Tour Diary: Two Weeks in the Life of Joe Deninzon (December, 2024)

By any measuring stick, Joe Deninzon has had a remarkable career in music. Both as a contributor to other people’s music, or as the leader on his own projects, Deninzon has had the privilege of writing, recording, and touring with some of the world’s most celebrated rock n’ roll musicians. He serves as the frontman and lead singer of Stratospheerius, a highly regarded progressive rock band that has released six studio recordings. Their most recent album, Impostor!, was released this past October via 7d Media. It features a wide range of contributors, primarily taken from the world of progressive rock. Some of the names involved in the album include Michael Sadler (Saga), Randy McStine (Porcupine Tree), Fernando Perdomo (Jakob Dylan), and Chloe Lowery (Trans-Siberian Orchestra).

Outside of his own work with Stratospheerius, Deninzon has also been in a featured role with the legendary band Kansas over the last couple of years. The band had in the works a 50th anniversary tour, and just prior to the start of the tour, violinist David Ragsdale had to pull out due to personal reasons. Fortunately, Deninzon was available and was able to assume Ragsdale’s role at the last minute. Known for his musical versatility as an instrumentalist, Deninzon fit right in. The tour went ahead, and it was a huge success.

To look back at that tour, Joe Deninzon joins us today for a special Tour Diary, looking back at key moments and occurrences in this monumental occasion. He takes us right behind the scenes of what it was all like and how it all came together.

“After 115 shows and 18 months of touring, the final Kansas show of the 50th anniversary tour was performed at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, PA, on December 11th, 2024. This is the same venue where I played my very first Kansas show when the tour kicked off on June 2nd, 2023.

“I had spent three months transcribing, shedding, and memorizing violin, guitar, and vocal parts for the 2-hour and 10-minute show. On May 23rd of that year, it was announced that I was the new violinist for Kansas, the third in the band’s history, taking over for David Ragsdale.

“The week leading up to my first show with the band, I had a teaching residency in San Antonio for Mark Wood (the designer of my seven-string Viper electric violin) for his ‘Electrify Your Symphony’ Program, followed by a three-day trip to Macon, GA, where I met the band and crew of Kansas for the first time and we rehearsed for the new tour, and a quick trip back to New York City for a show with my original band, Stratospheerius. The next day after the Iridium show, I flew to Pittsburgh to begin a new chapter in my life and play my first show as a full-time member of Kansas. To say it was a head-spinning week would be an understatement.

Joe Deninzon’s Stratospheerius ‘Impostor’ album artwork

“Pittsburgh was a special city for Kansas. They got their big break when they played the Stanley Theater (now the Benedum) in 1975. When Freddy Mercury fell ill and Queen had to cancel their show, Kansas stepped in and won the crowd over. The buzz quickly spread, and their fanbase and chart-topping success grew from there. Soon after, the band was filling stadiums and became a household name in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“On my first night, I had practiced the music so much, I could play it in my sleep. I was overprepared. But the magnitude of the moment wasn’t lost on me. I was still freaking out. I mostly play violin with the band, but on some songs, I play guitar. Certain songs, like ‘Icarus I,’ require me to switch back and forth between violin and guitar numerous times while singing background vocals. To do this, I have both my violin and guitar strapped onto my body at the same time. My seven-string ‘Viper’ violin has a great chest support/guitar strap system, which enables the instrument to be attached to my body. This way, my mouth is free to sing, and I do not have to clamp the instrument with my chin in the traditional way.

“I had never strapped both the guitar and violin to my body at the same time until I joined Kansas. I always preferred to wear my guitar a bit higher and closer to my chest. On my first show, I realized this was a bad idea because at one point, my guitar and violin got tangled up. This was a comical moment and must have looked hilarious from the audience. Somewhere, there’s a phone video floating around of me getting tangled in my instruments. Anyway, by night two in Baltimore, I had figured out how low to strap my guitar to avoid it getting tangled with the electric violin.

“Aside from that, my first show went quite smoothly. I was able to conquer my nerves, I got a lot of love from the fans as the ‘new guy,’ which was a big relief.

“Fast forward to 18 months later at the same venue. What a long way I had come! The rhythm of my life had changed drastically. Before I joined Kansas, I was a freelance violinist in New York. Playing Broadway shows, weddings, doing session work, teaching, playing in orchestras backing major artists, anything that paid the bills. With Kansas, I settled into the routine of being a dad and husband from Sunday to Wednesday, then flying off to play shows from Thursday to Saturday. Kansas does not hop on a tour bus for months on end, but rather does fly-outs every week. This enables me to be home with my family half the week and lowers the burden on my wife, Yulia, who has her own career as a violinist with the New York Philharmonic. Having two busy musicians who are raising two kids is tremendously challenging, to say the least!

Violin, photo by Joe Deninzon

“2023 and 2024 had been tumultuous years for the band, unprecedented in its history. Starting with David Ragsdale leaving in May of 2023, and my joining the band. Bassist Billy Greer losing his wife in the fall of 2023, taking periods of time off from the band, and eventually retiring in August of 2024 and being replaced by Dan McGowan. And original drummer, Phil Ehart suffering a near-fatal heart attack in February of 2024, and having to step away from performing with the band, being replaced by his assistant, Eric Holmquist. So many changes in such a short time, leaving guitarist Richard Williams as the only original member, left many skeptics wondering what the future of Kansas would be, and accusing us of being a ‘tribute band.’ We had a lot to prove.

“One thing that my friend, keyboardist/musical director Tom Brislin, told me, which continues to resonate with me, was this: We can’t control what people are going to say or think. The only thing we can control is playing our asses off every night, winning over the skeptics, and proving that we belong here. Our shows sell out, people want to hear the music played live and shared with a younger generation of fans.

“Most people don’t know the difference between a ‘tribute band’ and a ‘legacy band.’ A tribute band is a bunch of random people who get together in a garage and learn the music of a band they love, hence paying a tribute to that music. A legacy band is comprised of musicians who are vetted by and perform with original members, who (in the case of Kansas) write and record new music under the band’s moniker. Those who have an issue with the original members not being on stage are free to stay home and crank their stereo. Leave room for the people who show up and have a great time at the concert!

Violin, photo by Joe Deninzon

“Going back to December 10th. This was going to be a monumental event. Original bassist Dave Hope was flying in to sit in with us on ‘Hold On’ and ‘Carry On Wayward Son.’ Kerry Livgren, original guitarist, keyboardist, and writer of some of Kansas’ best-known songs, was also supposed to join us, but his wife Vicki got hurt and he had to stay home and take care of her. Representing his family was his daughter Kate Livgren, who plays viola and would be joining us on stage for ‘Dust in the Wind.’

“Finally, Cindy Steinhardt, widow of original violinist, Robby Steinhardt, would be flying up from Florida with two of Robby’s well-known violins, an NS and a Tucker Barret. The plan was for me to play one of his violins on ‘Dust in the Wind,’ and then for the violin to be on display on stage left for the rest of the show, in Robby’s honour.

“I had mixed feelings about playing on Robby’s violin. I wanted to respect his memory. And I imagined Robby staring down at me with scrutiny from the great beyond. Would he approve of me playing on his fiddle? But after giving it much thought, I approached it with an open mind. Since the fiddles hadn’t been played in a few years, I asked Cindy to have a luthier take a look, make sure the instruments had new strings, the necks were not warped, the bridge was on straight and in good shape. I told her I would meet her at her hotel room and try both violins out. If either of them were playable, I would consider it.

“There were two violins; one was an old white Tucker-Barret, which Robby played all throughout the eighties and nineties. The second was an NS (Ned Steinberger) violin, which he played in the 2000s when he rejoined the band. I was anticipating that the NS would play better, especially considering how much wear and tear the white violin had been through and that Robby himself had referred to it as a ‘piece of shit.’ To my surprise, when I went to the room and tried both instruments, the white Tucker-Barret sounded beautiful! There was Robby’s legendary tone… right under my ears! It was surreal, and Cindy became very emotional when I started playing on that instrument in front of her. I was the first person to play it since her husband passed.

“I decided to respect Cindy’s wish and perform ‘Dust’ on Robby’s violin, honouring his legacy.

“Little-known fact: the original acoustic violin, which Robby played on the first five Kansas albums, and you can see and hear in the video for ‘Dust in the Wind,’ is at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1979, a cargo ship off the coast of Africa carrying Kansas’ equipment back to the States sank during a storm. The band lost millions of dollars of equipment, including Robby’s beloved violin.

Joe Deninzon, photo by Jody Gianni

“Any performance you see on YouTube of Kansas in the ’80s, you will see Robby playing the white Tucker-Barret that replaced that original fiddle.

“So many people converged in Pittsburgh that day, including Rich Williams’ stepdaughters, Dave Hope’s daughter, and Robby Steinhardt’s daughter, Becky. Phil Ehart and his wife flew up from Atlanta, and he ended up sitting in with us on ‘Hold On’ and ‘Wayward Son.’ I hadn’t seen Phil in seven months since the heart attack. He was looking good and excited about getting on stage with us again.

“Also, there was Thomas Waber from our label, Inside Out Records, who flew in from Germany for the final show of the tour.

“We stayed in the historic Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh, a few blocks from the Benedum Center.

“The show was slated for December 11th, Wednesday. My parents drove down from Cleveland as well to see the show.

“Here is the typical pre-show sequence of events that takes place:

“Let’s say the show is at 8 pm. Sometimes it’s a 7:30 pm start. We typically arrive at the venue around 4:30 pm. We eat dinner at 5 pm. While we’re having dinner, the crew will line check every instrument to make sure the sound is coming through. Those guys will have been at the venue since 10 am setting up our stage from scratch, including all the lighting gear, the drums, the keyboards, the backdrop, the monitor board, as well as what our guitar/violin tech Jeremy Vig refers to as ‘guitar land’ off of stage right.

“Once the crew is ready for us, we head to the stage at around 5:30 pm for a 30-minute soundcheck. During this tour, we would run two or three full-band electric songs, followed by ‘Dust in the Wind’ to try out all the acoustic instruments.

“Next, we change into our stage clothes and are escorted to the VIP photo shoot area. Folks who paid extra for the VIP package get to sit in the first ten rows, get an autographed 8×10 signed by the band, and get their photo taken with the band. The line of people can range from 20 to 80, and we stand there and smile while fans pass through and tell us how much Kansas has influenced their lives.

“Usually by this time, we are 90 minutes to downbeat. During the photo shoot, the crew sets up a ‘warmup room’ for us backstage. This involves an electronic drum kit, a basic keyboard setup, and some small practice amps. We sit there usually for 45 minutes and run songs. This is where we work out details and really dig deep into the intricacies of the music. By the time we hit the stage, when you combine soundcheck and rehearsal time, we will have practiced for as much as 90 minutes. I was skeptical of this amount of rehearsing when I joined the band, but I’ve grown to appreciate it because it really gets our heads in the game before a show.

“We stop the rehearsal 30 minutes before downbeat. At this point, keyboardist/musical director Tom Brislin, bassist/vocalist Dan McGowan, and I head to a room and do a vocal warmup we like from a video of legendary vocal coach Mark Baxter. Ronnie, the lead singer, does his own thing.

“Ten minutes to showtime, we wish each other well and head to the stage.

“The 50th anniversary set is around two hours and five minutes with no intermission. I’m playing and singing non-stop with very few breaks. It is exhausting and exhilarating. Every time. That night, the Benedum Center was sold out. When I look out at the beautiful crowd of 2,000 people cheering for us and giving us a standing ovation, I always try to savour the moment and take a mental snapshot. I think about how grateful and lucky I am to be on that stage and how few people on earth actually get to experience such a thing.

“It also really hit me how deeply this music has affected fans. It has gotten people through loss, sickness, hard financial times, and songs like ‘Hold On’ have literally saved people’s lives. People say this to our faces at the meet & greets time and time again. Sometimes you forget how powerful music can be as a life force, and when you meet these fans face to face, it really hits you. This is why I consider the relationship between artist and fan as a sacred trust, and I treat it with great respect.

“Now, the week leading up to this show and the days after were also quite insane.

“On December 4th, I flew to Fayetteville, NC, for a Kansas show which took place the next day. On December 6th, we drove to Roanoke, VA, to play the next show. While the rest of the band travelled to Reading, VA on Saturday, the 7th, I took a 5 am flight home. My daughter Arianna is 11 and sings in a professional Broadway Youth Ensemble. This group performed at Radio City, opening for The Rockettes.

Purple Violin, photo by Joe Deninzon

“Anyway, that Saturday, they had four performances in one day. Yulia had concerts with the NY Phil in the city, so it was my job to drive Arianna to all of her performances, and in between that, drive my older son, Max, to a school event. It was a marathon day, and I was exhausted, but I did what I had to do, and it was a blast watching Arianna perform.

“The next morning, Sunday, December 8th, I dropped Arianna off at yet another performance and drove two hours to Reading, PA, to meet the Kansas guys and play another show. Monday morning, I got up early and sped back home, while the rest of the band drove on to Pittsburgh. Stratospheerius had a show coming up the following Sunday, which would be our CD release party. Since our regular bassist hurt his arm, I had to meet his sub, Jeff Kotch, and rehearse the music with him at my house. Then, I had to pick up Arianna from school and drive her to her voice lesson and choir practice.

“On Tuesday morning, I took an early flight to Pittsburgh and rejoined the band yet again!

“While I was in Pittsburgh, I visited a violin shop next door to the hotel. I beat the hell out of my bows, and they don’t make horses with hair strong enough to withstand my assault, especially after a few consecutive Kansas shows. I used to have a great bow rehair guy, a Lithuanian named Yuris Gutt, who lived near me in New Jersey and would stop by my house, pick up the bows, rehair them, and bring them back. Having a pick-up/drop-off bow service is a rare luxury. Plus, he was very affordable, charging me 80 dollars per rehair when most luthiers charge upwards of 100 dollars.

Chairs, photo by Joe Deninzon

“A few years ago, Yuris moved to Scranton, PA, and I’ve been looking for the perfect bow guy ever since. Nobody has matched the strength of the hair Yuris would put on. Plus, most luthiers are either in or near Manhattan, so it’s a schlep to drop off and pick up the bows from where I live in North Jersey. I had been shredding bows (and dollar bills spent to rehair them) like nobody’s business ever since. I desperately needed a rehair, and was lucky to find Peter Injeian, the local Pittsburgh luthier who serviced instruments for members of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and other local string players.

“Tom Brislin joined me when we went to the shop. He had heard that Peter had a piano that was owned by Ira Gershwin. We spent a good hour at the shop. I got to try a beautiful Stradivarius and a fiddle that was played at the Battle of Gettysburg, built in 1854. Tom was in heaven jamming on Gershwin’s piano. And of course, we had to play ‘Summertime!’

“Peter rehaired my bow within a few hours, and I was all set to play the show that night!

Stage, photo by Joe Deninzon

“I later found out that most bow hair was imported from Siberia, and ever since the War in Ukraine and the sanctions placed on Putin, luthiers have been forced to import from China and other places, where the hair just isn’t as strong. (What do they feed their horses?!) Anyway, so it looks like my bow hair issues are Putin’s fault!

“After the epic Kansas show, I flew home the next day, exhausted, but excited about the five-week break coming up and getting some R&R and family time. But first… There was the matter of Stratospheerius’ album release party that coming Sunday…

“Stratospheerius is my brainchild and passion project. I’ve had this band for a quarter century (holy shit!) I started it when I finished college, simply from a desire to write and perform my own music. I was fascinated with pushing the boundaries of the seven-string electric violin and blending together my love of jazz fusion, progressive rock, and songwriting. The challenge was finding like-minded people to play the music. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes, toured all over, and released four studio albums and two live ones. It’s the work I did with Stratospheerius that led to the opportunity to join Kansas, but that’s a story for another day.

“Our latest album, Impostor! has been garnering quite a buzz in international circles. Wide critical acclaim, numerous ‘best prog releases of 2024’ lists, and big numbers on streaming platforms. It took us five years to finish this album, and we wanted to mark the moment and celebrate its release. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my touring commitments with Kansas severely limit the number of live shows Stratospheerius can do. In fact, we literally played four shows in 2024!

“Our good friends Tom Palmieri and Ann Rinaldi run the ProgStock Festival, which takes place every October at the Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ. The biggest progressive rock festival in the United States. We’ve played the festival four times and recorded our live double album there, which we released in 2023. They recently started a ‘ProgStock Presents’ concert series at the Williams Center to help promote the festival, and our album release party was to be the first time we played the series.

“Joining us on the bill were Randy McStine, Dave Bainbridge, and The Tea Club. Randy is a genius multi-instrumentalist/songwriter and a longtime friend of the band. In fact, he’s subbed with Stratospheerius on every instrument except violin, at one time or another! Randy’s star rose in recent years when he joined Porcupine Tree and started touring and recording with Steven Wilson. Dave Bainbridge is another brilliant multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with the British band Lifesigns, The Strawbs, and Jack Bruce, among others.

“Rounding out the bill was The Tea Club, the lead vocalist and guitarist of which is Dan McGowan, my new bandmate who sings and plays bass with Kansas. Killer musician and a great guy!

“Unfortunately, David got stuck in the UK when he experienced some health issues, so we got another great UK musician, songwriter, Simon Godfrey, to take his place.

“The other special thing about this night was that I had turned 50 on December 3rd, and this show also was a celebration of my 50th birthday!

“I was joined by my bandmates, drummer Jason Gianni, guitarist Michelangelo Quirinale, bassist Jeff Kotch, and keyboardist Bill Hubauer.

“The closing track on our new album is a 12-minute epic mini-rock opera called ‘Chasing the Dragon.’ We were ambitious and really wanted to play this song live for the first time. One of the challenges was finding a female vocalist to sing the middle section, which was recorded by Trans-Siberian Orchestra singer Chloe Lowery.

“On a whim, I asked my daughter Arianna if she’d like to learn the part and try to sing it with us. She said yes! We rehearsed it at home a few times, and she was very professional. She did not have a chance to run it with the band until soundcheck. She nailed it and made a great impression on everyone there! There is nothing in the world like performing with your kid. I couldn’t think of a better birthday gift than this!

“After the whirlwind two weeks I had shuffling between home and Kansas shows and preparing for the massive album release party, my body broke down and I fell ill for a few weeks. I look back at my schedule in the final week of the Kansas 50th anniversary tour and the days after leading up to the album release party, and think, ‘How the fuck did I pull that off?!’ But I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the life I chose.

“I love what I do and feel blessed to wake up every morning and have transcendent experiences on stage surrounded by friends and fans every night. What an incredible ride!”