Steve Perry - Classic Rock March 2006

Steve Perry captured the hearts of music fans on such signature Journey tracks as Anyway You Want It, Lovin', Touchin' Squeezin', Stone In Love and Who's Cryin' Now. The press-shy Perry spoke to Classic Rock about early days, his influences, and the new double DVD/CD he has produced, Journey: Live In Houston 1981 - Escape Tour.

The new DVD chronicles what was a pivotal year for the band - 1981.

It was at a time when Journey had a mission. We had a passion to become one of the best bands in the world. With that sort of a mission driving us, after we had done the Infinity album, Departure, Evolution and Captured came the Escape album.
There was some great new songwriting. It turned a corner because we had brought in Jonathan Cain, who was with The Babys, and Jonathan and I started writing songs like Who's Crying Now, Open Arms, Don't Stop

Believin', Mother, Father. The first time they were ever performed live on that tour is captured on the 1981 Live In Houston thing.
The DVD is difficult to watch, because it's 24 years later. When I was mixing this stuff, I remember during Open Arms is when the first emotional lump in my throat happened. I'm mixing it, and I'm hearing for the first time the quintessential version and the vocal performance and the band performance that I always wished it could be. It was sad, it was powerful, it was emotional, it was amazing to me. A plethora of emotions hit me all at once.

I think it was somewhere about three, four years old. I used to run around the house singing. My dad was a big-band singer back in the day, so my mom realised early that I had a voice, and by the time I was five or six I was in a barbershop quartet. In school, I would be in choirs and things. It kind of was something that was always coming up.
Then I remember I got my first set of bongos - I still have them. Those were the first things that I ever played, and they got

One of the first that comes to mind is Sam Cooke. He had a believability of heart in his voice. He could sing the phone book and you loved it. From Sam Cooke I got into the early rock'n'roll period, like the Jackie Wilsons, who were the real edgy rock'n'singers. Then you have Etta James, then it kicks into the 60s and you get into people like Janis Joplin.
There's a story that circulated that when Led Zeppelin came to America, to San Francisco to do some trial gigs before they made their first record, they came to The Fillmore to play some gigs. Big Brother And The Holding Company [Janis's band] were opening, and Robert Plant watched Janis sing. And if you listen to Robert Plant closely you'll hear Janis. I love Robert Plant's voice. Robert was one of the first vocalists who had

the idea of absolute power and just laying it down [imitates Plant's voice]. That whole thing he did was just primal.
    Another singer that I was stunned with was Bon Scott. We were in Texas, and I knew that this band from Australia would be opening some shows for us. I would show up somewhere towards the end of their set to start warming my voice up. I'm backstage doing my warm-ups, and I hear this [does perfect Bon Scott imitation]: 'I'm a problem child'). I said what is this?! I look round the side of the stage, and I'm watching this guy sing this song, and the band's going [imitates loud noise], and Angus [Young] is running around from side to side with his schoolboy outfit on. I was just stunned. It was the most amazing live show.
    I'm gonna be honest with you. They kicked our ass good, to where we had to come out there and come up with it. I mean, they woke us up and said to us, you better get off your ass and come up with it.
     Those guys were great. And they really helped us to become a better band. From that point on I was a huge AC/DC, Bon Scott fan.

One of my favourite vocalists long ago was Steve Marriott, who used to be in Small Faces from Itchycoo Park days. I loved him back then. And then he was in Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. I remember going to the Sacramento Auditorium to watch them perform, and Steve Marriott would just throw his voice out into the audience in just the most R&B and rock way. I really really loved his voice. What an amazing singer. It was a tragedy that we lost him. He was something else.

One of my favourite tracks is Can't Find My Way Back Home by Blind Faith. Stevie Winwood is an amazing singer. And Eric Clapton was in the band, and Ginger Baker on drums. What a great band. That's one of my favourite classics of all time.
Before I got signed with Journey, this CBS person was taking me around and trying to get me signed with a band. I was taken to the Forum one night to see Queen perform live. I had never seen such a performance before. It was truly a larger-than-life moment to see Freddie Mercury with these powerful operatic vocals, and the band, and Brian May's guitar. The whole thing was just massive for me. I think that was a moment when I felt in my heart that I can do this. I would say that watching Queen perform was one of the peak moments.

I showed because the thought came to me that if anyone deserved to be there, I deserved to be there too.
One of the things that makes it difficult to have contact with the members is that as a result if doing the Star Walk Of Fame and showing up at the last minute, some of the members have used that on some of their promotional radio interviews when they're asked: "Do you think Steve will show up?" They've said: "He showed up unannounced at the Walk Of Fame, you can never tell." Now, I see that as a pawn of hope, and I don't want to mislead anybody that that's the case. So if there's anything that keeps me from contacting the members is that it's always turned into something else than it is and I don't want to participate in that short of thing.

Steve Perry doesn't care that the critics never really 'got' Journey.
"I didn't make music for critics, I made music for people. It never bothered me because I never read any of it. I read, I think, three reviews in my whole career. I just figured it's one person's opinion. At the end of the show, when you get your encore, and they won't stop until you're back on stage, that's my review. I don't need no other review than that. I don't care what one person thinks. I've just had 25,000 people tell me what they think."