Kevin Shirley - The MelodicRock Interview

[RossValoryRocks]

Part of me agrees with those thoughts, part of me doesn't. As for the raw live feel of it, I love it. It DOES sound like EM and the guys live. Except for a couple songs that are a bit too heavy for my liking and IMO are just a bunch of showboating. But then Hey Man is my favorite album for pretty much a vocal reason, Eric's voice is out front and GREAT on that album, of course I like the songs too, but I think it's some of his best MB studio vocals. I think they had LOTS of songs, but it sounds like Kevin had a lot to do with what songs (i.e., this one sounds too much like this one, this doesn't sound like MB, etc...) that made it. It was nice to hear the props for 2 (Stranger In My Live & Kill Me With a Kiss) of the 3 that EM wrote.

As for Actual Size, loved it too, but I just knew this one was going to be much heavier with Paul and Billy competing again. And from interviews and footage(dvd) etc I've heard/seen recently, I have a feeling Billy is still the underlying Alpha dog in MB. Loved watching Paul and Eric (dvd) trade ideas back and forth on the song Nobody Takes The Blame. Just my opinion, but I would like to have seen more of EM's and PG's songs make the album. But either way, I'm still happy to be hearing something new from them again.

By all accounts I've read and heard, the band did have a great time recording the album. (Here's another new interview with Paul.) And I am very much looking forward to checking out the Making of DVDs. I love that kind of footage and wish more of my favorite bands did it.

Make no mistake, I am glad the boys are back and hope this will be the start of a cycle of new albums and tours. And MB with Kotzen was surely a different sound. But these are my initial thoughts....like I said, I am hoping this album grows on me.

Most of all, I just don't understand why it was [b]absolutely necessary to cut the album in 10 days.[b/]

Money. Journey doesn't have alot of it. The overhead is astronomical, and these aren't the days of Escape and the 80's where Herbie had a money tree in the Nightmare back lot.

Cain is fine
Arnel is fine
Neal is probably living paycheck to paycheck
Ross is a line away from the soup kitchen (or a banana peel away from the grave)
Deen has Ferrari's he could sell.

No offense to anyone, but I love people commenting on things they just aren't applying common sense to in regards to Journey, especially the money situation.

While certainly NOT pulling the money in they did back in the heyday, I would wager they all make more money than anyone posting here, and are doing rather well.

Touring makes a LOT of money for bands...A LOT of money, MILLIONS...Journey has been succesfully touring for most the last 12 years or so, and I doubt they are hurting, even Neal will the alimony payments.

You and Steveo missed my point. The individual members don't buy the studio time. I KNOW they all do quite well, Stu and Steve. My point was the band(Azoff Mgt), does not have a ton of allocatred funds for Journey studio time. They aren't Bon Jovi or Metallica. Journey is not a high earning band any more where they can afford 6-8 months in thre studio. You know that Stu.

Your right I missed it your point, you are correct Azoff doesn't allocate a ton of money for Journey to record...then again after the success of Revelations (They made a ton on the album), perhaps that has changed? I don't know for sure but I suspect it might be so.

I am not so sure they made a ton on Revelation. It was a solid figure by Walmart, yres? Meaning, it didn't matter if they sold 80 units or 800K, their money was up front. Now, the fact that they did sell an ok number of units probably bodes well for this upcoming release..meaning WM may do it again because Journey sold a fair amount of records.

I mean Journey as a whole organization made a ton of money. The figure I heard was some thing on the order or $5 per album sold... and that is after paying everyone out (Wal Mart, Azoff, production and studio time, video etc). I would define that as a TON of money for a band like Journey that is no longer the super group of the 80's. IMHO of course.

[jestor92]

My question with the Wal Mart release is would they want Journey to release anything else to back the new album like they did with the last album? Revelation sold well, but you have to ask how much of that was attributed to a live dvd and a cd full of classic tracks?

[Saint John]

Part of me agrees with those thoughts, part of me doesn't. As for the raw live feel of it, I love it. It DOES sound like EM and the guys live. Except for a couple songs that are a bit too heavy for my liking and IMO are just a bunch of showboating. But then Hey Man is my favorite album for pretty much a vocal reason, Eric's voice is out front and GREAT on that album, of course I like the songs too, but I think it's some of his best MB studio vocals. I think they had LOTS of songs, but it sounds like Kevin had a lot to do with what songs (i.e., this one sounds too much like this one, this doesn't sound like MB, etc...) that made it. It was nice to hear the props for 2 (Stranger In My Live & Kill Me With a Kiss) of the 3 that EM wrote.

As for Actual Size, loved it too, but I just knew this one was going to be much heavier with Paul and Billy competing again. And from interviews and footage(dvd) etc I've heard/seen recently, I have a feeling Billy is still the underlying Alpha dog in MB. Loved watching Paul and Eric (dvd) trade ideas back and forth on the song Nobody Takes The Blame. Just my opinion, but I would like to have seen more of EM's and PG's songs make the album. But either way, I'm still happy to be hearing something new from them again.

By all accounts I've read and heard, the band did have a great time recording the album. (Here's another new interview with Paul.) And I am very much looking forward to checking out the Making of DVDs. I love that kind of footage and wish more of my favorite bands did it.

Make no mistake, I am glad the boys are back and hope this will be the start of a cycle of new albums and tours. And MB with Kotzen was surely a different sound. But these are my initial thoughts....like I said, I am hoping this album grows on me.

Most of all, I just don't understand why it was [b]absolutely necessary to cut the album in 10 days.[b/]

Money. Journey doesn't have alot of it. The overhead is astronomical, and these aren't the days of Escape and the 80's where Herbie had a money tree in the Nightmare back lot.

They were talking about Mr Big, who were allocated all of 2 weeks to cut their album. You are talking about Journey. Pay attention!

[Saint John]

I am not so sure they made a ton on Revelation.

Well, I am! The band made 7 dollars for each unit sold in the U.S., making Revelation a monstrous monetary success. If you think that's wrong, just ask Drewsky.

their money was up front.

I believe that, too, is incorrect. I am sure Jeremey was able to track the album's success and sales numbers by his royalty checks. In fact, I remember him giving a specific number for a quarter of sales.

Now, the fact that they did sell an ok number of units probably bodes well for this upcoming release..meaning WM may do it again because Journey sold a fair amount of records.

Who's top dog in Walmart's stable? Perhaps it's Journey. The Eagles and AC/DC are the only other acts (I think) that have outsold Journey with Walmart exclusives, and when will they be releasing another album? Perhaps in a few years ... or never. If Journey can continue to move 500,000+ units, you might see a nice bi-annual realtionshp form between these two.

[brywool]

So here is MY question. Something I've pondered for years. WHY? All this lost ability from a guy who supposedly took pristene care of his voice. WHY? Was it the 8-year lay off between ROR and FTLOSM? WHY? I mean between losing his breath in the middle of notes, to not being able to reach notes, to even his voice cracking....What's the deal here? WHY?

I mean you gotta expect, as an artist, to feel the pressure to tour for the latest album. If it's all about ego, and perfection - and we all know this guy don't sign off on anything until he goes over each note with a fine-toothed comb, I can see the non-tour. But even he screws up on things like that. I swear he intentionally put Neal's guitar riff at the beginning of DSB on GH Live very low in the mix(after Steve says, 'Neal')...so he is known, at least in that instance to change things. If you compare Houston to GHL it is blatant. Anyway....you gotta expect to tour. It just irks me to 'know' that he recorded knowing he wasn't going to tour....

WHY?

In those days, steroid use (the shot kind) was prevalent on tours. Journey's tours had tons of shows and tons of shows in a row. I remember a Showtime special where Steve said "I provide myself with preventative medicine" when asked how his voice could stand up. That was during the Departure tour. It's open to speculation what that was, but there weren't and aren't a lot of medicinal things out there that will keep your voice in shape. There just aren't. There are, however, things that can be done once you've overworked it. I know, even today, a lot of people opt for the steroid shots. Supposedly, if it's not over done, then you can get away with it (I'm skeptical about that). But man, with the kinds of tours that Journey was doing, and the range of those songs, I cannot imagine that he was not using steroids.

Doing a ton of shows like that compounds vocal fatigue. At some point it builds up to the point where you have to take a bit of time off just to shut up and let the swelling in your vocal chords go away. The only other way to get rid of it is steroids that I know of. Trust me, though I'm no brilliant singer, but I've tried to find the secret to 'singing every day at your best' without "help" since I first started performing as a kid and I'm an old dude now. The one way that you can POSSIBLY avoid this is by proper vocal technique. But you know, I've heard that for years and even with proper technique being used, people still get vocally fatigued. When you sing vocally fatigued, you have to work harder to 'get there'. Working harder, you push more. Pushing more will get you through the gig, but compound the swelling and it's a vicious circle. Add stress to that. Add age to that and you're GOING to have problems. Keep doing it and those problems become permanent.

Jeremey's the vocal God here, he can probably explain it better n me.

[slucero]

So here is MY question. Something I've pondered for years. WHY? All this lost ability from a guy who supposedly took pristene care of his voice. WHY? Was it the 8-year lay off between ROR and FTLOSM? WHY? I mean between losing his breath in the middle of notes, to not being able to reach notes, to even his voice cracking....What's the deal here? WHY?

I mean you gotta expect, as an artist, to feel the pressure to tour for the latest album. If it's all about ego, and perfection - and we all know this guy don't sign off on anything until he goes over each note with a fine-toothed comb, I can see the non-tour. But even he screws up on things like that. I swear he intentionally put Neal's guitar riff at the beginning of DSB on GH Live very low in the mix(after Steve says, 'Neal')...so he is known, at least in that instance to change things. If you compare Houston to GHL it is blatant. Anyway....you gotta expect to tour. It just irks me to 'know' that he recorded knowing he wasn't going to tour....

WHY?

In those days, steroid use (the shot kind) was prevalent on tours. Journey's tours had tons of shows and tons of shows in a row. I remember a Showtime special where Steve said "I provide myself with preventative medicine" when asked how his voice could stand up. That was during the Departure tour. It's open to speculation what that was, but there weren't and aren't a lot of medicinal things out there that will keep your voice in shape. There just aren't. There are, however, things that can be done once you've overworked it. I know, even today, a lot of people opt for the steroid shots. Supposedly, if it's not over done, then you can get away with it (I'm skeptical about that). But man, with the kinds of tours that Journey was doing, and the range of those songs, I cannot imagine that he was not using steroids.

Doing a ton of shows like that compounds vocal fatigue. At some point it builds up to the point where you have to take a bit of time off just to shut up and let the swelling in your vocal chords go away. The only other way to get rid of it is steroids that I know of. Trust me, though I'm no brilliant singer, but I've tried to find the secret to 'singing every day at your best' without "help" since I first started performing as a kid and I'm an old dude now. The one way that you can POSSIBLY avoid this is by proper vocal technique. But you know, I've heard that for years and even with proper technique being used, people still get vocally fatigued. When you sing vocally fatigued, you have to work harder to 'get there'. Working harder, you push more. Pushing more will get you through the gig, but compound the swelling and it's a vicious circle. Add stress to that. Add age to that and you're GOING to have problems. Keep doing it and those problems become permanent.

Jeremey's the vocal God here, he can probably explain it better n me.

Actually.. you pretty well nailed it... I had the same discussion from my vox teacher years ago. The only real way to heal the voice is rest...

[sniper16]

some points to be made:
journey could record thier version of sgt pepper, dark side of the moonor nevermind, and they would be lucky to sell 1/2 million cds, would get no mainstream airplay to speak of. not a knock just the way it is for 99% of bands not of this era.

as for the time recording, this isnt the 80's bands dont rent studios for 6 months to record, a month is major recording time now.

without labels footing the bill, bands are more aware of the expense to themselves. also with mo true label or a&r guy to anser to, they show up with 12 songs cut them, maybe write something on the spot and go with it, no outside people to answer to usually means a record with one or two really good songs , and the rest filler(some of better quality than others)

as for direction of this recording, i think red 13 shows the style neal has preferes this band be all along.

as for steve being alpha dog, when he joined the band was alreading changing thiere style(i bet if neal answered truthfully he would have preferd then to stay in thier jazz/fusion/rock style) and thier manager was running the show, usually someone has to make decisions in a band and someone steps up, and get resented for it, everything was smooth(to some extent)until raised on radio when steve took over.

the journey machine makes millions a week on tourso if anyone of them has monet issues shame on then. but they make more money now then then, except on publishing from airplay.

im sure kevin is right, if steve perry wanted to return to journey, he could, but dont think for a minute, that if he didthey would all of a sudden become a stadium band, or have a huge selling cd,and become media darling, look at the eagles, acdc and chickenfoot to a lesser extent. the eagles sold well thru walmart (4/6 million maybe) but didnt get widespread massive mtv/radio, and struggled in stadiums on weekends last year ever with country superstar support, acdc did solid sales, huge arena shows, but didnt much radio past the first single, even the bonjovis and guns and roses of the worlddont get much radio past a first single unless there label barters or pays for it.

kevin s sounds like he works fast gets a decent preformance and delivers on budget, its sad songs dont have as much time or outside inout to grow past the bands vision anymore( remember the a&r guy dosent hear a single)

[brywool]

Hopefully, it's a good album. For some reason, I have the opinion that it's going to be Red 13 all over again, which was incredibly dull. I hope not.
Kevin's comments sure don't lead one to believe that it is a great record coming. If I were Neal, I'd circle back with Kevin and say "Now, that we're out of a tense environment, and we can think about this objectively- what would you do different?".
And then maybe put the band back into the studio to get it right. Afterall, as someone said earlier, this is a permanent record. It needs to be as good as it can be. Neal and Cain need to realize that BOTH of their approaches are NECESSARY for a good Journey record. Too bad they couldn't WRITE with Perry, but that would never happen.

Knowing Neal and co, they're probably not too happy that Kevin has inadvertently left this impression out there (that the album is below par).

Oh, and at least they are doing a new album. Hey Styx, pay attention!

[Jana]

Hopefully, it's a good album. For some reason, I have the opinion that it's going to be Red 13 all over again, which was incredibly dull. I hope not.
Kevin's comments sure don't lead one to believe that it is a great record coming. If I were Neal, I'd circle back with Kevin and say "Now, that we're out of a tense environment, and we can think about this objectively- what would you do different?".
And then maybe put the band back into the studio to get it right. Afterall, as someone said earlier, this is a permanent record. It needs to be as good as it can be. Neal and Cain need to realize that BOTH of their approaches are NECESSARY for a good Journey record. Too bad they couldn't WRITE with Perry, but that would never happen.

Knowing Neal and co, they're probably not too happy that Kevin has inadvertently left this impression out there (that the album is below par).

I so agree. I've always been worried this is a completely hardrock album for the most part with some Eastern vibe. Not my style. I like, as Saint John said, some mid tempos and a couple ballads on my Journey albums. There needed to be compromise for this album. If there wasn't, it won't be my kind of album because I don't want a completely hard rock album. Kevin has stated in a previous interview there were opposing forces and one wanted it to be hard rock and the other more ballads.

Of course, in Andrew's interview he sounds bitter because he was fired. But if he wasn't available, he wasn't available and they had to move on and finish it. But he had stated early on there were opposing forces in the band and it wasn't an easy gig for him. Cain can be too sappy, so glad to see Neal is stepping it upand hopefully more energy in the songs rockwise. But I hope he doesn't have a vision that has obliterated the complete sound of Journey. Jon's post a month or so ago sounded enthusiastic about the album, so maybe things cleared up on that front and compromise did happen. But odd Kevin won't say a word about the quality of the album or anything about it. Strange. But maybe that just comes from being left out of the loop in the mixing of the album.

The bottomline is, though, there needs to be great, well-written, catchy songs with great hooks and melodies. In the end, that's all that matters.

[Saint John]

they're probably not too happy that Kevin has inadvertently left this impression out there (that the album is below par).

I never got that impression. Where did he say that? The only real coments he made about the album where very positive ... but he was still hired at that point.

[brywool]

they're probably not too happy that Kevin has inadvertently left this impression out there (that the album is below par).

I never got that impression. Where did he say that? The only real coments he made about the album where very positive ... but he was still hired at that point.

well, the fact that he doesn't talk about it. Although, maybe he's just not talking about it cuz he got the boot.

[timstar78]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

[Rick]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

Yep, it's just a change in media. If you don't roll with the changes, you're lost.

[slucero]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

Yep, it's just a change in media. If you don't roll with the changes, you're lost.

Ya that made no sense... that whole comment about "Music being made in bedrooms".... homemade music in general I think was his point...

I seem to remember a fella named Tom Scholz who engineered a pretty popular album in his basement...

[portland]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

Yep, it's just a change in media. If you don't roll with the changes, you're lost.

Ya that made no sense... that whole comment about "Music being made in bedrooms".... homemade music in general I think was his point...

I seem to remember a fella named Tom Scholz who engineered a pretty popular album in his basement...

I heart Boston!!!

[Rick]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

Yep, it's just a change in media. If you don't roll with the changes, you're lost.

Ya that made no sense... that whole comment about "Music being made in bedrooms".... homemade music in general I think was his point...

I seem to remember a fella named Tom Scholz who engineered a pretty popular album in his basement...

Yep, and I remember the story about how the record company insisted on them recording that in their studio, and they flew the guys out there and all the while released the songs recorded in the basement, fooling the music company. Or something like that. Which, obviously became, one of the most successful, debut albums of all time.

[slucero]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

Yep, it's just a change in media. If you don't roll with the changes, you're lost.

Ya that made no sense... that whole comment about "Music being made in bedrooms".... homemade music in general I think was his point...

I seem to remember a fella named Tom Scholz who engineered a pretty popular album in his basement...

Yep, and I remember the story about how the record company insisted on them recording that in their studio, and they flew the guys out there and all the while released the songs recorded in the basement, fooling the music company. Or something like that. Which, obviously became, one of the most successful, debut albums of all time.

Yup - the big studio days are over.... I've heard some pretty good stuff done by guys in their home studios...

Besides - it all gets KILLED when it gets converted to MP3's... and most people think 320 kbit is "high quality"...

[Rick]

"To hold something gives it value and when you are just looking at your iTunes—which computers are going to die like in 2 years anyway and you are going to loose it all and try to beg iTunes to get it back- you know, what value has that got? It doesn't hold the same value."

While I agree with the notion of owning physical product, this is certainly a ridiculous statement.

Yep, it's just a change in media. If you don't roll with the changes, you're lost.

Ya that made no sense... that whole comment about "Music being made in bedrooms".... homemade music in general I think was his point...

I seem to remember a fella named Tom Scholz who engineered a pretty popular album in his basement...

Yep, and I remember the story about how the record company insisted on them recording that in their studio, and they flew the guys out there and all the while released the songs recorded in the basement, fooling the music company. Or something like that. Which, obviously became, one of the most successful, debut albums of all time.

Yup - the big studio days are over.... I've heard some pretty good stuff done by guys in their home studios...

Besides - it all gets KILLED when it gets converted to MP3's... and most people think 320 kbit is "high quality"...

FLAC!!!! Love FLAC!!!

[S2M]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

[slucero]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

Take a 320 kbit file, a FLAC file, and a source file- and listen to it in a tuned room... you'll shit your pants..

[S2M]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

Take a 320 kbit file, a FLAC file, and a source file- and listen to it in a tuned room... you'll shit your pants..

The everyday music listener gets to do that when, again?

Exactly. Thanks for proving my point....

[slucero]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

Take a 320 kbit file, a FLAC file, and a source file- and listen to it in a tuned room... you'll shit your pants..

The everyday music listener gets to do that when, again?

Exactly. Thanks for proving my point....

I never said you were wrong dufus... but its not "shenanigans"....

[S2M]

Ok...if that is true, then all these MP3 players are actually encouraging compressed/shitty media. If you were allowed to put FLAC type files on an iPod - exactly how many songs could you fit on a 160g unit? 200? Not exactly a great marketing point.....

[Rick]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

LOL I know you're kidding. ANY fan of "sound". The thing that creates vibrations in the inner ear, wouldn't say something like that. Just say you're kidding and we'll all move along.

[S2M]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

LOL I know you're kidding. ANY fan of "sound". The thing that creates vibrations in the inner ear, wouldn't say something like that. Just say you're kidding and we'll all move along.

[Rick]

The common music fan wouldn't know lossless media from 128, 160, 192, or 320 - if their life depended on it....Myself, I think it is a load of crap. I'm sure there IS a physical difference...but whether or not you can HEAR the difference? Not sure....I call shenanigans!

LOL I know you're kidding. ANY fan of "sound". The thing that creates vibrations in the inner ear, wouldn't say something like that. Just say you're kidding and we'll all move along.

[slucero]

Ok...if that is true, then all these MP3 players are actually encouraging compressed/shitty media. If you were allowed to put FLAC type files on an iPod - exactly how many songs could you fit on a 160g unit? 200? Not exactly a great marketing point.....

I never said that either dumb fuck... lol..

What I said was:

Take a 320 kbit file, a FLAC file, and a source file- and listen to it in a tuned room... you'll shit your pants..

How you inferred all that other shit is a testament to good drugs or Xmas booze...

[Andrew]

Shirley refuses to talk about the J-boys at all, yet gushes about Mr. Big... even though they are MORE difficult to work with???


That says enough right there...

Kevin has no issues working with the MB guys.

[slucero]

Shirley refuses to talk about the J-boys at all, yet gushes about Mr. Big... even though they are MORE difficult to work with???


That says enough right there...

Kevin has no issues working with the MB guys.

I never thought he did... KS knows artists at this level can be/are "difficult".. hell that's usually part of what makes em great... that passion for what they hear in their music... he even alluded to Perry's perfectionism...

But while he noted MB's perfectionism... he was REALLY excited about the tunes!

What he didn't do is gush about the J-Boys... OR the new music...

Thats what I was referring to.. .

[Andrew]

Shirley refuses to talk about the J-boys at all, yet gushes about Mr. Big... even though they are MORE difficult to work with???


That says enough right there...

Kevin has no issues working with the MB guys.

I never thought he did... KS knows artists at this level can be/are "difficult".. hell that's usually part of what makes em great... that passion for what they hear in their music... he even alluded to Perry's perfectionism...

But while he noted MB's perfectionism... he was REALLY excited about the tunes!

What he didn't do is gush about the J-Boys... OR the new music...

Thats what I was referring to.. .

Well, in that case you are correct. I still have no clue as to the new tunes. Part 2 of the interview will reveal a kittle more of what is being debated here.