Star Apps: Journey
It's been 40 years since Journey formed in San Francisco, and the band seems to keep getting bigger. "Don't Stop Believin'" was used in "The Sopranos" series finale and was covered in "Glee," and it's the biggest selling song from the 20th century in iTunes history. Journey's 2011 tour was one of its best attended. Next the diamond-certified rock band will mark its anniversary with a national tour with fellow Bay Area group the Steve Miller Band (whose No. 2 album, "The Joker," turns 40 this year) and Tower of Power.
Catch Journey on tour with Steve Miller Band and Tower of Power in a city near you.
(Credit: Travis Shinn)
What can you tell us about the spring/summer tour?
We went through a lot of material in the two and a half weeks we rehearsed, and rehearsed quite a lot of new stuff with Arnel from the two records we've done with him, as well as our greatest hits. We went back to a lot of the original arrangements, because they've sort of drifted through the years, and got back to record versions, so we could play more songs between the sets. Basically we're going to play more songs in the set and keep the jamming down a little bit more.
The whole music industry has sort of faded except for live performances. So that's why we're still here doing this. It's one thing that can't be hacked and one thing that you absolutely have to show up live to be able to do. So I still love it. I love performing.
How did this package tour come together?
We've been doing this for years, and we've worn out all the options of different people to play with. There's a few that I wished to tour with, but it hasn't happened, and Steve Miller definitely was one of them. Tower of Power and myself go way back to '69, '70. I used to jam with those guys all the time before I joined Santana and after I joined Santana in 1970.
It's like a full circle in a sense. Ross Valory, our bass player, played with Steve Miller Band before Journey. And I did a tour with Paul Rodgers years ago, opening up for Steve Miller when he was doing his "Muddy Waters Blues" tour. And so it'll be good to reunite with everyone and probably turn out to be very fun in the end, and probably [we'll] end up jammin' a bit with everyone.
Do you have any favorite Steve Miller Band tracks?
Well, you know, he's got a lot of hits. He's got a lot of great songs, and his band is always top notch. You know he's got like grade-A studio players, and "Fly Like an Eagle" -- that's an obvious great song.
Both Journey and Steve Miller Band were birthed in the Bay Area decades ago. What was the Bay Area scene like at that time?
I started playing like 50 years ago, and then 45 years ago I joined Santana. At that time I hadn't really traveled until I got into the Santana band. And so I knew the scene was happening. It was popping. I was hanging out in the city through the week and the weekends, and there were numerous places I could pop in and jam. San Francisco still remains one of those cities, and I think it's flourishing again.
"Don't Stop Believin'" seems to only get bigger with time. Has that helped attract a younger fan base?
When we cut it years ago and I listened to it before it was actually all the way mixed, I thought to myself, "I think that song is going to be a huge anthem." At the time it was a big song, but there were a lot of big songs on the record, and some were bigger than "Don't Stop Believin'." So to have it resurge and become this world anthem, it's really wild. And no matter where I am, no matter if somebody plays it, no matter where, everybody sings it. And we've attained very young audiences, too, with "Glee" hammering the tune and redoing it. I look out and I see about four different generations in our audiences now.
The "Separate Ways" music video is repeatedly voted one of the cheesiest videos of all time. What's your opinion of that video today?
Well, it's definitely cheesy to the highest degree but very funny, too. You have to look at the year that it was done. Videos were just starting to happen on MTV, and we probably made the video for about $4,000. And so sometimes you get what you pay for. I hated it. I went through a stage where I absolutely hated it, and now I look at it and I think it is just what it is: It's funny.
In 2006, you found Arnel Pineda when you discovered a YouTube video of him singing Journey with a Filipino cover band called the Zoo.
When I heard his voice on YouTube, it just kind of hit me. I hadn't looked at him, I hadn't looked at anything yet; I just heard his voice, and it popped out at me and kind of hit me, and I go, that guy has a voice. He has an amazing voice and a great set of lungs. The more I found out about him and then found out about what was going on in his life before, and the more I know about him, the more amazing it really, truly is. It's one of those stories that people almost think that you made it up because it's too good to be true for him and for us.
Often when a band has a change in vocalist, its members feel the need to put a new spin on the established brand and reinvent the group. Yet you've kept Journey true to its roots.
For us to try to reinvent the wheel in this band is really not the thing to do. We get in a room, and we hang out for a while like we just did in rehearsal, and we rehearsed for a good two-and-a-half weeks, and the juices just start flowing, and we start remembering what we do together so well. It's just an automatic thing. It's not something you have to try to do. And Arnel is a very diverse singer. He's able to sing anything.
And so I feel like the sky's the limit of where we can go with this guy. We can stay true to our roots and things that we had success with before. We can move in new directions, we can do whatever. I think at this point we have so many great songs that we've written, and we have our greatest hits that people demand to hear, that I feel that we convey very well every year that we're putting in new stuff and we're moving things around and continuing to grow as well as carry our catalog and let everybody that worked on that catalog benefit from it, even though they're not on tour as we are.
What does he bring to the band dynamically that maybe wasn't there before?
Arnel brings a lot to the table. I think he's like a heck of a performer. When we got on stage, it was like, "Wow, this guy is something else. How could he do that and sing like that?" He brings a lot.
Some people still say that Journey just isn't the same band without Steve Perry. How do you respond to that?
Of course it's not the same band, you know? Anytime you change one person, it's not the same. It doesn't mean it's not good, though. People that are into the past will forever stay in the past, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but it's not a healthy thing for me or for anyone else that is here right now. And so we're moving forward into the future, and I think we're doing quite well. If you don't like us for who we are right now, then just don't bother. Find your new love and take it as you will; I mean we're completely fine where we're at.
If Journey were to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, would you insist that Arnel come with you?
I think at this point, with the amount of time that we've all put into this -- and this is Arnel's sixth year, and he's, God bless him, he's got the whole catalog alive and a lot of other people to benefit on that are not on tour with us. So I think it's only right that the original band would have to be there. But I think that this band, that we've been working with for so long would have to be there, and all of us should be there. I think that's the right thing to do if we ever are in.
When you guys are on tour, what are some of the apps that you are using on your phone?
I have absolutely no apps, because my phone has been so hacked. I've been told that any free apps that you put on there, it makes it easier for people to get in. And so I'm just kind of like nuts and bolts here. You know, I'm using it as a phone and just for basic emails.
The only thing that I use for making music is Voice Memos. And I'll turn that on if I get an idea; I'll either hum it, or talk it out, or I'll play it into the phone just so I remember the basic idea. I basically use it as a cassette player as I used to use in the '70s.
I enjoy your Facebook page, because you do more than just post. You actually comment in the threads, answer questions, and set people straight.
Yes, I mean it's so funny, man, because you know what? The more I do, the more people don't believe it's me. So I don't know how you convince anybody unless they're looking over your shoulder while you're typing. But, I mean, I do it from a computer or telephone whenever I have like five minutes down or a little bit of time where I'm not doing something else, I will try to connect. I do manage it, myself.
Why has Journey remained so popular?
I think it's because we basically work our butts off, and we tour every year. We continually play the music and have new audiences come in all the time -- we're claiming younger fans. Also I think mainly, I think we just got it right. We wrote a lot of really great songs, the three of us; myself, Steve Perry, and Jonathan Cain. And it was like we just got some things right, and I think that's why it's etched in stone.
