Hello, My Name Is Dennis

Q&A With Dennis DeYoung

IE: What have you been up to since appearing on these very pages two years ago?

Dennis DeYoung: I’ve been on the road, including some extensive touring in Canada, and I saw the double disc [The Music of Styx: Live With Symphony Orchestra] go platinum and the DVD triple platinum in Canada, which is miraculous, especially at my age! After the success of those projects, I made my first solo rock album since 1988 called One Hundred Years From Now and had [the title track, a English/French duet with Eric Lapointe] as a number one single simultaneously on [Canada’s] pop, AC and rock charts. It’s been remarkable, and quite frankly, I was dragged kicking and screaming through the whole affair because my manager/partner Tim Orchard and my wife Suzanne had to keep reassuring me that there were still people out there wanting to hear middle age white guy sing high!

IE: How do you account for that sales surge?

DDY: I wish I knew the exact answer. I think that symphony show at the Chicago Theatre [which was made into the CD] has a retrospective of the hits I wrote with Styx and people still like those songs, plus the fact that they were recorded with an orchestra and a rock band. I think a lot of it has to do with the songs remaining in the culture-either through motion pictures or television shows or classic rock radio- so other generations of fans can make a judgment whether they like it or not…The thing that triggered it Canada was appearing on a TV show that’s equivalent to “American Idol” called “Star Academy.” I appeared on that show with the last four male contestants and there was an explosion like I had never seen in my life right after I did that show. Really, it was remarkable, so I think a lot of the success was driven by me being, as they say in show business, at the “right place at the right time” and of course my performance didn’t suck. I could’ve been in front of a lot of people and blow it, but I didn’t this particular night, and it triggered a response that’s really humbling.

IE: What do you have planned for an American release of the album?

DDY: “One Hundred Years From Now” will be sung entirely in English and we’re in the process of lining up the English speaking artist who will sing with me. I’ve remixed two tracks because I was on such a deadline after the label told me radio stations were begging to play [the new songs]. Can you imagine that? But now with time for the American release, I can fix a couple things, plus put two new songs on: “Private Jones” and “There Was a Time.” It comes out on Rounder Records here in the States and we’re leaning towards a summer release. Rounder wants enough time because they’re actually going to try and promote the record, which in this day and age is a miracle.

IE: Should fans expect a continuation of your solo projects or more of the old school Styx sound?

DDY: It’s easier for somebody else to judge that, but I consciously tried for the first time in my solo career [not to avoid] sounding like myself in Styx. All of my other solo projects made a conscious effort to not sound like the band because I believed that dog and pony show belonged to the band, and if I recorded a solo project, I should find a new identity for myself musically. Now that I’m no longer in the band, I thought, “well, all bets are off!” I will give myself permission to do whatever the hell it is I want, so this record does — more than anything I’ve ever done solo- have my influence on what I did in Styx.

IE: Are there any local players on the album’s personnel list?

DDY: There are a wide variety of people, but essentially my band is playing on it: Kyle Woodring on drums, Hank Horton on bass, Tommy Dziallo on guitar, essentially I stuck to playing keyboards on this record, but my keyboard player John Blacucci played on one track. Another local guy on guitar was Ernie Denov on guitar, who’s been playing with several bands for years, along with Jimmy Leahey, plus a guitar player from Montreal who’s like their Eddie Van Halen named Stephane Dufour. The singing was done primarily by myself and Kevin Chalfant. To me the vocal harmonies were very reminiscent of Styx and I thought “well, this is a good idea” because I wanted those vocal harmonies to be familiar to people.

IE: A lot of folks know Kevin from playing with a lot of the Journey guys in The Storm, but how did you two hook up?

DDY: Tim sent me a link to Kevin singing on Shooting Star’s CD and I thought “that guy’s a good singer!” He lives in the Chicagoland area, so I called him and said “come out and sing and we’ll see how we sound together.” You have no idea before you start a project, but to me it was magical from the first moment. Certain voices just sound good together and his and mine just do!

IE: How were you able to preserve your voice over the years to the point where you can still hit the high notes?

DDY: Thong underwear two sizes too small! I took care of myself, didn’t do drugs, drink or smoke. Singers are a neurotic bunch who are privy to two tiny pieces of meat banging together in their throat for making a living…It’s tough, but some of it’s good living. I’ve been married to the same women for 38 years and had a family life. I didn’t truly live the rock star life in excess and I think that has something to do with it. Maybe just lucky as well.

IE: How did you avoid the typical rock star trappings, especially since you first found fame in the golden age of debauchery?

DDY: I was married with kids and never liked drinking anyway because it always made me sick, plus I’m not a fan of drugs. I’m never gonna hold myself as a goodie two shoes or some pedal of virtue- that’s not who I was or have ever been- but I just didn’t happen to do drugs, drink or smoke.

IE: What is it like to see so many peers from that era be affected by those vices?

DDY: I think without a doubt that the lifestyle of a rock star opens itself up to a myriad of temptations. People are young, they make a lot of money, are idolized far beyond their importance and it’s easy to be swept away in that sort of atmosphere. When you’re young, you feel invincible and invulnerable, but we all know that’s not true. My only suggestion to young musicians is that these roosters will come home to roost. There’s no free ride and how you treat your body when you’re young will absolutely affect the way you feel when you’re older.

IE: What are some of highlights that really stand out throughout your career- Styx or solo?

DDY: The first time I heard “Lady” on the radio. It was WLS and my wife and I danced in the kitchen, so every time something good’s happened from then on, we dance in the kitchen for good luck. The first time I got a gold album and the first time we played Montreal behind Bad Company at The Forum, which was the first sign we were going to be very successful rock musicians. Beyond that, I guess “Lady” being number one, the overwhelming success of The Grand Illusion, which broke Styx on a worldwide stage, and the ability to have four triple platinum albums in a row, which was pretty dog gone cool. Then coming back in 1996 with a very successful tour with the original members, less John Panozzo. As for my solo career, how can I discount what just happened to me? Other highlights were seeing the “Desert Moon” video finding so much success on MTV and VH1, plus “Desert Moon” the single. And I guess having a successful turn as Pontius Pilate [on the Broadway tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar”], which was me stepping out with no experience and having success.

IE: What was the transition like going from the rock stage to theatre?

DDY: The Broadway stage is disciplined where the rock stage is undisciplined. When playing Pontius Pilate, you can’t go on stage and say “hi Cleveland, how you doing?” There are very set parameters to work as an actor and others are dependent [on your role]. You have to stick to the road map, though playing in a rock band can be anything from structure to chaos and everything in between.

IE: What prompted you to make the leap from performing to writing your own musical?

DDY: People think I’ve always had this long, burning desire to be a Broadway actor, but that was not the case and never was the case! I wanted to bring theatrical elements to rock music, which wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but something fun and interesting that could separate us from other bands of our ilk. But with “Superstar,” I took the job as a job since Styx had just broken up after being without a record label home in 1992, despite the success of “Show Me the Way.” So I did it, and while I was on the road, I said to myself “eight shows a week- this is crazy! Who wants to perform eight times a week?” So I said “I think I’ll write one of these things” and I started writing “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

IE: Why did you choose this particular story to translate into a musical?

DDY: “Les Miserables” was a huge success and people I talked to about Broadway told me recognizable titles were easier to sell, plus I didn’t have to pay Victor Hugo- that guy’s dead! I remember seeing the 1939 version of “Hunchback” on TV, then I rented it, read the book and devised the story I wanted to tell from the story Hugo laid down.

IE: What are the similarities and differences between your version and original text?

DDY: I don’t suggest anyone to read the original novel because it’s is a very tedious book written about 150 years ago. The major difference is the journey of the priest Frollo. In the beginning, he adopts the deformed child Quasimodo, who is left abandoned by his mother and said to be a demon. I present a man who will do a magnanimous gesture like adopting a deformed baby and raise him. Through the journey of his life, we see him doing the good work of a priest and eventually rising to the position of an arch deacon twenty years later. Around that time, he sees a gypsy girl in the square, and as Hugo says in the book, ultimately becomes obsessed with her to the point where he commits murder and ends up forsaking his cloth, Quasimodo and all things for this obsession. To me, the interesting thing is not to paint Frollo as a villain like Darth Vader or any other production of Frollo where he seems cruel, uncaring, tortured and lustful. To me, the interesting question is “what allows a man to do a good deed and in that journey ends up making choices that are destructive to himself and everything he has worked for? What is it about the human spirit that makes us capable of great acts of kindness and great acts of evil?

IE: Is the soundtrack the same as your 1997 CD The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

DDY: The 1997 recordings are demos that were made to present the show to producers…But the more that CD made the rounds, the more everyone who heard the score said they loved the songs, so I made it into a CD. But that CD is not an any way a reflection of what the show’s become because that was made before the [script] was written and now the lyrics have changed to follow the story and several songs have been added.

IE: What is the sonic make-up of the facelifts you’ve given these songs?

DDY: I hope I’m creating a hybrid where the music has a familiarity about it [that takes] the best elements of popular music of my generation with a classicism to it. What I mean by that is the music will be dressed, arranged and orchestrated not to sound like contemporary music, but at it’s core, the songwriting is from a contemporary writer.

IE: What made you pick the Bailiwick for a venue?

DDY: It’s in the grand tradition of off Loop Chicago theatre that scraps by on a wing and a prayer that does good work and will try new things that no one else will try! David Zak, who the saw original symphonic show with some performances of “Hunchback” songs, called me five years in a row and asked to start the season with “Hunchback” and I said “no” five in a row. I turned 60 and said “what in the hell am I waiting for?”

IE: Why such a break between the original CD and a Chicago run of the musical?

DDY: Just to put it into perspective, we had a very successful run in the show in 97 at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre and my producers were anxious to move forward and take it to Broadway. But around that time, I had just worked myself to death on the Styx [reunion] tour, was producing the double live album for that for thirty days in the studio without interruption and working on the “Hunchback,” which literally was eleven months in a row of working to the bone. I got of the off the road and my father was dying of emphysema. I was out of gas physically and emotionally, so I had to take a break…I got ill from working so much that the “Hunchback” was put on the shelf and it ultimately led me to not being in Styx. [Guitarist/vocalist] Tommy [Shaw] and [guitarist/vocalist] J.Y. [James Young] wanted me to commit to doing another tour, but I said I needed another six months to recover. So they made the decision to replace me, and within a very short time span, I lost my health, my father, my best friend, my career with Styx and my opportunity with “Hunchback.”

IE: How were you able to get back on track?

DDY: Tim Orchard [of SFX concert promotions at the time and current manager] came along shortly after I was relieved of my duties in Styx and literally saved my career. He called me up out of the blue sky to see if I wanted to do a rock symphony show at the Rosemont Theatre, which was inspired by a sold out show with the Moody Blues. I didn’t know him well, but we met a few times before and he’d always been a Styx fan. So I turned to my wife and said “should I do this?” and she said “what have you got to lose?” I didn’t have anything, so I started on that course and it was the best decision I could’ve made!

IE: Between revisiting the Styx songs with the symphony, making a new solo CD and returning to the “Hunchback,” it sounds like everything came full circle. Do you think Styx fans will gravitate towards this musical?

DDY: I didn’t write this for Styx fans otherwise it would’ve sounded very different. I wrote this for myself and the greatest thing about doing this piece is it’s not about me as defined by Dennis DeYoung in Styx. It’s defined simply by me and I didn’t have to be “that guy” in my mind.

IE: What is your involvement in the show prior to the opening?

DDY: I’m as hands on as any author can be. David Zak and I are partners in every possible way and he’s a wonderful director who’s shown me a great respect and latitude to be involved in this process. The casting and everything in this show is agreed upon mutually. If you don’t like it, blame David, but if you do, it was my idea!

IE: Will you make a surprise singing appearance at any point?

DDY: No. Absolutely not. I did not write this piece for me, but not for me to be in it! I’ll be at a lot of the shows, but I’m on the road this summer and I won’t be at every performance. Sometimes I’ll be there to change, fix and make it better, though you don’t know how many times I’ve thought “I’d love to sneak in this performance as a character.” At some point when no one expects it, I will do something in a peripheral role, but not a lead because I don’t want the pressure of carrying the show. I wrote this so I didn’t have to do that! I wanted to be an author and sit back and be in creative process, but not the performing.

IE: Do you have any aspirations of the musical beyond Chicago?

DDY: My aspirations initially were always Broadway — anybody who says otherwise is probably a fool or a liar. But I can honestly say if it never plays anywhere again, that this production went down as one I could be proud of. I hope it accomplished the goal of making you care and feel for the characters and love the score. I believe if I get that right, anything is possible, and if I don’t, nothing is possible.

Dennis DeYoung’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame opens May 8th at Baliwick Repertory Theatre.Interview with Andy Argyrakis.

Category: Columns, File, Monthly