Steve Perry Journey Interview Posts at MelodicRock.com

Melodic Rock is one of the sites I troll frequently for music news, and I have noted over the years that the guy who runs it is a big Steve Perry and Journey fan, and he has broken some great Journey stories - to me, at least.

He has been trying to land an interview with Perry for years and it finally happened. Please go to the MR site for the whole interview but here are some of the highlights:

On joining the band at the demand of the label:

Well then the label says “We want you to have a singer” and then they went, “Well, I don't know, I don't know.” So, all of the sudden, here comes me, and I think it was a real challenge for all of us to find out what that really meant. They had to let go of doing it their way. I was bringing in ideas; they were growing. But, I will tell you this…being the singer in that environment with them as we were growing together on the Infinity record brought a certain kind of vocal strength out of me that the band required it have. Otherwise, I do not know if I would have ever found that anywhere else.

On re-listening to old Journey tracks for the upcoming Greatest Hits 2 CD:

Emotionally, I had to really listen to the tracks closer than I had in years. It was truly, emotionally extremely painful for me to be perfectly honest with you because I forgot how great Neal was…and I forgot how great the band was. And I think I've gotten away from it long enough to see that. And I forgot some of the things vocally that I used to do. I'm thinking, 'I was out of my mind, what was I thinking?' (laughing), you know?

On the vocal demands of the Journey repertoire combined with the band's grueling tour schedule:

I didn't know what I had left until the next day. And that was the hardest thing to have to explain to the rest of the band members, the neurotic fear that I would be going through because I'm in one city tonight and all I know is I've got to give it everything and I'm not going to skate it. I'm going to put it out there. And I would. And I wouldn't know how much I borrowed from tomorrow's show until the next day. So I'd wake up in the morning in fear. Do I have laryngitis? Is it gone? Is it there? So I would just try to speak on the phone or say something. And then I would be in fear. I couldn't try to sing because it's too early. So, I would just shut up and live in fear for the rest of the day until about 4 o'clock, when it's too late to cancel the show. And now I'm doing the soundcheck, and now, during the soundcheck is when I find out what I have for the night.

On life after the second Journey breakup:

People think, “Steve Perry should be the happiest guy in the world, what problems could he have?” Well let me tell you what problems Steve Perry has. The only problem Steve Perry has is that he's alive just like you are and he has to wake up in the morning like you do and he has to face the world exactly like you do. I'm no different than anybody else. I don't have some special coupon that excludes me from life on life's terms. There is no special coupon. Though, I'll tell you something Andrew: When I was younger I thought that if I could become famous and everybody would love me I would kind of have a special coupon. But guess what? The reality was that after I'd attained that, I realized that I am no different than anybody else. I still have to live life on life's terms. When Journey broke up for the second time...I think it damaged all of us again...From that experience, they went on with someone else. And I went away. I did. I've been gone. I just went away and tried to figure out how to live life on life's terms and just come off the ride...So, I thought in my mind it was better just to run away and not feel any of it. And you know Andrew, that worked for quite a few years but it certainly isn't a way to live life and I do not recommend it! (laughing) I do not recommend running from life, though I needed to. Because the break-up was so painful for all of us. And I'm not saying just for me, goddamnit. I'm saying for all of us. Please, I hope you print this. I want you to print this. The break-up was painful for all of us. But it necessarily had to happen.

You'll have to read the rest of the interview to find out what Perry thinks of the band continuing on with other singers and other topics. It would be cool one day to have Perry reunite with the rest of Journey for one gig, like Pink Floyd did for Live8 or Zeppelin for the O2 gig. But even Steve Perry knows how demanding his songs are to sing, and I wonder if he'd be able to do it justice to himself. Still, how cool would it be to see one more time?

Concert Review - KISS in Portland

Just got back from KISS at the Rose Garden in Portland. Where do I even start?

This review is going to be totally biased because this was not my usual concert experience. First of all, I bought side stage (read “expensive”) tickets because I was taking my 10 year old son and wanted him to have his mind blown. So our seats were unreal.

Second, my co-guitar player in my Portland band colorfield is a long-time friend of the Thayer family (KISS-man Tommy Thayer is from Portland). So long story short, I run into Pat at will call, and he is picking up a pass for a meet and greet. I knew about this and of course had asked if he could find out if he could bring me and my kid, and of course he couldn’t. No shock there – but I thought it never hurts to ask.

But lo and behold he gets his envelope and there are five passes in it. He wanted to make sure he didn’t mistakenly have someone else’s passes so he went in alone and my son and I got settled. Opener Buckcherry started and honestly I wasn’t impressed so we bailed just in time for Pat to text me that we could have two of the extra passes. Sweet!

So he comes and gets us and we stroll across the main floor backstage just in time to see the fab four in full makeup and gear walk by to go to the meet and greet. I high five Gene Simmons as he walks by. My life is complete.

We are ushered into a room where almost everyone is a friend/family member of Thayer. On the other side of a black curtain separating the room is the meet and greet, and there is a line of folks posing with KISS for a photographer. We figure this is for sure the radio contest winners, people who paid to meet the band etc. But we get in line anyway. If I can get a copy of that photo I will post it because that is the closest we got to the whole band. Didn’t really have a chance to talk or anything. It was stand here, snap snap, go over there. But wow, we got our photo taken standing with KISS.

So we went back around to where we started and eventually Tommy came into the room to greet his friends and family (oh and me). Got his photo with my son, got an autograph on my Sonic Boom CD etc. We had just enough time to hit the crapper, grab a couple of waters and get back to our seats.

So, THANKS to Pat for making this happen for me and especially my son. Wowsa.

Oh yeah so then the SHOW started. Anyone who follows my blog knows that I slag on KISS frequently. I didn’t give Sonic Boom the best of reviews, although it has indeed grown on me. I have questioned how much money those guys feel they need to make with the merch. I am not a giant fan of WalMart. Blah blah blah.

It doesn’t matter. The band I saw tonight was the tightest version of KISS I have ever seen. Of course I was blown away by the lights, bombs, smoke, spitting blood, revolving drum set, flying bass player etc.

But they were really tight. Gene and Paul finally let drummer Eric Singer have a double kick set and he used it to its fullest potential. Maybe it was b/c he was in his home town, but Thayer blew the doors off of his leads. I swear I didn’t miss Ace once, and that is about as blasphemous as I get. Didn’t hurt that we were so close to Thayer that I got one of his thrown guitar picks, which I promptly gave to my son. The night just kept getting better huh?

Vocal harmonies were tight. Paul Stanley did less prancing and more rocking than I have ever seen. Gene was great. His blood spitting bit has evolved a bit and is even more monster-movie derived, which is a good thing. He did Calling Dr. Love, which is one of my faves from childhood. In fact, the setlist was mostly stuff from Alive!, with personal faves being Hotter Than Hell and 100,000 Years. They did two new songs – both were awesome live, two 80s era songs (Lick It Up and I Love It Loud), and they mercifully did not play I Was Made For Loving You, which never sounds that great live, even with the killer new lineup.

One more note on Thayer. He kept mugging to our side because many of his family/friends were seated in my section. Right before Rock and Roll al Nite, I saw him go up to Eric Singer and get a drumstick, which he promptly slid into one of his hip-high boots and walked towards our side. Under cover of the raining down confetti, he leaned over the stage and handed the stick to a guy who came over to our section and gave it to a kid who must have been about 3 or 4. High class, that Tommy Thayer.

So to sum up, this is not the classic KISS lineup, and they don’t sound like the classic KISS lineup. It’s something else and damn it, it is good. I bought this ticket thinking, I will take my kid and then I'll be done with KISS. But shit, if they came back tomorrow I'd be there. They are kicking serious ass right now.

PS – if I am able to do half the stuff Paul Stanley did onstage when I am pushing 60, I will be a very lucky guy. That dude is immortal. Up close, you can tell he’s older, but man those new hips he got a couple of years ago are holding up well!

PSS – Noted one other popular musician at the meet and greet – Journey drummer Deen Castronovo. He was about five people in front of us for the photo opps. But I was so star struck being in the same room as KISS I didn’t even think to get an autograph or even say hey on behalf of my most fanatic Journey blog followers! Sorry everyone!

Here are some of the photos I took with my substandard Treo phone.

For some proper photos of this show, check out Chris Ryan's site here.

Also here is a video montage someone shot:

Yes Pulls A Journey - Goes to YouTube for NEW SINGER to Replace Jon Anderson

This is not a joke (or is it?).

Jon Anderson's chronic reactive airway disease has led to the band to replace him with singer Benoit David from Canadian Yes tribute band Close To The Edge. See and hear him here. Indeed Chris Squire himself endorsed the band back in May.

This news was posted yesterday at Classic Rock Magazine, but there is no confirmation on Yes' site or anywhere else for that matter.

The story says, "The band plan to tour North America towards the end of this year, with a break in early 2009 given Howe's prior commitments to Asia, and then further Yes touring in other countries."

If this is true, it's a mistake. Journey and Priest could pull it off but I don't see Yes fans buying this. It's not like Yes is some faceless band and people who like them won't miss the lead singer. Yes' audience has shrunk to a tight group of fanatics who go to every show, but will likely not be into Anderson being replaced. Not at this stage in the band's career.

If this is true, catch Yes on the county fair and casino circuit, but you won't see me there.

Thanks to MSTai for the tip...

Addendum:

On doing some more research, it looks like this idea may have been hatched as early as July. From a post on the YesFans site, check out this letter sent to promoters, soliciting gig offers for the band:

From: Xxxxxx Xxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 2:31 PM
To:
Subject: YES

Hello All,

Please see the notes below. The band YES will be touring cut-down arenas and theatres from October 30 – Dec. 14, 2008. They are looking for Guarantees of XXX. Note: The band is traveling with production.

When you have a moment please let me know if you are interested in promoting,

XXXXXX

XXXXX XXXXXX
VP Operations

(fwd)

YES – Featuring Chris Squire, Alan White, Steve Howe, Oliver Wakeman, and a soon to be announced new lead singer (in the mold of Jon Anderson of course, who has well publicized vocal problems and is unable to perform).

Their 40th anniversary summer tour (of mostly amphitheaters) has been canceled due to Jon’s vocal issue.

The band is now looking to re-schedule and scale down the tour to be able to play theaters and cut-down arenas. The time period is October 30 through December 14.

Looking for XXX in most majors and secondaries (more $$ in markets that has history and/or big money Fair or Casino offers).

Who Needs Steve Perry? Or A Singer For That Matter?

Those arguing about the current Arnel Pineda-led version of Journey versus the Steve Perry era need to remember that before Steve Perry, the band had three hot shit prog rock albums - with NO lead singer. Or at least not one out in front of the band.

Thanks to Dr. John for finding this face melting singer-less live tune from 1980. Perry had just joined the band and Gregg Rollie was about to leave. And Steve Smith on drums was the other 'new guy.'

Enjoy.

Journey's Steve Perry and Neal Schon Hash It Out in GQ

I have posted twice about rare interviews with ex-Journey manager Herbie Herbert (here and here) and found his interviews pretty fascinating. But I also got the distinct impression that they were very one-sided.

This is old news to Journey fanatics, but in late May, an extensive interview with Steve Perry posted to GQ. I get the impression he doesn't do a lot of interviews these days so I was pretty riveted to hear what he had to say.

In the course of the two hour interview he covers everything from his joining the band, all the success they had, leaving the group, the reunion and why he left again, all the way to how he feels about all the replacement singers and his former band mates.

The writer also popped a follow up call to Neal Schon and pretty soon we had the whole Perry-Schon battle raging again. There are tons of nuggets in these interviews, such as this very small tip of the iceberg:

Perry says:

...when we did the VH1 thing, I said there was quite some time where I never really felt part of the band. And people didn’t understand what that meant. And what that meant was that there was a period of time where I always felt, from Neal, that I had to prove myself worthy of the position I was trying to occupy in the group. And not until it really took off, I think, did that question really get answered. But along with this, you have to print that I can’t blame them. Because they’d had a certain amount of success without me, and they were wondering, once I joined, “Is this the right direction?” I could tell that. I didn’t have years of being in Santana under my belt, like Neal and Gregg. Ross Valory had played with Steve Miller and people like that, I didn’t have that. Aynsley Dunbar had played with everybody. I didn’t have that under my belt. So, yeah. I was the new kid. And I think that proving myself was something that went on for quite some time with the band members.

I think the beginning of the end was when Neal started his solo career. Neal did a solo album way before I was thinking about it, with Jan Hammer. And I said to Herbie, the manager, “I think this is a bad idea”—that it would fracture the band on some level. And he said “No, he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. I’ve tried to talk him out of it, but he wants to do it.” And then he did his second one, and I said “OK, look, if he does a second one, I’m probably going to end up doing one.”

I said “Look, you go call whatever you wanna do with whomever you’ve checked out something else. Call it the J-Boys. Call it anything. But don’t call it Journey, y’know? Because I am gonna get this [hip surgery] done, eventually.” But I needed to be ready to lay down and do this thing. And it took a few more months, until October, and then I was ready, and found the right doctor for me...But in January, Jon told me on the phone, “I just wanna know.” And I said, “Don’t call it Journey. Because if you do, you will fracture the stone. And I don’t think I’ll be able to come back to it if you break it. If you crack it—it’s got so much integrity. We’ve worked so hard. Can’t you just, y’know—not do that?” And, he asked me again: “We wanna know when you’re going to surgery. Cause we wanna get out there.” That particular set of words. I said “Okay, you do what you gotta do, and I’ll do what I gotta do.” And I hung up the phone, and when the dial tone came back, I called my attorney, and I said “Start the divorce.” And he said, “What divorce?” And I said, “The divorce.” And I told him what happened. When somebody says, “We’ve checked out a few singers,” it’s like your wife’s saying, “Look, while you were gone—I know a few guys, and I just wanna know what you’ve decided to do, because I need to know.”

And Neal has this to say:

The label said, “We think you need a frontman. Otherwise we don’t think that we can ever get anything on the radio.” They wanted us to get on the radio. And sell some records. And so they gave us an ultimatum—you either get a frontman, or we’re gonna drop you from the label. And at that point we’re all thinking, “Oh, wow. This is a drag, after all this hard work.” And Herbie [Herbert] had received a tape from somebody at the label, of Steve Perry. He was in another band, at that point, and apparently they were getting ready to get signed, and his bass player was in an awful car crash and died. And I think what Steve felt at that point that he wanted to fold the band and go back to working on his grandfather’s ranch. So Herbie got his tape, and he played it for us, and he goes, “This is your new singer.” [laughs] And we’re all looking at each other going, “Really. Okay.” So we’re listening and goin’, “Wow, this guy’s got an amazing voice, but does he fit with us?” Because it was a radical change.

He’s saying, y'know, “If these guys wanna go on, I think they should just start something new and not use the Journey name.” Don’t crack the stone is what he kept on saying. Don’t crack the stone. Don’t go out and play these songs with someone else and crack the stone. Well, he did the same thing, way before we did! He went out on a solo tour, a solo Steve Perry tour, where none of us were invited. Actually Jonathan Cain tried to go down and go in and see him in San Francisco and they wouldn’t let him in the building! And he was playin’, I think, nine Journey songs and three of his original songs.

The interviews are really, really long - block out some time.

But probably the most interesting thing about the GQ post though are the extensive comments from fans who are highly passionate and land firmly in either the Perry camp or the Schon camp.

This is well beyond the "Bill Bruford is the only drummer for Yes even though Alan White has been in the band for 30 years argument; Or who's better - Sammy or Diamond Dave?" These fans are some the most impassioned and opinionated I have seen.

Such as this little gem:

When Neal was on the road banging women I'm sure he knew that the whole time the women were wishing that it was Steve.

Classic! Meow!

I am still digging the current lineup and new album, and got my ticket to the Portland show in September. I will for sure be writing a review.

Check out the GQ interviews here.

CD Review: Journey Revelation

If you are a fan late 70s to 80s Journey, go out and get the band's new CD, Revelation. It’s fresh, excellent and surprising. But get it for the new music, not the re-vamped hits disc. To be clear, this is a 3-disc set – one CD of new material, one CD of 11 old hits re-done with the current lineup, and a live DVD I have not yet watched.

The set is available only at Walmart unless one of your local music stores or online outlets has bought some from Walmart, marked up the price and re-stocked it.

Here is my take on the two music discs:

The Disc of Re-recorded Material:

As part of this package, Journey re-recorded 11 of their hits with the current lineup. I am sure the primary reason they did this is to make performance royalties on all of these new versions, especially because with the Walmart deal, they are making more money per unit than they would under any other distribution method short of them hand delivering it to your door and taking 100 percent of the money.

But certainly they also wanted to show off new singer Arnel Pineda and prove that they have found the perfect guy to carry the torch and deliver this catalog. Singing these songs is almost impossible. It burned out more than one Journey singer in the past, including Steve Perry! Pineda more than delivers and can sing every one of these songs in the way they need to be sung – with soaring power and emotion. He is great and really shines on these new versions.

But once you get over the novelty of how much Pineda sounds like Perry and how good he is, you realize that these are far more sterile versions than the originals. They are certainly technically better, but who wants that? I want the raw emotion of the recording of Lights when the band had only played it a handful of times, instead of a re-hashed version after they have been playing it for 30 years.

Pineda does bring a new freshness to the songs, because this is his first outing with Journey and he sings the heck out of the tunes. I think he actually has a stronger voice than Steve Perry did.

But my major gripes, outside of wondering if we really NEED this disc, include:

--Producer Kevin Shirley drenched most of the songs in way too much reverb. This is the same guy who produced Iron Maiden’s A Matter of Life And Death, which is the most raw, live sounding CD I have heard in ages. This Journey covers disc is the opposite. They get it right on Stone in Love – the last track. This one is very raw and sounds the most live. Listen to that one first if you want a tingle.

--I really miss Gregg Rolie’s vocals on the older material, especially Lights. This version of Lights is interesting, as they work outside of the lines the most here, and Pineda takes a lot of vocal liberties. And I like them.

--Can’t Jon Cain record on an actual piano? I am sure he has the most top of the line keyboards, but they don’t sound as good as a real live piano would have sounded.

--Drummer Deen Castronovo is an awesome drummer but is much harder edged than Steve Smith or Ansley Dunbar. The songs, therefore, sound more hard rocking than the originals, which is good, but in some cases may not be the most appropriate.

All in all, this covers disc is good but it really just made me want to go back and listen to the original versions. Maybe that was the point. Now people will go re-buy the whole Journey catalog! Smart business!

The New CD:

Now this is more like it! This sounds like a band that has something to prove. From the very first chords of Never Walk Away, this CD is about as rocking as Journey has ever been. The songwriting is tight. The songs are rocking and catchy, well played and as expected very well sung. Out of the 11 songs, there are only three ballads. That was a surprise (a pleasant one).

Never Walk Away is probably the radio track, but frankly, I could hear a lot of these songs catching on. Sometimes the first song on an album rocks and the rest fizzles. But this CD seems to get better and better until near the end.

The second song, Like A Sunshower, is a bit of a Lights throwback, as it is bluesy and mid-tempo. But that is where the similarity ends. It’s a standout track with a great chorus and blistering guitar work from Neil Schon. The third tune, Change for the Better, has all sorts of weird timing/accents and yet another catchy chorus, and by this point you realize you are listening to a pretty special CD.

But skip to song four, Wildest Dreams, to get the full frontal rock of this album. It’s like Journey speed metal. Schon's solo is pretty epic. Again, I wish it wasn’t so drenched in effects but it’s pretty killer. Then after the solo, the tune goes right into what sounds like a Porcupine Tree outtake with Pineda’s voice running through some weird effects. And of course the outro kicks into double bass drum patterns and with more ripping guitar, and you have – Journey speed metal. Worth the $11.98 right there in this one song. Schon is playing like his life depends on it. Someone laughs at the very end of the song, as if to say “My God we just rocked that one.” Brilliant.

The next song, Faith in The Heartland is really catchy and singable but again very driving. Keeps the CD moving along nicely. Drummer Castronovo powers this one with a laid back but propulsive groove. Again, the outro is fantastic. A solid, groove based jam with excellent playing by everyone. I could see them taking this one out pretty far live, if they wanted to go that way. Cain’s jazzy chords over the guitar power rock are a nice touch in this section.

And it just goes from there.

The release is not perfect. All three ballads are pretty forgettable – certainly nothing to rival the 80s power ballads of Open Arms, Faithfully, etc. The best one is After All These Years, which sounds like an inferior version of Faithfully. But after that song we get a couple more nice rockers. The album kind of fizzles at the end, with some of the lyrics being a bit campy and the weaker songs clumped at the end. But they send us off with an upper, the Schon-penned instrumental Revelations.

Although keyboardist Jonathan Cain is listed as co-writer on almost every song, this is a guitar album. Neil Schon is playing like he has something to prove, and he dominates. There are a number of songs where I don’t even hear keyboards. Journey without keyboards? Blasphemy! But it works. What it really means is it’s primarily a guitar/rock album, and that suits me just fine.

Most of the lyrics deal with overcoming struggle, embracing life and other fairly positive notions. Which makes sense, given what the band has gone through in the past ten odd years.

I think the band had a lot of fun doing this album and they clearly have a renewed energy and sense of purpose with Pineta behind the mic. The tour just kicked off in Europe this week. Hopefully they can keep the magic rolling until they get to the Northwest in September. But I feel like Journey has new life and has just kick started its flagging career.

And announced yesterday, the album sold more than 104,000 copies in its first week, and came in at number five on the Billboard album chart. Nice, guys!

New Journey Album, Singer Headed for Top

I have bagged on Journey here and here but lightened up a smidge when hearing about band hitting the road with Cheap Trick and Heart this summer (here).

But I never really explored the story behind how they got their latest singer, Arnel Pineda, until the band recently appeared on CBS News Sunday Morning and a couple of friends said I HAD to check this guy out.

So I YouTubed. And I gotta say - WOW. Not only can this dude sing, he seems to be a very genuine individual with a powerful story.

I will leave the details to CBS News Sunday Morning but the short version is that guitarist Neil Schon stumbled onto Arnel by looking for undiscovered singers on YouTube and found Arnel's cover band The Zoo doing various tunes, including some of the very hard to sing Journey catalog.

One plane ticket from the Philippines later to audition and the band is back in business. And aside from having the pipes, Arnel seems to be a genuine and humble guy as well. Note that in the CBS interview, keyboard player Jon Cain says something to the effect that Arnel is such a good guy that it makes him want to be a better person. Wow - coming from an a-hole like Cain, that is amazing.

Makes me almost WANT Journey to make a comeback and be successful again. And apparently it might be happening. According to an article on Blabbermouth today, the band's Wal-Mart only CD "Revelation" is "poised to sell around 80,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release for a likely Top 10 (possibly Top 5) debut on The Billboard 200 chart."

Revelation is a double disc, with batch of old Journey songs re-done with Arnel on vocals, and a new album's worth of material that producer Kevin Shirley (who also produced the last ten years' worth of Iron Maiden albums) has been raving about for months on his Web site.

Argh - yes, I may have to make a trip to Wal Mart.

Below are two YouTubes - the first is the CBS News piece. The second is one of the videos Neil Schon must have seen. After watching this guy sing his freaking heart out to an empty room (you even see someone wiping down tables in front of the stage at one point), you gotta root for this guy. He's going from literally nothing to the opportunity of a few lifetimes. he is the ultimate underdog, which makes me want to root for him.

Journey Manager Dishes More Dirt

A while back I posted a link to an interview with ex-Journey manager and nut job/music biz genius Herbie Herbert. This guy is an old school manager. Meaning, he believed in ‘building a brand’ from album cover art to relentless touring.

He had a vision for how to ‘make’ a band from nothing into a mega-success, and was not opposed to switching band members around (even singers) to make it happen. He also knew that it took years to do – maybe decades. These days that is not even an option. The industry doesn’t give you ten minutes!

There is a second interview on Melodic Rock with Herbert that is totally worth the read. In it, we get more Journey nuggets like:

...How old was Perry when he sang most of these songs, 30, 31, 32, 33, when you're in your 40s or 50's, forget about it...And for whatever reason, the band, Journey has always had an obsession with playing the songs in the original key. Despite the logic, the unavoidable logic, that if Steve Perry was still in the band, and I know that there's a giant public out there that would love nothing more, they're clueless to the fact that the guy can't sing anymore.

Or this music biz insight:

Columbia let Chicago and Heart and Journey and Santana and all these brands that they branded for so long, let 'em go away and they're a huge success. Heart at Capitol, Chicago and Warner Brothers, Santana obviously with Clive Davis but previously with Polygram. What the fuck are they thinkin'? What the fuck? This stuff took so long and so much money to cume up the gross impressions over such a long duration to become nigh onto, if not a household word. This is the hardest thing to achieve.

And the precipitous slide into the abyss, do you know when it started? When Steve Jobs took fuckin' a week to get every CEO, every president in the fuckin' music business to drink the Kool-aid. And give their entire catalogs, opening Pandora's digital box, and that shit will never get back in the box, and that's all master recordings going out digitally. And the way music is stored, distributed, sold and listened to has completely changed and they're not invited to the party.

They get paid for their catalog, a little bit, but the real beneficiary is Steve Jobs who really dominates the business from not only software and the delivery side of it but also the hardware and how people listen. The biggest mogul in the history of the business and I think he spent a weekend figuring out how to be the biggest music business mogul in history.

But one of the most interesting things are his comments about why bands re-record their older material with new singers, members etc. I posted a while back on the rumor that KISS was doing that. Journey is doing it as well. They have a 3 CD release coming out (exclusively at Wal Mart, like the Eagles blockbuster Long Road Out of Eden), with one CD of new tunes and another with re-recorded versions of ‘the classics.’ Here is what Herbert says about all of this:

...Sometimes this stuff gets re-recorded and is much better. It's much better. One artist and manager that took my advice and actually came to my studio to do it was Bill Thompson with the Jefferson Starship and Mickey Thomas and we took these records and these tracks and I remember one day we figured out that the average cost of each track of their greatest hits record was in excess of $150,000. Many of them were produced by guys like Ron Nevison and Peter Wolf and yadda, yadda, yadda, and I said let's come in, and I really believe in today's age with all of our new, modern recording technology, that in complete A-B comparisons we can smoke every aspect of every one of your greatest hits. Deeper, broader bandwidth, better stereo soundstage, better tuning and timing and record quality, reduce of noise floor and I mean the only thing that would be questionable is the quality of the vocal performance. If you can deliver that vocal as well or better than the original we can absolutely eclipse all the original recordings. And we did that and we did it for $15,000 for 15 songs. So when you have a second shot at it, you know like 'Boy would I like to have another whack at that.' And sometimes you can hit it out of the park.

I don't agree with that last bit AT ALL. I think there is magic in most original recordings and a lot of times even in remixes of classic albums, something gets lost. Maybe you can make them technically better, yeah - but not emotionally.

It will be interesting to see if the new singer, this upcoming CD and the Wal Mart thing can put Journey back on the map. Like I care.

Journey, Heart, Cheap Trick Hit the Road

Journey, with its fourth singer, will hit the road this summer on a big classic rock tour that also includes Heart and Cheap Trick.

Not relying solely on their past, Journey will be supporting a new album called Revelation that will be only available at Wal-Mart.
Which means I won't be buying it.

The first disc will consist of 11 re-recorded classics (another reason I won't be buying it), presumably sung by new guy Arnel Pineda. The second disc is filled with 11 new songs, and the third is a live, in-concert DVD.

About this new material, producer Kevin Shirley says on his Web site:

...what has me the most excited about it, is the new album with eleven original tracks. Ballads, rockers, progressive pieces - even a gorgeous instrumental to close - and I think the fans, both old and new, will love hearing what I think is the best album from Journey since Escape. (I know press releases have hinted at these things before, but I wouldn't say it if i didn't believe it). Schon and Cain's playing and writing is tuned into some higher source on this one.... well, you'll see soon enough.

While I am a fan of some Journey music (the older the better), I was a little soured on the band when I read an insanely long interview with former manager Herbie Herbert. Seems that these guys are a-holes of the highest caliber.

Still, a show with Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick would be pretty sweet. It comes to Portland on a Sunday in September, so maybe I'll hit it. That would be a good use of a Sunday night.

I have not seen any of these three bands, so what the heck?

The tour dates are listed here.

More Reasons To Hate Journey

Journey is often lumped in with "corporate sell out bands" like Foreigner, Asia, Loverboy and Boston, most of which are good bands with bad raps, in my book - including Journey.

But there is a form of cheesy power ballad/over the top arena rock that was mastered by Journey on their mega hit albums Escape and Frontiers. The music biz has never been the same sense (and not in a good way).

Some late night Web trolling led from one site to the next and I stumbled on an in depth interview from 2001 with the guy who hand-assembled and managed Journey from its early 70s start to 1993, Herbie Herbert.

This guy himself is a total piece of work, as you'll see. Among his other accomplishments are the first use of video screens at stadium gigs and the success of 80s bands Europe and Mr. Big. Make of that what you will.

The point is, aside from being a no bullshit, tough as nails relentless business man, he is brutally frank about the ups and downs of Journey. And even though he created the band and managed them for 25 years, he sure doesn't have much good to say about them.

Especially wrathful are his comments about Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. The crux is that Journey was a band made of mostly ego-centric megalomaniacs that make Roger Waters look like a diplomat.

The highly amusing four part interview is here (allot some time for yourselves - this is a long interview), but my favorite bits are:

--I'm picking up Jon (Cain) at the Oakland airport…The doors aren't even closed - I haven't closed my driver door, he hasn't closed the passenger door - he hands me a tape, and says 'this is a tape of my wife, Tané. Now, here's the deal - you manage her, you get her a label deal, you make her career happen, or take my keyboard out of the back, I'm out, I'm going right back to LA, no Journey.'…Do I get out of the car, or do I stay in?' And, so I said, 'Well, I will get her a label deal. I'm sure it won't be because she deserves it.' And he said, 'Let's listen to the tape.' and I said, 'No, let's not. Just shut the door.' And so, I gotta tell you, in no uncertain terms, I knew what Jon Cain was like day one. Day fucking one.

--(Steve) Perry - he's got the bulk of the world fooled. And he had you fooled until tonight.' That was it. That was the beginning of the realization for Jon Cain. I betcha right then and there he said 'I wonder a little bit less why Gregg Rolie walked away from such and incredible enterprise, at such an incredible point in their history.' It was just a no-brainer. Stadium act. How do you walk away? I'll tell you how you walk away. If you were drowning in the ocean, and Steve Perry came along in his luxury liner, he would offer you a life raft in such a manner that you would decline it. I'm not just talking about you; I'm talking about anybody. The terms and conditions would be such that you would pass.

--...all of a sudden they call me over to Sausalito for a band meeting on the waterfront. I'm sitting there with Neal Schon, Jon Cain, and Steve Perry. They inform me, 'We're struggling, and Steve doesn't feel right about these recordings.' And I go, 'All the tracks are finished!' 'Yeah, he doesn't like them. He wants to replace Smith and Valory [bass and drums].' Replace Smith and Valory? Over my dead body! What the fuck - this is a group, this is a band! This isn't Steve Perry and his side band. He had corrupted Jon Cain, but the two of them (had) damaged Neal Schon so bad that in his darkest moments I fear that Neal Schon is suicidal over the primrose path he let (them) take him down. That turned out to be a brutal mistake. I said 'OK, but these guys are going to be paid as if though they were here. And we will all eat the cost of this stupidity, and the cost of these sidemen.'

The interview is about as one sided as it gets, but that's entertainment! Enjoy.

PS - I still like Journey (gasp!)