sounds like it's “in memoriam,” well it sort of is. “There was a golden time to be a musician and to be a fan of music, but nothing today compares to it,” DeYoung admits. “When we started, there were no other distractions like the Internet and video games, so music was central to young people's lives. Music was everything. But what the digital revolution has done, with streaming services and downloads, is take the value out of music. When things lose value they lose their meaning.”
This is not a new theory for DeYoung, who brings his current tour to Waukegan's Genesee Theatre Saturday, Feb. 13.
The songwriter has always called out the effects of transformation and largely made it the basis of his work. Listen closely to “Mr. Roboto,” he says. “It's more than a catchy song.”
Lines like “The problem's plain to see / Too much technology / Machines to save our lives / Machines dehumanize,” he admits came from watching a PBS special about computers in 1983 and is one of the reasons he does not own a cellphone.
The idea of glory days gone was also a major focal point of Styx's 1981 album, “Paradise Theatre,” an unlikely narrative about the once opulent West Garfield Park movie palace that was torn down in the 1950s for a supermarket. The album - Styx's only No. 1 hit - turned 35 last month and was engineered by Gary Loizzo, who recently passed away, adding to the epic list of deaths that have plagued the rock community since the start of 2016.
“You hear me knocking? That's me knocking on wood,” DeYoung says, his characteristic jokester persona coming to the surface. “Seriously someone should check my pulse.”
However, DeYoung looks at how long people such as David Bowie, Lemmy Kilmister and Glenn Frey lived as kind of miraculous. “Like Glenn wrote, 'They lived in the fast lane.' … When I was first making records there were no rock stars my age right now, they hadn't lived that long yet. No one could envision a rock star in their 60s; it was incomprehensible.”
With that sentiment in mind, DeYoung is planning a “Styx greatest hits show” for his latest tour, including the Genesee show. Though he hasn't performed with the rest of his original bandmates since 1999 after several acrimonious splits (don't even ask about a reunion), DeYoung still holds the literal keys to much of the band's catalog. As such, he promises renditions of “Show Me the Way,” “Lady,” “Babe,” “Don't Let It End” and “Too Much Time on My Hands” with a band “that can duplicate the spirit and sound of Styx music.” It includes his wife of 46 years, Suzanne, on backup.
Largely absent from the set, however, will be his solo music. DeYoung hasn't released any new material since 2009, he says.
“I've had this record contract on my desk for 10 months for a new solo album and I haven't signed it because I want to make sure that I have something worthy and meaningful to present to an audience,” he admits. “When I see people who weren't even born when these (Styx) songs were written, singing along to something that now belongs to them, that's what I want again. That opportunity to communicate and connect is my whole reason for being.”
Dennis DeYoung & The Music of Styx
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13
Where: Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee St., Waukegan, (847) 263-6300,
Tickets: $63-$93