KELLY KEAGY AND JONATHAN CAIN TALK TO ULTIMATE CLASSIC ROCK:

Ultimate Classic Rock (www.ultimateclassicrock.com) is now featuring recent interviews with Journey's Jonathan Cain and Night Ranger's Kelly Keagy. Previews of the interviews below:

Kelly Keagy -
What was it like having Nugent in studio with Night Ranger?
Oh man, it was such a blast with Ted. The surprise in Coming of Age was that we were talking with him about coming in and playing the original solo on Coming of Age. But then we said well, what if we broke into Stranglehold and you played some of the solo from Stranglehold?� He was like oh, are you kidding!� So we recorded it one day and right where the normal solo starts in Coming of Age is where Stranglehold comes in. We just sat there and said play as long as you want, we don't care how long the solo is, it's not about how long the song is, just take it and run with it.� He was so all over it, we had a great time with Ted.
You were almost a part of Damn Yankees for the aborted third album that they were working on. How did you get into that mix? It had to be exciting for you working with that particular line-up which also included Damon Johnson of Brother Cane.
That was really fun. We rehearsed for like 10 days, it was Ted, Damon, myself and Jack, it came about that Tommy had gone back to Styx and wasn't available. So there was this idea from John Kalodner to put another version of Damn Yankees together. So we came up here to see if we could do it, you know? The songs were written and we rehearsed it, but then when they got ready to actually record a record, it turns out that contractually, they had to have some of the original members back in the band, so I didn't get a chance to record with them.
Nothing was ever recorded?
They did a cover of Sunshine of Your Love and I got to do that and sing it as well. It never got released, so I'd sure like to hear what happened with that. There was a lot of strange things � the producer wasn't quite right for these types of projects and also timing, everybody was getting ready to go back on the road with their respective projects, so it didn't happen. But I was able to sit in the room and jam with these guys for 10 days, so I was happy as hell.
Complete interview is here: ultimateclassicrock.com/night-ranger-kelly-keagy-interview/

Jonathan Cain shares plenty of details and thoughts on the new Journey album 'Eclipse' and reveals his love for the music of Bruce Springsteen and Blind Faith. Regarding 'Eclipse,' Cain discussed the band's "rock" direction on the new album and also addressed the reported tension between the band and Kevin Shirley:
You've mentioned the rock thing a couple of times. Journey fans have been asking for rock albums from the band for a while, and you've really given them that now.
Yeah, we sort of teased them with (2008's) Revelation, and this is more of a concept album, if you will. We went a little deeper with a message on this one. I think the Tantra thing is something we tripped on. We were like wow, this is what the world needs to think about.
Anytime you can get the chance to take a look your soul and how you relate to Gods universe, that's heavy stuff. But it's done in such a way that this is what we discovered about life in general. I just really feel that an ancient belief like that works in today's world. In the age of streaming media, when everything's flying at the speed of sound, you gotta slow down and smell the roses, really. And that's kind of what we're saying here. The beauty in that blue sky is in your heart, so you can find it if you look for it. It's right in front of you.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the whole day-to-day grind that we forget the perfection that we live in, and we live around, and I just think that's a good message right now. For Journey to be bringing it, and with Arnel being a Buddhist, it all just lines up perfectly.
In a world where so many people have moved past the importance of album art, it really had to be fun for you guys to work on the art for this new album, which really is a classic Journey album cover.
Oh, it's great. Here in Europe, we actually have vinyl. There's a vinyl release out [of 'Eclipse'] and it's just gorgeous to see it again. And you're like you know what? We gotta do this in the States.� So were planning on trying to bring that vinyl somewhere and distribute it, maybe 5000 copies and just put em out there. Because we feel it goes back to that and that's where we came from, that's our heritage. So now we become the alternative. [Laughs]
Have you gotten sucked back into vinyl?
I have been playing vinyl, a lot of my old albums and for my kids, because I want them [to hear the right stuff]. My sons got all the Zeppelin stuff, and he's amazed at how different it sounds. I actually do have a turntable in my studio, I've always had my turntable. [Laughs] I still play those Steely Dan records and marvel at wow, what is it about the sound that's so cool? Its just something else to trip on.
The complete interview with Cain: ultimateclassicrock.com/journey-jonathan-cain-interview/