No matter what you celebrate, be it Christmas, Channukah, Kwanza, Festivus, or just another day above ground, there is always a good excuse to buy Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius music & merch!
Whether it’s a gift for a friend or relative, or for yourself. Our items are perfect for stuffing your stocking… or stuffing anything else for that matter!
(We don’t judge).
….And now until 11:59 P.M. EST on December 31st, you can get 20 pct off of ANYTHING on the Joe Deninzon or Stratospheerius BANDCAMP stores if you type in the code “holidaze” at checkout! So what are you waiting for?!
We got CD’s, DVD’s, vinyls, T-shirts, books, mugs for your egg nog, and downloads!
2025 has been another jam-packed year! Busy touring with Kansas, playing a few shows with Stratospheerius, session work and writing, and taking care of my family as much as I can. Here are some highlights…
Kansas had an incredibly busy year, but it got off to a rough start.
Back in February, our singer, Ronnie Platt, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, leading to two months of cancelled shows, including us pulling out of the 70’s Rock and Romance Cruise, which we were supposed to do in March and will make up for this coming March.
Fortunately, Ronnie was able to get thyroid removal surgery in March, and returned to the stage in St. George, UT on April 4th.
The speed of his recovery was truly a miracle!
For the remaining part of the year, we made up for lost time, touring for 20 weeks straight without a break and playing a total of 71 shows in 2025!
After our epic 50th anniversary tour won down in December of last year, we changed up our setlist and joined forces with some other great classic bands.
It was such an honor to share bills and hang with 38 Special, Outlaws, Night Ranger, Jefferson Starship, Starship (feat. Mickey Thomas), and Blue Oyster Cult.
I grew up listening to these bands and it was such a blast getting to know them personally and watching them kick ass onstage every night. The comraderie and mutual respect was a beautiful thing and the musicians inspired each other!
On November 2nd, my worlds collided when Kansas played a show with members of the New Jersey Symphony at my backyard venue, Bergen Performing Arts Center! NJSO was my wife Yulia Ziskel’s first job while she was still in Juilliard before she joined the NY Philharmonic, and I have subbed with that orchestra as well.
It’s amazing when things come full circle. In attendance that night were keyboard legend Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and Derek Shulman, former singer of Gentle Giant and legendary record executive who signed Bon Jovi, Pantera, and Dream Theater among others!
2026 is shaping up to be another busy year for us. You can see all the upcoming Kansas shows at www.kansasband.com
These days, you can count on one hand how many shows Stratospheerius does each year., but we keep on going because we love playing with each other and … well… its just so damn fun!
In 2025, our show highlights included a show at one of our favorite venues in the Philly/Wilmington area, Kennett Flash, with Kansas’ bassist Dan McGowan’s incredible band, The Tea Club! Check out their great new album, “Chasm.”
Other highlights included opening for Asia (Feat. John Payne) at the Sellersville Theater, and making our debut at Daryl’s House Club (beautiful venue owned by Daryl Hall) in Pawling, NY.
We are currently writing and tracking some new music, and we have a big show announcement pending, so please stay tuned…
Here again is our latest video for the song “Voodoo Vortex (Part I, which we released back in February
Education Station
Before joining Kansas, I was busy as a clinician and teacher, doing workshops and residencies at high schools and colleges throughout the country, teaching at Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp and other music camps. It’s one of most rewarding things that I love to do! That’s why I’m grateful to my friend Jocelyn Rowland Khalaf for organizing a 1-hr performance/workshop for me when Kansas was in Tulsa this past November. It was a blast performing for and working with 600 orchestra kids from the Union County Public Schools!
Album Appearances
When I’m not on tour with Kansas, I love doing session work for people and making guest appearances on other people’s projects. Here are some of my favorite ones from the past year.
My new friend and 7D Media labelmate, Jason Everett, is an incredible bass player and composer. His project, “Deep Energy Orchestra,” is a combination of some of my favorite musical influences, namely Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti. I was honored to appear on two tracks on the excellent new album, “The Science of Sound”
The album also features stick player Trey Gunn (King Crimson), drummer Gary Husband (Chick Corea, Jeff Beck), and Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) among others.
Nad Sylvan is best known as the singer for original genesis guitarist, Steve Hacket. He’s also released a bunch of excellent solo albums. His awesome new album is called “Monumentata” and you can here me on the track, “I’m Stepping out.”
Door Dash Commercial
Back in February, one of the commercials I recorded strings for was aired during the Super Bowl. Check out this DoorDash commercial featuring Nate Bargatze, music composed by Aaron Paul Low.
Press
Joe Deninzon Violin Tour
I thought it would be fun to showcase and talk about my collection of acoustic and electric violins, violas, chin cellos, and other bowed stringy things, as well as some of the studio work I have done. Check it out!
Interview & Reaction Video with NicknLex
NicknLex are a super cool couple who are passionate about music. Stratospheerius was honored to get our first reaction video from our song, “Impostor!” NicknLex also interviewed me and my drummer Jason Gianni.
More international rave reviews of Stratospheerius’ album, “Impostor!”
“. Chasing The Dragon is diverse, dynamic, bombastic and 100% harmonious; indeed, a classic prog rock epic for sure, and a powerful end to a magnificent album.”
Impostor! is a MUST have album for fans of Kansas, Spock’s Beard, and The Neal Morse Band, so check it out indeed!”
All the news that’s fit to print about violinist/vocalist/guitarist Joe Deninzon
Hey, everyone!
Happy Labor Day! Hope you all had a great summer.
As the summer winds down, I’m looking back on the past 3 months and wondering… how the hell did I do that!?
Shuffling between Kansas shows in places ranging fro North Carolina to Oregon to the Ozarks to Texas and Ohio and Nebraska and North Dakota, and leaving the kids with family in Asheville and Cleveland and Colorado, commuting to my family vacation in St. Martin between Kansas shows. Every other day was a travel day. I’m lucky I still remember where I am when I wake up in the morning!
Anyway, I’m grateful for every moment. Trying to sleep, exercise, and take my vitamins, you dig?
Kansas had a great string of shows with 38 Special, The Outlaws, Night Ranger, Starship with Mickey Thomas, and Jefferson Starship (That’s right, there are two touring Starships! More on that later..) Here we are with David Frehberg, Cathy Richardson, and other members of Jefferson Starship!
Daryl’s House is owned by Daryl Hall from Hall & Oats and is a super cool venue. We are excited to be making our debut there!
Stratospheerius is: Joe Deninzon-electric violin/lead vocals
Jason Gianni-drums
Michelangelo Quirinale-bass
Bill Hubauer-keyboards on select shows
Dan Asher/Jeff Kotch-bass
Almost a year ago, Stratospheerius released our album, “Impostor!” On 7D Media. This was our most acclaimed album to date, peaking at #4 on the Relix National charts, making numerous critic’s “Best of 2024” list, and receiving much love from fans worldwide. This year, it is eligible for Grammy consideration, and we have submitted it in the following categories:
Best Instrumental Composition: Voodoo Vortex (Part I)
Best Rock Album: “Impostor!”
Best Rock Performance/Best Rock Song: “Outrage Olympics.”
You can listen/watch the music here on our FYC PAGE
Joe Deninzon Violin Tour
I thought it would be fun to showcase and talk about my collection of acoustic and electric violins, violas, chin cellos, and other bowed stringy things, as well as some of the studio work I have done. Check it out!
Here’s a recent interview I did with Jim Masters on his show. We talked about my journey fro a shy immigrant kid who didn’t speak any English, to falling in love with rock violin, my adventures in freelancing and hustling for years in NY, teaching, Stratospheerius, and joining Kansas, among other things. Check it out!
Kansas Keeps Rolling
As I write this, Kansas is about to embark on a 2-week West Coast run, followed by shows in Minnesota, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, South Carolina, Canada, andmy favorite neighborhood venue, The Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ on Nov 2nd with members of the New Jersey Symphony!
For this who don’t know, I have a PATREON page. For the base price of $5 per month, I’ll share behind the scenes crazy stories in my “Gig Diaries.” For $10 you get a free unreleased track every month. Higher tiers include lessons, personalized, zoom concerts, free tickets, and free swag. I haven’t heavily promoted this page, but it does exist, and all this helps fund future JD/Stratospheerius albums, tours, and other such endeavors.
I’m long overdue for this newsletter, but I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off and have let things pile up on my to-do list. (Sorry about that)
Anyway, hope you’re all staying cool and finding some time to travel, chill out, and catch some live music.
Speaking of live music… Kansas is in the middle of an epic tour with our friends 38 Special and the Outlaws. As a young kid in the 80’s for whom MTV was the gateway drug that led me down the “evil” path of rock n roll and away from my parents’ classical music aspirations, 38 was one of the bands I’d listen to on a regular basis. It’s great to get to know these guys and watch them kick ass every night before Kansas goes on.
We’ve been playing mostly outdoor amphitheaters, and have had to deal with rain.. a LOT of rain! In fact, the first ten shows in a row were monsoon gigs! It’s like a cloud was following us everywhere we went! But fortunately, outside of the recent Richmond, VA, show where everyone risked getting struck by lightning, we’ve had no cancellations, just a few delays. The show must, go on, as they say!
Here are all the dates for the tour with Outlaws and 38. We also will have other artists joining us, like Dave Mason, Jefferson Starship, Eli Young Band and Blue Oyster Cult. Please visit kansasband.com for ticket links to all the shows for tour and beyond.
Stratospheerius stuff
The “Impostor!” Album keeps making waves all over the world! We are so grateful to our label, 7D Media, for helping this album grow, as well as our European distributors Burning Shed and Just for Kicks, and The Bandwagon USA!
Our music has been streamed and purchased across 5 continents and in countries including the US, Canada, Brazil, India, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Japan, Viet Nam, and all over Europe!
“Outrage Olympics” has gotten over 60k Spotify streams and the video has been featured in 5 international Film Festivals. We are so grateful to all the fans, old and new, who have embraced this album and hope that we can follow it up with something beautiful and continue building the buzz!
Here are some more recent reviews of “Impostor!”
“. Chasing The Dragon is diverse, dynamic, bombastic and 100% harmonious; indeed, a classic prog rock epic for sure, and a powerful end to a magnificent album.
Impostor! is a MUST have album for fans of Kansas, Spock’s Beard, and The Neal Morse Band, so check it out indeed!”
If you haven’t already, check out THIS LINK which will take you to all the places where you can stream, purchase, or download the album.
And here again is the video for our “smash” single, “Outrage Olympics.”
Kansas’ relentless touring schedule has limited Stratospheerius from booking live shows, but all that is about to change. Stay tuned for soon-to-be-announced dates!
In the Press
Joe Deninzon NicknLex reaction video and interview
Reaction videos have become all the rage in recent years, and Stratospheerius is honored to get our first one from the awesome NickNLex! These guys are passionate and knowledgeable about music and are just the nicest people you can talk to. Check out their reaction video to the song “Impostor!” And the interview I did with them for their show. And please subscribe to their channel!
Back in the year 2000, I was a hungry 25-year-old newcomer to NYC, taking any gig or opportunity that came my way. My wife Yulia was finishing her Master’s degree at Juilliard. In 1999, MTV held their VMA’s at the Met Opera and put up ads at Juilliard looking for seat fillers and people to appear in the crowd. Yulia signed up but didn’t take part….but they had our contact info in their database. A few months later, I got a call from MTV saying they were holding auditions for the show “Say What Karaoke” and asking if I’d like to try out. I thought, what have I got to lose? It could be an interesting experience!
The auditions were held at Fordham University. I picked the song “Get a Job” by the band OutKast and sang my heart out! A few weeks later, I got the call inviting me on the show. They filmed the whole season in one day at MTV studios in Times Square.
The judges were Mandy Moore, the late great Ananda Lewis, and Luke Esterkyn, the lead singer of Stroke 9.
I actually had hair back then, and a pair of purple magenta glitter Doc Martens, and could show my bare chest without shame (before the beer belly, haha!) And I knew how to ham it up for the crowd. I still do. Anyway, that’s all I’m gonna say. I found the videotape and had it transferred to digital, and here it is in all its glory. Enjoy!
Nad Sylvan is a Swedish singer best known for his work with Genesis guitarist, Steve Hackett. Nad does an amazing job recreating Peter Gabriel’s vocals on the classic Genesis material, but he is also a great songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and has released a string of great records. The latest, “Monumental,” on the Inside Out/Sony label, features me on the second, single, “I’m Stepping Out.” The album also features an all-star cast of musicians, including bassists Nick Beggs, Jonas Reingold & Tony Levin, drummers Marco Minnemann, Felix Lehrmann & Mirko De Maio, as well as a few guest guitarists with Randy McStine, David Kollar & Neil Whitford. Such an honor to be among these legendary musicians on a beautiful record that is very well-written and well produced. I think you’ll dig this one. Order the album HERE and watch the video below.
Some people do Sodoku puzzles to chill out. I write rock and pop string arrangements. In fact, I’ve written over 300 of them, and have over 200 currently available for sale! Check out my catalogue HERE! I call it “Joey D’s Rock & Pop String Arrangement Emporium!”
Well, that’s it for now. Have a great summer and I hope to see you all down the road.
