Steve Perry Talks - The GQ Interview

[Pelata]

2 things:

1 - I didn't realize Perry did a solo tour in the 80s...

2 - Neal is right...

Yeah, I don't believe Perry had any solo shows for Street Talk. Must have been thinking of FTLOSM tour?

That's what I'm thinking too...

Either way, Neal has a point...SP was out doing Journey songs on his own before TBF....then tries to tell NS & JC to NOT do it? Double standard...

[EightyRock]

Perry's solo tour was in the 90's, not the 80's.

I was struck by Perry's continual willingness to be publicly civil and appreciative of Neal, even though Neal throws in a well-placed dig in every interview.
I hoped that Neal's newfound sobriety would make him think before he speaks. I guess his being a jerk wasn't based just on alcohol afterall.

And he wonders why Perry won't give him his phone number? Huh????? Neal made it through the entire interview without going off the deep end....UNTIL the end. He really blew it.

[Red13JoePa]

Interview copied here:

Foolish, Foolish Throat: A Q&A with Steve Perry
So when you told them you couldn’t do it anymore—at that point, were you thinking of it as a hiatus, or a breakup?
It was what I just said on tape. I sat down with ‘em at the edge of the marina, and I said I can’t do this anymore. And Jon said—or Neal, I can’t remember, it was so long ago—“Okay, we’ll take some time off.” And I said, “You don’t understand. I don’t want to be in the band anymore. I want out. I just wanna quit. I wanna let go.”
I imagine it was a really good way to run away from things, for a while.

You made a couple of solo records after that.
Way after that. Way after. I think the last show, was at the end of January, ’87. I was back in my house February 1st—I’ll never forget that date. Home alone and going “Now what?” Knowing it was over. My first solo thing, I think, was maybe six, seven years later. ’94. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, I ran right out there. [laughs] I think I needed some time off, what do you think?

Nice revisionist history, but he DID go right back to it, withOUT Journey.
The reporter either didn't know or wasn't allowed to ask about the shelved Against The Wall in '88, less than a year after he "quit" Journey.
(And by the way, if he really DID leave NO illusions that he was finished, through, quitting Journey, why not do what he admits he did in '98 and give the legal team an immediate call?)
So it's not exactly like he waited until '94 as he claims.
Some say that the FTLOSM took upwards of 2 years anyway, and given the number of studios listed in the liner notes that seems accurate.
So really, '92 could have been a repeat of '88's end-run. "I'm done" then BOOM engine's firing again solo.
'92 Journey asks him to lay vox down for WAT and IYA for the box set, the answer's "No, still toast" then BOOM, commence the FTLOSM sessions.

[Saint John]

Neal comes out shining in this "tit for tat" interview. Much more believable. Like Herbert, he's a straight shooter...when sober.

[SteveForever]

Plowing thru Vodka.. maybe that's why Steve wouldn't give you his number donkey!
try again and keep trying, geesh.

[brywool]

As a singer, I LOVED this part of the interview with Perry:

"As a singer, were you dealing with a different set of demands?
... The moment a singer gets one callus, he’s finished. Singers live on the edge of being powerful, being strong, and not degrading their voice, and it’s the most difficult edge to walk. You feel like you’re on a high-wire all the time. And the pressure of walking in front of an audience every night, and wanting to be what you know they want you to be, and what you want to be for them, and to have this silly little thing in your throat that’s about as neurotic as you are, is difficult. So it can make any singer a little crazy. It can make you just live your life in a state of insecurity and fear. Until you walk out there and open your mouth, and you see what you got, and then it tells you if it’s gonna be a fun evening or not."


That SO nails it. I'm going to frame this and send it to my band members...

[YoungJRNY]

Can't wait to read it..sounds interesting beyond belief. Work

[Red13JoePa]

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!

Classic!
There's that much ballyhooed "high road" the p camp's always bleating about.

[Rhiannon]

Wow... now that I've read that spill thoroughly, it's like reading two exes explanation of their relationship... really showcases both parties personalities. How can I be nice about it... I don't know either one, nor would I care to, but judging from previous knowledge and what I've read just now... Perry seems like a bit of a flake when it comes to dealing with the past. Not a bad dude at all. But just kind of overly emotional and very mental. Neal seemed very straightforward and honest. Like he's at a point where he's beyond all the bullshit of the past and genuinely happy to be where he is in life.

I hope that sentiment parlays well into this new album & tour.

What a read.

[Art Vandelay]

2 things:

1 - I didn't realize Perry did a solo tour in the 80s...

2 - Neal is right...

Yeah, I don't believe Perry had any solo shows for Street Talk. Must have been thinking of FTLOSM tour?

That's what I'm thinking too...

Either way, Neal has a point...SP was out doing Journey songs on his own before TBF....then tries to tell NS & JC to NOT do it? Double standard...

Not really...anyone can play anything live. There have been countless artists who have played Journey songs in concert, whether they be cover bands or professional recording acts. The Storm would play a Journey song or two...and they had a few Journey band members in tow! While I don't know if Neal ever played any full Journey songs in any of his other projects, there was never any stopping him from doing so. Steve's tour was a solo tour...no affiliation with the band Journey in name or presence. But you would be a fool to not expect him to sing the songs that he's known for.

[SteveForever]

Wow... now that I've read that spill thoroughly, it's like reading two exes explanation of their relationship... really showcases both parties personalities. How can I be nice about it... I don't know either one, nor would I care to, but judging from previous knowledge and what I've read just now... Perry seems like a bit of a flake when it comes to dealing with the past. Not a bad dude at all. But just kind of overly emotional and very mental. Neal seemed very straightforward and honest. Like he's at a point where he's beyond all the bullshit of the past and genuinely happy to be where he is in life.

I hope that sentiment parlays well into this new album & tour.

What a read.

beyond all the bullshit? wonder if the three families (or others) that he left in his midst are beyond it? but
on a professional level=Steve was smart, he had good lawyers, Neal said he likes to tour, so its all good for
both of them I suppose.

[NealIsGod]

Great interview. Perry seems to be so hypersensitive about everything. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did in the music biz.

[Pelata]

Perry comes off as over-emotional and one-sided (his side). Yes, singers do have it tougher. But come on, as was stated, he didn't wait til 94 to do anything...he did an entire album. Just because it wasn't released means nothing. Obviously, the voice wasn't an issue then.

I don't blame Neal for being a little bit "fuck him" about it...he has a point as far as who "cracked the stone" first...

Is major surgery a "band decision"? Absolutely not. BUT, the fact that YOU initiated the reunion and YOU had re-committed to it warrants factoring in the band's interests.

All musicians are a bunch of whiney flakes.

[Marzdog]

Hate to say it, but, this is the kind of shit that sells... The American public eats this shit up! Wait until People, US Weekly, etc. get a hold of it...sales could possibly explode! LOL

[Red13JoePa]

Steve was smart, he had good lawyers .

LOL, just below "class" on the oft-cited church of loon precepts list.

He was smart; There's the University Of Penn Wharton School Of Business, but RIGHT there with The Wharton School is Turkey Coop U Gibblets School Of Business.


Give us a break.

[conversationpc]

beyond all the bullshit? wonder if the three families (or others) that he left in his midst are beyond it?

Sounds like Neal is taking more responsibility for what he's done in the past than you're giving him credit for.

[SteveForever]

beyond all the bullshit? wonder if the three families (or others) that he left in his midst are beyond it?

Sounds like Neal is taking more responsibility for what he's done in the past than you're giving him credit for.

I wouldn't know, but Perry said he took a break years ago to "get a life", maybe Neal should have too? I really
woudn't know but I was responding to someone calling Perry "overly emotional and mental" and Neal being honest,
how can we really know who is being honest here?

[Playitloudforme]

Eventually he came back. You made one more record together. And then he left the band for good.
He said he was having health issues, and he needed to have hip replacement, and this and that. And so we kept waiting around to see if he was gonna go take care of it. And he pretty much came back and said, “Y'know, this is a personal issue, and I’m not gonna be pushed in a corner to get my hip fixed. When I’m ready I’m ready.” And I said, “I understand that.” Everybody understood that. And we still waited, even though we had things goin’ on. I still never wanted Journey to go away, because it was something that I was there from the beginning and started. And I felt that we still had wings, y’know? Which made me, inevitably, want to put it back together, without Steve. If you watch the [Behind the Music] documentary on VH1—it’s pretty much one-sided, with Perry, the way they edited that thing, but there was a couple funny things that went down in that interview. 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.

This was in the ‘80s? When he was touring behind his solo record? Yeah, the “Oh Sherrie” record. And then, y'know, after that, he’s talking about not cracking the stone. So to me, the stone was already cracked.

2 things:

1 - I didn't realize Perry did a solo tour in the 80s...

2 - Neal is right...

My take on this:

Neal wasn't pissed (Raised on Radio Period (1986)) that Perry did a solo album, but that it was successful. Neal had done 2 before Perry did his. No where near as successful as Street Talk. So Neal cracked it LONG before Steve ever did. It's just that Steve was successful -- WITHOUT Journey, and Neal didn't like it. Add into the mix Steve's 'firing' of Smith & Ross, tension city looking for a blow up.

There was no tour for Street Talk. The 'tour' Neal mentions had to have been Strange Medicine (one year before TBF, 8 years after ROR)

If Jon Cain wanted to get into a FTLOSM show (March 95 in San Francisco), he probably should have called first. Perhaps security didn't know who he was. It's not like Journey was plastered all over Tiger Beat at that stage anymore. If he did, and then was told no, then Jon has something to bitch about. I get the feeling he just kinda 'showed up' and expected to be let in. Did Steve know? Good question -- one to ask in an interview to come one of these days. I'm thinking Security was just doing their job.

Steve had song writing credits on the songs he sung -- he had the right to perform them. He did not, however, call his band Journey, while performing them. He basically did a cover of his own songs in his Strange Medicine shows.

The stone was cracked before TBF -- it broke completely with the hip replacement scenario. They were already interviewing replacements for him. Should he have waited as long? Probably not, I believe he's already admitted as much in other interviews. But Jon saying they've auditioned others for Steve's spot -- stone destroyer. And you wonder why Steve said Start the Divorce.

I'm glad Neal is not drinking anymore. Good start. I hope that he can continue to stay sober. Clarity comes with time.

For Steve... he's sat on that fence for soooo long. I'm glad that a few people got to hear the songs, and that he thinks they are well received. That love/hate thing tho... he's got to walk through it to get past it. Otherwise, it will always be up there, hanging around, should I shouldn't I. Do it scared (is it scared? I dunno... maybe), but (thank you Nike) Just Do It. Plenty of people want to hear him again.

Back to lurkdom.

[Saint John]

I'm having a huge problem trying to figure one thing out. Jon Cain tried to come to one of Perry's shows and was not even allowed in the building. Yet one year later when Journey reformed with Chalfant and Rolie, Perry suddenly has the urge to call him because he feels like he wants to be a part of Journey again? He couldn't let them move on, plain and simple. Had they not reformed that call would have never been made by Perry.

Secondly, I wholeheartedly disagree with Perry's logic that the songs are their "children." Songs don't live and breathe and have feelings. People do!!! The fans are their children. We're the ones torn apart after the "divorce." And truthfully, only one side has kept in touch, tried to move on, kept us in the loop, and allowed us to see them. That side is Neal and Jon. Perry doesn't owe anyone anything, but he has certainly not gone out of his way to stay in touch with his fans in any way, shape or form. I understand the man has children and grandchildren, and I was absolutely elated for him when I heard stories of them spending time together, but he seems to have all but forgotten about his fans over the last 12 years.

Lastly, I wish him and his new music a bonanza of success. I hope he still has what it takes to tour...his fans, some of the greatest in the world, miss him terribly. Sadly, unless it's with Journey, I won't be seeing him. I bet he's crushed.

[NealIsGod]

[Steve had song writing credits on the songs he sung -- he had the right to perform them. He did not, however, call his band Journey, while performing them. He basically did a cover of his own songs in his Strange Medicine shows.

Yeah, Perry's problem is not so much playing the songs with someone else, it is doing that and calling it Journey.

[Rhiannon]

beyond all the bullshit? wonder if the three families (or others) that he left in his midst are beyond it?

Sounds like Neal is taking more responsibility for what he's done in the past than you're giving him credit for.

I wouldn't know, but Perry said he took a break years ago to "get a life", maybe Neal should have too? I really
woudn't know but I was responding to someone calling Perry "overly emotional and mental" and Neal being honest,
how can we really know who is being honest here?

I'm going off how it reads. I don't really think it matters who is honest and who isn't. I like them both dead equal here. But I just noticed how Neal says Perry is whiney and it does come across as if he is whining. But I also commend SP for doing whatever it is that SP does in Everyday 2008. I just thought Neal's interview was the better read.

[NealIsGod]

And I’ve played some of the stuff for friends, and for some people that aren’t afraid to tell me the truth. And they’ve really liked it. It sounds like me, they’ve said. And that’s great.

Is Perry referring to our own Cyndi and Lora?

[Playitloudforme]

[Steve had song writing credits on the songs he sung -- he had the right to perform them. He did not, however, call his band Journey, while performing them. He basically did a cover of his own songs in his Strange Medicine shows.

Yeah, Perry's problem is not so much playing the songs with someone else, it is doing that and calling it Journey.

Sure. Because when he did sing them, he wasn't packaging the product like the original and selling it that way. It was visually and audibly different, but not labeled like the original. I akin it to marketing strategy. The ingredients are changed drastically either way. One continues to sell it under the name brand it gained popularity under, the other changed labels entirely. If I read Perry correctly, the "Journey" name (brand for lack of other word) had a reputation for a certain quality. Detract from that quality, change the ingredients, it's not 'truly' Journey anymore.

Some agree with that. Others don't.

[DracIsBack]

I found it informative, but I'm amazed at how much people "read into" things.

[Saint John]

Neal wasn't pissed (Trial by Fire Period) that Perry did a solo album, but that it was successful. Neal had done 2 before Perry did his. No where near as successful as Street Talk. So Neal cracked it LONG before Steve ever did. It's just that Steve was successful -- WITHOUT Journey, and Neal didn't like it.

Complete bullshit. Neal did stuff that was far removed from Journey. Didn't sound anything like Journey. Perry went and did stuff that to this day people say "Oh that's a Journey song!!!" when they hear Oh Sherrie. Several other songs sound like Journey playing, but to a slightly inferior degree. That album was inferior musicians trying to replicate the core Journey sound with a one way cut rather than a five way cut.

I'm extrememly anxious to see if Perry's new material will be successful. He's never been successful completely outside of Journey so I'm intrigued to see what he's created. The man possesses the greatest voice that I've ever heard, but I suspect that his creative fire went out many, many years ago. The future will tell us all.

[conversationpc]

I'm extrememly anxious to see if Perry's new material will be successful. He's never been successful completely outside of Journey so I'm intrigued to see what he's created. The man possesses the greatest voice that I've ever heard, but I suspect that his creative fire went out many, many years ago. The future will tell us all.

Perry needs to get together with Tom Scholz of Boston so that they can frustrate fans together by only putting out new music every eight years or so.

[Memorex]

Wasn't it just yesterday you people were saying Steve Perry should talk to his fans, inform them, explain every little bowel movement? He does, and then it's still not good enough. I suppose he knows that too, so why bother.

I think Perry comes off as sincere and thoughtful and Neal comes off as simple and a bit bitter, but also sincere. I truly hope for his success in beating the bottle.

Most of the people in this thread want to bash Perry just for the sake of bashing him. They will never let that go. But for me, I believe now more than ever Journey made a mistake in moving on and not waiting a bit longer. And then to tell Steve they had tried out other singers, almost as a threat - I would have been out of there too. Easily. Talk about disloyalty.

Even yesterday I was saying, just based on the facts known before this interview was posted, that Perry told them without a doubt that he was out of it in 87/88. I remember standing in my grandmother's house at that time and hearing the news on the radio that Journey had disbanded. This bullshit that Neal waited all those years because he thought they were going to take a couple months off is lame. Why form Bad English then? I'd think by 89, 90, 91 you'd take the hint anyway.

As far as whatever idiot said above that Steve said he was gone for good, but then said it was really over after 96 - he had prefaced that somewhere (not anal enough to search) with the point that they had re-worked their agreement during the lead up to TBF. So at that point, it was a reformed entity.

I guess it doesn't matter. Some on this board just can't take people at their word. They think there is some vast right wing conspiracy guiding the forces of Steve Perry to the demise of a band that barely sells anything new and is no longer relevant to current music.

I too wish Steve and Neal could sit down and talk it out, but I also think it’s none of my business.

And by the way - my talking points are my own. I don't say anything except what I believe based on my observations. Period. Journey or Steve Perry do not define and are not the basis of any friendshipo in my life, period. That would be very odd.

[Saint John]

He did not, however, call his band Journey, while performing them.

Ummm...he couldn't!!!

[brywool]

Wow......


Neal ending the interview with... "fuck him" in regards to Perry.... Whew...

That says it all right there... Really sad though.

Perry basically admits to having a "callus" in his throat.

"And the pressure of walking in front of an audience every night, and wanting to be what you know they want you to be, and what you want to be for them, and to have this silly little thing in your throat that’s about as neurotic as you are, is difficult. So it can make any singer a little crazy."

Bet that happened in late 82 would you guys say. THat was when you could hear the change happen from the boots. Faster tempo's etc... Wonder if he had it removed in the last few years....

But here we are again. The Journey train starts moving again and out comes Perry. If he is crying wolf again I think even his die hards will have the same feeling as Neal and say fuck him...

I didn't think he admitted the calus thing. I think he was admitting that he was worried about it happening. But yeah, it's weird that when Journey does something, all the sudden Steve shows up after you've not heard from him forever...

I think they both come off as sincere. I think that they both have reasons to be pissed. But Perry just seems SO fragile. After the ROR tour with his mom dying and stuff, had he not quit, MAYBE he'd have become a rock casualty. Sure sounds like it from reading what he's saying.

[Onestepper]

Eventually he came back. You made one more record together. And then he left the band for good.

If Jon Cain wanted to get into a FTLOSM show (March 95 in San Francisco), he probably should have called first. Perhaps security didn't know who he was. It's not like Journey was plastered all over Tiger Beat at that stage anymore. If he did, and then was told no, then Jon has something to bitch about. I get the feeling he just kinda 'showed up' and expected to be let in. Did Steve know? Good question -- one to ask in an interview to come one of these days. I'm thinking Security was just doing their job.

Huh?? They were doing security for Steve Perry..who was, and always will be Steve Perry of Journey..and they didn't know who Jonathan Cain was??? Oh please! If that indeed did take place, it didn't happen because security was just doing their jobs. Cain would have been wise enough to have either called Perry or told someone to let him know he was outside.