Steve Perry Fans - Hit Parader Annual 1981

    "I was a real ambitious kid, I was bound to be found by somebody," said Neal Schon, Journey's lead guitarist, who, at the age of 15, began his professional career as a member of Carlos Santana's band.

    "I was like a street kid, 14 years old, constantly on the streets of San Francisco with my guitar, trying to get into clubs that you're not allowed into unless you're 21. But I would eventually make friends with all the club owners so they'd let me in and I'd play with anybody who'd let me. I was just really ambitious to play with anybody and I'd practice for hours."

    It was in one of these clubs that Neal first met Gregg Rolie (Journey's keyboard player), which ultimately led to his joining Santana.

    "I used to tell my family that in another month I'd be in one of the biggest bands in the world," said Schon, "and they'd say 'Ah, that's really good, I really like the confidence this kid has' and they'd sort of laugh. Within the next month, I swear. Eric Clapton had asked me to join him and so had Santana and my parents were completely blown away. They thought I had ESP."

    Schon went with Santana even though he preferred Clapton's type of music. "I really wanted to play with Clapton because he was one of my guitar heroes at the time, from the Cream days, and he's really had an influence on me." said Schon. "When he asked me to play with him, I just sort of picked myself up off the floor. But if I had gone with Eric I would have had to move to England and I was only 15 and I didn't think I was ready to do that. I was also pretty friendly with the guys in Santana's band."

    When Santana disbanded a year later Herbie Herbert (Santana's production manager, now Journey's manager), Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie and bass player Ross Valory joined forces with Prairie Prince (now with The Tubes) and a rhythm guitarist named George Tickner to form Journey in 1973. Now, seven years later, after a few changes to personnel, the group is: lead vocalist Steve Perry, Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, drummer Steve Smith and Ross Valory and they've just released their seventh Columbia LP, Departure - the final album in their trilogy.     Schon feels that with Departure, Journey has moved into new areas and has broadened their musical base but not to the extent he'd like. "We want to go to extremes, but I think we've got a really heavy start here," he said. "I feel that the new material is more energized - we played live, there are practically no guitar overdubs. When we recorded the single ("Any Way You Want It"), we just went in there and cut it live and I think that's why a lot of people think it sounds new wave,

because new wave bands walk into the studio and play live. They cut an album in twenty hours and that's it."
But Journey hasn't joined the new wave parade. Schon added, "We're not trend followers. Eleven years ago when I was growing up and very into The Who, they were new wave so I know what the original new wave is all about and what people are calling new wave today, to me, is old wave.
"With the single, or "Where Were You," or some of the hard rock stuff we're getting back to where we started out and keeping the vocals intact. We have a total departure on the second side with songs like "Good Morning Girl" and "Stay Awhile" where there are no guitar solos. That's really different for us."

Departure was recorded in three weeks, which is a lot faster than the last one which took three months. Production credit is given to Geoff Workman, who engineered their last two albums, and their live sound engineer Kevin Elson, but everyone actually got involved. "Geoff Workman got all the sound on the record and Kevin Elson helped us with arrangements and gave us general advice," said Neal, "but the band did produce this album as well, because we arranged all the songs before we got into the studio. A lot of producers re-arrange all your songs but Journey's not the kind of band that needs that."
By doing the album themselves, the way they wanted to, the group found out they

were right all along about the best techniques to use. "Now we're starting to sound more like us rather than having someone make us sound different," said Schon. "People can identify with that, especially when they see us live and the new stuff sounds just like the record."
The group feels that this is the album that will really put them over the top and establish them as a major supergroup. "I feel it in my bones that this is our best effort," said Neal. "I can feel the energy over the radio when I listen to the songs. That's the feeling inside of my body - I think if we have a chance at all that this one will help us do it.
Having achieved success the hard way, building a following with each album

and tour, Journey feels they'll be round for a long time. "We've laid the groundwork, we've been out there, we've been the workhorse, we've played all the arenas and we sell out houses all over the place now," said Schon. "We used to have a cult following but now it's broadened.
"It's been a lot harder for us than for a lot of other bands but the work you have to do. I don't think any band can get by that without it falling back on them at some time. If you just get by with AM success and multi-platinum sales and you never go out there and do the real work, I don't think you'll be around for long. In Journey's case we can stay together for another ten years and know that we'll have a following."

    As for their following, Journey is currently on a major-city tour that will take them across the United States through the summer with future dates planned in selected European cities and Japan. And along with the new material and their newly clean-shaven '80s look, Journey's show will feature a brand new specially designed stage.

    "It's really clean," said Neal. "There are no monitors, no speaker cabinets, nothing - it's just bare with two levels, Ross, Steve Perry and I are on one level and then Gregg and Steve Smith are on the next level which is about three feet higher. The stage is a lot smaller than it's been and we sound a lot better. Visually it's better for the audience because everyone can see the whole band and there's a whole new lighting system too, designed by Nightlights.

    "The first few days we rehearsed on the new stage, it was very strange and awkward and it was hard to hear things, but after we got it worked out it was much better. And the sound is going to be superb because the amplifiers are underneath the stage so I don't get killed by the volume and the kids out front don't either …"

    At 26 years old, Neal feels like a rock and roll veteran. And while he's on the brink of having realized his dreams he isn't the kind of person who'd ever become complacent. "I don't think I'll ever say 'Okay, I've done it man, this is it, this is the extent of it, this is as far as I go'," he said. "I'm the kind of person that keeps on wanting to go and go and go and I'm never happy with what I do. That's what keeps me going and keeps me striving to get better."

    "But I do think we're starting to get noticed. Just starting - but I think we have a very bright future ahead of us because the band has a lot of musical places we can still go that we haven't yet shown anybody.

    "With all the changes we've gone through I definitely feel we've kept our youth," he added. "I feel like the band gets younger all the time. When you get a new member in a band it takes them about a year to settle in. At first, when we went through the trauma with Aynsley (Aynsley Dunbar left Journey and joined Jefferson Starship), it took us awhile to play really well together but now, a year later, we're a brand new band and we sound better than we ever sounded. I personally think that all the changes we made were for the better.

    "I think this is the final lineup, at least I hope so. I can't see into the future for real but that's what I feel and everybody seems to be content right now.

    "Everybody in the band has a tremendous ego, everybody is real arrogant, we fight a lot but we all work it out in the end and whoever is wrong always admits that he's wrong. It makes for a good band. Everybody is real dominant in their own way, everybody sees the music in their own way. But that's what makes us sound the way we do when we play together."

    Steve Perry had described Journey's music as "aggression with feeling" and Neal agrees. "I'm real aggressive - not so much as a person, but as a musician," he admitted. "I'm real, real aggressive on stage and I like aggressive music. I can't get enough of that stuff, I thrive on the adrenalin of really going out there - I need everybody else in the band to tone me down a little bit because I am so high energy."