Styx’s James Young discusses tour, forgiveness and meeting band’s biggest fan
Styx guitarist James Young performs onstage in this 2015 photo.
Styx guitarist James Young jumps at the conclusion of a song in this 2015 photo.
The Styx guitar tandem of James Young, left, and Tommy Shaw perform on Tuesday at USANA Amphitheatre.
Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw performs in concert.
Styx guitarist James "JY" Young hammers out a solo on Tuesday at USANA Amphitheatre.
Guitarist James Young and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan of Styx share a laugh on stage at the Eccles Theater.
Bassist Ricky Phillips and guitarists James Young and Tommy Shaw of Styx perform at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
Bassist Ricky Phillips and guitarist James Young of Styx elevate the proceedings on Tuesday at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.
Styx keyboardist Lawrence Gowan tickles the ivories with something or other on Tuesday at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.
Styx keyboardist Lawrence Gowan contemplates making a point on Tuesday at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.
James Young (center) and Tommy Shaw (right) of Styx perform on Tuesday at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City. Bassist Ricky Phillips is at far left.
Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw tosses a guitar pick into the air during his band's performance Tuesday at USANA Amphitheatre as part of the "United We Rock" tour.
Styx drummer Todd Sucherman in action on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw solos out on a ramp that extends into the audience Tuesday at USANA Amphitheatre.
Styx bassist Ricky Phillips plays above drummer Todd Sucherman on Tuesday at USANA Amphitheatre.
Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw plays acoustic guitar during "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" at USANA Amphitheatre in Salt Lake City on Sept. 28, 2015. Styx appears in Layton on Wednesday.
"Forty years later, it's still a source of immeasurable joy performing as a member of Styx," said Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw in an exclusive essay written for the Daily Herald. "It still takes everything I've got to do it justice and always ends with the feeling of "That was a killer gig!" There is still nothing that compares." Today marks the 40th anniversary of Shaw's first live show with Styx.
Ricky Phillips, right, and Tommy Shaw of the band Styx perform at the Covey Center for the Arts in 2012. Styx will perform at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City on Monday with Def Leppard and Tesla.
Considering Styx’s long history with the Beehive State, is it any surprise the band’s “biggest” fan resides in Utah?
Don’t take my word for it — it’s Styx guitarist James “JY” Young’s declaration.
“One unique thing that happened in the last six months is that I think I met the biggest Styx fan ever — on an airplane,” said Young during a recent phone interview from Key West, Florida, where the band had a show that night. “His name is Shawn Bradley, and he went to BYU.”
Young said he met the one-time BYU basketball player on a flight from Las Vegas to Chicago during a short break between the band’s two-week “Renegades in the Fast Lane” residency at the Venetian earlier this year.
“He was across the aisle from me with his 7-foot-6 frame barely fitting into a first-class seat,” Young said with a laugh.
Young, who is lovingly referred to as “The Godfather of Styx,” said Bradley is living in St. George these days, and after the in-flight meeting, he invited him and some friends to one of the ensuing Las Vegas shows.
“I’m going to call,” Young said, “and see if I can get him up to the big show in Salt Lake this summer.”
That big show Young was referencing will be on Monday night at USANA Amphitheatre, when Styx headlines a triple bill also featuring Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Tesla. The tour itself kicked off Wednesday in Irvine, California. The Salt Lake City show is the fourth stop on a 27-date summer tour.
Styx has had many touring partners over the years, including Tesla, but this is the band’s first jaunt with Jett, who is an icon in her own right.
“As a female artist, she’s kind of a badass rocker,” Young said. “She’s not really punk. She’s got kind of a punk attitude, but she plays straight-ahead classic rock ‘n’ roll. You know, guitar-driven rock in an AC/DC sort of fashion — but she’s just kind of East Coast cool, that’s all I can say.”
Young says he’s not quite sure if he’s ever met Jett or not. There’s a possibility the two crossed paths in 1975 at the Starwood club in Los Angeles.
“We arrived at the Starwood and there was just this young group of females who had just been signed to a recording contract called The Runaways. I didn’t know their music or anything about them at that point in time,” he said. “I believe I must have at least met Joan back then, but I’m vague. It’s one of those things where you don’t know anybody and you meet a bunch of people, and 43 years later … but, yeah, I’ve heard great things about her and we’re really looking forward to the whole thing.”
Styx is still touring behind last year’s release of “The Mission,” the band’s first studio album of original material in 14 years. The heavy concept album about the first manned spacecraft mission to Mars was a bold choice for the band, considering the group’s good (“The Grand Illusion” and “Paradise Theatre”) and bad (“Kilroy Was Here”) experiences with themed album storylines in the past.
The effort turned out to be well received by fans and critics alike.
“We’ve never got such good reviews on a record — ever — in our career as we have on this record,” Young said. “People just like putting the needle down and letting it run all the way through. It’s not like a two-hour thing. It’s a typical made-for-vinyl 45 minutes long, and it’s just enough. I think it’s a magnificent record and it plays on all the strengths and talents of everybody in the band.”
Styx guitarist/frontman Tommy Shaw and collaborator Will Evankovich came up with the concept and basis for many songs before the idea was eventually presented to the band. At that point, everyone jumped onboard for the ride.
“I think Tommy was uncertain about whether we should go through with it or not, but he’s got the creative bug far more than I do,” said Young, noting that he was not nearly as involved in the “The Mission” process as past Styx albums. “Tommy, he definitely was motivated and inspired on this whole thing.
“Tommy and I are very different animals. We both love playing guitar and he’s far more versatile than I am, but I have my own unique niche that I’m recognized for. And it was just the fact that it was his concept, not mine, and he is so much better as a lyricist to be able to capture human emotion of a particular moment in a particular song and put it into words, and then mold his singing voice to deliver it. He just seems uniquely gifted in this way, and I think he took something that in my hands would have been lame, or at least not breaking new ground — but I think Tommy broke new ground.”
As Young alluded earlier, the record showcases the individual and collective talents of the rest of the band, including Lawrence Gowan (keyboards, vocals) Ricky Phillips (bass), Chuck Panozzo (original bassist) and Todd Sucherman (drums). Sucherman, for example, delivers a masterpiece effort on “The Red Storm.”
“(‘The Red Storm’) is a masterful piece and particularly to turn Todd Sucherman loose, to really show him off,” Young said. “This record shows off Todd like really no record has. I mean, ‘Cyclorama’ was pretty good in that regard, but in this one he was better.”
Other standout tracks on the new album include “Locomotive,” “Radio Silence,” “The Outpost” and “Gone Gone Gone.” The latter track — the first vocal song on the record following the instrumental opener “Overture” — was inspired by a guitar riff Young came up with while warming up one night.
“I was not involved in the original mindset of doing a studio record, but ultimately I made my small contribution, which is the guitar riff on ‘Gone Gone Gone,’ which helped inspire that song,” he said. “I mean that’s the classic get-the-heck-out-of-my-way-open-the-show rock song. And I was the musical inspiration for it, anyway, and it fits nicely into starting the concepts off.”
The album’s variety is a big part of its strength, Young said.
“It resonates with the best work we’ve done in the past, but every song has a different tone and a different rhythm to it,” he said, “so it’s not like you’re hearing 10 AC/DC songs back to back. There’s enough variety and enough different tempos and different moods and different sort of vibrations coming off each song. Everything is a little bit different and advances the story and pushes it on. At the end it’s kind of a joyful thing, and you go back to the start and drive the next 45 miles.”
The history of Styx, of course, hasn’t always been one of joy. The band went through an extremely acrimonious split with co-founding keyboardist/vocalist Dennis DeYoung in 1999. Both parties have largely moved on — DeYoung has been touring in recent years with his own band — but there are certainly divided loyalties among the full fanbase (as evidenced by the inevitable reader comments following any Styx-related article online).
With years of successful tours behind the current lineup and a new invigorating album, however, Young said he’s reached a state of peace and forgiveness as it relates to DeYoung and the band’s overall legacy.
“You know, I’ve forgiven him,” Young said. “I’m sure there are things I did that made him mad and there were things he did that made me mad, but ultimately the body of work that we created is an amazing body of work. I wouldn’t change a thing about it now. I might have five years ago, but right now I’m living with it, and I’m owning it and it is what it is. Anyway, it’s made me very relaxed and calm about the whole thing.”
Young said he’s gained a fuller appreciation for the band’s entire catalog, something which wasn’t always the case earlier. In fact, at the tour opener Wednesday night, Styx pulled a stunning surprise by opening the encore segment with “Mr. Roboto” — a song the revamped lineup has never played before in concert.
“We’re at a beautiful place today,” Young said. “I’ve sort of mellowed with age to a point. I appreciate a lot of the other songs more than I did back then because I finally have connected with them emotionally, which I hadn’t before.”
Young pointed to the aggregate of the band’s big four albums, “The Grand Illusion,” “Pieces of Eight,” “Cornerstone” and “Paradise Theatre.” Those albums spawned most of the hits the band is known for — such as “Come Sail Away,” “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” “Miss America,” “Blue Collar Man,” “Renegade,” “The Best of Times” and “Too Much Time on My Hands” — songs which are still popular today.
“God bless all of us because the work we did changed people’s lives and helps people along and inspired people and motivated people and healed people, even,” Young said. “What we have comes from a higher place and we are humble stewards of this great power. When we take the stage, we take the stage with joy, and we push this wave of joy out to the audience and they bring it back to us, and by the end of the night, we’re all just surfing this giant wave of joy.”
STYX
When: Monday at 7 p.m.
Where: USANA Amphitheatre, 5150 Upper Ridge Road, West Valley City
Also on the bill: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, with special guests Tesla
Tickets: $29.50-$350, available at Smith’s Tix locations (800-888-TIXX, smithstix.com)
Info: usana-amp.com