Steve Perry Fans - Press Clippings

...Here's a weird situation: JOURNEY is having a hit with Ask Th Lonely off MCA's sound-track Two Of A KInd but MCA can't promote the song! According to MCA chief Irving Azoff, as part of its agreement to obtain Ask The Lonely MCA had to promise Columbia Records (Journey's label) that it wouldn't advertise or promote the song. "We can't release it as a single or anything," says Azoff. "Here it is a hit, and we have to treat it like it's another song on the sound-track!" ....

Rock Fever, July 1984

Journey

Selling five million copies of Escape didn't satisfy Journey, the five-man group that also played 110 concerts in 50 cities last year. In the summer, the Columbia Records outfit regrouped in Berkeley, California to mastermind a three-pronged campaign aimed at present and future fans. The follow-up to Escape is earmarked for release no later than April '83 and will contain material chosen from songs submitted by Neal Schon, Steve Perry, "J" Cain and Steve Smith. "There's a spark we're trying to capture on vinyl," says

co-producer Kevin Elson, "that exists in the live show." A string of those shows takes the band to Japan in February, dates that will be followed by a longer U.S. spin.
Journey's third source of revenue will be a pop-rock first: a home video game that takes its name from the Escape LP. Computer animation leads the simulated Journey-men past such "hazards" as groupies, photographers and concert promoters. The goal of the animated musicians is to reach the scarab-shaped escape vehicle before time and cash run out. Journey will promote the game throughout the concert tour.

Circus, January 31, 1983

Neal Schon of Journey: "We're sounding like the band we're supposed to be."

Journey finish tour, get ready to record
    Journey complete their spring tour this month (June), winding up in the Southwest. This trip has had the group playing multi-nighters in most major cities, including two shows in Boston, at New Jersey's Brendan Byrne Arena, in Philadelphia, Detroit, Denver and Salt Lake City, and three dates in Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
    Once they return to San Francisco, Journey will begin work on their ninth LP, with assistance from former member Gregg Rolie (who left last year and was replaced by ex-Baby Jonathan Cain).
    While they still suffer the slings and arrows of the press, Journey's Neal Schon couldn't be happier. With their first #1 album (Escape, on Columbia) under their belts, he says, "We're sounding like the band we're supposed to be."

Circus, June 30, 1982

No end to Journey's trek
Journey lives up to its name this year with a five-month nationwide tour in support of Frontiers (Columbia), the band's current best-selling album. An Eastern Seaboard swing is capped this month at Philly's JFK Stadium on June 4.
    Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Ross Valory, Steve Smith and "J" Cain zip through the Midwest for the remainder of the month. June 10 through 15 are earmarked for Chicago shows; then the band plays outdoors in Milwaukee (17) and Legend Valley, Ohio (26).
    Journey heads South by Southwest in July. Tentative dates include New Orleans (1), Houston (2-4), San Antonio (6), Dallas (8-10), Austin (12) and Wichita (14). The next string of gigs takes in Memphis (16), Kansas City, Mo. (18-19), Oklahoma City (20-21), and Phoenix (23-24). The quintet rounds out this month with a blistering Day on the Green at Oakland Stadium in Oakland, Ca. July 31; many top West Coast acts are expected to join the lineup.
    The last scheduled segment of the Frontiers road escapade allows for a possible seven nights at the L.A. Forum on dates to be chosen between August 6 and 13. After a spin through the Pacific Northwest, the veteran San Francisco group flies to Hawaii for an open-air show in Honolulu on August 28. Notes band-member Cain's wife Tane: "Then I'll get my husband back - for a while."

Circus, June 30 1983

Steve Perry takes a solo journey

Steve Perry / Street Talk (Columbia)
While Neal Schon is busy flexing his frets with Sammy Hagar, another Journeyman has embarked on a temporary solo career. Vocalist Steve Perry has released Street Talk, comprising ten new pop/rock explorations, including the instant hit single, "Oh Sherrie."
"Journey has a very distinctive musical direction that makes up the particular sound known as Journey," says Perry. "In my case there were many pent-up musical directions I wanted to pursue and express on my own. That's why I wanted to record Street Talk with other professional musicians with whom I've never worked before.

The result is a Steve Perry sound, not a Journey sound."
After assembling a star-studded group of musicians (Waddy Wachtel, Michael Landau and Steve Douglas to name a few), it took Perry a mere three months to write all of the material on the album. Street Talk also marks Perry's debut as a producer, and despite his claims that the songs do not reflect a "Journey" sound, there is no disguising that band's influence on the overall production. Closing your eyes while listening to "Oh Sherrie," it's easy to visualize Journey performing the tune.
If you are a Journey fan who's worried that its members' solo careers will lead to the eventual dissolution of the band, Perry has made it clear that, at least his solo career, is only temporary.

Circus, June 30 1984

Journey into the computer

Journey is busy brewing up a new album in Berkeley, California; once again the band is using the services of producers Kevin Olsen and Mike Stone. While the group is hidden away in the sound booths, impatient fans will be able to listen to the group on the Tron soundtrack LP (Columbia). Journey shares credit with synthesizer ace Wendy Carlos for the music to this critical disaster of a film whose hero (Jeff Bridges) gets stuck inside a computer.
"We just fell into it, really," Journey's Jonathan Cain quipped about the band's involvement with Tron. While visiting L.A. on tour, Cain, Steve Perry and Neal Schon "looked at the footage and liked it," noted Cain. "Neal and I wrote some songs. Steve added some lyrics and we recorded them." Tron is the first movie project for the band since Heavy Metal in 1981.

Getting Behind The News!

Why is Journey's Steve Perry of the incredibly sexy voice hiding behind his favorite rock mag?! 'Cause he's still trying to figure out how Rockline! manages to dig up all those behind the scenes secrets and pix, that's why! Well, Stevie - this is how!

Rockline!, Winter 1981/82