July 19-20, 2003: Loopfest

Tinley Park, IL
Tweeter Center

What can be said -- two days, 8 bands, and 13 hours of rock and roll! Wow, what a weekend! First off the sheer number of Journey fans that descended on Chicago was amazing it was great to see so many familiar faces among the crowd of 17,000 -- including our Journey Digest owner and fearless leader Dan Stacy! (A true treat after 4 years! Really Dan, you've gotta get out more!)

My trip kicked off on Thursday with a bang -- a big ole mid-western thunderstorm erupted just as I was picking up my rental car. This California girl sure as heck had never seen anything like that before in her life! (Golf ball sized hail! Good grief that's insane!) Gotta admit though, all that lightning was really cool! (We just don't get that out here!)

Fortunately, the weather cleared up for a fairly mild Friday that was very pleasant. After joining the contingent of Back Talkers for a huge pre-show BBQ (my head is still spinning from all the people, especially the ones who seemed to know ME that I'd never seen before in my life!) it was over to the Tweeter Center in Tinley Park.

This was my second trip to Tweeter (the first being the famed 1999 "Journeyfest" show with Foreigner) and I didn't remember things being quite as annoying as they were this time. I should have known this would be an annoying venue as I was walking up to the entry gate to the sounds of "Welcome to the Tweeter Center. Don't do this. Don't do that. Management reserves the right to not let you in. Enjoy your stay." YIKES. It's the stupid little things like "I'm sorry, while the contents of your bag are fine, the bag is too big. You have to check it" and "No, you can't have the top to your bottled water. People might throw them on stage." that just make a venue very unfriendly to the customer. The layout and the lines were insane and criss-crossing everywhere. Very poor design for crowd flow. And then there was the smoking. Okay, I realize I'm a California girl where the only place anyone is allowed to smoke is in the privacy of their own home, but come on people -- there are 17,000 people crammed together SOME of whom are allergic to cigarette smoke! I wasn't sure I'd make it through Journey's set my lungs were burning so bad from the smoke!

Icky venue issues aside, it was a fantastic show. 38 Special kicked off Friday night and were terrific. I'm not a huge fan of theirs and really only knew two songs from their set -- "Hold on Loosely" and "Caught Up in You" -- but they were very entertaining. Wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to see them again, but wouldn't mind if they teamed up with some one else I was interested in.

Sammy Hagar came out next. No doubt about it, Sammy flat out kicks ass. This was the third or fourth time I've seen him and I've enjoyed his high energy show every time. Yeah, it's a little bit juvenile best suited for hormonally challenged teen-age boys, but it just works and is so Sammy. (Amazingly his "waitresses" who bring him Waboritas throughout the show were the most clothed I've ever seen!) And he's got such an amazing catalog of songs with an incredible backing band (particularly the hell on wheels bass player, Mona) he just rocks the night away. Add in his amazing interaction with the crowd (including the handful of fans who stood on risers at the back of the stage) and he's just someone I will continue to see when I get a chance. Anyone who's never seen him really should -- if for the set list alone, everything from his days in Montrose to Van Halen to solo past and present.

Sammy's set ran longer than I had expected, when Journey took the stage around 9:30, I doubted any special treats of Planet Us or even Sammy joining for an encore would happen.

Journey got off to a rocky start when Steve's in-ear monitor wasn't working during "Separate Ways" when the show opened. This was resolved fairly quickly, but it was apparent through most of the song Steve was having trouble hearing what was going on. Given a 90-minute set rather than the 75-80 minutes they've had all summer enabled Journey to add a few more songs to the set list, but nothing that hasn't otherwise popped up over the course of the tour. I was pleasantly surprised when they pulled out "Dead or Alive" towards the end of the set. Never having heard this song live, I wondered if they could actually pull it off -- it is such a FAST song. Not only did they pull it off they NAILED it. My eyes were popping out of my head watching all the frenetic activity on stage. "State of Grace" has made it's way back into the set, but with out the Intro it just sounded a bit odd to me and I'm not sure how well it worked over all. One other memorable moment from the night was during "Be Good To Yourself" when Steve shouted to the crowd "If you're having a good time say YEAH!" and stuck his microphone out towards the crowd -- only to have it fly out of his hand and ka-thud on the front of the stage (thank goodness for the cord!) Steve started cracking up on stage, but soon regathered himself (and his mic) and said "Let's try that again -- if you're having a good time say YEAH!" I've seen elsewhere people comparing this show to the Warfield show in April and while it was a good performance from the guys, it didn't come close to the magic of that night.

Saturday was another long day -- 5 bands from 3-11 -- so I'll just do a quick run through for ya. Night Ranger opened the show at 3 and despite my best efforts, I didn't get to my seat until 3:15 (the line at the gate to get in was incredibly long) which was rather disappointing since I'm a fan and really wanted to see their whole set. Jack Blades is seriously hyper on stage. I did enjoy the 30 minutes of their show full of their classic hits.

Shooting Star was the second band. Can't really say much about 'em. I had never heard of them before the show and when they hit the stage my seat was directly in the sun, so I ducked out to find some shade and half listened to their set from the side.

Heart came out third and WOW. One of the reasons I decided to make the trip for this two day event was to see Heart. Incredible. Ann and Nancy Wilson are just queens of rock and roll. Their set was a mix of the old and the new and got a predictable response -- old songs people on their feet rockin' out, new songs people sitting down in wonder. The new tunes sounded pretty good to me and were pretty rocking, but I'm going to have to hear them a few more times to really form an opinion. In my next life, I'm coming back as Nancy Wilson.

REO was up next, and I held my breath. Kevin Cronin had 10 extra minutes to talk or sing, which would he choose?? Amazingly, it was singing. They added two songs to their now familiar set list ("Music Man" and "Golden Country") I've gotta say, this was the best performance I've seen from them all summer. I'm sure it had to do in part to being a (near) hometown crowd. The crowd was absolutely wild during their set and I was amazed hearing the crowd singing back to the band -- it was so loud! This was the kind of energy every concert should have.

Styx closed out the weekend and despite playing for the hometown crowd, they just didn't grab the audience as well as REO did (which shocked me completely.) Part of it had to do with having four songs from Cyclorama in the set list. Unfortunately as good as the new tunes are, they just suck the life out of the crowd (with the usual exception of the stadium running "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye") and following up "Fields of the Brave" with a medley of Styx tunes just didn't work. The medley was good -- per Tommy Shaw containing parts of one song from each Styx record -- but it didn't bring the crowd back into the show after the new tune. So the Styx set was mixed and I didn't feel the same energy as I usually do during their set.

I did note at least parts of all the set lists (except 38 Special & Shooting Star due to complete unfamiliarity) but will only post the Journey one below. If anyone is interested in any of the other set lists, let me know and I'll shoot it off to ya.

This is my last "Main Event" tour stop for the summer, so everyone enjoy the remaining shows. Up next for me -- an evening with Journey in Konocti!

Journey's Set:

DVD opening intro
Separate Ways
Stone in Love
Wheel in the Sky
Star Spangled Banner
Only the Young
Dixie Highway
Lights
-- Jonathan's solo --
Open Arms
Precious Time
Feeling That Way
Anytime
State of Grace
Chain Reaction
Be Good to Yourself
Dead or Alive
Don't Stop Believin'
Ask the Lonely
Escape
Any Way You Want It

Encore:
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
Faithfully

July 2003: A Conversation with Neal and Jon Part 2

June 2014: On June 21, 2003, a few hours prior to seeing Journey perform in Kansas City, my good friend and JourneyDigest.com collaborator Leslie White and I had an opportunity to sit down with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain for an interview to be posted on the website. A few days prior to this interview, the Hollywood Walk of Fame announced that Journey would be getting a star in the famed walk which eventually happened in 2005. Leslie is the author of this piece (I served as photographer and proof reader) and I am reprinting it as it appeared on JourneyDigest.com with her permission with a few editorial comments of my own.

So without further ado, Part Two of the conversation with Neal and Jon.

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While some fans might take offense at the comments about the Back Talk forum, it's important to note that the comments made are about only that very small percentage of people there who are consistently negative, and not Back Talk users as a whole. The guys love their fans and love that they come to the site every day to show their devotion to the band. With that in mind, please read the remarks as they were intended, as a commentary on their frustration with some, not all, fans on Back Talk.

Leslie: Well, Neal and Jonathan, we’ve heard you say in one interview or another that you are very grateful for the success you’ve had and the experiences you’ve had. But with more than 30 years in the business, you guys have to have sacrificed some things on the altar of rock and roll. So tell me, is there anything you would have done differently or do you feel like you’ve missed out on anything?

Neal: Oh, you know what? When I look back now, anything that I would’ve done differently, I wouldn’t have wasted any time, okay? We sat, when we went on the hiatus after we came off our Raised on Radio tour, you know, Steve Perry said he wanted to take a break, alright, that he didn’t want to finish out the tour, that he was toast. And so, said, okay two years, one year. Well, three years went by, you know, and nothing was going on. And so then, you know, Jon and I moved on, and we did Bad English. We had to do something, but three years went by. And if I could walk backward right now, I would have taken…went back to that era and moved on with this band…like we have now. I think we wasted a lot of time sitting around for ten years…in hiatus.

Jon: Amen to that.

Leslie: I agree.

Neal: Hindsight is beautiful. Hindsight is beautiful, though, right?

(All laugh)

Leslie: Hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it? Okay, Neal. This one’s just for you. You left home at fifteen to go on the road with Santana. Miles is fourteen now.

Neal: He’s almost fifteen. In August he’s fifteen.

Leslie: What would you do if your children came to you and said, “Hey Dad, I’m going out on the road. I’m going to be a rock and roll star just like you.”

Neal: Well you know what? He is playing the heart out of the guitar right now, and I won’t be surprised if he ends up going out on the road, but you know, I’ve cautioned him about the industry and how it’s changed so radically. And the type of music he likes right now is like older style, heavy music that is really not selling, you know, and labels are really not interested in it. You look at MTV, and that’s what’s going on. He’s like, “Well, I don’t like that. I want to do what I want to do.” I said, “Join the club, buddy!”*

(laughs)

*You can check out what Miles is playing now on Facebook.

Jon: So do I.

Neal: Yeah, so if he got a great offer from an already famous band, that was already big like I did like Santana or Clapton, then I would say, “You go, and I give you my blessings.” And I would caution him about everything that I did that I shouldn’t do (laughs).

Leslie: Do you think it would work?

Jon: Probably not.

Neal: Probably not. He’s a hard head. You know, you have to have thoughts so you remember what not to do.

Jon: That’s right.

Leslie: And Jonathan, you’ve got daughters. What if your daughter said, “Hey, I want to be a keyboardist in an all girl band. I’m going on the road.”

Jon: Um, I would wish them well. You know, I mean I would. I would wish them well. I think they…you know…it sounds pretty far fetched, actually. Madison likes home too much. She’s a homebody.* Liza I could see doing it, “Goodbye, Dad.” (laughs). But yeah, I’d wish them well. Yeah, that’d be great. I’d be honored, man.

*I love this comment since things have changed so much since then. Madison is trying to get a music career going. You can check out her website here.

Leslie: Okay, but they have to practice for the recital first, though, right?

Jon: That’s right.

Leslie: Being out on the road touring can get pretty grueling sometimes. Jon, we know you get in a round of golf now and then. What are some of the things the rest of you do to pass the time when you’re not on stage.

Neal: God, this tour all’s I’ve been doing is sleeping. You know, honest to God, I’m like a really…a morning person when I’m at home. Like, the last six months I just had home, I got up at six in the morning, and I had the whole day to do whatever I want to do whether it’s doing something with my kids or I’m working in the studio…whatever. I take a bike ride, you know. This tour, we are going on so late. I’ve never gone on this late before in my whole life, I think, of any tour. God, like last night, we went on at 10:30, okay, and I was like falling asleep before we were going on. I’m drinking coffee.

Jon: I’ve got a cappuccino and espresso maker now.

Neal: Jon is the coffee man, he makes me like this rocket fuel that wakes my butt up, but man!

Leslie: So having a shot before a concert has a whole new meaning now.

Jon: It does have.

Neal: Look, I just woke up. I…the reason I was late getting down here…I just woke up, and if Aaron had not called me, I wouldn’t have been here. You know, I sleep till two, three in the afternoon now because of this concert schedule. And I really miss…I hate missing the days because I get a lot of energy out of being outside in the sun and stuff. But man, for me to be awake at night, I feel like I have to sleep until two or three in the afternoon.

Leslie: We’re glad you’re here. Let’s see, how would you say being out on tour now at this stage in your lives is different from when you first started getting famous? How’s it different backstage?

Neal: Well, it’s more comfortable. Everybody’s older, more together, so there’s less conflicts…personal conflicts. It’s an easier time, it’s a better time. You know? I mean, getting along in a band is like getting along in a marriage, okay? When things work, they work, and when they don’t, they don’t. It’s about that simple. We’ve got a lot more admiration and respect for each other, I think, than we ever did in the hey day when we had too much F-you money, and you know, just taking advantage of situations. I think we really look at a situation any more, and we go you know, we’re extremely grateful to be here, and that we have gigs, and that we CAN do this, and that people come to see us. You know, there’s a lot of people out there that wish they could be doing what we’re doing that were around in the past, and they can’t do it. So, you know, I’m just grateful. I’m like completely…and I love all these guys. They’re like my best friends.

Jon: Yeah, we have less, uh, we have less conflict. And the other thing I should point out is that there’s less sexual conquest going on.

Neal: ‘Cause we’re all married.

(Both laugh)

Jon: And happy, and got kids and stuff. You know, in the old days, man, there was all kind of stuff going on back there.

Neal: And you know, it was cool because we lived it for a long time. You gotta live it, otherwise, you just kind of wonder what would it have been like if I didn’t do that? I say if you got hitched up too soon and you never experienced all that backstage wildness…but we did, you know. We lived it, and we did it, and it’s like been there, done that, time to move on.

Jon: That’s it man. You asked the question, I’m telling ya. You gotta throw that in and spice it up a little bit!

Neal: Okay, spice it up! Okay.

Leslie: If you had to choose a career that’s different from what you’re doing now, what would you do if you didn’t do rock and roll?

Neal: You know, I used to say in the old days as a joke that I would sell ladies shoes. (Laughs)…you know, like Italian French pumps. But any more, I would have to say that I think that I could be a designer, you know. I could design like clothes, cars, whatever. I have like a designing type mind…or like a painter, artist. Something like that.

Jon: I would probably be a shrink. (Neal laughs) Or a chef.

Leslie: A shrink or a chef?

Jon: A shrink or a chef.

Leslie: Okay. I’m going backwards now to some other questions that we skipped. With each member of Journey being at the absolute top of their craft…I mean, let’s face it, you guys are at the top of your craft…Journey songs seem to really have a lot of layers to them. What’s the writing process that you go through for the different parts? The vocal, the song as a whole, the keyboard parts? And what does production add to that layering? Because all of your songs are really deep and have a lot of texture and…

Neal: I think some of our best sounding records, the voices were more layered than anything else. The bg…the backgrounds…you know, we used to do like, for instance, all the records that we did with Roy Thomas Baker, we took the Queen approach and there was ten million Steve Perry’s back then in the background vocals. I mean, he would do four times one part, four times another part, four times another part, four times another part. So it’s just at then end, it’s just STACKED. And that’s what gives you that huge vocal…that background vocal sound. But in general, the band…I don’t think beyond the record that we just did with Kevin Shirley, like Arrival, that was very layered, I think we were pretty nuts and bolts. It’s like the one rhythm guitar, two at the most, and one lead and keyboards…a couple of keyboard overdubs…

Jon: Well, it’s the parts, though. The parts all fit together, and they play in tune like an orchestra. Neal’s got kind of an orchestrated approach. I’m very much an orchestrated kind of keyboard player. I’ll listen before I go, you know, trudging into a song. In the old days, I would listen to Neal very carefully before I decided what I wanted to play, so I didn’t just fill up the space with stuff, you know. We’re interested in the holes and the space, you know sometimes space is really cool. So, the choreography, I think, is very much an orchestrated approach. We’re looking for a bottom, and we’re looking for a top. We’re looking for a balance, and we’re looking for changes, and mood swings. You know, I think Journey is very cinematic, you know, in the sense that it flies, and it soars like a movie soundtrack. And I think the sounds have to evoke the image if we’re singing about something sad or we’re singing about the love, then you want to have that passion in the song. And Neal has all these very classical things that come out. He’s very Germanic, you know, and when he plays, there’s things that roll and conjure up things. So we go with each other in the cinematic approach, and that’s where you get the layers…where this emotion that’s evoked, you know, in each song. We like orchestration.

Neal: Definitely, my guitar sound has evolved through the years. I’ve been working on my guitar sound ever since I can remember. Probably this year is the best, I think, that I’ve ever had. As a guitar sound, I mean, it’s…it’s HUGE. And I like that, I really like being able to hitting a note on stage and having it soar and not sound like a little buzz saw, you know.

Leslie: Do you feel like you have the freedom to do that now more in the new lineup?

Neal: No, really, I would’ve had the same freedom in the old lineup. It’s just that I hadn’t gotten this far on the sound quest.

Jon: On this better technology.

Neal: Yeah, yeah. And you know, I’m using a bit of new technology, but a lot of it’s old technology. I sort of went back …to the cord. You know, no more cordless guitar. I toured with Jeff Beck, we toured with Jeff Back, I played with Jeff Beck, and I go, “God damn it, how do you get that fucking guitar sound?” and he’d say, “A cord.” (Laughs)

Jon: Plug it in.

Neal: Yeah, and it’s pretty much…it’s that simple sometimes. You have to give up having the freedom to be mobile and run around stage, but you know what, when it comes down to it, I’d rather have the sound than being able to run up on the ramp over here, run up over there. You know, I mean I think that’s cool when you’re in your twenties, but for me right now, I don’t see Eric Clapton doing that. I don’t see Jeff Beck doing it. I never saw Jimi Hendrix do that, and he was a tremendous performer. All my favorite guitar players have always used a cord and nothing but a cord, so I went back to the cord. Now I’m like, spoiled.

Leslie: Very good. Continue to plug it in. Trial By Fire was a very spiritual CD. Arrival seemed to be really reflective of where you guys are in your lives. You’re married, you’re happy. There was a lot of really good love songs on there and everything. Red 13 was generally regarded as the freedom project…

Neal: It was freedom, ya know. It was like old Journey mixed with new Journey like what they used to call us in San Francisco. We were like the favorite house band in San Francisco before we were selling any records. They said we were like the Grateful Dead on steroids, you know? It was total freedom. You know, I just walked into Jon’s studio one day, and I said, “Let’s do something like this. I just want to play something like this this summer.” So you know, "State of Grace" came out. And it was like we went for it. It was a very experimental project in a lot of ways.

How I describe it, it was like feeling out how now that we’re not on Sony…I said, why would we waste all our time and energy on creating another full CD, right? When it’s all going to be experiment to get it out there anyway. So it was a total experimental concept, and we learned from it, you know? And I still like a lot of stuff that’s on there. It’s very raw, and it’s what we are live, you know? A lot of people love it or they hate it. And I think that we missed the boat just a little bit by not putting the main hooks in the choruses, but we purposely didn’t go there. We just purposely did not go there to have freedom, and let’s not do that cause we always do that. That’s what they expect, so let’s not do that. And now it’s like, looking back at it, we should probably have done a little bit of both. I think 50% of what we did on there and 50% of what we’ve done in the past is probably the chemistry.


Leslie: If Red 13 was the freedom project, what’s going to be the flavor of the next CD?

Neal: Who knows, man? We’ll know when we get there. (laughs)

Jon: We really, yeah, we’re not even there yet. You know, Neal and I have talked about some possibilities of mixing it up a little bit. You know, we certainly want to carry on a tradition, you know, of our sound. We got to keep that woven in, you know. On the other hand, we’re interested in world music, and maybe we’re gonna, you know, head off maybe into the land of that.

Neal: We might all of a sudden come left field and add percussionists to our music and add world sound, you know. We’re interested in breaking the European market. We’ve been to South America for the first time, what, three years ago?

Jon: Yeah.

Neal: And we had a tremendous experience there. Ya know, it was our first time ever playing there in Mexico City, South America. We had a huge turnout, and we had tons of fans there that we never knew about. And, you know, Jon and I came back from that and we were talking. And I was like, you know what, I really think that if we added some percussion…not to sound like Santana, but just add percussion because the percussion is just… You know, from my experience of working with the Santana band, you get somebody like Chepito Areas and Michael Carabello going with a drummer, and it’s hypnotic. The rhythm is hypnotic. It’s undeniable, and people love it. They love it without music on top of it.

Jon: Yeah, you know this dance thing, there’s something cool about exploring that rhythm. And certainly we’ll do that. And if it comes out and it doesn’t, you know, work, we can say at least we tried. And then we’ll try other ways. But there’s a lot of different ideas we’ve been scratching on, and just playing with different concepts, and we’ll see what happens.

Leslie: You guys might steal Carabello from Gregg, eh?

Neal: Either that or Sheila E. (laughs). Sheila E from…who’s she out with? Tom Jones. She’s awesome. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen her, but man, she can…she not only plays like regular drums, like Billy Cobham. Billy Cobham was the drummer from Mahavishnu Orchestra. The early John McLaughlin band from the 70’s. And Billy Cobham is the most amazing drummer, and he taught her how to play. And she hits hard. I’ve jammed with her, man, and she hits harder than most men. She really plays.

Leslie: It’d be really cool to see a woman in Journey, too. That would definitely throw off the backstage chemistry there.

(Coffee finally arrives)

Neal: Thank you. Thanks.

Leslie: I actually have one last question, then if Michelle has anything she wants to ask…

Jon: Okay.

Leslie: Going back to Spank, Kevin Shirley. I interviewed him last year, and I did a free association thing with him, and I asked him, you know, “I’m going to say a name, and want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind.” I gave him each of your names, and everything. I should have printed that out so you could see what he said about you, but you’ll have to go to Journey Digest to read that. So, if I say a name, tell me the what the first thing that comes to your mind.

Neal: This is a very in depth interview. You’re very well organized. (laughs)

Leslie: Well thanks. Okay, Ross Valory.

Neal: Nut. (laughs)

Jon: Wacky.

Leslie: Okay. Deen Castronovo.

Neal: Wired.

Jon: Yeah, I’d have to say fiery wired. Yeah.

Leslie: Okay.

Jon: Fiery and wired.

Leslie: Not you, Jon. (to Neal) Jonathan Cain.

Neal: Intelligent.

Jon: Oh no, here’s twenty bucks. (both laugh)

Leslie: Okay, turnabout’s fair play. Neal Schon.

Jon: Oh, wings. Don’t ask me why, wings.

Leslie: Okay. Steve Augeri.

Neal: New York. (laughs) Brooklyn!

Jon: Relentless. Just relentless.

Leslie: New York in what way?

Neal: Oh well, you know how…the attitude of the New Yorker. He’s got the Brooklyn thing going on all the time. And when he first came into the band, I’d be listening to him, and he’s like jiving me all the time. He sort of like throws out the hook, pulls you in, and all of a sudden you’re listening to this bullshit lingo, and he’s just BS-ing you. You know, and it’s like…

Jon: New York.

Neal: It’s a New York thing.

Leslie: Kevin Shirley.

Neal: Fun.

Jon: Uh, tireless. Yeah. He’s just devoted…devoted.

Leslie: When we turn the tape off, I’ll have to tell you what he said when I gave him Steve Perry’s name.

(All laugh)

Neal: He’s writing a book, by the way.** Kevin Shirley is writing a book, and he says that we’re in a big piece of it. And he’s going to talk all about it. He doesn’t have a gag order.

Leslie: He might by the time the lawyers get through with him. Irving Azoff.

(Neal and Jon both suck in a large breath at the same time.)

Leslie: WHOA! That was an audible intake of air!

Jon: Powerful. It would be powerful.

Leslie: (to Michelle) Did you hear that?

Michelle: Mhmm. (laughs)

Neal: Irving is very powerful. He’s also, if he’s not on your side, he’s a man you love to hate….

Leslie: Is he on your side?

Neal: …and we’re very…yeah, we’re lucky he’s on our side, definitely. Irving has done amazing things for us. Every once in a while I read some stuff on the Internet, and people are like…Irving as opposed to Herbie. I mean, Herbie is still awesome. He was always awesome, always will be. They’re two different people, but Herbie loves Irving. His first choice when he stepped down was Irving.

Leslie: When he stepped down, did he recommend Irving, or was that already in place?

Neal: Well…

Jon: We did interviews.

Neal: Yeah, we did some interviews…different interview with different managers, and Irving was the guy that we like.

Leslie: Cool. John Kalodner.

Neal: Eccentric, (laughs) but nice. Actually, he’s coming…he’s here. He flew out here to see us tonight, so who knows what he’s going to have to say. I’m kind of curious. I think he’s just coming to hang, you know?

Leslie: He is definitely more from the music matters than the money matters era.

Neal: Well, he is so fed up with the music industry. He’s really…he feels like he’s shackled. He’s not allowed to do what he wants to do, like we’re not allowed to do what we want to do, like no artist does…you know, I mean it’s frustrating. Unless you’re on your own. And we’re on our own now, and we found that this is the best place to be is on tour. You’re don’t have to worry about selling CD’s and how you’re going to market yourself. People can’t download you when you go play live, you know?

Jon: They’re learning, they’re learning, though. I heard something very frightening where they actually can record your in-your-monitor signal outside in the parking lot.

Leslie: Oh sure.

Jon: And make a mix out of it. I was like, you’re kidding me, you’re kidding me.

Neal: And then it sounds like crap, too.

Michelle: It has to be with your wireless, though.

Jon: Huh?

Michelle: It has to be with your wireless.

Jon: I know, they intercept your signal, then they make a CD out of it.

Neal: You hear the thing about Frank Sinatra, man? That they now are selling forty- to sixty-dollar tickets per person to go watch Frank Sinatra, and he’s a hologram. They reincarnated him with hologram. The full-on band is sitting there, the real band is playing in time, and he’s there in hologram form. And they’re talking about doing that with Jimi Hendrix, with everybody else that has died. And they’re selling forty to sixty dollars a ticket. It’s like going to a movie, basically, but you’ve got a live band. But you don’t have the real singer. You know, that is a sick, sick concept.

Jon: That’s spooky. But you know, that music was so good.

Neal: We’ll see if that flies.

Jon: That music was great. And you know, I’d pay to see that. I would, they were cool. I love his voice. It’s great.

Leslie: A couple more. Sony.

Neal: You know what, I’ve got nothing bad to say about Sony. Especially CBS before they were Sony. You know, I spent more than half of my life there from Santana on through Journey. I was signed at Sony since 1970 since Santana. They were a monster, and they still are a monster company. I think that some of the best people have come and gone that were there at one point. But we have a lot of friends there. So what that they didn’t perform for us on the last record. I think the way they looked at it is that the big mother ship is the old band, okay? Like the greatest hits record, Escape, you know, Frontiers. Those are our biggest records out there, and I think they did not want to…at the eleventh hour, they were ready to jump aboard on the new ship. But they did not want to mess up what was already happening for them…you know, confuse the issue to a mass audience. So I think that’s why they dropped the ball. But you know what? They’re a great company. If they get behind you and they want to promote you, they’re going to do it. But I still think that they have lost their way, and that they need guidance now. And that they’re too much for the flavor of the month and not longevity. I think you need…in the music world, you need to think longevity. When you see a talented band, you need to stand by them and be there for them because you believe in them. You know, like our fans do believe in us. You need a company that believes in you that’s going to stand there by you. And I think unfortunately, all companies are not there any more like that.

Jon: Two words. Stumbling Giant.

Leslie: Apropos.

Neal: That’s what I was thinking.

Jon: I could see this big…(puts arms out in the air and pretends to be a big, stumbling giant). Which way do we go? Okay, go ahead.

(All laugh)

Leslie: Back Talk.

Jon: Oh.

Neal: What’s that? (laughs)

Jon: One word for Back Talk.

Neal: (Imitating Perry singing) “Don’t give me no, no, no, no back talk!”

Jon: Three words for that…three words. Get a life.

Neal: Oooooooooooooh…you’re gonna get crucified. Now I already said that like a few years ago. You know, what kills me about…now I’m gonna tell ya. What kills me about the Internet is that, you know, when I first got in to the computer, which was like…I was a late comer, and then I was addicted on it. You know, and I was on our site all the time, and I’m reading. Everybody’s got an opinion, you know? And they’re gonna tell you what you should be doing and what you’re not doing, and everybody’s a critic. But, you know they can criticize, they can tell you what you’re supposed to be doing, they can call me whatever they want to call me for moving on without Mr. P. And then, when I go to defend myself and call it like I see it, I get crucified. Okay, and I’m not allowed to do that in the public domain because I’m somebody that is looked up to by all these fans, and how can you say that to your fans. Well, you know what? I didn’t say that to all fans. It was directed to one or two people on there. And this is what really pissed me off royally. It still does, and I refuse to go on there any more. I just…I can’t be bothered with it. It is too frustrating to me to read the obnoxious shit. Not on our site, but on other sites that have recently been taken down.

Leslie: Thank God.

Michelle: Yaaaaaaaaay!

Neal: VH1, since they’re sponsoring this tour, they finally got wind of what’s going on over there. And I’m telling you what, this is a music site. It’s not a site to go in and crucify people because they’re pissed off they didn’t do what you wanted them to do. Or make allegations that are completely untrue. It’s not right.

Jon: You know, the word that comes to mind, other than get a life, would be fanatic. And the word fanatic is based on “fan” and “addict” is what it sounds like. They’re addicted to being a fan. And you know, fanatics are like Neal said. They are very misguided in the sense that they think they have all the data and they think they know everything about everybody, and they don’t. You know? They couldn’t possibly.

Neal: It’s America. It’s freedom of speech, but so much for that. Look what happened to the Dixie Chicks, when they said something about they don’t agree with President Bush and what he did with going to war, you know? So much for freedom of speech. I think that maybe the timing was wrong. You know, we have troops over there, and that did not sit well with their families. I would surely not go there. I would like, veer away from that. But my true feelings…you also cannot speak your mind sometimes in political issues like that when you are looked up to and you have just tons of fans looking at you. You just cannot…and that’s just the way it is.

Jon: And that’s again, being so involved in what you want, and what you want to say instead of what, you know…when you’re thinking about the fans. And you wouldn’t want to hurt anybody out there. And I think before they said that, they have to realize why they were there. The fans were the number one reason why they were there, and what they said was hurtful to some of the fans and their families like Neal said. So, when you’re in the public eye like that, you know, there’s thing that…

Neal: But the pisser of it all is they’re going to crucify us, right? And they’re going to say anything they want to say about me. I’m like the person they love to hate, 'cause its all my fault that we’re still here, Jon. You know that, right?

Jon: Yeah, yeah.

Neal: And it was nobody else in the band that agreed with me to move on. It was just me. And so, you know…

Jon: Which is nothing further from the truth because, well, I’m just as deep as him, cause I was the messenger. I delivered the message to you know who. You know, I called him and said, “We’re moving on.” So if it was just him, why was I the one that called…made the phone call?

Neal: You know, when he said don’t crack the stone, the stone was already cracked.

(Michelle laughs uncontrollably, then Jon laughs)

Neal: Oh, she got it.

Jon: Wasn’t it fractured?

Michelle: Fractured.

Neal: Whatever.

Jon: Fractured?

Neal: Fractured. He fractured it a long time ago when he let go Smith and Ross, ya know? That was the demise of that band right then.

Jon: Yeah. Yeah, that was a bad move. I think that if you asked me again the question of anything that you regretted, that’s what I regretted the most is seeing that go down.

Neal: Yeah, if I thought of that when she asked me that, I would’ve said something.

Jon: That really, you know to this day, just stunk up the joint. I tell you what. And then, you know, not that he…(stops himself) we can’t go there, but…

Neal: And also with Herbie, you know. It was an ultimatum that he made to us. We need to get a new manager, or I’m not going to do it. And it was like…(sucks in breath)

Jon: Those two things are really not…they don’t sit well.

Neal: Yeah.

Jon: And thank God Ross is back.

Neal: Playing with his squirt gun. (laughs)

Jon: Smith still likes to…cash his checks. (laughs)

Leslie: Speaking of cashing checks…no, I won’t ask that. You can’t answer it anyway. But anyway, that’s all I have for you guys.

Jon: Awesome.

Leslie: I hate that I don’t have anything else.

Jon: No, that’s awesome. That was a good interview.

Leslie: Thank you, and Great to interview you guys!

Never have I been so disappointed to have all my questions answered. I wanted it to last longer! We had such a great time. Many thanks to Jon and Neal for spending an hour with us. Journey Digest would also like to thank tour manager, Aaron Dilks, for waking up Neal, and thanks to Amanda at ABC PR for helping us set up the interview. We do have one suggestion for Neal, who remains disillusioned with the whole Internet communication scene. If reading is too frustrating for you, just post! We would love to have some frequent updates from the road and more of the thoughts and experiences of the band. It might be one way to increase perspective and understanding on the part of the fans who see only the results and none of the process. It would also provide a way to bring fans back to your site consistently in addition to Back Talk. Finally, many congratulations to Neal, Jon, Ross, Deen, and Steve (as well as all the past members of Journey), on being selected to receive their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is a well-deserved culmination of thirty years of wonderful. May you continue to rock until your hologram days!

**Incidentally, I wanted to give Kevin Shirley a chance to comment on the book he is writing so we didn’t give anything away before he was ready for the world to know about his upcoming project. He sent along this comment...

“I have a real love for all the members of Journey, without exception, which is rare for me, with any band. They are such wonderful musicians that I have continued to maintain a relationship with them, even though the "cool factor" of being associated with them may have hampered me professionally; and will continue to, if they were to ever ask me. Most importantly, I hope my friendship with them lasts until I die, 'cos they are some of the realest motherfuckers in the whole world!”