Steve Perry Talks - The GQ Interview

[Playitloudforme]

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.

Sigh...It's not bullshit SJ. Whether or not it sounded like Journey matters not. Steve Perry was going to sound like Steve Perry, no matter what he did. Most people equated that sound to Journey, so to blame it on "It sounded like Journey" is moot. It would always sound like Journey cause Steve sang the way he sang. The only way for it to be Not Journey would be if he did metal/ gospel (even that might get compared)/ or punk. NOT his style, so that wouldn't happen. So he was going to be compared to Journey no matter what.

The album wasn't inferior either -- it sold. It got radio time. Perry made money off his project. That's what pissed Neal off. Just a gut instinct, if it had not sold, I doubt that Neal would have felt threatened. Yes, I'm reading into it, but just as much as any one else here is.

[conversationpc]

Sigh...It's not bullshit SJ. Whether or not it sounded like Journey matters not. Steve Perry was going to sound like Steve Perry, no matter what he did. Most people equated that sound to Journey, so to blame it on "It sounded like Journey" is moot. It would always sound like Journey cause Steve sang the way he sang. The only way for it to be Not Journey would be if he did metal/ gospel (even that might get compared)/ or punk. NOT his style, so that wouldn't happen. So he was going to be compared to Journey no matter what.

The album wasn't inferior either -- it sold. It got radio time. Perry made money off his project. That's what pissed Neal off. Just a gut instinct, if it had not sold, I doubt that Neal would have felt threatened. Yes, I'm reading into it, but just as much as any one else here is.

I have to agree with you here. I've never thought that either "Street Talk" or "For the Love of Strange Medicine" sounded much like Journey other than, of course, Perry's signature vocals.

[Playitloudforme]

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.

That's the question now isn't it.... neither of us know. Ever meet security guards? Fixated minds. They have a set list on who they let in. No deviations. I'm not saying this is what happened.... I'm guessing, just like everyone else.

[Rhiannon]

Sigh...It's not bullshit SJ. Whether or not it sounded like Journey matters not. Steve Perry was going to sound like Steve Perry, no matter what he did. Most people equated that sound to Journey, so to blame it on "It sounded like Journey" is moot. It would always sound like Journey cause Steve sang the way he sang. The only way for it to be Not Journey would be if he did metal/ gospel (even that might get compared)/ or punk. NOT his style, so that wouldn't happen. So he was going to be compared to Journey no matter what.

The album wasn't inferior either -- it sold. It got radio time. Perry made money off his project. That's what pissed Neal off. Just a gut instinct, if it had not sold, I doubt that Neal would have felt threatened. Yes, I'm reading into it, but just as much as any one else here is.

I have to agree with you here. I've never thought that either "Street Talk" or "For the Love of Strange Medicine" sounded much like Journey other than, of course, Perry's signature vocals.

I think though, as artists, Neal maybe did a sound further removed from Journey. I've honestly not listened to much of it from that era, so I'm really stabbing in the dark here. Whereas with Street Talk, take the vocals out and just listen to the arrangements and such, it could easily have been copied/pasted into a Journey album. Could've been just the pop style of the time lending it's signature. But I think Neal did solo projects to further himself artistically and expressively, and it seems SP wanted to put out a successful solo studio album. Nothing wrong with either motive I guess, but that's just me thinking out loud.

[Memorex]

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.

Never? I think Street Talk did pretty good. Strange Medicine sold ok and the tour did fine. Arenas, no. But I'm sure he has done quite well. In fact, I remember him mentioning that he sent a note to many radio stations thanking them for playing Foolish Heart so many times over the years. That song gets played every day somewhere.

Saint John - here's the issue. Your arguments are based so much on opinion that you come off as hateful. It's why people are leaving this board. It's why I've spoken up more this past month than I have ever. Joe Pa is the same. You make it too easy to discount your comments when they are not leveled. It can't be all one guy's fault, you know? Look at Jon. They guy is a total cock, by all accounts. And just because he puts out some sub-par writing and slaps the Journey label on it, you think he is a stand up guy. He cares about the fans. You just need to tame it down dude. Seriously.

[EightyRock]

[quote="Saint John"]
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.

Of course it would sound like Journey to most people. Journey's sound was defined by Perry's voice. Journey was on the radio constantly and everybody recognized that voice, especially during the timeframe of Street Talk. Anything he sang in that timeframe would have been perceived as a Journey song by the listener.


SJ wrote: "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."

Uh...kinda like what Neal, Jon and Ross have been trying to do for 10+ years. Inferior product, trying to replicate the core Journey sound....ala Perry wannabes! Cuts both ways, SJ. Bottom line on the Perry interview is if we finally get some new material, that is success in itself.

I just think it's funny how Perry and Schon are so obviously NOT over it....or eachother...nomatter what expletives Neal throws in his direction.

[Memorex]

I think Alien Project sounded very Journey-ish as well. So did Don't Fight It. Basically, Perry is a force and it's his style. You heard Rolie say it in BTM, Perry fought harder to get his stuff through. So I think the Journey sound is very much the Perry sound and Jonathan fit nicely with it and so now the Journey sound is basically carrying on with that.

I find Street Talk and FTLOSM to be very different records, to be honest. But if someone wants to pick one hit song and compare it to the whole of Journey, I guess they have that right.

By the way - I wonder if anyone at Sony, or the producer, or Herbie might of been a bit forceful in saying they needed at least one or two Journey-ish songs on there. Everyone forgets the compromise artists have. They would not have done that with Neal or Smith because there was not nearly as many stakes. Not to mention, neither could sound like Journey without a Perry-like singer. So come on people.....

[conversationpc]

Uh...kinda like what Neal, Jon and Ross have been trying to do for 10+ years. Inferior product, trying to replicate the core Journey sound....ala Perry wannabes! Cuts both ways, SJ. Bottom line on the Perry interview is if we finally get some new material, that is success in itself.

Nope..."Arrival" was better than either ROR or TBF before it. "Generations" would've been much better had they dropped most of the tunes sung by anyone other than Augeri and Castronovo.

[Tito]

Neal comes off as simple and a bit bitter

Does he cling to his religion and guns? Hi Noble Cause!

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.

Why does it have to be a right wing conspiracy? Why not left wing? Hi again, Noble Cause!


NOTE: Just to clarify, TNC is not memorix, I'm just saying hi, Noble Cause, because I went to aggravate him with my Republican talking points.

[Tito]

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

Ummm...he couldn't!!!

I do remember the advertisement though, it said "playing the hits of Journey and More."

[Saint John]

Had Perry performed a song, a mini-set, a show or a tour after the "divorce", Neal and Jon would have looked bad for moving on without them. The fact that, as they suspected, he had no intentions of touring or performing all came out in the wash. They were right...period.

[Memorex]

Neal comes off as simple and a bit bitter

Does he cling to his religion and guns? Hi Noble Cause!

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.

Why does it have to be a right wing conspiracy? Why not left wing? Hi again, Noble Cause!


NOTE: Just to clarify, TNC is not memorix, I'm just saying hi, Noble Cause, because I went to aggravate him with my Republican talking points.

Can't aggrevate me. I think both parties are wrong. Just like I saaid to Saint John - It can't be all one guy's fault - well, the screwed up government didn't get there based on the mistakes of only one party. I think both need to tend to their own backyards for a few years, to be honest.

I was going to say left wing, but right wing really does have a ring to it these days.

Not sure who TNC is. I don't recall the name. Maybe if I saw the avetar.

[conversationpc]

Not sure who TNC is. I don't recall the name. Maybe if I saw the avetar.

You don't know who The_Noble_Cause is? Get the hell outta here!

[Tito]

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...

Not necessarily true, he's used the callus analogy since the beginning. I've seen old interviews from 1978, where he said the exact same thing.

NOTE: HEY EVERYONE! I'm sticking up for Steve!

The frustrating part for me from the interview is they/we are so close, yet so far away from a reunion. If they could only talk. I'll volunteer. I'll be the mediator if they want.

[Memorex]

Had Perry performed a song, a mini-set, a show or a tour after the "divorce", Neal and Jon would have looked bad for moving on without them. The fact that, as they suspected, he had no intentions of touring or performing all came out in the wash. They were right...period.

They do look bad, in my opinion. I think if Neal broke his hand and Perry was like, get the surgery or else and we have been trying out other guitarists, you'd have a different opinion.

[finalfight]

Had Perry performed a song, a mini-set, a show or a tour after the "divorce", Neal and Jon would have looked bad for moving on without them. The fact that, as they suspected, he had no intentions of touring or performing all came out in the wash. They were right...period.

They do look bad, in my opinion. I think if Neal broke his hand and Perry was like, get the surgery or else and we have been trying out other guitarists, you'd have a different opinion.

That would be weird in the extreme as it was always Neal's band as Perry himself conceded in that interview.

[Red13JoePa]

Saint John - here's the issue. Your arguments are based so much on opinion that you come off as hateful. It's why people are leaving this board. It's why I've spoken up more this past month than I have ever. Joe Pa is the same.

I'd bet my original copy of "For The Need To Augment Singing With Breathy Diaphragmnal Expulsions" that AJM's PM box is blinking into overtime with threat after threat from you of this same noise.

"YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT SJ AND JOPA ARE DRIVING PEOPLE AWAY FROM YOUR BOARD!!!! I AM ALSO GOING TO NOTIFY THE (Unnamable online domain) THAT THEIR NAME IS BEING UTTERED HERE AND THAT YOU MAY BE HELD RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!!! PUT A STOP TO IT OR ELSE!!!"





If it's going on, and I am sure it is, I wish he would simply delete without even opening.

[Saint John]

The album wasn't inferior either -- it sold.

Not arguing that at all. The playing was inferior. All in all, the album was great. Had it had the Journey name on it it would have sold 4 or 5 times what it did. I believe this was an attempt by Perry to flex his muscles and show his worth to the band, which is why he demanded Herbie make it the best selling album to date...bigger than any Journey album. He didn't realize how important that name and those other guys playing really meant. He sure as fuck was reminded when the FTLOSM results came back, though.

[Tito]

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.

Never? I think Street Talk did pretty good. Strange Medicine sold ok and the tour did fine. Arenas, no. But I'm sure he has done quite well. In fact, I remember him mentioning that he sent a note to many radio stations thanking them for playing Foolish Heart so many times over the years. That song gets played every day somewhere.

Saint John - here's the issue. Your arguments are based so much on opinion that you come off as hateful. It's why people are leaving this board. It's why I've spoken up more this past month than I have ever. Joe Pa is the same. You make it too easy to discount your comments when they are not leveled. It can't be all one guy's fault, you know? Look at Jon. They guy is a total cock, by all accounts. And just because he puts out some sub-par writing and slaps the Journey label on it, you think he is a stand up guy. He cares about the fans. You just need to tame it down dude. Seriously.

1. I have never seen any accounts, except for alleged 2nd ar 3rd hand, that have said Jon Cain is a c-ck.
2. Just to make sure, Tito is all cool, right?

[Rhiannon]

Not sure who TNC is. I don't recall the name. Maybe if I saw the avetar.

You don't know who The_Noble_Cause is? Get the hell outta here!

No shit. He's easy to spot. Big ass hamburger in the early days, followed by the ginormous taco with not NEARLY enough cheese on it.

[Memorex]

Not sure who TNC is. I don't recall the name. Maybe if I saw the avetar.

You don't know who The_Noble_Cause is? Get the hell outta here!

It's funny. I have two blocks when it comes to this site. One, I identify everyone by their avatar. That is actually odd, since I don't have one, huh? And two, I never remember anyone's real name. I think I try to be a speed reader when it comes to this site.

[Red13JoePa]

Not sure who TNC is. I don't recall the name. Maybe if I saw the avetar.

You don't know who The_Noble_Cause is? Get the hell outta here!

No shit. He's easy to spot. Big ass hamburger in the early days, followed by the ginormous taco with not NEARLY enough cheese on it.

The dude knows who TheNobleCause is, believe me.

TNC is one of the online pioneers of systematically debunking loon mythology.

That's mere sandbaging by memorex as TNC has LONG been on the "Most Wanted" wall in that biodome known as loondom.

[SusieP]

Thanks for the link and for cutting and pasting the Perry/Schon bits! That made interesting reading.
Now can we get the interviewer to go back to Neal and talk about the JSS hiring & firing?

I had always hoped that as time healed, and more water passed under the bridge, that the guys would clear the air, heal their differences and become friendly once more.
I hoped that in time autobiographies would be written. Where everyone accepts responsibility for their actions and the part those actions played in the Journey story. None of them are free from blame. They all did something to 'fracture the stone' after the cracks began to appear - all of them.

Looks like I'm going to be waiting some more, doesn't it.

But is Steve really working on a new album? Or is that just the usual teasing we get from him.
If he is making one, I'm going to gift wrap a copy for JoePa and send it along to him with a free visitors pass to the Turkey Coop University School of Business Management he so adores. I'll even buy him an ice cream at their Open Day if he promises not to yell obscenities at me.

[Saint John]

Saint John - here's the issue. Your arguments are based so much on opinion that you come off as hateful. It's why people are leaving this board. It's why I've spoken up more this past month than I have ever. Joe Pa is the same.

Traffic is at, or near, an all-time high. Try again.

[Red13JoePa]

Susie, my guess is management made it clear for the interview that Tapegate and the JSS era were taboo to the interviewer. Rockline, too, at least for tapegate.

[Rhiannon]

The dude knows who TheNobleCause is, believe me.

TNC is one of the online pioneers of systematically debunking loon mythology.

That's mere sandbaging by memorex as he has LONG been on the "Most Wanted" wall in that biodome known as loondom.

Ah. I've never paid attention to Memorex (no offense M).
Loon mythology... conspiracy theories... a political argument, and titty threads.
The four foundational corners of this board...

[Memorex]

Saint John - here's the issue. Your arguments are based so much on opinion that you come off as hateful. It's why people are leaving this board. It's why I've spoken up more this past month than I have ever. Joe Pa is the same.

I'd bet my original copy of "For The Need To Augment Singing With Breathy Diaphragmnal Expulsions" that AJM's PM box is blinking into overtime with threat after threat from you of this same noise.

"YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT SJ AND JOPA ARE DRIVING PEOPLE AWAY FROM YOUR BOARD!!!! I AM ALSO GOING TO NOTIFY THE (Unnamable online domain) THAT THEIR NAME IS BEING UTTERED HERE AND THAT YOU MAY BE HELD RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!!! PUT A STOP TO IT OR ELSE!!!"





If it's going on, and I am sure it is, I wish he would simply delete without even opening.

Not being a dick - but I did not follow that post at all. I have no idea what you are saying.

I think people want a board that is filled with level headed folks - not ones looking to place blame and run people down every chance they get, especially when it seems to be a one-trick-pony.

[Memorex]

Not sure who TNC is. I don't recall the name. Maybe if I saw the avetar.

You don't know who The_Noble_Cause is? Get the hell outta here!

No shit. He's easy to spot. Big ass hamburger in the early days, followed by the ginormous taco with not NEARLY enough cheese on it.

The dude knows who TheNobleCause is, believe me.

TNC is one of the online pioneers of systematically debunking loon mythology.

That's mere sandbaging by memorex as he has LONG been on the "Most Wanted" wall in that biodome known as loondom.

Based on the Taco explanation, I now know.

You seem to think I lie at every turn. But that's a theme with you. Perry lies, tape-gate was a lie - Memorex is a huge liar. Can I ask you a serious question? What woman (or man) lied to you and broke your heart in so many pieces that you cannot trust another human? Just messing with you sir.

[Memorex]

The dude knows who TheNobleCause is, believe me.

TNC is one of the online pioneers of systematically debunking loon mythology.

That's mere sandbaging by memorex as he has LONG been on the "Most Wanted" wall in that biodome known as loondom.

Ah. I've never paid attention to Memorex (no offense M).
Loon mythology... conspiracy theories... a political argument, and titty threads.
The four foundational corners of this board...

I'm a little offended. I'm certainly not a loon. And I have always gone to great lengths to be fair in my posts. But if it doesn't do anythjing for you, cool.

[Tito]

Now can we get the interviewer to go back to Neal and talk about the JSS hiring & firing?

I'm sorry Andrew and all, but I couldn't let this pass. Are you kidding me? Why would a major magazine waste space and ink on this? NO one KNOWS who Soto is? Not saying he isn't good, but he is not a mainstream star or near Journey/Perry's level.

Come on folks, already. I'm not bashing Soto, but we really need to have a sense of reality here. He was a singer for 9 or 10 months with them, and a pinch-hitter or relief pitcher, whichever analogy you prefer, at that.

For the sake of Soto, let it go. You're making it impossible for people like me to even try and like his music.