The Neal Schon Interviews

[Final Frontiers]

Here's Neal Schon discussing how "Don't Stop Believin'", "Open Arms", and "Wheel In The Sky" were written on Fuse TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1aJ2X8IRZg


Neal Schon interview at NAMM 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JmSM0YI9o

Neal Schon Budokan 1983 Japan interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mCWssDp11w

Jonathan Cain talks about Neal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTKIJVijmpk

Barbara Schon interview from Winter Wonderland Wedding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuLeed56nRU

[Final Frontiers]

Neal Schon doesn’t like to sit still for long. We recently learned that, in addition to his work with Journey, he has three albums in the works, one of which, ‘So U,’ will be released May 20.

‘So U’ is being described as a fusion and blues-inspired hard rock album, with Schon, bassist Marco Mendoza (Ted Nugent, Whitesnake) and Journey drummer Deen Castronovo sharing lead vocal duties on its nine tracks. We caught up with Schon to talk about the new record, an interesting nickname given to him by his old friend, Carlos Santana, and his recent decision to put umlauts over the “o” in his last name.

I was happy to see the release date finally announced for your record with Deen Castronovo and Marco Mendoza.

Yeah, I know. That didn’t take too long, did it?

Not at all, considering that you and I were talking about it in 2012, so it hasn’t been long at all!

[Laughs] It took really long. I don’t know, man — it was on the shelf. I continued to work straight ahead and work on new stuff. So now it’s an old album for me and new for everyone else. But it’s exciting that it’s finally coming out. I’ve got another record in the can, with like over 80 minutes worth of music with [Steve] Smith, Jan Hammer and Igor Len. It’s all instrumental and a double CD. That’s ready to go. And you know, I’m going to work on the ‘Santana IV’ record and then going on tour. Busy, busy.

How did this project with Deen and Marco come together?

Well you know, it was near the end of ‘The Calling’ record that I was doing with Steve Smith and Igor and Jan. I was having a great time in the studio. I hadn’t been over to Fantasy [Studios] in a while in Berkeley, which is kind of like our old stomping ground. I got very comfortable in there. It’s a great sounding studio and I didn’t want to leave. When the record was done, I wanted to do something else, so I called to see if Deen and Marco were available and they were. I just stayed in the studio and they came in and we just kind of winged it. Nothing was planned out at all, I just didn’t feel like leaving the studio when I was done with the other record.

I know you wrote some songs with Jack Blades for this one? Where did Jack come into the mix with this record?

I started writing with Jack and I had some ideas. I went up to his ranch and we had worked on a couple of songs off this record that were pre-written before I went into the studio. Jack and I always kind of kick it around when we’re home and our own touring commitments lighten up. We always come out with something. If I get together with him for a day, it’s a sure thing that we’ll come out with a pretty decent tune afterwards. I was basically taking advantage of the time that we had off together.

We pre-wrote a couple of songs and then I went into the studio and I didn’t really know I was going to cut a record for those songs at the time. I was just writing with him and then when Marco and Deen were available to come in, I just thought, “What a great opportunity to do those songs with these guys playing.” At that point, after we had made up the rest of the songs [by] pretty much just improvising on the spot in the studio, like I did with ‘The Calling,’ I called Jack in. So as we were recording and overdubbing, I started writing lyrical ideas and then we went back and forth on lyrics and wrote lyrics together, and it’s sort of how we were able to finish up very quickly.

With nine tracks on the album, it kind of indicates that you probably stretched out on some of these tunes.

You know what? They’re vocal songs [but] there are two instrumentals on the record. ‘Exotica’ is very stretched out and very different from the whole record. I’m sort of tipping my hat to Carlos Santana on this one, because it’s sort of like a fusion-Latin rock thing. I definitely stretch out on that. I basically jam with some good melodies and some great playing.

What are a couple of the songs that you’re really excited about from this record?

You know what? I’ve been away from it so long that I don’t even know. I’m going to have to wait and see what people react to. Like I said, the record musically is kind of all over the map. For the most part it is a fusion rock record with a lot of different flavors.

Serious question that some folks have asked me recently — when did you start using the umlauts in your name?

You know, my father was German and I’ve always liked the umlaut over the “o,” because in German it means “beautiful.” I’ve had very few people come up to me or write me on Facebook or whatever and say, “Hey, you know I hate this — take it off.” There have been a few, indicating that they thought I was a Nazi or something. But you know what? It means “beautiful” in Germany and so I thought, “That’s a very cool thing.” Every time I go to Germany I see it all over the place and I didn’t quite know what it meant until I asked some German people that we were with when we were over there. I said “Why is Schön all over the place with two umlauts?” and they said, “It just means ‘beautiful’ in German.” So I thought that was cool.

At the rate that you keep cranking things out, there won’t be a shortage of things for us to talk about anytime soon.

Yeah, you know on this next release I do, which right now, I’m going to call ‘Vortex.’ Carlos Santana gave me a new name after we were in rehearsal and he’s calling me “Vortex.” I looked it up afterwards and I was like, “Wow, what a cool name!” So I decided that one of the new tunes off this new record that will be next coming after the ‘So U’ record with Smith, Jan Hammer and Igor Len, I’m calling it ‘Vortex’ and I’ll probably call the record ‘Vortex.’ Because this record leaves chips on the ceiling.

I saw the “Vortex” mentions on your Facebook page and wondered what that was about.

Well, you know it was funny, because Carlos gave me this name and then I went and read about it and that art that is sitting there [on the Facebook page], the blue that looks like a tornado coming down — I found out that is public domain and anybody can use it. So I shot it to my artist that does my artwork, Jim Welch, who did all of the Journey stuff and I said “Why don’t you get a jump on this and put some stuff together?” I think he pretty much nailed it. I’m digging it. The simplicity of it definitely conveys the message that it’s powerful.



Read More: EXCLUSIVE: Journey's Neal Schon On His New Album, 'So U' | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/neal-sch ... ck=tsmclip

[Pacfanweb]

Neal should start more of his answers with "You know what?" or "You know?"

[Majestic]

Sounds like a lot to look forward to. Thanks for sharing the article!

[The_Noble_Cause]

Not a peep about new Journey tunes. You got Neal, Jack Blades, and Deen Catronovo jamming and writing together - those three guys could make a kick-ass Journey record.

[Final Frontiers]

Journey guitarist Neal Schön gives credit for a lot of his improvisational skills to Cream’s 1968 album “Wheels of Fire”. Listening to that along with healthy doses of Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and the Three Kings: BB, Albert and Freddie. Perhaps absorbing that combination of master musicianship is one of the reasons why Schön’s new album, “So U” is so insanely good.

For “So U”, Schön transforms ¾ of his former Soul Sirkus band (including bassist Marco Mendoza and longtime Journey drummer Deen Castronovo) into a late 60’s/ early 70’s psychedelic power trio. Infusing elements of funk, rock, fusion and jazz into a sound that’s very much reminiscent of Schön’s early recordings with Santana and Journey.

Schön is currently out on tour this summer with Journey, The Steve Miller Band and Tower Of Power. I spoke with him about “So U”, Journey and the new project that reunites him with his former bandmate, Carlos Santana.

What made you decide to record this new album?

I had finished up recording my last album [2012’s “The Calling”] at Fantasy Studios and was just having a blast. Since I had some extra time, I thought I’d give Deen and Marco a call to see if they would be available to come in with me. The three of us had worked together on a Soul Sirkus record with Jeff Scott Soto a long time ago. So I had already known Marco for years and obviously Deen has been with me in Journey for a long time.

You did some songwriting with Jack Blades for this album. What’s your relationship with him like?

Jack and I have also known each other for years. We go way back to the beginnings of Night Ranger when we played some dates with them after their first record came out. I like getting together with Jack because there’s always something good that comes out of it. Whenever I go up to his studio to write, I know that we’re going to come out with one or two really great ideas.

Let’s discuss a few tracks from So U:

What You Want

When I first started thinking about doing this project, I had already been up to Jack’s house and the two of us had been throwing around a few ideas. “What You Want” was one of the songs that popped out. That was one we had a basic map and arrangement for and knew what it was going to sound like.


Take A Ride

“Take A Ride” was something that I wrote musically way back when I was working with Paul Rodgers. I wrote it for Paul because it had this funky, bluesy, rock groove with a modern “Free” type of feel to it. Then Paul had to continue touring and I had to go out and tour and for some reason, the two of us lost contact about it. So I already had the song just sitting there in my head. Then I remembered when I saw Marco playing at The Baked Potato in LA with his Latin Fusion group. They basically do these amazing Latin/fusion versions of Stevie Wonder songs. I knew that he could sing his ass off and had this funky, bluesy voice and that’s when I said, “Marco can sing this!” So we laid it down, wrote the lyrics and it was done.

Exotica

Exotica is very Latin/fusion. It’s sort of my “hats off” to Carlos Santana. I dedicated that one to him.



What was the recording process like?

A lot of the instrumentals on the album actually started out with just a click track and me playing keyboards. I would put down the chords as I heard the song going without any arrangement at all. Then the guys would come in and play and it all came to life. It was nice to go into the studio with a blank canvas and have a lot of “brushes” and “paints” to throw at it.



What kind of “brushes” and “paints” did you use?

I have a lot of guitars but pretty much use the same thing for recording now. A Fractal Axe-FX double rack. That and a Bogner Shiva. It’s a little 2×12 bottom and a hand wired head that they made for me.


What was the recording process like?

A lot of the instrumentals on the album actually started out with just a click track and me playing keyboards. I would put down the chords as I heard the song going without any arrangement at all. Then the guys would come in and play and it all came to life. It was nice to go into the studio with a blank canvas and have a lot of “brushes” and “paints” to throw at it.



What kind of “brushes” and “paints” did you use?

I have a lot of guitars but pretty much use the same thing for recording now. A Fractal Axe-FX double rack. That and a Bogner Shiva. It’s a little 2×12 bottom and a hand wired head that they made for me.



Any Way You Want It

That was another early one that I wrote with [Steve] Perry. At the time we wrote it we were on tour with Thin Lizzy. I think it was inspired by listening to Phil Lynott and the guys open up for us every night. We just started jamming to it at sound check one day and it just kind of came out. Just three chords and there you go. Sometimes the simple songs make for the best ones!

What other projects are you working on?

I have a follow-up to “The Calling” that’s already complete. It’s an 85 minute double-cd that I did with Steve Smith, Jan Hammer and Igor Len. I’ve been trying to stay ahead of the game and come with new records all the time. I have so much music in me.

It’s been three years since Journey’s last album [Eclipse]. Has the band given thought to working on another album?

We’ve been talking about doing something, possibly at the end of this tour. Sometimes when things are going so well it gives you that much more incentive to want to go in and do some new music. Or maybe revisit older music you wrote long ago which never really saw the light of day. There are some things we did back there; even when Steve Augeri was singing with the band, that I think are really great songs and ones we could easily redo and rearrange with Arnel [Pineda].

Of all the projects you’ve been involved with over the course of your career, is there one thing that stands out as a particular highlight?

Back when we did Santana III we had a song on it called “Everybody’s Everything”. I remember we had a Tower of Power horn section on it and I played lead and Carlos played bass and rhythm guitar. That ended up being a number one album for us and was something that I’ll never forget.




http://gojimmygo.net/2014/07/09/so-u-ne ... a-project/





A Conversation with Neal Schon

Mike Ragogna: Neal, what is it creatively that satisfies you, playing solo or with Journey?

Neal Schon: Well, Journey is more about well-crafted songs and well recorded and produced songs, and I think that what I enjoy about my solo songs is that I'm sort of more of a painter with a blank canvas and a bunch of paints and materials to work with and I kind of throw everything on there and see how it lands. It's more experimental, definitely. In Journey, we do experiment from time to time, usually when we're all playing in a room, which doesn't happen a lot. We were fortunate to get together at Fantasy this time. We were there for about three weeks rehearsing and recording and listening back to everything that we were doing. It helped us sort of hone in on our older songs. A lot of times, when you've played something for this many years, they drift. Everybody starts playing different things, you get bored, so we pulled everything back and now I think we're having really great shows because of fine-tuning stuff like that again.

MR: On So U, you recorded with Marco Mendoza, Deen Castronovo and wrote some of the songs with Jack Blades. What was behind the collaborating this time out?

NS: It was mainly a time issue for me. I didn't have a lot of time in the studio to do this, it was kind of at the last-minute. I was just finishing up The Calling record, my solo record before this one. I was in Santa Fe and I was really enjoying myself and I just happened to call Deen and Marco to see if they were off because Marco's always touring, he's never around. But he just happened to be around and I said, "Do you guys have like, two or three days available?" and they said, "Yeah." I was astounded that they were both available at the same time. I said, "Want to come up Santa Fe? We can work on something, I think we can work out a record." Working with Jack in the past, he's always very quick and energetic. I always come up with something great with Jack. I figured while we're writing music and we're in there kind of winging it, he can be listening to it and getting a jump on it lyrically. Some of the songs I had melodies for. I'd hum them to Jack and then he'd write lyrics.

MR: During the process, were there any surprises, like songs changing drastically from their original versions?

NS: There were only a couple songs that I had really sketched out with Jack before we got there. I had actually written the music for "Take A Ride" a long time ago when I was working with Paul Rodgers but it never happened. I just said to myself after I heard Marco's voice, "Well, I think he's got a bluesy quality in his voice and he could hold this up," so we went at that lyrically, but I had the music already. "What You Want" was something that I had already done a demo of with Jack at his house and we pretty much just laid it down like the demo. I worked on "On My Way" up at Jack's house, too. That one was put together very well. The rest of them were just kind of like winging it when we went in there.

MR: Were there any songs in particular where you might have used a new technique or technology than you're used to? Did you take any different or bigger stretches on So U?

NS: The song "So U" itself is over nine minutes long. It all started with this sound that I was getting through the effects axis--a piece of gear I use now--and there was this very cool sound. It almost sounds like a synthesizer with bouncing echoes, kind of like in a U2 sense, but a little bit more surreal. It started out with that sound and I just kind of jammed with Deen all the way through the nine minutes of it. I was going to chop it up and take some of the bits out, but then after I started overdubbing with it I said, "Wow, this is really cool." I really like that it falls down and goes into this Electric Lady land vibe where it floats around for a second with a wah-wah guitar. I got it to do the 1970s Echoplex, slowing down the tape machine a little bit so it sounds like the spaceship is moving around from side to side, to simulate some of that stuff. I had fun with that track, stretching it out and making it make sense. It didn't make sense when we cut it with just one guitar and drums, but with a little bit of imagination and some overdubbing, I thought it really took shape. Then we figured out where the vocals were going. I sang the verses and then I had Marco do his freestyle Curtis Mayfield-type bluesy stuff on the intro and the ending. Then Deen does all the high vocals when a track is up and moving after I sing the verses, he's got that wailing voice that sits there on top. It was fun to do, man. I hadn't sung in a long time and I'm not even close to Deen and Marco. Deen is an amazing singer, he's been killing every night. People are wowed.

MR: What's the story on Deen?

NS: Deen has been singing live with Journey forever. He's like the little secret weapon back there. If Arnel is struggling some night, if he has a cold or a virus or something, Deen will help everyone get through the show. I think it's so mindf**king when Deen does "Mother Father," which is a song that goes way back. I wrote the music with my dad and then John and Steve finished it years ago in the eighties when we did it on the record. But the drum parts are very difficult, Steve Smith's drum parts, and the vocals are very difficult, and Deen does both of them effortlessly. Deen is somewhat of a freak that he can do that, he really is. He's so talented. There are other singing drummers out there like Phil Collins, Don Henley, and a bunch more. But those two come to mind and I haven't seen either of them play intricate drum parts like on "Mother Father" or high vocals that are all completely removed from the drums. He's kind of like Sting. When I first saw Sting, he was playing bass pedals and singing completely off the beat, playing these syncopated reggae bass parts and I thought, "Wow, this guy's dexterity is sick." Deen is like that. He's kind of like an octopus, he's got all the limbs going and the vocals going and they're all doing different things. It's pretty amazing to watch.

MR: Neal, you got a lot of critical acclaim for the album The Calling.

NS: Yeah, and there's one in the can that I feel is the best of all of them. It's just waiting for me to get a break and get better and get off tour and rest up and then I'll head in and finish mixing that. It's sort of my follow-up to The Calling. We're taking it a few steps further. Actually, when we recorded the record, I was thinking more about playing live. It's a little more of an organic record in the sense that it's really jam-y. You can tell it's a live performance-type record when you listen to it. As soon as I heard it I said, "I'm going to love playing this stuff live," and I will do that. It's Steve Smith again on drums and I played bass again. Jan Hammer is all over this record, he's totally on fire more than I've heard him. The whole record is kind of like that. Igor Len, my other keyboard player, did some of the writing and embellishments and orchestrations. It's not quite as layered as The Calling, it's not as produced in a sense. It sounds great, it doesn't sound raggedy, and I did less overdubs and left it more raw. I think it works with a record. That's going to be called Neal Schon Vortex.

MR: You recorded a couple of albums with Jan Hammer a while back. Might this be a musical reunion for you guys or do you still get together for projects often?

NS: Well, Jan has been pretty quiet, not really doing much at all, so when I reached out to him with The Calling, I didn't know if he would get back to me or not. I sent him the couple of tracks that he played on for the record and asked if he'd do a couple of solos and he never got back to me. But two weeks later, he sent a track to me that he'd played on. He's kind of like that, you know? This time, I reached out and I sent him the tracks and he had them for a few months before he actually played on them. I think he just wanted to sit on it and think about it for a while. He just smoked, completely smoked the tracks.

MR: Does Vortex musically come close to the Schon/Hammer days?

NS: Playing-wise, I think it's a step further than that. Everybody's playing is quite a few steps further than that. There's some stuff on here that's really on the ceiling. I think it's going to twist a lot of heads when this comes out, just from the performances. Everybody's on top of their game on this record. There are no vocals, it's just instrumental. Right now, I have eighty-five minutes worth of music, so it's a double CD.

MR: Neal, you're pretty famous for being a member of Journey, but your time with Santana is pretty important as well. And lately, you've gotten together with Carlos to make some music together.

NS: I love playing with Carlos and the guys. It was so much fun, and we're going to do more. Carlos has a very busy schedule as well as me this year. When we get off tour in September or maybe closer to November, we're supposed to both be off and we'll go back in the studio again around that time and cut some more stuff. We went in the studio and had nine tracks before we both went on tour. This stuff sounds amazing and we know what we both need to come up with after listening to that. We cut a lot of stuff that was sort of inside the box and song-oriented, very good. But Santana is known for the other side as well, so I think we're going to go back in and get a little more outside and up tempo. We'll do about four tracks like that. When I talked to Carlos, we were both on the same page. I love going back and getting into that music, that's some of my favorite music ever.

MR: When you get together with Carlos or Paul Rodgers or any other artists, do you soak in what happens during the experience playing with them and take it into your own projects?

NS: Absolutely! You're as good as the people who you're in the room with. That's what I've always found. I'll sound completely different as a guitarist playing with different people. When I play with Paul, because I was a big fan of Free, I go more towards blues and my roots, more of a flashed-up Paul Costas. I was a big fan of his playing, so it's a natural thing to hear from me because as a kid, I was turned on to Free and that's imbedded in my system. I'll never forget that stuff.

MR: And a couple of your other stops along the way were being in Bad English and HSAS.

NS: Yeah, I love all those projects. Bad English, we were extremely successful for a brand new band. John Waits was a tremendous singer and we had some great songs. I actually went back and listened the other day and was like, "Wow, this is a Goddamned good band." We didn't quite see eye-to-eye on where we wanted to travel musically, which I think inevitably broke up the band. But our first record was very strong. The second record is very good, too. We went through a very weird recording process with producers and stuff during that record, it wasn't as smooth. The first record was very easy.

MR: Where do you feel Journey is heading? Is there a game plan when it comes to Journey or, at this point, are you guys just getting together to have fun?

NS: We are talking about getting together and recording a new record. We just don't know quite what we're going to do. I think musically, we know where we're going to go. We're not going to try and reinvent the wheel, yet we're not going to try and repeat anything we've done either. We did some experimental records back a ways, even with Steve Augeri. We had this record called Red Thirteen, it was this little EP, and then we did this record called Generations and Arrival. There are three records there and I feel like--maybe not all the way through the three records--there are some great songs there that could be redone, re-looked at and re-recorded with Arnel. That's one idea that I've been tossing around with Jonathan [Cain] and he sort of agrees with me. Once we get going and the music is going, I know that we'll write some brand new stuff as well. That's just a given.

MR: Here's a delicate question and it's out of curiosity, not gor gossip. You guys are on a great path with Arnel, but will Steve Perry fit into Journey's world anymore?

NS: I had been collaborating with Steve on a friendly basis just through email...it seemed like we were on a friendly basis. But he wasn't ready to get together and he isn't ready to get together. He's said numerous times now that there's no reunion and that he's not interested in doing anything like that. When Steve left, he wanted to do his solo thing and I think he remains there. We're fine, we're doing great the way we are. I don't think you've seen the massive crowds that we've had, but we've continued the legacy amazingly well. The door has always been open. I've approached him to work on a couple of things with me that were not even Journey-oriented, but he wasn't interested in doing it. It's fine, man. I wish him well and he says that he wishes us well.

MR: I've seen many iconic bands release projects that feature guest artists paying tribute to the older hits with re-recordings. Has that ever been a thought for Journey's catalog?

NS: Nah. We're not really interested in that. I think people resort to that when they really run out of steam and ideas. I've seen it happen. There are a lot of different artists that end up doing these records and it's whoever's album and it's everybody on the planet on the record except for that artist. Sure, I see it happen all the time, but I've never been interested in doing it solo-wise or in Journey.

MR: Neal, what advice do you have for new artists?

NS: It's a rough business out there. It's very, very difficult to get notoriety as a new artist. What I tell my son who's an amazing guitar player is just be seen as much as you can be seen, play wherever you can play and if you play well enough, I'd hit up every studio in the area and say you're available for session work and just play with as many people as you can play with and be heard. With the demise of record companies and even clubs... Smaller clubs are the place for a new artist to play because you can't play anything bigger than that with clubs for the most part. It's really rough, man, everything is in the digital domain. Try to make decent recordings and use what you have. With the new equipment out there, you can actually make a great-sounding record in your bedroom off a computer...Pro Tools and a computer. I think it's possible; the thing is just getting it out there. I think the best means of doing that is through all the media. Everything is media driven, It's so different than it used to be. You don't have record companies working it and A&R guys. It's very difficult.

MR: Is there any technology out there that you're liking these days?

NS: I love the Fractal unit that I'm using, the Axe-Fx. That unit is monstrous. I use it live, I use it in the studio, I have rows and rows of amplifiers, you can do studio effects on it, it's a pretty amazing piece of gear that you can plug in and use in any instance. You can be live, I can literally just leave without a back line, take that box and a small case and a couple of guitars and head to Europe or wherever and plug directly into a PA and have all my sounds there. Traveling light is really a great way to go. It's very road-trustworthy. I've used it on tour now for years and have never had a problem, which means everything.

MR: With The Calling, So U, and Vortex, it looks like you're ramping up the Neal Schon part of your career. Is that where you're heading now?

NS: It's inevitable that I'm going there, yeah. It's something I've been working at my whole career. It doesn't mean this is the demise of anything. It just means that I keep adding more and more to it and I will find a place to go do that solo stuff, and when I do a solo thing this time, I'm going to have so much material to pick from that's going to be brand new material and there's a lot of old stuff sitting there that I could also play. The main thing for me will be being able to put together the right band of whom I'm going to play with and have enough time set aside to actually rehearse and learn the stuff properly and put the show together. But at this point, I feel like when I do go out, I'm going to have monstrous material to play live. Most of it probably will be instrumental. I think that the So U record, if we were to do anything with that... It was really more a band record than a solo record, except for the instrumentals that are on it. But Deen is all over the place , he's doing so many projects. Marco's in like three or four bands. I'm going, "I don't know if I could put a band name on this record because I don't know if it will ever be a band," so I decided to make it a solo record featuring those guys. But if we were ever to do anything together, I think the band name would be So U.

MR: It must be hard to keep on a straight line with a solo career.

NS: With all the solo material I have out there now, I think the right thing to do before even trying to play any dates would be to do a live DVD in a controlled area, whether it be a studio or wherever, in front of a live audience. Do a live DVD and make sure it sounds really, really good and then you've got something for people to actually latch on to and watch and go, "Oh, I dig this," or "I don't dig it," and "I want to see that," or "I don't want to see it." That's kind of where my head's at.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-rago ... 62405.html

[Final Frontiers]

They interviewed all the members of HSAS. I only included Neal's here. It's a lot to copy and paste.




Neal Schon

Neal Schon’s idea of “taking some time to stop and smell the roses” is clearly different than most people’s. When he’s not on the road, chances are he’s locked himself into a studio somewhere to record another album or three. His tireless work ethic hasn’t changed a lot in the three decades since he found a bit of time to work on the HSAS project, in between touring and recording commitments with Journey — who, as you might recall, were rather insanely popular in 1983 when the HSAS idea was conceived:

Let’s talk about the HSAS project. How did it all come together?

Sammy had a little time period where he was off and so did I. I think we had about a month altogether or three weeks. We always wanted to collaborate and work on something together, because I’d been jamming with Sammy forever, you know? If he was in town, I’d go play with him, whether it was Winterland or even the Cow Palace in San Francisco. We usually would jam on a Montrose song like ‘Rock Candy.’

Then I played on a couple of Sammy’s records. We just decided to work together and do something and at that point, I suggested Michael Schrieve — because I wanted it to be a bit progressive and not so straight ahead. Michael did bring that to the table, which I was happy about. Kenny Aaronson, I’d seen him — he had opened up with Billy Squier numerous times for Journey in the ‘80s, so I thought Kenny was a very strong player and he had a cool vibe.

We just called the guys and we got together, pretty much like I did on these last two records. At that time, I had a rehearsal place in Oakland that Journey used for years and before that it was Graham Central Station, Larry Graham’s place. When Larry moved out of it, I took it over and basically Journey rehearsed all of the records there for years and years, before we would go in the studio. We’d get ready for touring in there. I went in there with Sammy, Kenny and Michael and we just started writing on the spot. We wrote for a week and then we rehearsed for a week, just playing all of the material from beginning to end like we were going to go play live because that’s definitely what we did. We went in the studio and added some overdubs at the end, but really pretty much it was [live]. We had two shows to get it right and some of it I think we got right, and some of it got close to being right.

So we recorded two shows and we played I believe, three shows. One was at the Warfield, a club in San Francisco, and then one was in Marin County and then one was in San Jose. I believe we used most of the San Jose show, if not all of it. You know, we threw it together. We wrote it in about a week and we rehearsed for a week and then we went and we played. That was that. Then Sam left me in the studio to mix everything. [Laughs.]

Watching the live video, the chemistry between the band was really evident. How long did it take for you guys to find the groove and for things to gel?


Really, no time at all. It was just a matter of trying to write very quickly and tighten up the arrangements. It was a lot to remember in two weeks, just to write it from nowhere and then arrange and rehearse it to where we could play live. Some of it could have been actually much better had we had a little bit more time. You know, [to] get in the studio before we went to play live. A lot of times I listen to it and I really love it, but I wish we would have went in and made a studio record. But it is what it is — it’s real. It’s definitely for real.
What led to the idea of recording the material live?
We thought it would be the quickest way to actually record. When you’re in the studio, obviously you work at things and try to get it sounding better, and we figured that nobody had the time to do that and by the time we would get back to it and [all] be available to work on something — nothing looked even remotely close for my schedule or Sammy’s, so we just chose to go live with it. We said, “It’s a live progressive rock record. Let’s just go live and what we get is what we get.” I kind of like it that it’s just kind of like, “Throw it out there and see what happens.”
Why do you think it was such a short-lived project?
Well, because of my schedule and Sammy’s schedule — and then of course, you know, Sammy got into Van Halen shortly after that, and it was really wild. [Eddie Van Halen] and I used to hang out all of the time when he was in town and this one particular night, I had just finished the record and I went to the Cow Palace to see Van Halen and we were hanging out because he wanted to go back to the hotel and hang and I said, “You know, I’ve got some new music I want to play for you.” He had a boombox in his room and we were hanging in there in his room partying and listening and he was like, “Who’s that vocalist?” I’m like, “That’s Sammy Hagar” — and he was like, “Wow, I’ve never heard of him before, but he sounds amazing.”
He kept on rewinding and going back and listening to one guitar riff over and over, and then the vocal over and over and the next thing you knew, it was the wee hours of the morning — like 6:00AM or something in his room. I drove home and he was moving on to the next city. [Then] the next thing you knew, Sammy was in Van Halen. It was wild. I think had I not played the material for Ed, it might not have come down like that, because he didn’t know who Sammy was at that point.
Then he went in and listened to all of the solo stuff and you started seeing him show up at Sammy’s gigs and jamming on some of his material shortly after that, after I had played him HSAS. Sam and I have talked about it and he said that he felt that had he never done the record with me that he didn’t know if he would have been prepared or ready to do a Van Halen record.



We can thank you for Van Hagar. I’ll give you a thumbs up for that.

You know, things happen because other things happen. That’s the way life is and that was a cool correlation. I always enjoy working with Sammy.

Years later after HSAS, you and Sammy got together to do the brief Planet US project. Was that a bit of an attempt to finish what you’d started with HSAS?

Well, you know, it was the beginning of a new era and it was wild, man. The two songs that I wrote with Sammy and recorded with Deen [Castronovo] and Michael [Anthony], I thought just sounded monstrous. We had the opportunity to play once. We played in the Bay Area at the Bammies and just ripped the place apart. I’m telling you, it was like nothing I’d ever seen, and I’ve played live with a lot of different bands at the Bammies.
This audience had never heard that material before and the place went ballistic when we got done playing those two songs onstage and I went, “Wow.” I was going, “This is really going to do something” and then Sam kind of started [saying] that we should add another guitar player just to make it big and fat — another name guitar player. So I recall that we were talking to Slash and I spoke to Slash a bunch of times.

That almost actually happened and then Slash was going to be doing what he was doing, and it just didn’t work out. I kept on mentioning to Sammy about Joe Satriani, and Joe and I being friends and that I thought Joe would be great. We did get together and we played a little bit. But it wasn’t happening in the studio where we went in Sausalito when we jammed together for the first time. It wasn’t the opportune place for us to hear each other and play. So it was kind of weird and my rig was kind of messed up. I don’t know what was wrong with it, but it just wasn’t what it could have been had we just gone into a regular rehearsal unit and kicked it around for a bit. But you know, there came Chickenfoot [years later] and before that, the only reason that Planet US didn’t happen was because Sammy went back into Van Halen (in 2004).


Read More: Sammy Hagar and Neal Schon's Forgotten Team-Up: The History of HSAS | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/hsas-int ... ck=tsmclip

[Pacfanweb]

Think Neal pretty much had that Hagar story wrong. That could not possibly have been the first time Eddie heard of Sammy...hell, they played on the same bill before, and Eddie even mentioned how he would go say "hi" to Sam and how Dave didn't like Sam even back then.

[Eric]

Think Neal pretty much had that Hagar story wrong. That could not possibly have been the first time Eddie heard of Sammy...hell, they played on the same bill before, and Eddie even mentioned how he would go say "hi" to Sam and how Dave didn't like Sam even back then.

I think he meant "heard"...as in "heard" Sammy sound like he did in HSAS...making him a good fit for VH...versus how "heard" in the 70's with Montrose and his first solo work?

[jestor92]

Think Neal pretty much had that Hagar story wrong. That could not possibly have been the first time Eddie heard of Sammy...hell, they played on the same bill before, and Eddie even mentioned how he would go say "hi" to Sam and how Dave didn't like Sam even back then.

I think he meant "heard"...as in "heard" Sammy sound like he did in HSAS...making him a good fit for VH...versus how "heard" in the 70's with Montrose and his first solo work?

If I'm not mistaken the Van Halen guys used to be big fans of the first Montrose cd with some guy named Sammy Hagar as the singer.

[tater1977]

Ronnie Montrose - Open fire Apr 3, 1978: New York City

http://youtu.be/Ow4jEuQosaY

[Jeremey]

Neal Schon

... [Eddie Van Halen] and I used to hang out all of the time when he was in town and this one particular night, I had just finished the record and I went to the Cow Palace to see Van Halen and we were hanging out because he wanted to go back to the hotel and hang and I said, “You know, I’ve got some new music I want to play for you.” He had a boombox in his room and we were hanging in there in his room partying and listening and he was like, “Who’s that vocalist?” I’m like, “That’s Sammy Hagar” — and he was like, “Wow, I’ve never heard of him before, but he sounds amazing.”

If you've ever hung out in a rock band hotel room after a show into the wee hours of the morning, it's entirely believable that Eddie may have said "Woah, I've never heard of him before ..." despite covering a Montrose song with Van Halen years before that, doing festivals and shows with Montrose, and even Sammy having a pretty big solo career before that point.

Eddie had heard Sammy and knew who he was long before then, but given that it's Eddie Van Halen and Neal Schon in a hotel room until 6 AM, I absolutely believe that Eddie would say he'd never heard of the guy before ...

Besides, it's always been one of those "facts" that Sammy and Eddie were introduced by their mutual Ferrari mechanic, right?

[Pacfanweb]

I think it was more of the mechanic telling Eddie he should call Sammy, not that he actually introduced them. He did give one of them the other's number, though.