Styx’s James “J.Y.” Young – HuffPost 10.27.10

Mike Ragogna: What do you have as advice for new artists?

James “JY” Young: Well, I have my little speech–patience, persistence, talent, luck, and capital–PPTLC. You have to have all of those elements in order to try and succeed, and you have to want it more than the next guy, and that’s where the persistence comes in. Everybody and their brother wants to be a rock star. When they talk about certain political figures, they say they’re like a rock star, so a rock star is somehow more important than the President of The United States in terms of how people view it. It’s a crazy permutation, but nonetheless, that is part of our vernacular, that people talk about it that way. I think you really have to believe in yourself, you have to want it more than the next guy or girl, and never, ever give up. Don’t ever take “no” for an answer–don’t believe in “no” for an answer.

For Styx, it took us years to break out and have people truly appreciate us, but we just kept making records and it finally all came together for us. You can’t give up, never say die, and just put one foot in front of the other and go after it. That’s all I can say because the ground is shifting underneath all of us as far as how a band gets out there. The traditional record deal is long a thing of the past, and the traditional record business is long a thing of the past. So, you’ve got to love this with every fiber of your being, and you have to be willing to sacrifice for it with every fiber of your being. That’s what it takes to succeed because everybody else wants it.