WEBVTT - Steve Perry Is Back (After 30 Years!) 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:07.720 Hi, Brian, Hi Katie. You know, the past couple of 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.400 weeks we've been all about politics, but we thought it 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.880 would be nice to take a little break from it all, 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.120 which is kind of fitting because that's what today's guests 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.480 might be best known for, Brian, at least until recently, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:24.160 taking a very long break. That's true. Our guest today 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:27.240 is Steve Perry. He was the frontman for the band 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.520 Journey in the nineteen eighties, and unless you're truly living 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.479 under a rock, you've heard Steve's lead vocals on the 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:53.440 most downloaded song of the twentieth century. St Just hearing 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.640 a few seconds of that transports me to another time 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.200 and place, specifically Atlanta, Georgia, when I was work keen 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.280 as an associate producer for CNN and this song came 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.600 on the radio and I loved it. Yeah, and I 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:09.640 would have loved it had I been born at the time. 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:14.759 But thanks, Brian, that is real. Welcol You're very welcome anyway. 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:17.800 Steve Perry always wanted to be a musician, but by 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.399 his late twenties he felt he'd run out his music 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.440 career playing for small time bands in dusty bars. He 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.480 left his musical dreams two men turkey coops on a 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.480 farm in California. But then one day he got a 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.199 call from a band manager named Herbie Herbert that would 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.520 change his life. That's an understatement, because Herbie asked Steve 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.200 if he'd be the lead singer in a band called Journey, 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.360 alongside guitarist Neil Seawn Now with Steve at the mic. 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.960 The band went on to record eight multi platinum albums 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.280 Toward the World, but the life of a mega star 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.680 grew kind of old for Steve. It was really hard 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.520 on him, so following his mom's death, he walked away. 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.080 The last time he performed live, which Journey, was in 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.160 n seven, more than thirty years ago, and Steve has 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.520 pretty much stayed out of the spotlight since then until 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.960 last month. That's right, after decades of keeping a very 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:16.040 low profile, Steve came out of retirement and recorded a 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.960 new album called Traces. He was motivated by a late 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.080 in life love who made him think twice about how 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.200 he was going to spend the next thirty years. So 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.840 we'll get to his music, his career, and why he 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.320 felt the need to walk away, or I should say, Katie, 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:33.560 you will get to all of that since I wasn't 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.120 able to join you for your conversation with Steve, we 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.040 missed you, Brian. I think you really would have liked him, Hi, Beat, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.840 I would have, and honestly, I could have used some 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.960 backup vocals. You'll hear that a little bit later on. 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.120 But we talked about so many things. So let's get 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:59.000 right to my interview with Steve Perry. Are you having 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.840 fund Steve, where we talk about your life and what's 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.320 been going on and how you got to this moment 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.720 in time. Is it nice to be back. I'm having fun. 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.520 It's a lot of work and I haven't been working 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.480 for a long time, so I had a nice vacation. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.680 I think that's probably you had a twenty year vacation. 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:22.680 Actually I left years ago. Yeah, I can't it. Wow, 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:27.160 And here we are February. I was home and that 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.480 was it. You just walked away from everything. And before 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.680 we talk about all that, I'm curious what your life 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.280 has been like since you left the band. You went 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:44.400 from such an intense, extreme grueling, high profile schedule right 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.720 and so many demands on you to being able to 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.520 kind of get up in the morning and say, what 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.280 am I going to do today? Was that a huge adjustment? 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.240 Did you love it? Tell me everything? It was? It 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.080 was very, very difficult just to go back to, uh, 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.160 the simplicities of life when as a child I reached 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:11.880 for so much more. I don't know why I needed more. 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.240 I think it was something that started when I watched 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.160 my father sing when I was about four or five 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.120 years old, and I saw him singing at the Hamperd 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.279 Civic Auditorium and my mother was performing in her big 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.200 can can dress in the same production. I can't remember 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.440 what it was, but I remember looking at my father 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.080 and he's singing, and I knew I had that inside 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:32.760 of me. I just knew I had it inside of 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.279 me because I said to myself, I can do that. 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.560 And so I would sing around the house. And then, 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.920 of course I discovered music. That was a big part 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.560 of my life. I started playing at an early age. 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:51.840 I guess it drove me. The discovery of music and 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:57.680 the songwriting, the recording, the sound of their voices, the 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.280 string parts, that it lifted me in such a way 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.480 emotionally that I wanted to get closer to it. I 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.080 was drawn to it. Now, you gotta know. Of course, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.760 my dad was a musical guy. Did he play instruments? 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.840 You know? The only instrument I remember is he had 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.000 a forty nine Ford and he had this big steering 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.200 wheel and he literally had a ring on each finger. 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:28.640 And he was sitting there and you know, when some 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.559 swing song was on the radio, he'd be tapping away 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:35.720 like a drum pocket thing and um. And I would 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.640 just pay attention to certain things like that, simple things 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.360 at a very early age, like I'm I'm three or 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.440 four years old, like I said, you know, and everything 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.039 seemed musical to me at that point. You just had 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.640 that I guess I think I had a hyper connected 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:55.320 to you know, maybe it's an auditory auditory You're correct, 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.560 is auditory more than it is. I'm not trained. I 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:00.960 don't know how to really play in truments. I was 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.360 a drummer for years. That's my main instrument. Drummer, singer. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:06.799 Do you play the piano a little bit? A little 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.880 enough to write, but I don't play. You were the 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.080 voice of Journey, so I mean it sounds like a 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:17.840 very difficult life. Your tour schedule was so relentless, the 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:25.400 demands on you as the voice were so But I 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.200 was a singer and the demands of the same. You're right, right, 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.039 but I mean I know you just performed, you went home, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.640 and then you never went back. Let's talk about sort 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.960 of what led you to to make that decision and 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.520 what was it that brought you to that breaking point. 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:47.480 I would love to mind that a little bit. I guess, Well, 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:49.839 we weren't getting along very well. I mean, the band 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.400 is a band, and that happens to groups, right of course. 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.080 You know. Well, it's like you spend so much time together, right, 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:01.680 and and you have so many different opinions about the 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.880 direction you want things to go. H you disagree, and 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:10.440 you agree on so many levels. And um, as it's 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.680 moving forward and growing and becoming this other big thing 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:19.960 called success. Um, everybody digs in for their own I 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:26.160 think opinions, and it becomes a bit collidive. You collide 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.520 and I think that's a new word. I'm making up 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:39.480 words collidive, like collidive. I like it. And uh, um, 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:45.120 so we're writing songs here today, um, and that's what happens. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.520 And uh we weren't talking much. We were just colliding 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.600 with each other a lot. And that was going on 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.320 for a while. And that's stressful and it was and 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.320 U and the touring schedule was intense, and I would 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.440 have liked to have slowed that all down a bit 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.400 and been a little bit more. How do I say? Um, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.120 you know, if you go to a hardware store to 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:07.600 get a cart in the milk, you're probably in the 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.480 wrong place. It's not there. So you just felt like 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.600 your your visions weren't aligned. Yeah, I think I was 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:16.560 asking it to be something, is what I'm trying to say. 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.480 What did you want it to be? I wanted to 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.880 be more spaced out. I thought we would tour for 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.280 a while, stop for a while, have some life in 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.120 their tour for a while, stop for a while. And 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.320 when you would suggest that, suggest that what would be management? 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.080 And most of the members their lifestyles required more dare 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.040 I say? Cash flow? And and you know my upbringing 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.480 was Portuguese. My grandfather taught me when I was very young. 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:44.200 He said, it's not how much you make, it's how 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:46.520 much you save. And I went, what does that mean? 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.560 He says, if you make forty dollars, I want you 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:50.439 to put twenty in the bank, and I want you 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.319 to forget about it, and I want you to try 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:57.480 to make that work. Forget about the twenty I think, Dad, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:02.160 I mean, really, it's such It's such wise stuff to 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.240 hear as kids. You know, I was raised that way, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.520 so I was saving my money along the whole time. 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.400 So your lifestyle was clearly very different than a lot 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.160 of members, very different. Did you succumb to all the 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:18.360 sort of tropes that we associate with rock and rollers 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:26.840 and people you know on the road, like sex, drugs, alcohol, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:33.040 lavish spending I had, I have had occasional for the 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:37.520 first three but lavish spending. It was not my game, right, 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:44.240 you know? Uh yeah, I thought that that was just crazy. 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.680 In fact, I kept my yellow Volkswagen that was so 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.520 beat up. I just thought it was fine. You know. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:52.760 That was the way I was raised. When I came 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.920 off tour, I went home to my mom's house and 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.520 I remember coming down, going back in the back bedroom 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.120 and and crashing for a couple of days, and the 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:03.200 phone ring, and I swear this is the truth. I 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.400 ran down the hallway completely naked as a as a 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.120 as a jay bird, grabbing the phone, thinking I'm I'm 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.280 late for the bus because I was in deep sort 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.320 of like sleep. So that was how roadburn we used 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.480 to call it roadburn to where you're so burnt, because 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.760 this is what you do. You get a cycle. You know. 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.160 It seems to me from a business perspective if the 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.800 band heard your cries of help, that they would not, 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.360 as my dad would say, I want to kill the 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.840 goose that laid the golden egg. Right. Well, I think 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.760 at the time it was interpreted as just whining, you know, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.360 you know, and maybe I was whining a bit because 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.720 it was hard work. Well, let's talk about the hard 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.119 work it was because when I mentioned that your voice 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:55.040 is your instrument, it required really an obsessive it sounds 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:59.040 to me amount of attention paid to it to keep 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.880 it Roger is the word. It's an erotic, obsessive feeling 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.959 that you just don't know what you have from one 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.080 night to the name. It sounds like it almost took 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.440 over your life. Steve, it does. It does take over 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.560 your life, because explain that to people who don't sing 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:19.880 for a living. Well, because if the instrument you have 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.000 is you, it's not just the vocal cords in your throat. 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.760 It's you and the vocal cords and their inflammation issues. 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.079 And if one vocal cord is slightly inflamed more than 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.760 the other. They don't line up. You've got trouble. If 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.240 you don't get enough sleep, if you don't drink enough water, 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.120 if you stay up too late, if you're just completely 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.000 burnt out and fatigue. That's enough on its own. And 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.840 if you if you ask anyone from striisand to anyone 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.080 about this, they will say, gosh, finally somebody's talking about it, 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.080 you know, because the truth is it is it is 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.760 an eurosis into itself. Do you think it is for 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.880 all singers or are more for you? Well, okay, I 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.640 guess I should speak for myself. I mean, I'm just curious. 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:07.960 You've probably talked to a lot of singers. Did you 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:14.320 find this commonality um most among nother heads to say? 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.319 Nobody gets it? Do they know? Nobody? Does? I understand? 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.240 That's so interesting. I wonder why don't people talk about 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.720 how much care and attention and neurosis often a company. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.480 I think I think the word fear. The fear is this, Katie. 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.839 People have been waiting for a long time for you 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.400 to sing the songs that they have decided to embrace 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.760 and bring into their lives and make part of something 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.600 that enriches their emotional part of their lives. And you're 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.480 coming to town and you pull in the day of 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.080 the gig, and you go to the sound check and 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.280 you open your throat, you feel crumby and grumby, as 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.600 I call it our crusty. It can be really scary 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.160 to think that you're going to fall short of what 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:00.600 these people have been waiting so much for you to 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.079 give them. It's it's not fair to them, and at 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.480 some point then it is not fair to you to 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.160 put yourself in that position all the time. That's a 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:10.920 lot of pressure. Now, now I want to make clear 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:14.840 I'm not complaining. I'm not whining. Please anybody listening out there, 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.679 I'd like to talk about things that people don't talk about, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.160 and this is certainly one of them. Have you ever 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.920 been performing and felt that you disappointed the crowd and 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.080 I'm curious what was their reaction and how did you 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:32.559 feel I did. Now that's a whole nether landscape of neurosis, 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:36.360 because sometimes what do you get? By the way, no, no, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.440 only once I think I was in I was in 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.960 Toledo and I said Cleveland because I was so tired. 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.240 So from that point on, between the two bass drums 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.520 with a little led like the city would have to 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.880 be written on a piece of paper, because I didn't 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.120 want to make that mistake again. That's how tired I was. 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:55.280 That's what I got. The only time I got booed. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.640 The only other time I could recall was I was 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.600 so fatigued that all I could remember it was the 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:02.920 first verse of Oll Sherry. I couldn't remember the second verse. 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.880 So I did the first verse twice, and I looked 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.520 at the answer and put my palms in me here, 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.320 like I don't know what to tell you. So you 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.080 were pretty much just completely burnt out, Steve, and you said, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:18.199 I can't do this anymore. So so for all those years, 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:22.480 and obviously you had a a solo career after that, 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:26.880 but for for much of that time, you were just 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:31.360 living in California doing your thing. So what would you 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.480 do all day? Well, first I went to my hometown 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:36.400 and I hung out with friends, and I went to 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.520 the old ice cream parlor and went out to a cemetery, 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.440 and I would spend solitude moments when my departed parents 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:48.120 and grandparents and uh um. And then I had a 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.680 step grandmother, and I had my father's sister, my aunt Betty, 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.360 and I really I went back and took care of them, 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.119 to be honest with you, but that's that. That probably 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.640 wasn't your entire day. I mean, did you did you 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:06.720 still make music? Did you still think about songs? Did 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.760 you mean? I know you spent some time at the 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.160 carnival when it came at the fair. Well, the fair 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.560 would come to town in June in my hometown, and 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.560 I always dreamt of running away with that with the circus, 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.800 so to speak, because it would show up and it 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.160 would be so amazing and it looked like the island 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.320 on Pinocchio, you know, the Sperris wheels and the lights 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.880 and everything, and I thought it was so amazing, and 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:33.200 next thing I know, they're gone. So I thought, gosh, 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.160 some day I'd like to, you know, run away with 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.520 the circus. And being in a rocket roll band is 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.560 a circus life, you know, you do run away with 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.920 the circus, so to speak, and you do travel just 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.760 like that. When you were off and it turned like 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.440 the clock struck eight pm wherever you were, did you 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.720 ever think, wow, I you know, in my old life 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.040 I'd be stepping onto a stage right now. I mean, 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.720 did you miss the rush the adrenaline of course, of 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.400 kind of just being in that moment. To me, that 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.520 would be I wish I could could sing. And the 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.920 idea of just being able to sing something a song 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.760 you love and that people really respond to it, that 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:17.760 just must There must be nothing like it. Yeah, to 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:22.520 be able to write music that you believe in and 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.560 have someone else love it as you initially sort of 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:31.600 feel like it's worth being loved. Nothing like it, nothing 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:33.840 like it, and then and then to record it and 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.000 they embrace it, and then to go out and perform it. 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.320 It's just the whip cream on the cheesecake, you know, 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.120 it really is. It's just it's just something I can't explain. 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.720 And yes, to answer your question, I really did miss 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:53.240 it terribly, but it came with too much. I think 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:58.040 returned to our baggage together. I think that you know, 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.320 look were tired of me, and I was kind of 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:03.080 tired of them, you know, and I think we needed 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.840 just to go our ways. That's all. Well, you did 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:10.240 then go onto your solo career, right, and was that 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:14.240 more satisfying for you? You did? I really didn't go 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.720 into a solo career at that point. I did the 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:21.119 solo career because Neil Sean had done two solo albums 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.480 while I was in the band. I told the manager, 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.720 why is Neil doing a solo album? Well, I can't 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.439 stop him. He said, he wants to record it, you know. 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.560 So we did a song and a whole record with 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.320 John Hammer. Then we do another journey. I'm another tour, 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.280 and then I told the manager, look, I'm gonna do one, 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.199 and you shouldn't keep doing this because you know it's 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.280 gonna I think you could damage the band at some level. 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.560 Next thing, I know he's doing a second one beyond Hammer. 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:46.879 So I turned the manager and I said, Okay, I 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.640 told you I'm going to do one. So that's when 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.440 I went to l A and did street Talk and 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.560 wrote O's Sherry and full Shart with Randy Goodram and 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.959 strung out with with Craig Cramp and a bunch of 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.040 friends and and and Nicole Bolos as the engineer. We 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.240 recorded that record so fast at this little studio in 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.679 the valley, and we had a great time and the 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.560 record came out and it was just a great moment. 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:16.320 Then I asked my mother what should I do? Because 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.720 she was already sick at that point. She was very sick, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.040 and I asked her what I should do. Should I 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.800 go back to Journey, should continue my solo career? Just 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.959 to think about it? Please Mom? Because she was so 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:32.080 instrumental in my early years of of being in bands 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.200 in high school and everything. I just wanted her opinion, 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.520 And honestly, she couldn't talk very well because her speech 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:44.800 was severely impaired. The next day she said, you and 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:46.480 I want, are you sure, Mom? Because that means I 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:48.280 won't be able to hang out with you. If I 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.440 do the solo stuff, I can. I can do it 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:55.560 at my own pace, she said, YOUNI just like that. 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:59.040 So I went back and did the record. Uh, and 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.119 you look at that record. It says this one's for 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.199 you Mom. After you left Journey, why wouldn't you just 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.280 do a solo career? Because that's not why I left 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:15.720 the band. I left the band for all kinds of reasons. Okay. 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.120 I didn't leave the band to hurt anybody or run 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.440 away from him. I left the band to go back 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.840 to my life, I think, and reconnect with some foundational 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:32.200 things um that I felt. I think we're slipping away. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.920 I think we're slipping away. Thank you. I think we're 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.240 slipping away. Like I just I think that it was 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:40.440 such an amazing ride that I was on. There was 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.199 no room for anything else in my life. So I 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:44.879 think I had to leave it all to open up 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.199 and have some room for something else. And so that 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.600 meant to go back and find out what that is. 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.120 Any regrets that you that you left, or any regrets 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.879 the way your life unfolded? Mmmmm, I don't. It was 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.119 like tempering steel, to be honest with you. You know, 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.240 steel's kind of often to heat it up. I had 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.120 to get heated up and then putting the cold water 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.439 and heat it up, putting the cold water, and it 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:09.719 kind of tempered me at this point in my age. 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:14.960 Right now, I don't have any regrets. I can tell 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.919 you that, though others may not agree with me, I 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.199 think it was the best thing for everybody. I really do. Um. 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.560 But before we get a break, Um, at what moment 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:32.960 did you think, Wow, I have a good voice. Probably 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.560 singing into the into the well out the ranch. It 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.440 was so beautiful to hear that echo. I just loved 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.159 the way it sounded. And then also I used to 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.160 sing when I couldn't get to the ranch, I would 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:49.560 unplug mom's hose from the vacuum cleaner and put one 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.040 in my left ear and singing the other end. And 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.840 I love the way that sounded. What would you sing? Um? 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:56.480 I would just make things up. I don't know, I 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.000 would just I love the way it sounded. Those are 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:06.280 the young I do remember, though, um ah angels listending, 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:13.480 listen me crying. You know, I remember those guys. I 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.560 think it was the Crests. You know. I think it 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.040 was the crest You must have been singing some Sam 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:22.880 cooked too back in the day, and I worshiped him 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.560 because that was what was your favorite Sam Cooke song? 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.879 The first one would be, Um, Cupid came on the 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:34.560 radio and my mom's shifty six Thunderbird, and oh man, uh, 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.000 the whole world got so small, it got so tunnel vision. 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:42.000 I'll never forget it. And I was just captivated by 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.520 the emotion coming out of that speaker and how it 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.280 was landing. And so I think that's what got me 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:54.040 reaching for music from the very beginning, was why does 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:56.800 this make me feel this way? Why is what is 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:00.359 happening here? You know it connected with me. You know, 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.280 do you sink? Can you sing? Cupid? I know that 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:08.200 all the word Cupid, drawback your boat and let your 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:13.879 aero flow straight to my love is hot for me, 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:19.440 nobody even me. Now, I can't sing now, I'm criticizing 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:23.120 that just to show you. I just criticized for phrases 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:24.879 that I just sang at the same time I was 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.080 singing them, okay, And I really got to tell you 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:31.520 without echo, I'm singing dry in this room. I don't 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.240 sing dry. Well, thank you for singing dry for us 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.840 quick pro quo no no no, no, no no no. 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:42.080 But my favorite Sam Cook is I don't know much 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:48.919 about his story, don't know much blogy, I don't know 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:53.000 much about the French I took. I don't know much 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:59.040 about But I don't know that I love you right 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:02.920 and know that if you love me too, want a 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:10.840 wonderful world, this would be harmony. I'll never forget when 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.200 that was in the movie Witness and Harrison Ford and 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:20.040 Kelly McGinnis were dancing. It was so sexy, And isn't 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:22.800 that what it's about? It? It really is about the 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:26.840 intimacy of music is so personal. Well, I'm excited to 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:30.399 talk to you more about this new album and the 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:33.920 genesis of this album. We'll talk about that right after this. 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:47.480 Now back to my interview with Steve Perry. So, Steve, 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:51.440 you're back after all these years, after all still crazy 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:53.720