Journey's Deen Castronovo on taking the spotlight, the lates

[tater1977]

Journey's Deen Castronovo on taking the spotlight, the latest on Journey, and Steve Perry

http://classicrock.teamrock.com/feature ... ion-saints

Features / David West / 14 Dec 2014

It must be good to be king. If you’re Serafino Peregino, president of Frontiers Records, and you fancy putting together a rock supergroup, you just throw together Night Ranger bassist Jack Blades, former Whitesnake and Dio axe-man Doug Aldrich and Journey’s beat-master Deen Castronovo. The end result is Revolution Saints, a power trio whose eponymous debut – produced by songwriter/producer Alessandro Del Vecchio — is a masterclass in modern melodic rock. The album puts Castronovo front and centre, laying down the groove and handling lead vocals like a boss.


Do you and Jack Blades go back a long way?

“I’ve known Jack since I was seventeen, eighteen-years-old. I was in a metal band called Wild Dogs at the time and our manager was the lighting director for Journey and Night Ranger. That’s how I got to know all these guys and how I got into the loop. I’ve always looked up to Jack and Kelly [Keagy, Night Ranger drummer and singer], it’s one of my favourite bands. Jack, he’s like a big brother, he’s awesome.”


What’s the latest with Journey?

“We start rehearsals in February and then we’ve got some dates with Steve Miller in Florida and Texas, I think twelve or thirteen shows. We come home for a little bit and then we’ve got a couple of shows with Santana in Mexico and then we do a residency in Las Vegas from April 19th until the middle of May. Then home again, some Canadian dates and then we’re finished. Right now we’re a touring band and that’s what we do. If we feel like it’s time to do another record, we’ll do it. Our last one was Eclipse and we’ve been supporting that for the last couple of years. I think we’ll take 2017 off and then decide if we’re going to do another record.”

Do you rotate out the set list? There must be songs you have to play or people will riot?


“Totally! We call them The Dirty Dozen, we have to play those or the crowd will kill us if we don’t. Then we mix and match from other records. We do change it up, we’ve got over a hundred songs to choose from, so it’s daunting but after seventeen years we know what people want to hear and we know what people don’t want to hear. There are songs we look at and go, ‘I’d love to play that live,’ and we’ll look at Jonathan and Neal, and they’re like, ‘That one won’t work. We just know it.’ So we’ll give it a try and yep, it farted, so we start over.”

Since Glee used Don’t Stop Believing, has a new generation of fans embraced the band?

“Oh yeah. In the past seventeen years our demographic changed from people my age, in their forties and fifties and sixties, to kids that are like six, seven, eight. Their parents are bringing them. You’ve got grandparents, parents and kids now. It’s amazing. That song is timeless, it really is.”

Were you surprised to see the videos of Steve Perry performing with Eels?

“He’s my favourite singer of all time and in my book he can do no wrong. It’s as simple as that. I was glad to see him come back and do something because, bottom line, I miss the man. He is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songwriters and singers of my generation. He was always my favourite singer and I was in metal bands, dude. That’s why I’ve taken a lot from him, just like I’ve taken a lot from Steve Smith as a drummer. It was neat to see him come back, it really was.”

[The_Noble_Cause]

Thanks for posting. Personally, I hope we get something new from the band before 2018.

[PianoMan1986]

I'm a bit surprised with this because it sounds like their plans are pretty light for this year (at least as I'm reading it), no mention of plans for the following year, and skipping ahead to taking 2017 off. Why the Vegas residency?

[slucero]

Why the Vegas residency?

Vegas is desperate for foot traffic...

[steveo777]

Why the Vegas residency?

Vegas is desperate for foot traffic...

Journey ain't no Elvis, but in the short term they could do pretty well with this.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I think everyone from Elton John to Def Leppard to Meat Loaf have done the Vegas residency thing. So, sure, why not Journey?

[Arkansas]

Carlos Santana lives in Las Vegas. The residency month will give Schon some more time to write & record with him. Having a stage & few thousand fans every night will also give them time to rework old Santana and test some new stuff. Would not surprise me one bit to see Carlos and/or Rolie, do some guest spots during this residency.

I mean, aside from the financial opp for Journey, this is a perfect test lab situation for the upcoming Santana reunion.

Btw, this residency is also a perfect time for Perry to show up for a couple songs...maybe more. Hhhhmmmmm...


later~

[PianoMan1986]

I think everyone from Elton John to Def Leppard to Meat Loaf have done the Vegas residency thing. So, sure, why not Journey?

I mean, I can't knock 'em for doing this because odds are they'll do well just like many other artists. I'm sure it'll be good for the band, especially Arnel, to not have to worry about travel fatigue for their stint there. I guess I had high hopes for this year that the double-bill tour with Santana would be a national thing instead of the limited stints so far.

As a side-note, I think it's sad that other songs are brought up to be performed, and are shot down just because of poor-reception from the general public. I know they come to see the hits, but no amount of rearranging the dirty dozen is going to improve or liven up their shows.

[FamilyMan]

Would love to see Augeri do a walk-on in Vegas. It would be a classy move for the band to have him back for a tune.

[The_Noble_Cause]

It would be a classy move for the band to have him back for a tune.

Absolutely! And is there anybody in the music biz who embodies "pure class" more than Neal?

[Final Frontiers]

ACKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

That is not a very Noble Cause! Is that the picture he sent to his then-bandnapped-girlfriend-now-wife? I could've gone my whole life without knowing Neal Schon's grooming habits. Gotta keep that bathing suit area trimmed otherwise the groupies won't like it

Has no one ever learned that if you're going to take a naked picture of yourself- YOU DON'T PUT YOUR FACE IN IT

[AR]

Waiting for it.

[tater1977]

REVOLUTION SAINTS Launch PledgeMusic Pre-Order

By Larry Petro, News Monkey
http://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=14171
Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Debut Album Via Frontiers Music SRL Due On February 24th -

REVOLUTION SAINTS, the band comprised of three icons of rock music, have just launched a pre-order for their upcoming self-titled debut album. Revolution Saints is slated for release on February 24th via Frontiers Music SRL. The band has launched a pre-order via PledgeMusic containing various exclusive merchandise items including posters, signed items, clothing apparel and even drink koozies. Fans can go to http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/revolutionsaints to place their order.


REVOLUTION SAINTS is easily one of the most-anticipated new projects of 2015. The band features guitars by Doug Aldrich (wHITESNAKE), bass and co-lead vocals by Jack Blades (NIGHT RANGER, DAMN YANKEES, SHAW/BLADES) and drums and lead vocals by Deen Castronovo (JOURNEY, BAD ENGLISH). Last week the band released the video for the song “Turn Back Time” which has been viewed almost 40,000 times. The video was directed by Devin DeHaven known for his work with RICK ROSS, WHITESNAKE, KISS and R. KELLY.