Ted Nugent recently discussed if a Damn Yankees reunion was possible decades after their breakup, in an interview with Chuck Shute.
“We’d love to get back together, but we’re very proud of the music we created,” the singer said of the band’s music in the early ‘90s. “Just killer quality, soulful, energized, tight, authoritative Damn Yankees music. I love those guys.”
“It’s not off the table,” he continued about a reunion but explained, “Uhm, it’s highly unlikely, but it’s also highly desirable. So, it would have to be an alignment of the planets, where the four of us who have just maniac schedules that, somehow, we could find a whole whatever amount of time – 30 days or whatever… I’d love to do it.”
Nugent formed Damn Yankees with Tommy Shaw of Styx, Jack Blades of Night Ranger, and Michael Cartellone, who later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd, in 1989.
The band released two studio albums: a self-titled debut and a sophomore titled ‘Don’t Tread.’ But the style of their music eventually lost its appeal, leading to their breakup in 1994.
After the breakup, the members returned to their original groups, although they reunited for a few performances over the years. Nugent continued his solo career both in the studio and on stage but said goodbye to touring with a farewell trek in 2023.
“I don’t tour anymore because I miss my family so much, and I got all these grandkids, and I get to teach them to shoot and clean squirrels. So, I’m really a busy guy with my musical conservation life dream,” the singer shared.
“So, we’ll talk about it,” he repeated about a possible reunion. “It’s highly unlikely, but it’s highly desirable. I think that’s the best way to identify it.”
Other members of Damn Yankees have shown a similar attitude toward a comeback. Last year, Tommy Shaw told ‘Trunk Nation’ that he was too busy with Styx to reunite with his old supergroup.
“I think we kind of ran that thing until the wheels fell off of it, and I’d like to just keep it like that,” Shaw said. “It was a fantastic run. It was just wild and wooly. We made those two records. The first record, that was the shit. The second record, it just started to lose the thing that it had on the first album – and I think everybody else knew that it was probably time to go back to your regular job.”
Damn Yankees’ first album achieved double platinum status, while the second went gold. The band planned to release a third record in 1999, but it never came out.
