Cool New(er) Article

[jrnyman28]

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6240

The Man with The Wiggly Head

Neal Schon, the ringmaster of many a musical “sirkus,” started off strumming shoulder-to-shoulder with Carlos Santana. Here’s where his journey led.

By David Lee Wilson



At press time, Journey’s Greatest Hits collection was the tenth best selling catelog album of all time according to Billboard.com, the online edition of the music-industry bible. For a group that hasn’t had a significant impact on radio or MTV in nearly two decades, that’s not simply impressive, it’s phenomenal.




How is it that Journey has endured a continual pop-music onslaught by the likes of Mariah Carey, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, yet still dwarfs most comers in terms of long-term fan adoration? According to group founder and guitarist Neal Schon, “It is as simple as having made ‘good songs that rock’ and not trying to make ‘good rock songs.’”

Perhaps, but there has to be something more to the house that Schon built than simply good construction.

That ‘more’ is likely contained in the fact that for the last decade, the band has toured relentlessly, not only keeping the back catalog moving, but introducing a whole new generation to the latest incarnation of Journey. Journey 2K5 has at its core Schon, bassist Ross Valery and keyboardist Jonathan Cain, who have been eminently augmented by drummer Deen Castronovo and vocalist Steve Augeri for the past eight years.

“This is the longest lasting Journey lineup that there has ever been,” beams Cas-tronovo, who first floated into Journey’s extended family as part of Cain and Schon’s Bad English band, which had a series of chart-topping hits in its own right.

Truth be told, the Journey franchise is bigger now than it has ever been. The tours go further, there is more merchandise sold and the stadiums are, even on their worst night, as large and as filled as at any time in the group’s history. Things are very good for Journey indeed.

So well are the creative and performing juices flowing for the individual members of the group that each has found time to involve himself in other musical ventures, but none more so than Schon. In the last two years, Schon has not only written, produced and performed on two Journey studio releases (Red 13 and Generations, the latter highly recommended and the latest addition to an already incomparable Journey retinue), but has also managed to release a solo disc as well as form, record and tour with the hard-rock outfit, Soul Sirkus.

Soul Sirkus is an all-star project in the spirit of many previous Schon ventures only in this case the individual musicians signed on for the long haul and not just as a one-off. Initially, Castronovo was on the drummer’s throne for the project but commitments at home aced him out and allowed for beat-master Virgil Donati to come in.

To sit backstage and simply observe Schon is inspiring. Of course, he relishes his role as a rock star, but he is beautifully transparent when it comes to ciphering out what really gets him high, that being the opportunity to jam. Says Schon, “Oh, we are jamming! It happens nightly, in fact. We were known as ‘the jam band on steroids’ in the early days and I would like to get back to that.”

Those steroids are undoubtedly amplified by Schon’s part in crafting rock music histrionics in his tender years while a member of the legendary rock-fusion group Santana.

Sure, you can still count on Schon to take an inspired run through the considerable catalog of Journey hits, “Wheel in the Sky,” “Faithfully” and “Don’t Stop Believin” to name a few, but what pleases Schon most is when he finds a like-minded musical sparring partner. Take the following happenstance as an example: Backstage at The Birchemere Theater in suburban Washington, DC, Schon is trolling around with his favorite guitar in hand while Soul Sirkus bassist Marco Mendoza is desperately trying to put fork to food while attempting to avoid Schon’s gaze. Mendoza knows that if his eyes meet with Schon’s, dinner will be done and the two will launch into yet another session that is likely to take them right up to show time.

“It happens every night! The guy just can’t stop playing. I love it, but if this tour goes on for too much longer, I might starve!” laughs Mendoza. It was a similar story the year before in Detroit, only the band was Journey and the victim Castronovo.

“When he gets what I call ‘Wiggly Head,’ he starts moving his head and tearing it up, I just lose it too and we tear it up together! It is very cool. I have played with so many guitarists and no one compares to him. That guy is a monster and he is playing better than he ever has before which is saying something and he never stops!” enthuses a blissful, if often famished, Castronovo.

When asked if he ever gets weary of the pace Schon says, “Hell no! I am trying to start another band that will play on the nights that Journey has off and call it something like J-R-N-Y, and it will just be a jam band, two or three hours of nothing but jamming like The [Grateful] Dead used to do. Nothing but jamming with all new music and all kinds of flavors.”

Rock and roll’s answer to the Energizer Bunny and the living embodiment of why Journey is as vital today as when Schon conjured it to life in 1973.

You can never go back, but for as long as Journey has their say, the “Wheel in the Sky” will not only burn bright, but very hot as well. et

[Rockindeano]

Neal Kicks ass. Plain and simple.

Only one error. It's not true they play to stadiums as big as at any time, but the point is, they outdraw anyone in the genre, easily. That says something. Oh, and without what's his name singing either.

Nice. That's why everyone loves Schon, well with the exception of you know who's.

[jrnyman28]

Yeah, I read that too and thought...no way! Sooner or later PF or someone will come onboard and point that out. That one fact of course will discredit the entire article...

[NealIsGod]

GREAT article! Neal is the greatest. Thanks, Dave.

[The_Noble_Cause]

When asked if he ever gets weary of the pace Schon says, “Hell no! I am trying to start another band that will play on the nights that Journey has off and call it something like J-R-N-Y, and it will just be a jam band, two or three hours of nothing but jamming like The [Grateful] Dead used to do. Nothing but jamming with all new music and all kinds of flavors.”

They've been flirting with this JRNY idea for awhile now.
Sounds cool to me, I just wonder who would comprise this jam band?
Would it just be the rythm section?
I ask because Augeri, like any vocalist, needs that valuable down time between shows.

[amaron]

Oh, and without what's his name singing either.

Primadonna Perry.

[jrnyman28]

When asked if he ever gets weary of the pace Schon says, “Hell no! I am trying to start another band that will play on the nights that Journey has off and call it something like J-R-N-Y, and it will just be a jam band, two or three hours of nothing but jamming like The [Grateful] Dead used to do. Nothing but jamming with all new music and all kinds of flavors.”

They've been flirting with this JRNY idea for awhile now.
Sounds cool to me, I just wonder who would comprise this jam band?
Would it just be the rythm section?
I ask because Augeri, like any vocalist, needs that valuable down time between shows.

I think the timing would be different. I don't think they could realistically play JRNY in between Journey dates. But then JRNY doesn't really need a vocalist like Steve. They could relegate the pre-Perry stuff to the JRNY sets. We talked about this a while back when it waws announced that Bon Jovi might do one date for die hards and the the next night a date for the casuals.

[Rockindeano]

I ask because Augeri, like any vocalist, needs that valuable down time between shows.

They could just have Ross sing lead....He has the tools.