Andrew gets his Steve Perry interview..

[RedWingFan]

Pinheads have very small brains, thus the need for a smaller head ...

[Don]

Anything Is Possible falls off of the A/C chart after 6 weeks. I'm sure the band will play it next tour and complain about not getting any radio play.

[Yoda]

lol ...I'm just repeating what others created, Yoda ...I absolutely did not know I
was a loon until I joined!!

So, a loon is a Perry fan. A Soto Pop is a JSS fan, and a pinhead is an Arnel Pineda fan. I guess that leaves a "wiggler" a Steve Augeri fan, but I'm not sure how those fans got that name? I would have assumed something like an Augerian or something like that! So, if you're a fan of all of the above, what do you call those people? Impartial?

Someone may have to correct me, but ~
Loon came from a beautiful duck called a Perry Loon.
I feel certain that whomever attached the Perry Loon to the Perry Loons did so
because they are all beautiful, thin and a joy to be around!!

Wigglers are indeed Augeri Fans and I'm certain that is because
SA and his fans have a cute little wiggle when they walk, talk and/or
sing ...they can't help it.

Soto Pops are carbonated and full of life, they will fuckin explode
if you shake them up!!

Pinheads have very small brains, thus the need for a smaller head ...

Thank you MG for that explanation! You guys and gals here are very creative! I think I'm going to enjoy my time here!

[Deb]

lol ...I'm just repeating what others created, Yoda ...I absolutely did not know I
was a loon until I joined!!

So, a loon is a Perry fan. A Soto Pop is a JSS fan, and a pinhead is an Arnel Pineda fan. I guess that leaves a "wiggler" a Steve Augeri fan, but I'm not sure how those fans got that name? I would have assumed something like an Augerian or something like that! So, if you're a fan of all of the above, what do you call those people? Impartial?

Someone may have to correct me, but ~
Loon came from a beautiful duck called a Perry Loon.
I feel certain that whomever attached the Perry Loon to the Perry Loons did so
because they are all beautiful, thin and a joy to be around!!

Wigglers are indeed Augeri Fans and I'm certain that is because
SA and his fans have a cute little wiggle when they walk, talk and/or
sing ...they can't help it.

Soto Pops are carbonated and full of life, they will fuckin explode
if you shake them up!!

Pinheads have very small brains, thus the need for a smaller head ...

Thank you MG for that explanation! You guys and gals here are very creative! I think I'm going to enjoy my time here!

Love it MG! LingMAO at the Soto one. Then there's me (who falls into a few).........Perrylized/Sotomized/Martinized!

[Ehwmatt]

Just for the record, Adele now has 4 million units sold for a single disc release. Eclipse just hit 100k sold for their single disc effort.
Music sales continue their Summer growth spurt after two years of down trending.

But Adele has major support behind her. I don't see that from Journey's camp. In fact, by all accounts it seems the promo department completely lost the plot.

The chic has twice canceled her tour but the album continues to sell 100k a week. Journey had iTunes And Amazon on board with the Eclipse release, something that Revelation didn't have and still couldn't move product. Them just blowing it promotion wise was as big a reason for failure as any changes in the music market.

I think its pretty safe to say that Nomota thought the DSB factor was gonna be a big help and it was.. for the tour. At retail though, when you don't even promote the two largest music sellers in the country as selling your product, you are going to have issues (and no, Wal-Mart is not one of those two).

Adele gets played often on the top 40 stations, which are the stations that the majority of radio listeners tune into. Most of those listeners are youngin's, and while I don't have hardcore stats to support this, I would dare say most of those top 40 listeners are between the ages of 15 and 25 years old. And I would dare to say they are the ones who spend the most money on new music. Not many of those listeners are going to tune into an AC station unless they work in a grocery store or drug store. Those stations are the only ones where any new music from these bands have been played. Even those stations have played bands like Journey or Foreigner very sparingly. With that said, I still believe the ultimate promotion a band can ever have with new music is to have their stuff played on a top 40 station in regular rotation. If Journey was getting played like that on top 40 radio, I believe Eclipse would have sold a lot more.

Eh, it's unfair to characterize Adele as being a "youth T40" artist whose sales are attributable only to the bubblegum youth/music video factor. Like Michael Buble, she has cross-generational appeal (namely, talent and soul). Love or hate her/him, their music has qualities that appeal to listeners of ALL generations. The bottom line with Adele is that her album is selling because it's good and appeals to a wide cross-section of fans. Eclipse is neither good nor has those same cross-generational appealing aspects.

Eclipse fails to appeal not only in ways that might bring fans, but also in delivering a sound that will appease most typical classic fans of the band. Huge failure.

[Art Vandelay]

Name one successful Journey album that does not bear the name of Steve Perry.

Fuck, this is easier than killing cockroaches with a flame thrower. I'll name 2. TBF was a complete shit fest. The reunion was predicated on a lie, and the ensuing album cost the label a ton of money. They didn't recoup their cash and the tour never happened. It "shipped" a million and was certified Platinum, but the true number of albums sold didn't sniff a million. Then, we were treated to GH Live ... another shit fest that was rushed, in an attempt to toss out some of the water that the record label was taking on from TBF.

Hell, even ROR was a (relative) failure. 2 million albums for Journey was about 6 months worth of sales back then. While Bon Jovi and Def Leppard were putting out rock albums that moved 10+ million (and each sold 25+ million worldwide), (Steve Perry's 70's) Journey decided that they were going to step back into the 70's and, for the most part, try to sound like George Clinton and Sly And The Family Stone. That hostile takeover saw rock's most popular band sell albums at a mediocre clip. And don't start barking about Top 40 hits, because Herbie already pointed out that those were easily bought. But albums sold were a true barometer of success. Going from 8 million to 2 million because of one member's hostile takeover, never to tour again afterward, seems an awful lot like an album that would have been better served being named "Freedom" and having the band's real members and sound (pop rock) included.

Try rereading his question.

Epic failure on my part!

Regardless, the point stands that there were failures with him in the band (TBF, GH Live and to a lesser degree, ROR), as there were with his last 2 solo efforts ... one of which was so bad that the label scrapped it. There is a direct correlation with his declining voice, his mandated change of direction and their album sales. Just as there are with that declining voice and the advanced attempts to destroy the band (removal of members, removal of the manager, restructuring a viable Chalfant/Rolie touring lineup, which was predicated on a lie about touring). Much like Tapegate, hardly "classy" moments at all. But, hey, there was no blood spilled in the waning moments of The Soprano's!

Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste. Copy. Paste.

[Art Vandelay]

Oh and congrats Andrew! Definitely a long-overdue honor for you. Looking forward to reading it!

[musicfan17]

On the topic of record sales and promotions, here's my two cents...

If you went to a Journey concert this year and compared how Foreigner promotes all things related to the band, to how Journey promotes themselves it just leaves you shaking your head. There is no comparision. One band has screens with info about their double live CDs free promo downloads etc... Journey....ZIPPO. The fact that SP can do what he does to promote the Journey evergreen catalog and his two solo albums shows that (while I loved him as a singer, but have doubts about him in other areas) he can at least do something to promote the musci when he chooses to. Journey on the other hand has a weak PR staff. No one can tell me that they do even a fraction of what they can to promote themselves properly. Eclipse (I like it, but it's not Journey's typical formula, so many fans wont) is what Neal wanted to make, I don't think they expected to sell a milion copies, but with no PR and only 1-2 songs live, 100k is likely all their gonna get for sales.
The Journey is nearing it's end IMO.

I'm interested to read Andrew's interview, partly because SP rarely gives them and partly because any insight into my favorite melodic rock band and it's history is worth reading.

[steveo777]

Anyone notice similarities between the new guy and another Loon? Author something?

Yep, fucked up weird sick twisted charter member of the PSLOA changing names to create psuedo perry support.

Ok, excuse my newbie syndrome, but what the heck is PSLOA?

Perry Sycophant Loons Overboard Association?

[Yoda]

Anyone notice similarities between the new guy and another Loon? Author something?

Yep, fucked up weird sick twisted charter member of the PSLOA changing names to create psuedo perry support.

Ok, excuse my newbie syndrome, but what the heck is PSLOA?

Perry Sycophant Loons Overboard Association?

Ahhhh, gotcha! So, there's also a PSPOA, ASWOA, and a SSSOA?

[brywool]

On the topic of record sales and promotions, here's my two cents...

If you went to a Journey concert this year and compared how Foreigner promotes all things related to the band, to how Journey promotes themselves it just leaves you shaking your head. There is no comparision. One band has screens with info about their double live CDs free promo downloads etc... Journey....ZIPPO. The fact that SP can do what he does to promote the Journey evergreen catalog and his two solo albums shows that (while I loved him as a singer, but have doubts about him in other areas) he can at least do something to promote the musci when he chooses to. Journey on the other hand has a weak PR staff. No one can tell me that they do even a fraction of what they can to promote themselves properly. Eclipse (I like it, but it's not Journey's typical formula, so many fans wont) is what Neal wanted to make, I don't think they expected to sell a milion copies, but with no PR and only 1-2 songs live, 100k is likely all their gonna get for sales.
The Journey is nearing it's end IMO.

I'm interested to read Andrew's interview, partly because SP rarely gives them and partly because any insight into my favorite melodic rock band and it's history is worth reading.

Journey had the Eclipse album cover on those screens prior to the show and some during the show. I still maintain they should've been playing tracks off of it between bands... I don't really remember what they were playing other than the AC/DC track they play before going on. They could use that to promote the album for sure. Captive audience- give them a commercial for the new record. Not just a shot of the cover, but actual Clips with narration over the top. There's 1000s of folks there with nothing to do between bands- use that opportunity to market the new album.

Journey was on the Today Show (I've never seen Foreigner anywhere else but at a show. Never a video, barely a write up, etc.- Wait, I did see them advertising their acoustic show last year-THAT would be a good show).

YUP- Journey's promotional staff... something is not happening there. As for Journey's album format, before Escape, the band was much more of a rock band and weren't so ballad heavy (not the pre-Perry stuff, but the Rolie stuff) or ballad-dependent. Those albums sold "ok". It was after Cain joined that they really became that power-ballady type of band and as Neal said (and Jon too) they'd "done that so many times, let's try something different". I give them kudos for trying to break out of the mold. I can't tell you how many posts I read here about "Journey not rocking enough". Well, they went that way and it backfired on them unfortunately. I think had there been promotion behind it, it would've done pretty well. There are MUCH worse albums out there selling like hot cakes, and there are better albums that sold ZIP. That points to distribution and promotional errors (and of course the hipness factor)- at least to me.

[Behshad]

lol ...I'm just repeating what others created, Yoda ...I absolutely did not know I
was a loon until I joined!!

So, a loon is a Perry fan. A Soto Pop is a JSS fan, and a pinhead is an Arnel Pineda fan. I guess that leaves a "wiggler" a Steve Augeri fan, but I'm not sure how those fans got that name? I would have assumed something like an Augerian or something like that! So, if you're a fan of all of the above, what do you call those people? Impartial?

Someone may have to correct me, but ~
Loon came from a beautiful duck called a Perry Loon.
I feel certain that whomever attached the Perry Loon to the Perry Loons did so
because they are all beautiful, thin and a joy to be around!!

Wigglers are indeed Augeri Fans and I'm certain that is because
SA and his fans have a cute little wiggle when they walk, talk and/or
sing ...they can't help it.

Soto Pops are carbonated and full of life, they will fuckin explode
if you shake them up!!

Pinheads have very small brains, thus the need for a smaller head ...

Thank you MG for that explanation! You guys and gals here are very creative! I think I'm going to enjoy my time here!

Love it MG! LingMAO at the Soto one. Then there's me (who falls into a few).........Perrylized/Sotomized/Martinized!

Martin never sang for Journey

[Ehwmatt]

On the topic of record sales and promotions, here's my two cents...

If you went to a Journey concert this year and compared how Foreigner promotes all things related to the band, to how Journey promotes themselves it just leaves you shaking your head. There is no comparision. One band has screens with info about their double live CDs free promo downloads etc... Journey....ZIPPO. The fact that SP can do what he does to promote the Journey evergreen catalog and his two solo albums shows that (while I loved him as a singer, but have doubts about him in other areas) he can at least do something to promote the musci when he chooses to. Journey on the other hand has a weak PR staff. No one can tell me that they do even a fraction of what they can to promote themselves properly. Eclipse (I like it, but it's not Journey's typical formula, so many fans wont) is what Neal wanted to make, I don't think they expected to sell a milion copies, but with no PR and only 1-2 songs live, 100k is likely all their gonna get for sales.
The Journey is nearing it's end IMO.

I'm interested to read Andrew's interview, partly because SP rarely gives them and partly because any insight into my favorite melodic rock band and it's history is worth reading.

Journey had the Eclipse album cover on those screens prior to the show and some during the show. I still maintain they should've been playing tracks off of it between bands... I don't really remember what they were playing other than the AC/DC track they play before going on. They could use that to promote the album for sure. Captive audience- give them a commercial for the new record. Not just a shot of the cover, but actual Clips with narration over the top. There's 1000s of folks there with nothing to do between bands- use that opportunity to market the new album.

Journey was on the Today Show (I've never seen Foreigner anywhere else but at a show. Never a video, barely a write up, etc.- Wait, I did see them advertising their acoustic show last year-THAT would be a good show).

Foreigner's definitely been on TV shows. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2jU7pZvlI

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/good_day/09 ... -Day-AGAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nds9vwCB ... r_embedded (granted, foreign TV)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqRlomLfTmE - George Lopez show playing classics

http://www.tbs.com/video/index.jsp?oid= ... cid=186029 - George Lopez show pushing the "In Pieces" single from their new album

Face it: the Journey PR machine blows nuts.

[brywool]

On the topic of record sales and promotions, here's my two cents...

If you went to a Journey concert this year and compared how Foreigner promotes all things related to the band, to how Journey promotes themselves it just leaves you shaking your head. There is no comparision. One band has screens with info about their double live CDs free promo downloads etc... Journey....ZIPPO. The fact that SP can do what he does to promote the Journey evergreen catalog and his two solo albums shows that (while I loved him as a singer, but have doubts about him in other areas) he can at least do something to promote the musci when he chooses to. Journey on the other hand has a weak PR staff. No one can tell me that they do even a fraction of what they can to promote themselves properly. Eclipse (I like it, but it's not Journey's typical formula, so many fans wont) is what Neal wanted to make, I don't think they expected to sell a milion copies, but with no PR and only 1-2 songs live, 100k is likely all their gonna get for sales.
The Journey is nearing it's end IMO.

I'm interested to read Andrew's interview, partly because SP rarely gives them and partly because any insight into my favorite melodic rock band and it's history is worth reading.

Journey had the Eclipse album cover on those screens prior to the show and some during the show. I still maintain they should've been playing tracks off of it between bands... I don't really remember what they were playing other than the AC/DC track they play before going on. They could use that to promote the album for sure. Captive audience- give them a commercial for the new record. Not just a shot of the cover, but actual Clips with narration over the top. There's 1000s of folks there with nothing to do between bands- use that opportunity to market the new album.

Journey was on the Today Show (I've never seen Foreigner anywhere else but at a show. Never a video, barely a write up, etc.- Wait, I did see them advertising their acoustic show last year-THAT would be a good show).

Foreigner's definitely been on TV shows. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2jU7pZvlI

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/good_day/09 ... -Day-AGAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nds9vwCB ... r_embedded (granted, foreign TV)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqRlomLfTmE - George Lopez show playing classics

http://www.tbs.com/video/index.jsp?oid= ... cid=186029 - George Lopez show pushing the "In Pieces" single from their new album

Face it: the Journey PR machine blows nuts.

Cool, thanks Matt! I don't watch Lopez.

[Ehwmatt]

On the topic of record sales and promotions, here's my two cents...

If you went to a Journey concert this year and compared how Foreigner promotes all things related to the band, to how Journey promotes themselves it just leaves you shaking your head. There is no comparision. One band has screens with info about their double live CDs free promo downloads etc... Journey....ZIPPO. The fact that SP can do what he does to promote the Journey evergreen catalog and his two solo albums shows that (while I loved him as a singer, but have doubts about him in other areas) he can at least do something to promote the musci when he chooses to. Journey on the other hand has a weak PR staff. No one can tell me that they do even a fraction of what they can to promote themselves properly. Eclipse (I like it, but it's not Journey's typical formula, so many fans wont) is what Neal wanted to make, I don't think they expected to sell a milion copies, but with no PR and only 1-2 songs live, 100k is likely all their gonna get for sales.
The Journey is nearing it's end IMO.

I'm interested to read Andrew's interview, partly because SP rarely gives them and partly because any insight into my favorite melodic rock band and it's history is worth reading.

Journey had the Eclipse album cover on those screens prior to the show and some during the show. I still maintain they should've been playing tracks off of it between bands... I don't really remember what they were playing other than the AC/DC track they play before going on. They could use that to promote the album for sure. Captive audience- give them a commercial for the new record. Not just a shot of the cover, but actual Clips with narration over the top. There's 1000s of folks there with nothing to do between bands- use that opportunity to market the new album.

Journey was on the Today Show (I've never seen Foreigner anywhere else but at a show. Never a video, barely a write up, etc.- Wait, I did see them advertising their acoustic show last year-THAT would be a good show).

Foreigner's definitely been on TV shows. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2jU7pZvlI

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/good_day/09 ... -Day-AGAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nds9vwCB ... r_embedded (granted, foreign TV)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqRlomLfTmE - George Lopez show playing classics

http://www.tbs.com/video/index.jsp?oid= ... cid=186029 - George Lopez show pushing the "In Pieces" single from their new album

Face it: the Journey PR machine blows nuts.

Cool, thanks Matt! I don't watch Lopez.

Neither did I. He's mercifully been cancelled. But my god, what an annoying guy.

[RedWingFan]

Neither did I. He's mercifully been cancelled. But my god, what an annoying guy.

He's a big illegal immigrant supporter. I'm sure Tito's a fan.

[Don]

Neither did I. He's mercifully been cancelled. But my god, what an annoying guy.

He's a big illegal immigrant supporter. I'm sure Tito's a fan.

He moved out of his time slot to get Conan on board the network. Didn't exactly work out for old George.

[Navarro]

There seems to be a real cognitive dissonance for some fans when it comes to SP. The guy was a very large part of writing the classic songs people love, yet he gets bashed.

Oh yea and it's a real love in for Schon, Cain and Pineda here.

LOL. The position of "lead singer of Journey" receives a special kind of scrutiny and critique. You can find good performances on youtube of all of lead singers (GR, SP, SA, JSS, DC, and AP). Journey simply has an almost unreasonable, rabid fanbase. You better have thick skin if you sing for Journey.

Their music has brought me enough happiness that I try not to be a dick about every move they make or every note they play. Trust me, I have good enough ears that I could. Who cares, if they are charting? Most of the music that is charting is total crap with absolutely no musicianship. They have been to the top. Journey just needs to be Journey.

[Gideon]

Anyone notice similarities between the new guy and another Loon? Author something?

Yep, fucked up weird sick twisted charter member of the PSLOA changing names to create psuedo perry support.

No, Andrew even said they're not the same person.
I was referring to how they incorporate quotes into their arguments.

[Red13JoePa]

They're all the same to me Gideon.
The whole handful

Didn't realize no one in the world has more than 1 computer either.

[Gideon]

They're all the same to me Gideon.
The whole handful

There are a couple of professed Loons out there that I not only like but view as different from the rest. TRAGchick {Nora, right?} a great example. Diehard Perry fan who doesn't feel the need to cut down the rest of the band and a genuinely nice person. She seems like the Loon incarnation of Chubby.

Didn't realize no one in the world has more than 1 computer either.

To assume facts not in evidence is to be a Loon, my friend. Best not to go down that road. He who fights monsters and all that...

[escapefan]

Congrats on the interview Andrew! Looking forward to the read.

[TRAGChick]

They're all the same to me Gideon.
The whole handful

There are a couple of professed Loons out there that I not only like but view as different from the rest.
TRAGchick {Nora, right?} a great example. Diehard Perry fan who doesn't feel the need to cut down the rest of the band and a genuinely nice person. She seems like the Loon incarnation of Chubby.

Oh my....I've been called out!! \~/

Thank you very much; that's very nice....

Over the years, I've realized that the reason I fell in love with Journey in the first place is because of Steve Perry.
I fully realize that he came in way after Neal Schon's vision of a Band...

....but, Steve is the one who grabbed me.

...And gave me the confidence to become a Lead Singer myself.
Cheers to that! \~/

[AR]

This is a great coup for MR and Andrew.

However, you know Perry isn't going to give much, if anything.

If Wombat can even get a few nuggets out of him it will be most impressive. And if anyone can it's him, but Perry has said the same thing over and over again for years. Not expecting to hear the kind of awesome stuff Herbie did in his interviews (which were the most revealing)

[Andrew]

It will be online in about an hour.

[perryswoman]

Awesome andrew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gideon]

They're all the same to me Gideon.
The whole handful

There are a couple of professed Loons out there that I not only like but view as different from the rest.
TRAGchick {Nora, right?} a great example. Diehard Perry fan who doesn't feel the need to cut down the rest of the band and a genuinely nice person. She seems like the Loon incarnation of Chubby.

Oh my....I've been called out!! \~/

Thank you very much; that's very nice....

Over the years, I've realized that the reason I fell in love with Journey in the first place is because of Steve Perry.
I fully realize that he came in way after Neal Schon's vision of a Band...

....but, Steve is the one who grabbed me.

...And gave me the confidence to become a Lead Singer myself.
Cheers to that! \~/

It's great to see that the band and its members have made a profound mark in the lives of regular people.
And your views on Perry are understandable, but more impressive to me is how you express them. I honestly and completely respect it.

[Jeremey]

It will be online in about an hour.

LOL so much for a reasonable bedtime for me.

[tater1977]

MelodicRockAndrew McNeice





Site has just melted down. Will get server reset and upload interview in 30mins.

4 minutes ago

[Voyager]

Wow, great interview Andrew! I just read it all. I knew it had to be hard on Steve when Journey toured with new singers. He said it was the hardest time of his life... I can only imagine... it would be like the Elvis band touring with a new Elvis while Elvis was still alive!