In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, former Styx singer Dennis DeYoung talked about his solo career. During the chat, he was asked if he ever stopped writing or if he was writing consistently. DeYoung shared his hesitation and said:
“The last two albums, I just thought, ‘What more am I going to say and do here?’ Do people need to keep hearing from me? I’m not the guy – and this is probably one of the things that makes me very different from a lot of musicians, and some from my band. They live to be on stage. That’s it. Not that they don’t have other interests, but really, that is the focus of their life. Their time on stage makes them feel the most alive and the most fulfilled.”
DeYoung’s point of view seems to have changed. He explained why:
“I understand that – because there was a time when I felt that way. I guess circumstances have kind of changed my point of view. I’ve always had a family. I had a wife and a daughter before I had a record deal. I had a family and a life that was separate and apart from standing on stage every night. That was important to me.”
Although he still keeps writing new music, it seems that DeYoung doesn’t feel the need to write something new everyday:
“So now, I don’t feel the need to write more music. Every once in a while, I’ll go, ‘Oh, maybe I should…’ And then I realize there’s something good on Amazon Prime. I have BritBox, baby! I’ve seen every English person and every murder that’s ever happened in England! I know so much English jargon now it isn’t even funny. I’m feeling knackered at the moment and I need a little kip. See what I mean? But I couldn’t watch BritBox without closed captions.”
DeYoung Is Planning To ‘Correct’ Something
DeYoung released ’26 East, Vol. 2′ on June 11, 2021, and hasn’t released any new music since then. This got fans thinking that the 2021 album could be his last.
In the same interview, the singer revealed that he re-recorded the first volume of his last two solo records but couldn’t release them at the date he planned due to the pandemic. Moreover, he has been wanting to correct something else he couldn’t do because of COVID. DeYoung revealed:
“I had a 60 city tour booked. I was out in California playing some shows. We played the Magnolia in El Cajon and then we were going home and getting ready for the next week when we would begin the 60 city tour. Bingo, they declared a pandemic and everything got shut down. The greatest disappointment to me is that I didn’t know my last show was my last show. So in the back of my mind, I have to correct that at some point here. I had really thought about it being the fall of this year, but [those plans] have been put to the side [for now]. To not know that you’re playing your last show, that’s weird. You don’t want that. So I plan on correcting that.”
You can hear the rocker’s latest album down below.