Neal Interview

[FamilyMan]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertai ... /84062372/

[The_Noble_Cause]

Great interview. Thanks for posting, FM.

On the prospects of a new album...

"I’d love for that to happen. That’s the first I’m hearing of it. (Laughs) We’re on tour this whole year. But I’ve been writing. I do have quite a lot of ideas. They’re just ideas but that’s how I like it. It’s better to bring in sketches and ideas. That way you get the intermingling of the band, and other people put their input in which in the end gives you that finished picture. That’s what makes the band sound like it does."

Further on in the interview, Neal says he wrote a letter to his band mates urging them to dig deeper in their catalog. Why does this require a letter?

[tj]

Great interview. Thanks for posting, FM.

On the prospects of a new album...

"I’d love for that to happen. That’s the first I’m hearing of it. (Laughs) We’re on tour this whole year. But I’ve been writing. I do have quite a lot of ideas. They’re just ideas but that’s how I like it. It’s better to bring in sketches and ideas. That way you get the intermingling of the band, and other people put their input in which in the end gives you that finished picture. That’s what makes the band sound like it does."

Further on in the interview, Neal says he wrote a letter to his band mates urging them to dig deeper in their catalog. Why does this require a letter?

I wondered that myself. Perhaps before they got together to begin rehearsals for the tour?

[George_g888]

When asked what songs could get dropped in the setlist, Neal responded with:

"My feeling is we have a lot of ballads. For whatever reason. You know, Jon Cain is the premiere ballad writer. He’s always been. But I feel like a lot of records can be very ballad-heavy. And too many ballads — they’re all great songs; don’t get me wrong — but you can’t put them all in a set. We already have hit ballads that we have to play. Otherwise, fans, they get pissed. But you can only have so many slow songs in a set. Otherwise, I feel like we put people to sleep. As well as myself. I certainly don’t want to go to sleep on stage."

This is an ignorant comment. The only ballads Journey has been playing in their setlist for quite sometime is "Faithfully" and "Open Arms." He is talking as if Journey plays a lot of ballads in their set, and nowadays thats just not true.

[The_Noble_Cause]

This is an ignorant comment. The only ballads Journey has been playing in their setlist for quite sometime is "Faithfully" and "Open Arms." He is talking as if Journey plays a lot of ballads in their set, and nowadays thats just not true.

Whose Crying Now is pretty much a ballad.

[FamilyMan]

This is an ignorant comment. The only ballads Journey has been playing in their setlist for quite sometime is "Faithfully" and "Open Arms." He is talking as if Journey plays a lot of ballads in their set, and nowadays thats just not true.

Whose Crying Now is pretty much a ballad.

As is "Send Her My Love" which has also become a mainstay of the set.

[Journey/Survivor]

When asked what songs could get dropped in the setlist, Neal responded with:

"My feeling is we have a lot of ballads. For whatever reason. You know, Jon Cain is the premiere ballad writer. He’s always been. But I feel like a lot of records can be very ballad-heavy. And too many ballads — they’re all great songs; don’t get me wrong — but you can’t put them all in a set. We already have hit ballads that we have to play. Otherwise, fans, they get pissed. But you can only have so many slow songs in a set. Otherwise, I feel like we put people to sleep. As well as myself. I certainly don’t want to go to sleep on stage."

This is an ignorant comment. The only ballads Journey has been playing in their setlist for quite sometime is "Faithfully" and "Open Arms." He is talking as if Journey plays a lot of ballads in their set, and nowadays thats just not true.

Actually, I tend to agree with Neal, and am extremely happy to see him say that! I just hope that he does truly mean it!
There are just way too many hits in the set list each night, and too many of them are not Rocking enough.

"Open Arms" and "Faithfully" may be the only true ballads that they play at each show, but a number of their other hits have at least portions of the songs that are ballad-ish.

During the Augeri years, I used to get so excited to go to a Journey show. Now it's pretty much like I feel "obligated" in a way to go to a Journey concert. Obviously I don't literally have to go. But I hate the idea of skipping a show that's in my area. Especially since it could be my last chance to ever see them again.
I just don't get excited for the shows anymore. It's in no way the fault of Pineda.
The problem is that I'm sick of seeing/hearing the exact same performances of the exact same songs concert after concert.
They should have been playing way more non-hits all along. Especially Rockers.
Deen should have been doing a drum solo at each show. Ross should be doing a short bass solo at each show.
Neal should be doing like two guitar solos at each show as far as I'm concerned.
Cain should be playing a synth solo for a change instead of always piano solos.

They need to make the shows exciting again, instead of just the same old hits performed the exact same way night after night.
I haven't even bought a ticket for the show in my area yet. And when I do, it's just going to be a lawn ticket.
It's getting hard to justify spending any more money on the same exact "boring" show time-and-time-again.

[George_g888]

When asked what songs could get dropped in the setlist, Neal responded with:

"My feeling is we have a lot of ballads. For whatever reason. You know, Jon Cain is the premiere ballad writer. He’s always been. But I feel like a lot of records can be very ballad-heavy. And too many ballads — they’re all great songs; don’t get me wrong — but you can’t put them all in a set. We already have hit ballads that we have to play. Otherwise, fans, they get pissed. But you can only have so many slow songs in a set. Otherwise, I feel like we put people to sleep. As well as myself. I certainly don’t want to go to sleep on stage."

This is an ignorant comment. The only ballads Journey has been playing in their setlist for quite sometime is "Faithfully" and "Open Arms." He is talking as if Journey plays a lot of ballads in their set, and nowadays thats just not true.

Actually, I tend to agree with Neal, and am extremely happy to see him say that! I just hope that he does truly mean it!
There are just way too many hits in the set list each night, and too many of them are not Rocking enough.

"Open Arms" and "Faithfully" may be the only true ballads that they play at each show, but a number of their other hits have at least portions of the songs that are ballad-ish.

During the Augeri years, I used to get so excited to go to a Journey show. Now it's pretty much like I feel "obligated" in a way to go to a Journey concert. Obviously I don't literally have to go. But I hate the idea of skipping a show that's in my area. Especially since it could be my last chance to ever see them again.
I just don't get excited for the shows anymore. It's in no way the fault of Pineda.
The problem is that I'm sick of seeing/hearing the exact same performances of the exact same songs concert after concert.
They should have been playing way more non-hits all along. Especially Rockers.
Deen should have been doing a drum solo at each show. Ross should be doing a short bass solo at each show.
Neal should be doing like two guitar solos at each show as far as I'm concerned.
Cain should be playing a synth solo for a change instead of always piano solos.

They need to make the shows exciting again, instead of just the same old hits performed the exact same way night after night.
I haven't even bought a ticket for the show in my area yet. And when I do, it's just going to be a lawn ticket.
It's getting hard to justify spending any more money on the same exact "boring" show time-and-time-again.

They need to mix the setlist up during the tour. There is no reason they should have the same setlist from the first gig to the last.
There is no reason songs like La do da, Escape, Be Good To Yourself and Only the Young and maybe 1 or 2 more I can't think of should be in the setlist EVERY NIGHT. They have good up tempo songs like Girl Can't Help It, Suzanne, Message Of Love, The Party's Over, Line of Fire etc that never ever get touched.

[Eric]

When asked what songs could get dropped in the setlist, Neal responded with:

"My feeling is we have a lot of ballads. For whatever reason. You know, Jon Cain is the premiere ballad writer. He’s always been. But I feel like a lot of records can be very ballad-heavy. And too many ballads — they’re all great songs; don’t get me wrong — but you can’t put them all in a set. We already have hit ballads that we have to play. Otherwise, fans, they get pissed. But you can only have so many slow songs in a set. Otherwise, I feel like we put people to sleep. As well as myself. I certainly don’t want to go to sleep on stage."

This is an ignorant comment. The only ballads Journey has been playing in their setlist for quite sometime is "Faithfully" and "Open Arms." He is talking as if Journey plays a lot of ballads in their set, and nowadays thats just not true.

Actually, I tend to agree with Neal, and am extremely happy to see him say that! I just hope that he does truly mean it!
There are just way too many hits in the set list each night, and too many of them are not Rocking enough.

"Open Arms" and "Faithfully" may be the only true ballads that they play at each show, but a number of their other hits have at least portions of the songs that are ballad-ish.

During the Augeri years, I used to get so excited to go to a Journey show. Now it's pretty much like I feel "obligated" in a way to go to a Journey concert. Obviously I don't literally have to go. But I hate the idea of skipping a show that's in my area. Especially since it could be my last chance to ever see them again.
I just don't get excited for the shows anymore. It's in no way the fault of Pineda.
The problem is that I'm sick of seeing/hearing the exact same performances of the exact same songs concert after concert.
They should have been playing way more non-hits all along. Especially Rockers.
Deen should have been doing a drum solo at each show. Ross should be doing a short bass solo at each show.
Neal should be doing like two guitar solos at each show as far as I'm concerned.
Cain should be playing a synth solo for a change instead of always piano solos.

They need to make the shows exciting again, instead of just the same old hits performed the exact same way night after night.
I haven't even bought a ticket for the show in my area yet. And when I do, it's just going to be a lawn ticket.
It's getting hard to justify spending any more money on the same exact "boring" show time-and-time-again.

I'd say 2001, 2005 and 2009 is where they mixed up the set the best for my taste; including from show to show, what type of set it was, number of new songs...and re-styled solos+jamming. 1998 and 2008 were good as well.