DeYoung torn over merits of studio return

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

Former Styx frontman happy with his new live release, but can't decide whether to record another album

Former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung says he has a batch of new material written – but he still isn't sure whether he will make another album.

DeYoung released his 2CD/DVD package Dennis DeYoung And The Music Of Styx: Live In Los Angeles this month and he is toying with the idea of an album of all new material.

It would be his first since 2009’s One Hundred Years From Now, but he is still wrestling with the merits of returning to the studio.

DeYoung tells Ultimate Classic Rock: “I have four or five songs right now that I’ve demoed and they sound pretty close to records, but they’re all over the damn place, musically.

“I don’t know if I want to make an album that’s just firing off the gun wildly into an empty room to see what happens. I don’t know. I know that my goal would be to get the very best songs on the record.

“If you’re in a band like Styx, for instance, there is an expectation of what you will deliver and in some ways, you are not bound by it, but you’re certainly aware of it.

“But for somebody like me who has written all different kinds of songs, I find it more difficult in this day and age to figure out what in the hell you should do? Should I just write a song, screw the album?”

On the Live In Los Angeles release, DeYoung says he couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.

He adds: “I spent two and a half months almost, mixing the thing myself. I was bound and determined to have this thing feel immediate, and just have the feeling that you’re seeing some sort of documentation of a performance. That’s really what I was shooting for.”

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.