Styx Previews 'Light Up' Live Video, Talks New Marketplace: 'Nobody Buys Albums Anymore'
by Gary Graff - Billboard
Video hasn't killed the radio star for Styx. It's only enhanced it, as far as the band members are concerned.
The upcoming Live At The Orleans Arena Las Vegas DVD -- coming out Sept. 2 with an exclusive live premiere of "Light Up" below -- is the latest in a series of concert videos Styx has released since its last album of new material, Cyclorama, came out in 2003. The steady stream includes One With Everything with the Cleveland Contemporary Youth Orchestra in 2006 and the The Grand Illusion, Pieces Of Eight Live full-album show in 2012. Live At The Orleans Arena documents a more traditional Styx show and suits the group better than a new studio album right now.
"Look, we know what people want from us, and it's 'Come Sail Away' and 'Lady' and 'Light Up' and 'Too Much Time On My Hands' and...the hits," co-founder and guitarist James "J.Y." Young tells Billboard. "We're doing great on the road now, better than ever, and we're getting a lot of young people too, which is really gratifying. So why put in all that time and money into making something (new) that people may or may not by when we can put out something we know they want and they'll really like."
Fellow guitarist Tommy Shaw, meanwhile, likes the idea that the videos help keep Styx visible -- literally -- in an altered music environment. "Since radio has changed so much, this is something that's a little harder to lose control of," Shaw explains. "It's more of our doing than something that's just out there streaming, and you don't know where it's playing, if it's playing, are you getting compensated for it. We shoot it. We edit it. We put it out and we know how many are sold. It really feels like ours." The Las Vegas show was filmed during July of 2014, and for now the video, which includes bonus band and crew member interviews, is the most recent document of Styx in concert. "We haven't shot one since then," Shaw says. "I don't think we've held any back, either. But I'm sure we'll do more when we feel the time's right."
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