Cain/Schon Billboard Interview

[The_Noble_Cause]

On the Hall of Fame...

"I think there always has been an opening for us," Schon explained. "Basically Steve [Perry] has not wanted to do it. I think he probably wants to wait until he releases his solo record, which is supposed to come out this year and is probably why I'm hearing that we're supposed to get in this year."

On a possibly symphonic release, like their Hollywood Bowl show...

"It was unbelievable; people were just blown way," Cain recalled. The show was slated to be recorded and filmed, but those plans were scuttled after drummer Deen Castronovo's drug and domestic assault arrest a week before the show, with Omar Hakim filling in. Now, Cain said, "We want to repeat [the show] over in Europe somewhere and capture it on a DVD. There's a couple of symphonies I'm contacting."

On Deen Castronovo....

"It was a true tragedy for me because I love my brother Deen," Schon said. "Unfortunately the demons got the worst of him. But everything happens for a reason. it was truly time for him to work on himself and get himself straight."


More at the link
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... teve-perry

[The_Noble_Cause]

Gotta love these two contradictory quotes from Cain.

"The music business has taken a dive and new music today almost doesn't make sense," he said. "We have a lot of songs we have to play right now. We have, like, four albums that people barely know. Why make an album if you're lucky 100,000 people buy it. It's very expense for us to make a product like that. It's very costly and we can't make the money back."


VS.

"I was doing a country thing, but God wouldn't let me in the door with that one," Cain said. "I'm really proud of this and I had a blast doing it. The lyrics came quickly; I must've written it in four or five months. It's amazing how good it came out and I'm really excited about it."

Cain will be lucky if his evangelical snake-wrangling CD sells even a fraction of what Eclipse did. What a bible-thumping hypocrite.

[Journey/Survivor]

There are bands and solo artists that still record new albums that sell a fraction of what a new Journey album would sell. I don't hear them complaining.
I honestly don't know that recording a new album is as expensive as it used to be? Or at least I don't think that it has to be as expensive?

[tj]

There are bands and solo artists that still record new albums that sell a fraction of what a new Journey album would sell. I don't hear them complaining.
I honestly don't know that recording a new album is as expensive as it used to be? Or at least I don't think that it has to be as expensive?

My thoughts exactly. Most of the bands that Andrew features on his website can't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on producing an album. Yet they crank them out. Even Neal's solo work is prolific. I can't imagine that Neal Schon, solo artist, can get more money upfront to produce an album than Journey.

Jon may believe that making any album that sells like Eclipse did isn't worth the damage to the Journey brand. Maybe Journey can't afford to pay Shirley or a top level producer. I would think that their concerts are generating enough cash flow for the band to put out something, though.

[Art Vandelay]

On the Hall of Fame...

"I think there always has been an opening for us," Schon explained. "Basically Steve [Perry] has not wanted to do it. I think he probably wants to wait until he releases his solo record, which is supposed to come out this year and is probably why I'm hearing that we're supposed to get in this year."

On a possibly symphonic release, like their Hollywood Bowl show...

"It was unbelievable; people were just blown way," Cain recalled. The show was slated to be recorded and filmed, but those plans were scuttled after drummer Deen Castronovo's drug and domestic assault arrest a week before the show, with Omar Hakim filling in. Now, Cain said, "We want to repeat [the show] over in Europe somewhere and capture it on a DVD. There's a couple of symphonies I'm contacting."

On Deen Castronovo....

"It was a true tragedy for me because I love my brother Deen," Schon said. "Unfortunately the demons got the worst of him. But everything happens for a reason. it was truly time for him to work on himself and get himself straight."


More at the link
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... teve-perry

Not sure if I buy the 'Perry not wanting to do it' reason for the Hall of Fame. There was a lot of 'probably' sprinkled through that assumption. I'm not coming to bat here for Perry...the sad fact is that their genre of music doesn't get acknowledged in the HOF. And they're in really good company. Seems like the whole nucleus of the band is turning into one big cluster%&$# as of late. It's obvious that Cain and Schon are ready to go into their own creative directions, especially with the heat that the Santana reunion has produced...I just don't think either are ready to pull the plug yet. From a creative standpoint...maybe it is time? Let everyone follow their passion and be happy with it. Based on all of the recent comments, makes me wonder of Smitty is regretting that he put his own career on hold to deal with this? Yeah, probably not, but there is a lot of bickering as of late.

[FamilyMan]

On the Hall of Fame...

"I think there always has been an opening for us," Schon explained. "Basically Steve [Perry] has not wanted to do it. I think he probably wants to wait until he releases his solo record, which is supposed to come out this year and is probably why I'm hearing that we're supposed to get in this year."

On a possibly symphonic release, like their Hollywood Bowl show...

"It was unbelievable; people were just blown way," Cain recalled. The show was slated to be recorded and filmed, but those plans were scuttled after drummer Deen Castronovo's drug and domestic assault arrest a week before the show, with Omar Hakim filling in. Now, Cain said, "We want to repeat [the show] over in Europe somewhere and capture it on a DVD. There's a couple of symphonies I'm contacting."

On Deen Castronovo....

"It was a true tragedy for me because I love my brother Deen," Schon said. "Unfortunately the demons got the worst of him. But everything happens for a reason. it was truly time for him to work on himself and get himself straight."


More at the link
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... teve-perry

Not sure if I buy the 'Perry not wanting to do it' reason for the Hall of Fame. There was a lot of 'probably' sprinkled through that assumption. I'm not coming to bat here for Perry...the sad fact is that their genre of music doesn't get acknowledged in the HOF. And they're in really good company. Seems like the whole nucleus of the band is turning into one big cluster%&$# as of late. It's obvious that Cain and Schon are ready to go into their own creative directions, especially with the heat that the Santana reunion has produced...I just don't think either are ready to pull the plug yet. From a creative standpoint...maybe it is time? Let everyone follow their passion and be happy with it. Based on all of the recent comments, makes me wonder of Smitty is regretting that he put his own career on hold to deal with this? Yeah, probably not, but there is a lot of bickering as of late.

There is no change here. They're responding to questions being asked by reporters. The answers are the same as they've been. Journey is a job for these band members. It keeps them out of the red, pays the bills, and allows them to live the lifestyle they want and go off and do the various projects which excite them. And Smitty, by all accounts, is enjoying himself with the best paying gig he's had in 30 years.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Art - This is not the first time Neal has gone off to do side projects. It is also not the first time Jonathan has complained about not doing new music. And as Neal stated, Santana 4 proves that new music by older groups can still sell.

[Yoda]

Gotta love these two contradictory quotes from Cain.

"The music business has taken a dive and new music today almost doesn't make sense," he said. "We have a lot of songs we have to play right now. We have, like, four albums that people barely know. Why make an album if you're lucky 100,000 people buy it. It's very expense for us to make a product like that. It's very costly and we can't make the money back."


VS.

"I was doing a country thing, but God wouldn't let me in the door with that one," Cain said. "I'm really proud of this and I had a blast doing it. The lyrics came quickly; I must've written it in four or five months. It's amazing how good it came out and I'm really excited about it."

Cain will be lucky if his evangelical snake-wrangling CD sells even a fraction of what Eclipse did. What a bible-thumping hypocrite.

It's not hypocritical when you consider Christian music is a lot more inviting to an artist like Jon Cain. The Christian music scene has a very wide range of ages who listen to it. Anywhere from the teens to senior citizens. Having said that, Jon could probably sell ten times the amount of albums in a Christian music genre as he could if he released a secular solo album. He could also write and perform with some of the biggest names in Christian music and sell millions of records. The genre has taken off in the last ten years and has become huge.

Where as a band like Journey, at this point, doesn't get any radio airplay. No rock bands really get radio airplay on top forty anymore, and top forty radio is really where it's at in terms of getting your music out to the masses. So, I can definitely understand where Cain is coming from in this respect. Not to mention that what he's writing now is obviously near and dear to his heart and who he is nowadays.

[Art Vandelay]

Art - This is not the first time Neal has gone off to do side projects. It is also not the first time Jonathan has complained about not doing new music. And as Neal stated, Santana 4 proves that new music by older groups can still sell.

Oh, I know...my comment about the internal cluster&%$# wasn't geared towards them doing other projects, but just the weird internal vibe as of late. You even pointed out – and questioned – in another post that Neal urged the rest of the band to dig deeper into their catalogue via a letter. That's pretty odd right there.

[perryfan61]

What...the HOF were just waiting for SP to do another solo album before they would let the band in!!?? I find that hard to believe. What possible difference would that make to Journey as a band?

[JourneyHard]

Gotta love these two contradictory quotes from Cain.

"The music business has taken a dive and new music today almost doesn't make sense," he said. "We have a lot of songs we have to play right now. We have, like, four albums that people barely know. Why make an album if you're lucky 100,000 people buy it. It's very expense for us to make a product like that. It's very costly and we can't make the money back."

This is why Journey should have only ten songs on their next CD. If money is the problem, maybe they should just have nine songs. Three ballads and six rockers! Everybody would be happy.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Gotta love these two contradictory quotes from Cain.

"The music business has taken a dive and new music today almost doesn't make sense," he said. "We have a lot of songs we have to play right now. We have, like, four albums that people barely know. Why make an album if you're lucky 100,000 people buy it. It's very expense for us to make a product like that. It's very costly and we can't make the money back."

This is why Journey should have only ten songs on their next CD. If money is the problem, maybe they should just have nine songs. Three ballads and six rockers! Everybody would be happy.

What about just an EP? Do something. Geez. Since Eclipse came out, I think Neal released like 4 albums.

[tj]

There are bands and solo artists that still record new albums that sell a fraction of what a new Journey album would sell. I don't hear them complaining.
I honestly don't know that recording a new album is as expensive as it used to be? Or at least I don't think that it has to be as expensive?

My thoughts exactly. Most of the bands that Andrew features on his website can't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on producing an album. Yet they crank them out. Even Neal's solo work is prolific. I can't imagine that Neal Schon, solo artist, can get more money upfront to produce an album than Journey.

Jon may believe that making any album that sells like Eclipse did isn't worth the damage to the Journey brand. Maybe Journey can't afford to pay Shirley or a top level producer. I would think that their concerts are generating enough cash flow for the band to put out something, though.

Andrew, what's the cost to produce a decent album for a band like Journey?

[JourneyHard]

What about just an EP? Do something. Geez. Since Eclipse came out, I think Neal released like 4 albums.

I agree. If they can come up with four or five songs that are solid, that would be awesome.

[ScarabFan]

What about just an EP? Do something. Geez. Since Eclipse came out, I think Neal released like 4 albums.

I agree. If they can come up with four or five songs that are solid, that would be awesome.

Just do what Augeri does and release one every six months or so. Promote it heavily on social media and on the official website and include it in the set just before and after it's released. It won't cost a lot (Cain's argument) and it will satisfy us diehards.