The legendary voice of Journey - Steve Perry has been atop my "want list" for interviews since I first started this site in late 1996. I've been fortunate to talk to all other members along the way, but still no Steve. The elusive Steve Perry interview remained a dream. Until this week. I hope you enjoy the read and if you take one thing from this interview - Steve talked and sounded like he was in a very good place. It was a great pleasure and a thrill to talk to him and have him open up about some tough subjects. Not only is he a rock icon and a personal favourite of an army of fans, but he's also one of my personal favourite singers of all time. And dare I say, one of (if not the) very best melodic rock vocalist ever.
I'm very thankful to Steve for extending out interview time and to Sony Music and Lora @ FanAsylum for setting this interview up for me...after years of nagging!
Some Interview Highlights:
Steve on first joining Journey: "When it started for me it was around 1978 when I joined the band. That's when I got my first break to get into the music business and I got signed to Columbia Records. And it was a dream come true back in those days to get a record deal. It was the sweetest thing you could ever have, is to be signed�next to the most horrific day of your life which would be to get dropped. So many of my friends did get dropped because they didn't sell records. I looked at it as if every time I had the opportunity to make a record � which the first was Infinity, with Journey � was this magical blessing that, I finally am in the record business and I get to make a record. But, I did not believe in my heart there would be a second one. I knew I had to love doing it, and if I could make any money I should save some money because I didn't trust there to be a second one."
And on the rest of the band adjusting to him: "They have to deal with this stepson that is something that they like but they wish they could have done it their way, and why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't they have wished that they could be successful without having a lead singer? Well then the label says �We want you to have a singer� and then they went, �Well, I don't know, I don't know.� So, all of the sudden, here comes me, and I think it was a real challenge for all of us to find out what that really meant. They had to let go of doing it their way. I was bringing in ideas; they were growing. But, I will tell you this�being the singer in that environment with them as we were growing together on the Infinity record brought a certain kind of vocal strength out of me that the band required it have. Otherwise, I do not know if I would have ever found that anywhere else. And I think that at some level I did the same thing for them."
Steve on that brutal tour schedule: "I was like a pitbull. I still have tons of energy. My girlfriend tells me all the time, �You're the most energetic person I've ever met.� But when I was younger, I was on fire. And, so I think that back in the day when the voice was fresh and young and I had that much energy, I kept up with that scheduled pretty good. Though it was difficult at times, I was able to keep up with it. You betcha. Everybody went through the same commitment because we were all together far away from everything together, out there. But we loved it! Don't you understand that?"
Steve on Columbia dealing with his solo record: "They were scared to death. They thought that I was going to spend a lot of money and they weren't sure what I was going to do. But you know, I ended up doing it relatively inexpensively and quickly because I had great musicians. There were no computers back then. Everything you're hearing on the Street Talk record is absolutely performed in the studio and captured on a piece of tape. I mean if you threw hamburgers in the studio, you would get hamburgers on tape you know? So, there was not a computer to be found, no auto tuner existed. Nothing of today's era existed during '84-'85. So, that is real musicians like Larry Londin on drums, Bobby Glaub on bass, Craig Kramph on drums, Michael Landau on guitar�"
And on disappearing from the public eye: "I went away. I did. I've been gone. I just went away and tried to figure out how to live life on life's terms and just come off the ride. Just put my feet on the ground. I think that has been the challenge and also to allow myself, Andrew, to start dreaming again, because the dreaming is where the music is. But the trick of the dreamer is keeping yourself from the blues..."
On Journey moving on without him: "At the time, I fuckin hated it! I hated them for doing it; I hated them for giving me an ultimatum. But now I can look back with clear eyes, you know. I can't blame them; they just wanted to get going. I was going to go to surgery, and I did. But not on their timetable. So I did that. I had my hip replacement and the rest is history. They've gone on and I'm where I'm at. Life had showed up and there was a fork in the road between us. So, we went separate ways dare I say, not making a joke. And that's okay. Now, I look back at it as the most painful time of my life. But you know what? They need to love their lives. They love performing out there all the time. The fans love the songs we wrote."
All that and more in the new Feature Interview: Steve Perry: A Legend Finds Peace
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