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 U-Man and Favazz of the St. Louis, Missouri radio station KSHE 95.
He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The vast majority of fans, and I know this, they wanna see the band back together one last time. But [the STYX guys] chose a different path.
“The people say, ‘Stop whining, Dennis.’ I say, ‘I’ll whine as long as I like. I’m gonna be 75.’ But the truth is [for them] to go out [on tour] with REO [SPEEDWAGON in 2022] — and REO is terrific — and LOVERBOY, that’s lovely, except we should be going out by ourselves and giving the fanbase what they richly deserve, which is to see Moe, Larry and Curly [referring to ‘The Three Stooges’] one more time.
“The thing is, for me, if we went and did it… I don’t wanna be back in the band,” he explained. “I’m not there to annoy people. I just want it one last time, really, for the legacy of the band and for the fanbase, because we still are pretty good — all three of us [DeYoung, guitarist/vocalist James ‘J.Y.’ Young and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw — and Chuck [Panozzo, bass], when he has the strength to do it. It would be just a joyous thing for the people ’cause I know how I would feel if I got to see THE BEATLES one more time back when everyone was alive; it would have been ridiculous.”
This past July, DeYoung refuted Shaw‘s claim that the members of STYX‘s classic lineup “weren’t even happy working with each other in our heyday.”
“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,” Dennis told Classic Rock magazine. “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.
“Not to give the fans one last glimpse of us together on stage, it makes no sense to me,” he added. “And I know that all STYX fans would want to see that one more time.
“This is not about me, it’s not about money. It’s to relive, and reinforce, what lucky sonofabitches we were to find each other. And show the people that we appreciate what you’ve done for us. I’m sick over the fact that we can’t do it one more time, but what am I going to do? I just can’t for the life of me understand it.”
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 released his final studio album, “26 East, Vol 2”, in June via Frontiers Music Srl.
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