Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan Runtag, but
Speaker 1: enough about me. My guest today is the definition of
Speaker 1: a guitar hero, and he's been one since way back
Speaker 1: while he was still in his teens, he faced a
Speaker 1: choice should he join a band with Eric Clapton or
Speaker 1: fellow Bay Area resident Carlos Santana. He opted for Santana,
Speaker 1: setting him on the path to rock immortality. He and
Speaker 1: several other Santana vets with branch off the form a
Speaker 1: little band you may have heard of called Journey. He's
Speaker 1: responsible for so much of the multi platinum band's music
Speaker 1: over the years, including Wheel in the Sky, Open Arms, Faithfully,
Speaker 1: Anyway You Want It, and of course Don't Stop Believing,
Speaker 1: which recently became only the second tune to ever break
Speaker 1: one billion streams on Spotify. Now, Journey or Back with Freedom,
Speaker 1: their first album of new material and over a decade.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the new tracks, classic hits, and what's
Speaker 1: to come on his own musical Journey. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: to welcome Mr Neil Shawn. I am just absolutely loving
Speaker 1: this new record. Congratulations. I mean, for me, it's up
Speaker 1: there with escape in terms of just energy and song craft.
Speaker 1: It's so awesome, you know what. I'm really like proud
Speaker 1: of this record. You know how it all came about.
Speaker 1: There was like no pressure to make it. We had
Speaker 1: a lot of time on our hands while everybody was down,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, I just went about it in
Speaker 1: a really natural way, uh, not a forced way at all,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean I was working with Narta Michael
Speaker 1: Walden the whole time. Um As we live close to
Speaker 1: each other, so we were able to get together and
Speaker 1: actually play together. Well, everybody else had to overdub, you know.
Speaker 1: But um, I've made a lot of records in my
Speaker 1: life so far, and you know, made a lot of
Speaker 1: records just starting with drums and guitar, and so there's
Speaker 1: a lot of life there, you know, especially in today's
Speaker 1: age of computers and pro tools and you know, people
Speaker 1: working just on a computer. I mean, him and I
Speaker 1: came from an old school place of playing you know,
Speaker 1: lead guitar with drums and laying it down and a
Speaker 1: lot of soul like like let It Rain. You know,
Speaker 1: that was just a live jam. Like I walked in
Speaker 1: the studio one day and he goes, well, what do
Speaker 1: you want to do? And I go, well, I got
Speaker 1: this riff, you know, I'm messing around with and it
Speaker 1: was kind of funky. It reminded me of Chaka Khan
Speaker 1: and you know, Prince and Henrix and you know, so
Speaker 1: he's like, you know, so badass on the drums like that,
Speaker 1: and so I thought I gave like a little different
Speaker 1: struck going, and you know, we just started jamming and
Speaker 1: and we left it there. You know, I arranged it
Speaker 1: as it went down into my head, not knowing where
Speaker 1: the vocals would go, and just kind of jammed through it.
Speaker 1: And we left it alone for months, and then we
Speaker 1: came back to and listened to it, and I went,
Speaker 1: that's awesome, man, let's work on this. It sounds it
Speaker 1: was almost the one that got away. Yeah, well, you
Speaker 1: know what, there's a bonch. Actually, um, there's fifteen on
Speaker 1: this record, six um for the Japanese release, but we
Speaker 1: did about thirty five songs and a lot of them
Speaker 1: are are are very good. We did shows the ones
Speaker 1: we did because we levitated that way, and the vocals
Speaker 1: lended itself to go that way, you know, after Jonathan
Speaker 1: got through with it and writing lyrics and stuff and
Speaker 1: so he worked on the ones that kind of hit him, uh,
Speaker 1: you know the hardest when we sent him to him. Uh,
Speaker 1: and you know this is what we got. Oh, it's
Speaker 1: so awesome. I know, looking at the credits and here
Speaker 1: on the record, it sounds like you're playing a lot
Speaker 1: more keyboards on this album than normal. What's uh? What? What?
Speaker 1: What triggered that? Well, you know what, the pandemic actually
Speaker 1: triggered it. I'm gonna blame it on the pandemic. But
Speaker 1: you know, I'm with months and months going by and
Speaker 1: never imagined that, you know what we would be, you know,
Speaker 1: sitting at home for so long and not working, and
Speaker 1: so to do the album, for one was just a blessing.
Speaker 1: But besides that, I had to figure out a way
Speaker 1: to get inspired every day just you know, keep up
Speaker 1: my craft. And so I started, you know, playing keyboards
Speaker 1: more and looping, you know, looping into a stereo looper,
Speaker 1: playing bass with my left hand, you know, on the
Speaker 1: keyboards and then over dubbing strings, and you know, I
Speaker 1: just sort of got more into voicinges, like keyboard voicinges,
Speaker 1: and you know, wrote a lot from the keyboards. A
Speaker 1: lot of stuff was written on guitar as well, but
Speaker 1: you know it brings you to for myself being a
Speaker 1: guitar player. Really it I write in a different vein
Speaker 1: when I sit on keyboards, and in a different melodic vein.
Speaker 1: And uh, it's sort of because I don't play that well.
Speaker 1: You know. Uh, A lot of things are more simplified.
Speaker 1: You know. I orchestrate, well, it takes me forever in
Speaker 1: the studio, you know, where somebody like Jonathan or accomplished
Speaker 1: keyboard player could like do these overdubs in a second,
Speaker 1: where I was out there for hours, I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: Jim right with our engineer, I'm like, punch me. And again,
Speaker 1: that isn't what I wanted to play, because you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about him. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: really read music. I don't look at a black and
Speaker 1: white keys. I just go by ere and I'm like
Speaker 1: that sounds right, this doesn't you know? And you know
Speaker 1: Jonathan was really busy doing all the different things. Then
Speaker 1: I felt like we're not and I worked this stuff up,
Speaker 1: the stuff that we did together. I then started even
Speaker 1: playing bass on it. I played bass on it, I
Speaker 1: played keyboards, I sang on it. We sang begs. A
Speaker 1: lot of the bgs ended up on the album and
Speaker 1: just reinforced by Jason and John you know in RNL.
Speaker 1: But you know, I mean it was pretty much we
Speaker 1: were doing everything in there, you know, and trying to
Speaker 1: um before we sent it out to to Jonathan or
Speaker 1: Arnell or Randy who had like a basic you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted them to hear the vibe or what I
Speaker 1: was hearing in my head and what we were hearing
Speaker 1: because an Art and I were co producing it, and
Speaker 1: so you know, I didn't want to, you know, end
Speaker 1: up with my base on the record, but I ended
Speaker 1: up playing pretty good where Randy Jackson just took what
Speaker 1: I played like on Rain, I did all that Jack
Speaker 1: Bruce stuff and I'll love you know, and then Randy
Speaker 1: just took it to another level. You know, he's a
Speaker 1: way better bass player, but he could get the vibe.
Speaker 1: But what I was what I was going for, you know,
Speaker 1: by the demo of how I played on it. What
Speaker 1: was it like working with Randy again the first time
Speaker 1: since Race on radio right? And you know, I I
Speaker 1: love Brandy to dad. You know, He's just such a
Speaker 1: great person for one and positive person to be around,
Speaker 1: as well as Narda. You know, it was. It was
Speaker 1: really great to have that fresh energy, you know, coming
Speaker 1: from a fresh new rhythm section, and you know, we
Speaker 1: got this new stout about it. You know, it was like,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a new dance going on. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I love Brandy. I talked to him every day.
Speaker 1: Has been very involved in this record, helping me, uh
Speaker 1: get on management, you know with BMG. Like I have
Speaker 1: meetings every Monday with b MG and we get on
Speaker 1: and we talk about strategy, about singles, what we're gonna do,
Speaker 1: how many interviews are going to do. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: been like cramming it man, for real. Oh man, I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's funny. I mean now that after the
Speaker 1: last two years, everybody's kind of starting to get back
Speaker 1: out of the title freedom really has a special ring
Speaker 1: to it these days. What led you to that? Uh
Speaker 1: that title? You know, the title goes back along ways
Speaker 1: um our. You know former manager and original manager Herbie
Speaker 1: Herbert Um before we finished Raised on Radio and before
Speaker 1: it was called Raised on Radio, he always came up
Speaker 1: with these titles for our albums, you know, and they
Speaker 1: were one word titles. And I love that and this
Speaker 1: in particular, Records Steve produced and you know, took ahold
Speaker 1: of he didn't want to name it. You know, he
Speaker 1: fought with her be about it, and he ended up
Speaker 1: winning and he got you know, raised on radio. So
Speaker 1: it sat there for many years, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: we we went through a lot of help in the
Speaker 1: past couple of years with the lawsuit with the X
Speaker 1: band members all that. When we got through it all,
Speaker 1: I was like, why don't we did she use freedom
Speaker 1: for everything? We use freedom for you know, the new
Speaker 1: ll C s that that John and I you know
Speaker 1: made up. And then you know, album title came and
Speaker 1: we were throwing around album titles and I go, right,
Speaker 1: not freedom, just make everything freedom everybody. You know, that's
Speaker 1: what they want right now they've been locked down. It's
Speaker 1: what everybody wants in the world anyway, you know. It's like,
Speaker 1: so it just seemed like a natural choice of an
Speaker 1: album title and for everything. Really, I love the video
Speaker 1: that you guys have for the way we used to
Speaker 1: be the animated video for the couple in the in lockdown.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a very very sweet way to
Speaker 1: show kind of what we're all going through. Oh, you
Speaker 1: gotta get back to the way we used to be.
Speaker 1: Yes yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Um, that's funny. You call
Speaker 1: it the way we used to be. That's what it
Speaker 1: ended up being. I always called it you I Gotta
Speaker 1: get Back, and so it was implanted in my head
Speaker 1: that the title was I Gotta Get Back. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that that was from Randy. That was Randy's idea actually,
Speaker 1: uh um and some you know artists that he knew
Speaker 1: that did that type of work, video work, and so
Speaker 1: we went with his idea, and you know, that's it's
Speaker 1: it's something different than we've never done before. Um, certainly
Speaker 1: better than trying to do a storyboard for us, as
Speaker 1: you can see from our past, you know, separate ways
Speaker 1: and yeah, especially during lockdown too. It's gotta be tough.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but you know, live videos, it's either you know,
Speaker 1: the cartoon thing was al read a lot of people
Speaker 1: like this. Some people didn't like it. They're like, I
Speaker 1: don't get it for Journey, But I thought it was
Speaker 1: interesting and a good idea for you know, being a
Speaker 1: time that we couldn't all be together and actually do
Speaker 1: a live video. I mean you were talking earlier about
Speaker 1: how let It Rain kind of came about from a
Speaker 1: group jam that coalesced together in the studio, and then
Speaker 1: you have stuff like, you know, the way we used
Speaker 1: to be, something that sounds like it was much more done,
Speaker 1: you know, individually at home on a keyboard or something.
Speaker 1: Do you have a up away that you prefer to
Speaker 1: to write you prefer to do it in the room
Speaker 1: with the other guys. Who'd you prefer to to sit
Speaker 1: down and sort of composed or does it depend on
Speaker 1: what you're trying to say? You know, what I like
Speaker 1: to do, what I found that I like to do
Speaker 1: is and what we've done in the past, you know,
Speaker 1: with some of our bigger records is you know when
Speaker 1: it was Steven and John and I way back, we
Speaker 1: would sit around a piano I said, with acoustic guitar
Speaker 1: and the three of us would bang it out. Then
Speaker 1: we'd get together and we'd rehearse as a band before
Speaker 1: we went into his studio to record and play it
Speaker 1: as if we were gonna walk on stage. So if
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play fills in between, the vocals are gonna
Speaker 1: do it live right and not go oh, I'll just
Speaker 1: do it later. You don't want to get to an
Speaker 1: overdubbed stage because I hate overdubbing like that. I think
Speaker 1: it's always better when you're playing as a band to
Speaker 1: play live. You know, so many people just don't do
Speaker 1: that anymore, and it doesn't have that at that flow
Speaker 1: or that flare um, and it doesn't sound authentic, you know,
Speaker 1: like it happened in the moment, and so um, I
Speaker 1: like the way we went about this record, just because
Speaker 1: of the way the record came about and we didn't
Speaker 1: have a ton of material walking in, but I got
Speaker 1: to get back to the way we used to be.
Speaker 1: That came from my keyboard plane. You know. I played
Speaker 1: the keyboard part and I in the whole song, and
Speaker 1: that was it. And I sent it to Jonathan and
Speaker 1: he finished, you know, the lyrics and sang the rough
Speaker 1: vocal and that was it was like, and everybody over
Speaker 1: dubbed on it and it was done. That's such a
Speaker 1: great track, I think. I remember you saying that that
Speaker 1: songs like lights and Patiently came together really quickly. Do
Speaker 1: you find that that the best songs kind of come fast,
Speaker 1: almost fully formed. Yeah, definitely, most definitely. I think that. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's you know, two ways agoing about it,
Speaker 1: you know, and in trusting songs have become big Um,
Speaker 1: coming about from working on it for a while, like
Speaker 1: don't stop believing, you know, lights came, you know. Steve
Speaker 1: had most of the song put together, a recall being
Speaker 1: down in in Greg Rawley's uh you know downstairs area
Speaker 1: where we sit around on bean bags with piano and guitar.
Speaker 1: Ampson kind of kicks stuff around, you know, in his
Speaker 1: house in Mill Valley and Parrots Steve Parrot. Perry played
Speaker 1: drums as well as bass and a little bit of guitar,
Speaker 1: but he had a bass on and he was like
Speaker 1: playing more of an R and B group, you know,
Speaker 1: not the stroll that I put it to after I
Speaker 1: wrapped the chords around it, like the Hendrix as you know,
Speaker 1: Sean cords. I'm gonna own it too right now, you know.
Speaker 1: But um, you know he was singing it, and you
Speaker 1: know what better instrumenting you have when you're singing a
Speaker 1: melody as the route it's a base, you know, because
Speaker 1: he changed one note in the base and it changes
Speaker 1: the whole melody of what you're singing. It really doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what everything else is doing. That's all like you know,
Speaker 1: I've seen on the cake and so the root note
Speaker 1: and then the main melody is it? And so I stopped,
Speaker 1: you know, I listened to what he did, and I said,
Speaker 1: what if we started like this? And I did this
Speaker 1: little rolling you know, rhythm part that the song starts like,
Speaker 1: and then I put it into the old stroll kind
Speaker 1: of field, you know, rather than a straightforward R and
Speaker 1: B funk field and UM. Then I wrote the bridge um,
Speaker 1: and he sang on it and I played a guitar
Speaker 1: solo over it. It was that was it, you know,
Speaker 1: a song like Don't Stop Believing. We were in my
Speaker 1: uh studio over in Oakland that I took over from
Speaker 1: Larry Graham years ago after I played with him, and
Speaker 1: that was sort of our That was our clubhouse for
Speaker 1: writing all that stuff and rehearsing for as you know,
Speaker 1: all our material and getting ready to go on tour. Uh.
Speaker 1: We Jonathan brought in you know, uh opening chords for
Speaker 1: the verse UH for Don't Stop Believing, and he had
Speaker 1: you know, the hook uh and the lyrical content that
Speaker 1: his dad had told him, you know, like don't stop
Speaker 1: believing in son, You'll get there. You know. He was
Speaker 1: starting to lose hope in the music industry and having
Speaker 1: a tough time, you know, surviving in it, which can
Speaker 1: be difficult man, especially in today's day and age. I
Speaker 1: mean it was difficult back then as well. But you know,
Speaker 1: we brought that in he's saying, you know, the melod
Speaker 1: he had, And then we sat there and we just,
Speaker 1: like I thought about it for a second. It was
Speaker 1: mainly the three of us before Smith and Ross came
Speaker 1: in on it, but uh, it sat there, and then
Speaker 1: I started thinking, you know, we need like a motown
Speaker 1: type baseline to follow, and so then between John and
Speaker 1: I we came up that don't doo doo doo doo
Speaker 1: doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and so then you know, I came up with
Speaker 1: the B section. We looked for a B section to go,
Speaker 1: but where's it got to go from here? And I
Speaker 1: went strange and wait in U you know, and it
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, they go all right down, and so
Speaker 1: we did die. Then we went back to a verse. Right,
Speaker 1: We're thinking, well, do we need to go to a
Speaker 1: chorus because by now where everybody's looking at their watch,
Speaker 1: which is really tedious, like how many minutes has it
Speaker 1: been since we haven't gotten to the chorus? You know,
Speaker 1: and I said, who gives a fun? Yeah? So you know,
Speaker 1: I started playing the little train guitar thing, which sounds
Speaker 1: like you know, I used to listen to symphonies and
Speaker 1: I played clarinet nobo in high school. And dad's a
Speaker 1: big band arranger. Yeah, yeah, And I just heard the
Speaker 1: thing didn't and didn't and didn't like a symphony type part.
Speaker 1: And I started playing all right, and they go, well,
Speaker 1: I really like that. So instead of going to a
Speaker 1: verse right away in the second verse, that little mini
Speaker 1: guitar solo, whatever you wanna call it, that happened, and
Speaker 1: that actually brought the lyrics that came next. But you know,
Speaker 1: she took the midnight train going anywhere because they thought
Speaker 1: it sounded like a train. So those are the good
Speaker 1: things that happened when you work together, when you have
Speaker 1: chemistry with guys, you know, and you bounce off each other,
Speaker 1: the lyrical content everything kind of flows, you know, while
Speaker 1: you're in the room together, and then you know it,
Speaker 1: we went back to another B section, strangers waiting, and
Speaker 1: then it came time for a little mini guitar so
Speaker 1: and so I go, what am I going to play? Man?
Speaker 1: It's so short? Uh? And I'm thinking, oh, we haven't
Speaker 1: even hit the chorus yet. As the first song we've
Speaker 1: ever done, I think that didn't hit the chorus until
Speaker 1: the end of the song, right, And so I go,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play. I think I'm gonna play the course.
Speaker 1: And I remember Perry looking at me and going, you're
Speaker 1: really gonna do that? You can play that? I would
Speaker 1: even sung me yet, you know. He was kind of
Speaker 1: pissed about it, and I went, well, yeah, why wouldn't
Speaker 1: I it's a setup, man, Why should I not implanted
Speaker 1: in everybody's head before you sing it? And he was
Speaker 1: like okay, And so you know, we did it and
Speaker 1: the rest was history, you know. And I recall when
Speaker 1: we finished it in the studio and we're listening down
Speaker 1: to very close to final mixes, and I looked at
Speaker 1: the guys and I go, I don't know, there's something
Speaker 1: about this song. I think it's gonna be massively huge,
Speaker 1: you know. And when they released it, I believe it
Speaker 1: only it went to like number eight. It was always
Speaker 1: a very big song, you know, live for us, but
Speaker 1: many of our songs were like lights Now is like
Speaker 1: and at big anthem, like don't stop believing? If not
Speaker 1: bigger live. You know, the whole place lights up. They
Speaker 1: all sing it louder than I can hear the band,
Speaker 1: and so, you know, just things kind of take on
Speaker 1: their own organic state of you know, how people are
Speaker 1: going to perceive them and accept them. What is your
Speaker 1: process of of constructing a solo. Is it something that's
Speaker 1: more sort of that you prefer to do in the
Speaker 1: moment when, as you said, like with with the band,
Speaker 1: or is it something that you really sit down and
Speaker 1: um construct to playoff potentially the lyrics. I know that
Speaker 1: that your solo inspired the lyrics, but don't stop believing.
Speaker 1: But is it something that um, yeah, I just I'm
Speaker 1: curious about how much of it is pre planned versus
Speaker 1: how much of it is just does a different take
Speaker 1: to take and in the moment, you know what. I'm
Speaker 1: always I have to honestly say, there's very few solos
Speaker 1: that I ever planned out, uh and and worked on.
Speaker 1: They just kind of flew out in the moment. And
Speaker 1: I found that the more I thought about it, the worst, say, God,
Speaker 1: you know I had to work on something. You know,
Speaker 1: we'd always go back to the first take, um, whatever
Speaker 1: producer we were using, whether it was Roy Thomas, Baker
Speaker 1: or whomever, you know. I mean, it was always like
Speaker 1: the first take and second take at the most, and
Speaker 1: the third suck and the fourth socked worse. And so
Speaker 1: you know, I just like I would come in and
Speaker 1: just kind of be able ready to accept as long
Speaker 1: as it had the soul and the feeling of the song.
Speaker 1: Main thing for me, especially in Journey, is to convey
Speaker 1: the melody, the vocal melody after you know, they get
Speaker 1: done singing, you know, because Journey songs are all about melody.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not about a lot of abstract stuff.
Speaker 1: Even though I love that stuff too, it's not the band,
Speaker 1: you know. So I tried to to play what is
Speaker 1: needed in the song, not what I want to play,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean we had fights about it, you know,
Speaker 1: years ago for the song like Who's Crying now? You know,
Speaker 1: it's another when John first came into the band, he
Speaker 1: brought that song in along with Open Arms, and I
Speaker 1: was like, what the funk am I supposed to do
Speaker 1: with this? You know, don't I don't get it, man,
Speaker 1: you know, And and they've become like the biggest hits,
Speaker 1: you know. But but I struggled in the studio playing
Speaker 1: the solo on Who's Crying Now, because I was trying
Speaker 1: to do more with it, you know, I was trying
Speaker 1: to make it more musical because I just thought that
Speaker 1: the song was so simple and it was like a
Speaker 1: pop song, a pretty pop song. But I was trying
Speaker 1: to put a little bit like, you know, just musical
Speaker 1: expression in it, and trying to play more like a
Speaker 1: horn player rather than a simple guitar part. And I
Speaker 1: remember everybody was in the studio when I was out there,
Speaker 1: and it just was not coming out, you know, and
Speaker 1: if it doesn't come out of me in the first
Speaker 1: couple of days, everybody gets really frustrated. And so they did,
Speaker 1: and they were like, just play the simplest fucking thing
Speaker 1: you can think of, you know, and I was out
Speaker 1: of I was kind of like being a smartass, I believe,
Speaker 1: and you know, kind of lumb from the neck up
Speaker 1: back in those days. And you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: many drinks or whatever we had, you know, and I went, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll fix them. You know, I'm gonna just play this
Speaker 1: stupid little melody doing it, and and I thought it
Speaker 1: was gonna be like, you know, like they'd go, come on, man,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? You know, because they kind of
Speaker 1: got under my skin. There you go, that was perfect.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm like, oh no, what did I do? And
Speaker 1: then it turns out to be like, you know, one
Speaker 1: of the classic solos that everybody sings every night I have.
Speaker 1: I don't have a clue sometimes about you know, what
Speaker 1: people are really gonna like and what they're not gonna
Speaker 1: like from me. I like it all. But you know
Speaker 1: what people what catches on is the simplicity definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, knowing Less Paul and becoming pretty good friends
Speaker 1: with him for for years. He always when we were talking,
Speaker 1: we talked about melody and you know, the first time
Speaker 1: I went to play with him at the Ridium and
Speaker 1: New York City, I was in the studio with the
Speaker 1: guys and we were recording our first album with Steve A.
Speaker 1: Jerry singing Rival and and uh, we're recording the whole
Speaker 1: album in New York. So we went, you know, our
Speaker 1: producer at the time, Kevin Shirley, said let's go down
Speaker 1: and see Less Paul, and I said great, So we
Speaker 1: went saw him. I'm sitting in the audience and I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna name any names, but two very good guitarists
Speaker 1: got up, you know, and I didn't know he was
Speaker 1: gonna call me up later. But they were playing like
Speaker 1: every note in the fret board, you know, and not
Speaker 1: playing too much melody. Unless was the funniest guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was like, you know, it was like the Jackie
Speaker 1: Glease and Les Paul hour with him and Loop follow
Speaker 1: He was quick, man, really really quick and really really
Speaker 1: you know, like Zappi you know people and uh funny,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean he's been known to unplugged people
Speaker 1: on stage if they played too many notes. You know.
Speaker 1: He just like they'd be like looking up at the
Speaker 1: ceiling and playing and they just like take the cord out.
Speaker 1: And so he goes, you know, all these guys, these
Speaker 1: two guys are playing all these notes, and he looks
Speaker 1: over in him after they get then he goes, all right,
Speaker 1: you're done, and he and he goes, uh, that would
Speaker 1: never end. Then he go, oh yeah, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: humming out one all night long. And I was like, ouch, man,
Speaker 1: it's like any glue in here, you know. And so
Speaker 1: then he called me up out of the blue, you know,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh man, I don't want to
Speaker 1: be put on the spotlight. So I tried to be
Speaker 1: really respectful, you know, and just you know, I just
Speaker 1: goofed around a bit and you know, plays some bluesy
Speaker 1: jazzy licks, and I guess he really liked that. He
Speaker 1: you know, I played one of his guitars that were
Speaker 1: on stage, and he gave it to me afterwards and
Speaker 1: signed it. It was the coolest guy when we became
Speaker 1: friends after that. But he always talked about melody, you know,
Speaker 1: how important melody is, and you know he could do
Speaker 1: it all. Yeah, oh yeah, what an innovator. I just
Speaker 1: was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Speaker 1: I saw some It was like a cylinder brick with
Speaker 1: like a broom handle and some jerry rigged microphone that
Speaker 1: went into you know, it was early double tracking machines.
Speaker 1: It was insane. He told me the story himself, and
Speaker 1: he stole a railroad track, which double from a railroad track.
Speaker 1: That's where he got the wood, right. He stuck it
Speaker 1: in the back of his pickup and he took it
Speaker 1: home and he carved it out and he put the
Speaker 1: strings on it, and then he was trying to think
Speaker 1: in his mind, how am I going to make this guitar?
Speaker 1: Electric and the only thing that his imagination he came
Speaker 1: up with was taking you know, off an old phonograph
Speaker 1: before there was actually speakers in it. It was like
Speaker 1: the little needle that you dropped and has a built
Speaker 1: in speaker, a sound hole on the actual needle, like
Speaker 1: patrol in the wood. Oh my god, so would resonate,
Speaker 1: you know, And then you know they kind of came
Speaker 1: up with the dough Bros And everything after that up
Speaker 1: are resonating top of the guitar. But yeah, that's where
Speaker 1: it all came from. What an incredible genius. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we wouldn't have all these Beatles records, nothing
Speaker 1: without him coming up with all these you know, insane,
Speaker 1: I mean, total madness. How he even came up with it.
Speaker 1: I mean, just a total genius. Oh yeah, those records especially,
Speaker 1: I always love the ones you did with Mary Ford
Speaker 1: back in the late forties early fifties. Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, for anyone listening to hasn't uh explored those yet,
Speaker 1: I envy you because they will blow your mind. There's
Speaker 1: so so fresh, so intricate, there's so cool. I think
Speaker 1: he's the greatest. Uh definitely. Last time we spoke, actually
Speaker 1: we were talking about you were, um, you were letting
Speaker 1: go of some guitars, some incredible guitars. UH broadcaster A
Speaker 1: no castor uh A fifty nine gold top less Paul,
Speaker 1: if I recall, I I just I love the mythology
Speaker 1: around guitars. I love guitars that have back stories that
Speaker 1: have been passed from player to player. Maybe it's my
Speaker 1: King Arthur ex caliber fantasies in there. I just love
Speaker 1: that that these guitars take on a life of their own.
Speaker 1: You've got the stories of Jeff Beck giving Jimmy Page
Speaker 1: his Stairway to Heaven telecast, or or um clapped in
Speaker 1: or clapped in giving the lucy les Paul to uh
Speaker 1: George Harrison. I was just wondering, do you have any
Speaker 1: guitars that kind of come from a long historical lineage.
Speaker 1: You know, I've got I've got a few vantage guitars.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't have a lot anymore, man, because
Speaker 1: they were not my go to guitars. To tell you
Speaker 1: the truth, I collected uh during the pandemic, you know,
Speaker 1: because I've never done it before. Joe Bonamassa was given
Speaker 1: me a lot of help, you know, because he was
Speaker 1: a pro added obviously, and I didn't really know what
Speaker 1: I was doing. And I was like, hey, what do
Speaker 1: you think it is? Is this? You know, they ask
Speaker 1: him too much for what? What do you think I
Speaker 1: should offer for it? And I collected, you know, well
Speaker 1: over I don't know about a hundred fifty guitars and
Speaker 1: they were all vantage they were stacked up in our house,
Speaker 1: you know, crawling over guitars to get through with anywhere.
Speaker 1: And I just kind of take it on. I took
Speaker 1: it on as a hobby and learned how to work
Speaker 1: on them. And you know, I never had owned them,
Speaker 1: and so I wanted to own them, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to work and find out if I really loved them not.
Speaker 1: And so the telecasters and a broadcast that you were
Speaker 1: talking about, the black parts were completely insanely meant mint condition,
Speaker 1: like brand new, you know, uh. And I paid a
Speaker 1: small fortune for him, really um. But the problem with
Speaker 1: them was that they were only worth that much money
Speaker 1: if you don't mess with him. And I wanted to
Speaker 1: mess with him. All my stuff did I play. I
Speaker 1: messed with you know. I I switched pick ups at,
Speaker 1: I switched pots out, I put different frets, I you know,
Speaker 1: I make it comfortable for myself. And the frets that
Speaker 1: the guitars had come with were so tiny I couldn't
Speaker 1: get you know, I just couldn't get under them, you know. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then I could never set them up to feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: And then the screws in the back by the bridge
Speaker 1: were sticking out and they were very uncomfortable, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to put smaller ones, but then I go, if
Speaker 1: I change it, it's gonna take the value away from
Speaker 1: the guitar. So I had, you know, so many great
Speaker 1: uh relic tellys and strats that I got from Fender,
Speaker 1: and they're just like off the hook right now with
Speaker 1: the product that they make, uh, you know, relicting old
Speaker 1: guitars and not only the lookal but they sound old
Speaker 1: and they play old, but with a new modern edge
Speaker 1: to it. You know, they'll have a little bit bigger frets,
Speaker 1: a little more comfortable. The neck is actually worn up
Speaker 1: on the older Telly's. I'm talking about the black guards.
Speaker 1: I mean, all the lacquer was still on and I
Speaker 1: don't really like the lacquer, and I wanted to stand
Speaker 1: it down, and I was like, no, I can't do that.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, it was a classic case of
Speaker 1: after having them and working on him and finding if
Speaker 1: I really was attached to him, that I wasn't attached
Speaker 1: to him, you know, unless I just wanted to have
Speaker 1: a museum someday. And then I went, I don't see
Speaker 1: that happening, because it's kind of a look at it,
Speaker 1: kind of like it would be like a restaurant, you know,
Speaker 1: something you have to run yourself all the time, and
Speaker 1: you can't really, you know, trust any one person to
Speaker 1: do it beside yourself, and so I just I'm never
Speaker 1: gonna have the time to do that. So I just
Speaker 1: thought I'll put it in the hands of somebody that
Speaker 1: can really appreciate it. And I got rid of a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that I still have, like about you know,
Speaker 1: seven seventy seven fifties something like that. Guitars. What's your
Speaker 1: go to? Now? What did you play? What was your
Speaker 1: rig for? For freedom? Uh? You know what? On freedom?
Speaker 1: I I brought had I brought about thirty five guitars
Speaker 1: into the studio. You know, I'd bring like about two
Speaker 1: a day for you know months. They pile up. He's
Speaker 1: in it were piled up, you know. Nardi was like, dude,
Speaker 1: I think you need to like make a little room here.
Speaker 1: But you know, I had a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1: You know. I had um a gold top of one
Speaker 1: of my last calls, and then s model that they
Speaker 1: only made, you know for a year, and he made
Speaker 1: two hundred of them, and uh, I used that on
Speaker 1: some tracks they wanted a little bit thicker sound. Um.
Speaker 1: Then I had a relic offender black Telly sixty three
Speaker 1: telly that I played a lot. And people don't affiliate
Speaker 1: me with a Telly because they never seen me, but
Speaker 1: they tell you, but that was, uh, you got the
Speaker 1: best of me. That is my telly. You know, that's
Speaker 1: a telly. It's a thick sound, he telly, but it's
Speaker 1: got attitude. You know. Telecasters just have that gnarly thing
Speaker 1: that they do. And you know, if you play him
Speaker 1: through a fuzz face or something like that, like you know,
Speaker 1: I found out that even purple haze that Andricks did
Speaker 1: was on a telly and it wasn't a strap and
Speaker 1: so that's what Telly sounds like through a fuzz phase,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh got a big, thick sound. And
Speaker 1: what's cool about him is you you you wind the
Speaker 1: volume back and it gets brighter and more staccato in
Speaker 1: your face, so when you're playing solos, when I really
Speaker 1: wanted the notes to stick out and be more staccato,
Speaker 1: I just rolled the vying back and what I wanted
Speaker 1: it to get thick because some of the more singing
Speaker 1: notes you pull the volume Up's kind of like what
Speaker 1: Jimmy Page said on the first Led Zeppelin album. You know,
Speaker 1: big thick Telly sounds on that album all throughout the album,
Speaker 1: and it's through, you know, over dry pedals. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you use a fuzz face or UH tone
Speaker 1: bender or whatever he used by uh that that those
Speaker 1: guitars as something else, And so I used a sixty
Speaker 1: three I had. UH. I used a Relic sixty three
Speaker 1: strat from Fender UH with some bigger friends on it
Speaker 1: that has some you know, custom pickups in it. There
Speaker 1: were no hume. They weren't like the new no homes
Speaker 1: that they they're putting in and I don't even know
Speaker 1: what they are. They could be the Marzos, whatever the
Speaker 1: pickups are. The guitar sounded great, though, so I just
Speaker 1: used it. UM. I used a tailor or acoustic guitar,
Speaker 1: a little bit acoustic that I did play on the record.
Speaker 1: And you know pretty much I that was it, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I ended up honing into those about those
Speaker 1: three guitars, you know, throughout the whole record, and I
Speaker 1: don't recall you using much more than that. Speaking of Hendricks,
Speaker 1: I loved your performance at the NBA Final. So I'm
Speaker 1: a Boston boy myself, so we might have some some
Speaker 1: differences there, but that was incredible performance. You know, I
Speaker 1: was obviously I was at the first game. That was
Speaker 1: an honor for me. You know. It's, uh, it's so
Speaker 1: great that you know, now that I've been managing myself,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't have anybody diverting the calls, is
Speaker 1: what I found. Like, you know, when I first played,
Speaker 1: when I got asked by the Raiders to do it
Speaker 1: in Vegas, you know, uh, they called me and it
Speaker 1: finally got a hold of me and I said, dude,
Speaker 1: you are like the hardest guy to get ahold of.
Speaker 1: And I said, what are you talking about? And I said,
Speaker 1: we've been trying to get a hold of you for
Speaker 1: like twenty years. And I said who are you talking to?
Speaker 1: And they said management And I said, one day tell
Speaker 1: you and they said, I said, you weren't interested and
Speaker 1: I was like nice. And so now you know, people
Speaker 1: are calling me directly and I'm getting asked to do
Speaker 1: it all the time, and um, it said quite was
Speaker 1: quite an honor. Uh, it was a little freak key
Speaker 1: for me. You know. It wasn't like being on a
Speaker 1: big giant football field, you know, in the stadium in Vegas.
Speaker 1: That was really comfortable. The first time I've been in
Speaker 1: you know, we played it Chase Center in San Francisco
Speaker 1: on his last tour, but I was on the stage,
Speaker 1: you know. This time, I'm down in the middle of
Speaker 1: the court and while I'm getting ready to do it,
Speaker 1: I'm barely hearing the announcer because the sound system they have,
Speaker 1: the p A address system, whatever they have in there
Speaker 1: is not like what they have in Vegas, you know.
Speaker 1: And so and and I got all players from both
Speaker 1: teams right on each side of me, and they're all
Speaker 1: falling down in front of me. The balls are flying
Speaker 1: by it. I'm like, I'm gonna get taken out of here.
Speaker 1: In the second man, it was interesting these guys Luke
Speaker 1: nine ft tall. When you're standing down there with him,
Speaker 1: then for a real I was just like, wow, this
Speaker 1: is insane, and so um, I wasn't quite hearing enough
Speaker 1: of myself in the house. I think they were a
Speaker 1: little gunshot, you know, with with the the guitar in
Speaker 1: the mix, because I believe it's the first time they've
Speaker 1: ever allowed, you know, a guitar player to do that.
Speaker 1: UM on the first playoff on you know, televised across
Speaker 1: the world, and so UM, I was mostly hearing myself
Speaker 1: on the ground with the two martial cabinets I had,
Speaker 1: and it's a wooden floor. Everything was bouncing around, and so,
Speaker 1: you know, I do I think I could have done better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, there's gonna be another time, you know.
Speaker 1: And uh, it was a great experience. I'm just you know,
Speaker 1: thrill that they they even asked me, you're going back
Speaker 1: out on the road. You're playing some dates in Vegas
Speaker 1: with an orchestra. I mean, that's gotta be That's I
Speaker 1: cannot wait to hear clips from that. That seems amazing.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be such a great way to to augment
Speaker 1: these songs. It seemed really as you mentioned earlier, I mean,
Speaker 1: with your solo for Don't Stop Believing. I can totally
Speaker 1: hear how the orchestra could fit into a lot of
Speaker 1: these tracks. You know, we've done it a couple of
Speaker 1: times now. Um. We did it at the Hollywood Bowl
Speaker 1: years ago. We did it with a full like one
Speaker 1: over one hundred piece orchestra, and we did a long show,
Speaker 1: close to three hours, and uh, we rearranged all the
Speaker 1: songs to accommodate orchestra and to make it a bit
Speaker 1: different than a record, and we did, like you know,
Speaker 1: it was interesting is the hits that you wouldn't naturally
Speaker 1: hear an orchestra, and whether it's you know, like the
Speaker 1: ballot is like faithfully or or open arms, so whatever
Speaker 1: sounded you know, more like not that different from what
Speaker 1: we did live. But the rock songs that we did
Speaker 1: took on a whole different feeling, you know, um, like City,
Speaker 1: I hope we did. We're gonna be playing that off.
Speaker 1: The first album we did with our now right uh
Speaker 1: for on it was the second album. I can't remember,
Speaker 1: um whether it was Eclipse or right. Um, the first
Speaker 1: album with him Revelation, Um, and you know there was
Speaker 1: French horns. It was all this stuff going on that
Speaker 1: really you know, embellished the tunes and so it's gonna
Speaker 1: be interesting to play all that stuff again, uh, and
Speaker 1: the arrangements they're gonna have to learn in my care
Speaker 1: Remember where we did it was such a long time ago,
Speaker 1: but we'll pick it up past. Oh man, I know
Speaker 1: you've got another big milestone on the horizon. I hope
Speaker 1: you don't mind me mentioning it, uh fifty years with
Speaker 1: journey coming up. I understand you've got some some big
Speaker 1: plan possibly in the works. I was wonder if there's
Speaker 1: uh anything you can share about that. Um, there's some
Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to talk about. Have already been like
Speaker 1: they smacked my hands, like to talk about that, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm but no, there are big plans and
Speaker 1: uh the immediate plans just for the fans out there
Speaker 1: that you know, I feel really bad about. You know,
Speaker 1: the last four gigs that we had we had to postpone,
Speaker 1: uh due to COVID and one of us getting sick.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't me, but I'm not gonna say anything
Speaker 1: more than that. But um, everybody assumed it was me
Speaker 1: because Classic Rock, you know, the mag they came out
Speaker 1: with a little blurp about it and they used a
Speaker 1: picture of me, so it must have a kneel And
Speaker 1: right now it wasn't me, but um, we're gonna make
Speaker 1: up those dates. What the talk is right now, those
Speaker 1: will be the first dates that we play of the
Speaker 1: new year, Gonna go out early again, like we did
Speaker 1: you know this this year, and we're doing the first
Speaker 1: forty shows at plus the makeups with Toto again, which
Speaker 1: you know was a call of mine. I you know,
Speaker 1: I've known Luke at there Steve Lucat there forever and
Speaker 1: you know, amazing guitar player, amazing friend of mine. Uh,
Speaker 1: We've known each other and respected each other for years,
Speaker 1: and I just thought, you know, I saw a poster
Speaker 1: years ago from a Day on the Green and it
Speaker 1: was Bill Graham's Dana Green and it was Journeys Santana
Speaker 1: and Tote, and I went, what a great Bill that that?
Speaker 1: You know, I see that happening, and possibly, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do these forty days with Toto. And the
Speaker 1: deal I made with Luke at their managing was like
Speaker 1: I said, look, we're we could probably sell out these
Speaker 1: places by ourself, and A E. G. Didn't know at
Speaker 1: the time because we hadn't worked with them yet, but
Speaker 1: I had a good clue that you know, while we
Speaker 1: were being stuck in sheds for the last two decades,
Speaker 1: and you know, only accountable for five thousand seeds because
Speaker 1: there's only five thousand seats. I used to pay guys
Speaker 1: in the parking lot, you know that we're brothers of mine,
Speaker 1: and and I say how many cars were here tonight?
Speaker 1: And I say like two thousand, you know, And I said,
Speaker 1: oh really, And then I go to work on how
Speaker 1: many do we have here tonight? And you go, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you didn't do it as good as you did last year.
Speaker 1: You're probably about eighteen thousand and so when you're on
Speaker 1: stage and you're playing in sheds, you can't tell how
Speaker 1: many people are there. You have to go and pay
Speaker 1: the guys somebody in the parking lot and ask them
Speaker 1: just a little clue for other bands. So I had
Speaker 1: a good clue of how strong we were, you know,
Speaker 1: really being told one thing to keep you kind of
Speaker 1: down here, you know, and don't get let them get
Speaker 1: outside the box, you know. But you know, I had
Speaker 1: managed to do a few gigs. One was in Indianapolis
Speaker 1: five hundreds anniversary. Actually my wife and I put together
Speaker 1: with friends of ours that that run not and at
Speaker 1: the time our management wasn't going to allow us to play.
Speaker 1: They didn't want us to play. We went, uh, just
Speaker 1: to witness it, and you know, before we played another
Speaker 1: time and hung out and they were like, how come
Speaker 1: you don't want to play? And I'm like, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? I don't know anything about it. I said,
Speaker 1: I'd love to play. Well, I said, so let me
Speaker 1: call somebody and and put him on the phone while
Speaker 1: I was sitting there with the main guys. And so
Speaker 1: this is all why you know I'm doing it myself now,
Speaker 1: you know, is that because I want to hear what's
Speaker 1: really going on from the get go, before it goes
Speaker 1: from this person and that person, this person in person
Speaker 1: and then you hear whatever you here in the end,
Speaker 1: which is total bullshit. It's a game of telephone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, so I just you know, um, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: enjoying knowing what's really going on. But we're gonna go.
Speaker 1: I told Luca thro I said, look, and we did
Speaker 1: sell out. We started selling out immediately, and you know,
Speaker 1: as when we got past I think the first week
Speaker 1: it was totally sold out the whole tour, and so
Speaker 1: it'll happen again. It's a great package. Our fans love
Speaker 1: the package were total and you know, I go by
Speaker 1: every night. You know, I'd hire like um uh three
Speaker 1: pro photographers to come with us, you know, which I
Speaker 1: thought was really important the beginning of our tour with
Speaker 1: a G to show the strength of the band. And
Speaker 1: one of the guys in particular, Iron Mike. You know,
Speaker 1: he's well known in the rock industry, and he he's
Speaker 1: known for he's like, you know, the goat man. He
Speaker 1: goes way up in the coliseum or wherever you are,
Speaker 1: because see these long shots of the audience. That just
Speaker 1: shows a packed audience, you know, and shows the magnet
Speaker 1: in the size of our crowd, you know. And so
Speaker 1: I started posting this every night with pictures of the band,
Speaker 1: thanking everybody from the city. It was like doing this
Speaker 1: by myself, you know, and taking it upon myself. It's
Speaker 1: like my responsibility as a manager to do this for
Speaker 1: the band, to elevate us. And sure enough it just
Speaker 1: started snowballing, snowballing. So now a G. I obviously loved
Speaker 1: how well it did, as well as C A. A.
Speaker 1: And our agent there, Jeff Frasto, And so now we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna continue. I said, let's just continue, you know,
Speaker 1: there's no reason not to. So we're gonna play the
Speaker 1: secondary markets in the first forty shows, makeup to dates
Speaker 1: that we had to cancel, uh they We're gonna play
Speaker 1: some of the main markets that we did miss this
Speaker 1: year next year in the first forty dates. Then we're
Speaker 1: planning on going overseas with TODE, which is was the
Speaker 1: deal I made with Lucather because they have a big
Speaker 1: following over there and believe we do too, but we
Speaker 1: just don't know it yet because nobody wanted us to
Speaker 1: be big over there because there's different guys that that
Speaker 1: you know, do the shows, you know, and they're independent promoters,
Speaker 1: and so we weren't allowed to do that twenty years ago,
Speaker 1: and so now we are. But you know, Lucather got
Speaker 1: back and I said, that's the deal. I said, you know, well,
Speaker 1: we'll take you guys on this and it will elevate you,
Speaker 1: and then we'll go with you and it will elevate
Speaker 1: us as well in Europe and in South America, and
Speaker 1: so we're gonna go explore all those territories with them.
Speaker 1: And he's already gotten back to me and said, hey,
Speaker 1: and some of my promoters and he manages Toto too,
Speaker 1: and he says, some of my promoters so many we
Speaker 1: can go onto stadiums, which is the two of us,
Speaker 1: and so I said, I thought, so, so we're heading there.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be really really interested in my
Speaker 1: I'm so excited, uh to get back and play outside
Speaker 1: of the US as well, because I know we have
Speaker 1: so many like billions of fans basically not millions, billions,
Speaker 1: you know, all over the world. And um, and then
Speaker 1: I'm talking to Carlos Antiana, you know, him and I
Speaker 1: are like really you know, as tight as ever. We're
Speaker 1: talking about working together again, and so you know, I'm
Speaker 1: warming them up to the idea of if we, uh,
Speaker 1: if I start out with Toto and we play the Marcus,
Speaker 1: that they're strong. And I know how strong Santana is
Speaker 1: across the world because I played in the band when
Speaker 1: I was just a kid. And it remains like that
Speaker 1: for him. You know, God bless him, you know, God
Speaker 1: bless them fans. I mean, it's so awesome. I dad
Speaker 1: experience for me was just like nothing ever born. I
Speaker 1: will never forget that, you know. Um. But as there's
Speaker 1: no reason not to do it at this time because
Speaker 1: it is my fiftieth anniversary, and really that's where Journey
Speaker 1: came from, you know. Uh, and so have that story
Speaker 1: with us, you know, and playing with Carlos and some
Speaker 1: of these dates, and I see us playing some stadiums,
Speaker 1: coming back to the US and playing some stadiums with
Speaker 1: Antana as well, and possibly Toto, you know. Carlos likes
Speaker 1: Earth to win and fire though two and they're awesome.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens, maybe all four of us
Speaker 1: or or three of us, and then there's plans for too.
Speaker 1: But that's when I've been smacked down about. They don't
Speaker 1: want me talking about it, but it is four. So
Speaker 1: we're like going like this, you know, at this point
Speaker 1: here is my career. To watch it escalate to even
Speaker 1: a higher level than it's ever been. It's just it's
Speaker 1: very gratifying to me. Is the word is gratitude, you know.
Speaker 1: And and um, you know, I love the fans so much.
Speaker 1: They're like so supportive. I always knew they were there
Speaker 1: for us much more than it appeared, though, you know,
Speaker 1: And now I'm seeing for real, um, what is all about?
Speaker 1: And so it's it's, um, you know, we're we're moving
Speaker 1: up really really quick. And the other thing that I
Speaker 1: cleaned up that my wife and actually and I cleaned up,
Speaker 1: that we investigated for about six years is our merchandise.
Speaker 1: You know, we have been lied to for many many
Speaker 1: years that you know, our merchandise was trademark, and we
Speaker 1: found out it was never trademard. And so our merchandise
Speaker 1: is massive across the world, and we're like receiving chump change,
Speaker 1: you know, but people are making billions billion dollars. I mean,
Speaker 1: people do not realize in bands how big merch is
Speaker 1: because most management they don't want them to know how
Speaker 1: big it is. That's way bigger than playing, you know,
Speaker 1: if you haven't put together right. So out we got
Speaker 1: all that put together. I've been doing clean up for
Speaker 1: the last two years. Took everything off the shelves. The
Speaker 1: only thing that's left out there and retail is all
Speaker 1: bootlegs up uh and they're all phony deals that that
Speaker 1: it was under and it was saying they were licensed deels.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was basically on the phone with
Speaker 1: and on zoom with with CEOs of these bigger stores saying,
Speaker 1: you know what, man, you have a real problem here. Um,
Speaker 1: well we had, they said, we had contracts and I go,
Speaker 1: not real ones, No, no real contracts here, And I said,
Speaker 1: and people basically that you had contracts with are fired now.
Speaker 1: And so you've been selling our stuff really illegally for
Speaker 1: two years. And so you know, we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: settle up here and move on, and you know, and
Speaker 1: so that's what's happening right now, and taking on a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. Man, steering the bowl in the right areas.
Speaker 1: But man, you know, at this point, I'm just not
Speaker 1: effing around anymore. You know, It's like, why, why, if
Speaker 1: if it's really doing that well, why should we not
Speaker 1: be the ones that that are, you know, receiving the
Speaker 1: benefits of it, you know, not everybody else that's ripping
Speaker 1: you off. So that's where it's. That's where I'm at.
Speaker 1: I'm in the cleaning the whole thing up, but not
Speaker 1: losing music. The music is the main thing, you know.
Speaker 1: But the rest of it is not that hard, man, honestly,
Speaker 1: you know it now that everything is removed, it takes
Speaker 1: a lot of effort to stay on top of it.
Speaker 1: You know, I could use a day to day guy
Speaker 1: to come in and do a list of stuff for
Speaker 1: me that I don't really feel like doing now that
Speaker 1: I've done it, as long as I can find somebody
Speaker 1: that can follow the list and do what I ask.
Speaker 1: And that's another chore in itself, finding the right person,
Speaker 1: you know, finding the right person that has a niche
Speaker 1: of what you're talking about, that gets it immediately, so
Speaker 1: they're almost reading your mind and you don't have to
Speaker 1: take them. You don't put the training wheels on for
Speaker 1: six months or two years and they still don't get it. No,
Speaker 1: you need to find the right person. And so until
Speaker 1: until I do, I'm just gonna keep on doing what
Speaker 1: I'm doing. You know, I saw on your Instagram. I
Speaker 1: think it was in Texas a view from the stage.
Speaker 1: Must have been during lights, because I feel like they're
Speaker 1: everybody had the lights up in the air. I mean,
Speaker 1: just more scenes like that, more scenes like that. That's
Speaker 1: what we're That's what I hope to see more for
Speaker 1: you in the next couple of years. Good lord, you
Speaker 1: know what you're going to see that. I think all
Speaker 1: day long in every city that was that was like
Speaker 1: one of the best shows that we had definitely done
Speaker 1: in many, many years. Um And I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to expect going in because I knew nothing about the event.
Speaker 1: You know, all I knew is is that it was
Speaker 1: it was. It was not an a e G. Event.
Speaker 1: It was like a private promoter and it was a rodeo.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking to myself, we're playing a rodeo, And
Speaker 1: I said, well, who else played these rodeos? And they go, well,
Speaker 1: Beyonce has done at jay Z. They've done it, like
Speaker 1: you know, multiple times, and Santana's done it, and everybody's
Speaker 1: done it. Go what, it must be a cool experience then,
Speaker 1: you know. But I had no clue going in like
Speaker 1: how big it was and this audience, I mean all
Speaker 1: seventy two thousand, it was sold out, and they were
Speaker 1: die hard Journey fans. Okay, they weren't there. You know,
Speaker 1: they buy tickets for like the whole rodeo and they
Speaker 1: have lots of different artists, but this particular night sold
Speaker 1: like really quick. I talked to the promoter and they
Speaker 1: were just in from second one and I started up
Speaker 1: with star spangled banner, and I'll tell you what, that
Speaker 1: place came on freaking glue like I've never heard before.
Speaker 1: And they stay that way through our whole show. And
Speaker 1: then you know, we had like a new merch company
Speaker 1: future shows that we're working with. They didn't know what
Speaker 1: to expect. They ran out of merch, you know, And
Speaker 1: I'm like, how can you run out of merch? You know?
Speaker 1: Never again? No, it's never happened again now, you know.
Speaker 1: Honest to God. Since I clean up the merch, we're
Speaker 1: like doing like numbers like nobody we never did in
Speaker 1: the eighties. Uh, in our height. We're like, we're like
Speaker 1: doing numbers like merch numbers. And lets me know that
Speaker 1: I'm on the right bound and you know, the man upstairs,
Speaker 1: he's on my side. He's leading me the right way.
Speaker 1: Well you got the music man? Oh good lord. I
Speaker 1: I could talk to you all day. I don't want
Speaker 1: to take up too much more of your time, but
Speaker 1: I just I am such a huge fan. I just
Speaker 1: want to thank you U for your time today, but
Speaker 1: most importantly, thank you for your music. It has meant
Speaker 1: the world to me and my loved ones over the years.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. It's been such an honor to
Speaker 1: speak to you. It's great to talk to again and
Speaker 1: come down to the gig in Vegas. We hope you
Speaker 1: enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio
Speaker 1: or other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.