ROCK RAP:
Since this is your first solo album, are you intimidated by Tommy and Dennis'
prior successes? Is there a sort of competition between you all?
J. Y .: There's always going to be some sibling rivalry, but I think
it's friendly. We don't do the same kind of things. That's what made Styx
unique - the combination of our styles. But it got repetitive and we hit
a rut. Now we're able to do what we want, and it's good for us to be taking
separate creative vacations.
ROCK RAP: Will Styx ever work together again?
J. Y .: At some point there will probably be another album.
ROCK RAP: If Styx never regrouped, what would be your fondest memory of
the band?
J. Y .: I'd like us to be remembered for being stylistically unique.
Someone said recently that we were the band of the late 70's, the touring
band. And I'd also like to think that we never put on a bad show; we cared a
lot about pleasing the audience.
ROCK RAP: Now that you've hooked up with Jan Hammer, is there any chance
of you turning up on Miami Vice?
J.Y.: Well... there's a chance, but I don't know how strong a chance. A
friend of mine is right down the hall from their casting director, so I went
and talked with him one day. I was up for a part that Gene Simmons got,
because he's had previous film experience.
ROCK RAP: What would people be most surprised to learn about you?
J. Y. : I think people perceive me as a radical rocker. It would
surprise them to see that I'm a down-to-earth, college-educated guy.
ROCK RAP: What school did you go to?
J. Y .: Illinois Institute of Technology, studying aerospace engineering.
I was the only one with long hair in my classes. I've always been
mathematically inclined, and there's an element of music which is very
mathematical - being able to listen to something and reproduce it from
ear. But a music degree didn't get you much further than conducting a high
school band. The idea of being in the aerospace industry seemed like fun, and
it was something to fall back on.
ROCK RAP: What were you like when you were growing up?
J. Y.: I guess I had jockular intentions. Everybody at a certain age wants
to be a baseball player. I played some sports, and always loved them. But my
parents were worriers and didn't want me to get hurt. And I didn't have the
dedication. I was on the swimming team in high school, but I also became very
enchanted with music.
ROCK RAP: How old were you when you started playing the guitar?
J. Y. : I actually started off on the piano, when I was five. And I played
the clarinet, from eighth grade through high school, in the band.
ROCK RAP: Did you sing too?
J. Y. : I never had any emphasis on singing until I got into Styx. I never
thought I could sing until Dennis showed me some tricks. He told me to just
practice and the muscles in my throat would get trained.
ROCK RAP: What was the first group you were in?
J.Y.: The Catalinas, in the mid-60's. We played surf music like "Wipe
Out," and Beatles and Animals songs. We did a tour of Europe when I was
17. We came in third in a Chicago talent contest, and our parents each kicked
in $400 to send us. We went to Dublin, and you could drink there at age 14.
They even had vending machines on the side of the road where you could get
beer!
ROCK RAP: Who were your heroes when you were growing up?
J.Y.: That's difficult to say. The first album I bought was by Bo Diddley,
so I suppose he was my first musical idol. I also liked ball players like Dick
Butkus, the astronauts, J.F.K.
ROCK RAP: Who are your heroes now?
J.Y.: That's difficult to say to, because I'm really a cynic at heart. I'm
the kind of person who hates to get built up into a magical sense of
"Isn't this the greatest thing you ever saw," then you look behind
the curtain and see the Wizard. But there are people that I admire, like
Sting. I just don't have any traditional heroes.
ROCK RAP: What's kept you so down-to-earth in the midst of all the rock
'n roll craziness?
J.Y.: It took Styx a real long time to succeed, and we were all adults
when we hit. We saw how other bands handled or didn't handle things. And we
also lived in Chicago, away from a lot of the trappings of success. That's
where our roots and families were. Plus, we were a touring band, and being
based in the middle of the continent made sense.
ROCK RAP: Styx took a lot of flack from critics because of that. You
represented the Middle American heartland long before it was chic.
J.Y.: Well, I think the day you try to please the critics and write for
them is the day you become very unhappy. There was a time in our career where
the only thing we hadn't achieved was being on the cover of Rolling Stone and
being considered "the greatest thing." But you can never have it
all, though we had the best of things.