Here's One For The Perry Fans

[Rockindeano]

What makes you think he sees them as successful?

How can he not? Very successful concert tour, press, interviews, et al. Perry is smart enough to know rock genre like Journey's has left never to return. This is about as good as it gets.

I'm just saying that what they're doing may not be what he thinks of as successful.

I beg to differ. You can't argue the numbers they are putting up, like the Styx peeps do.

What makes you think he would want to come back?

The thread was talking about reunions. I DO think he would love to comeback, but he has the enormous weight of the guilt he is shouldering from 86, and also, he just isn't good enough anymore.

He talks nostalgically about his days with the band, but that doesn't mean he would want to live it agai

If you can't really do it, I guess all you can do is relive it. it is sad tho.

Maybe he couldn't sing two or three shows a week

What, you want them to tour Friday and Sundays only if they reunited?

Pride, yeah, I think he has a lot of that.

I would hope so, but my guess is there was too much bullshit done by him to ever be overcome by him; hence the forever stalemate.

[fred_journeyman]

...I truly believe Neal HAS made the offer, the extension of the olive branch...

Me too. In fact, I think Neal has made numerous overtures towards Steve and he has been extremely frustrated by Steve's unwillingness to acquiese. At least in SOME cases, it's that frustration that has caused Neal to make remarks that he's probably regretted. I think most human beings when faced with constant and consistent rejection by someone they were close to get frustrated and do or say things that they wish they could take back.

If the main difficulty between Steve and Neal errupted because of Neal's wanting to go on with Journey whether or not Steve joined them (and Neal's preference was obviously to have Steve Perry as frontman), then Steve is holding a major grudge, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS ASKED TO REJOIN THE GROUP BEFORE THEY BEGAN LOOKING FOR A REPLACEMENT SINGER. The impression that Steve gave in the interview with Geoff is a bit incorrect (by omission) because he implies that they went behind his back to hire a new singer. I guess he could be referring to the pre-Trial By Fire days, but even so, HE was the one who was unavailable and nowhere to be found. So, IF that is the main reason, then Steve is angry (and feeling betrayed by Neal) because Neal/Jon asked Steve to rejoin the group, Steve said "No" then they asked Steve to let them go on. He did and then said "There's no coming back." I think it was at that point that Steve welded the door shut.

I also believe Perry wanted to somehow prove his importanve in the band by seeing them decline without his precense. Well, they kind of did, but not due to him; they declined along with the genre and the entire music industry. So now Perry sees they are successful again, and that pisses him off. In order for him to come back, a) he would have to sing, which he can't now....b) he would have to swallow a lot of shame, guilt and pride. Could he do it?

It could be. Certainly, it's difficult to argue against the fact that Journey today is more successful than when they first began with Augeri. Success is certainly relative, but there is no denying that Journey has made some significant gains since Augeri first stepped up to the mic. They've outlasted all their critics and they continue to tour and produce new music. So, comparing where they are today with where they were 6 or so years ago, it's easy to see success.

At the same time, Journey is not nearly as successful as they were during their prime, but I do agree with you that even if Steve Perry was with them, they still might not be as successful today as they were in their prime. Things have changed way too much in the music scene.

Fred

[fred_journeyman]

...I DO think he would love to comeback, but he has the enormous weight of the guilt he is shouldering from 86, and also, he just isn't good enough anymore...If you can't really do it, I guess all you can do is relive it. it is sad tho...

This is what I like about Bradley Delp. When my wife and I saw Boston in concert a few years ago, Brad could in NO way hit the highs at all. They had brought in Fran Cosmo prior to take up the slack and in concert, every time the highs were sung, Delp would good-naturedly go over to Fran and point to him (Fran) as the one who was hitting the highs that Delp USED to hit.

...my guess is there was too much bullshit done by him to ever be overcome by him; hence the forever stalemate.

Yep, that is the truly sad part of all of it, in my opinion. Steve Perry is an artist and a very creative one at that. However, I think he develops a real tunnel-vision when it comes to bringing projects to fruition. Since I've gotten back into acting as a part-time hobby, I've met some directors that I'd NEVER work with again because of they way they work on the set. They are tempermental, dictatorial, creative to a fault and they really have precious few people skills because all they see is the "project." They wind up grinding people into the ground for the sake of their project/art. It's not pretty.

Fred

[Rockindeano]

At the same time, Journey is not nearly as successful as they were during their prime, but I do agree with you that even if Steve Perry was with them, they still might not be as successful today as they were in their prime. Things have changed way too much in the music scene.

Fred

Well let's see......Journey's peers, Styx, REO, Kansas, Boston, Cheap Trick, Foriegner, Bad Co, and almost anyone else in the genre is BELOW what Journey is now. NONE of those bands can tour as big as Journey does now.

From the Jon and Neal interview, Neal says:
You know, there's a lot of people out there that wish they could be doing what we're doing that were around in the past, and they can't do it

Fred, saying they have improved vastly since the arrival of Augeri is a huge compliment to their professionalism and their work ethic. This improvement impresses me the most.


I think they way you summed up the break-up was dead on.

Look, Perry played hard to get, was cornered and asked to return, and said "no." That is hard to have living in you for 18 yrs. knowing the only real vehicle to get you back out into the spotlight, is sold out of seats.

[fred_journeyman]

...From the Jon and Neal interview, Neal says:
You know, there's a lot of people out there that wish they could be doing what we're doing that were around in the past, and they can't do it

Fred, saying they have improved vastly since the arrival of Augeri is a huge compliment to their professionalism and their work ethic. This improvement impresses me the most.

Yeah, I think they have made tremendous gains since Augeri's debut. I think they're loving life and thoroughly enjoying what they do. I also think that they are making MORE than a comfortable living and they deserve it. I wish them the best as they continue to move forward. I am amazed at their work ethic really. For 3 hours they played their hearts out for thousands of fans a few weeks back. They just don't seem to have grown tired of anything. The music is in their soul. I truly don't know how they do it night after night. They just look like they're having fun up there! I also think (and this is purely my opinion) that Augeri has finally hit his stride and has settled into the role of being frontman for Journey. He fits and he does a really great job at it. I listen to him on Generations and his vocals are much more fluid and solid than before.

I think they way you summed up the break-up was dead on.

Look, Perry played hard to get, was cornered and asked to return, and said "no." That is hard to have living in you for 18 yrs. knowing the only real vehicle to get you back out into the spotlight, is sold out of seats.

Do you think he really played hard to get? I'm more inclined to think that he didn't want to let go of Journey then and he said "no" (about rejoining) because he knew that he was not ready to get back on that "merry go-round" again. I think Steve P did the right thing by "allowing" the band to go on without him.

You know, Steve P obviously has deep emotions. Look at the lyrics of the songs he helped write or wrote. He dealt with the painful death of his mother, the lack of contact with his dad and numerous other heartbreaks. One person can go through that set of circumstances and not be affected the same way as another. I think Steve P has a good deal of pain in him that he's never really dealt with and it has affected him badly. I think that every time there's some new painful incident in his life, Steve P closed off a part of him that much more. For him to remain "on the outs" with Neal to me means that he (Steve) doesn't want to have to open the door to the pain of revisiting the situation again. For Neal, it would probably be a huge relief. For Steve P, he would have to deal with pain and anger to get to the relief. Of course, I'm just guessing at all this, but sometimes when I look at Steve P and read what he says, he just seems like a guy who never really learned to deal with the negatives that life tends to throw at you.

As I said before, I truly hope those guys work it out one day before it's too late to do anything about it.

Fred

[The_Noble_Cause]

And I do NOT believe he would gain any MORE success than Journey.

I think you're WAAAAAAY wrong. If Perry releases something of his own I guarantee it peaks high on the charts.

Pride, yeah, I think he has a lot of that.

No denying that.

Oh, he has plenty of that. Problem is he has no shame.

[The_Noble_Cause]

This is about as good as it gets.

Then god help us.
Journey can do better than they are doing.

[Rockindeano]

This is about as good as it gets.

Then god help us.
Journey can do better than they are doing.

NOT touring they can't.

[The_Noble_Cause]

This is about as good as it gets.

Then god help us.
Journey can do better than they are doing.

NOT touring they can't.

I mean, in general.

[ohsherrie]

How can he not? Very successful concert tour, press, interviews, et al. Perry is smart enough to know rock genre like Journey's has left never to return. This is about as good as it gets.

I beg to differ. You can't argue the numbers they are putting up, like the Styx peeps do.

Sugar, I'm just saying that what you may think of success and what "he" thinks of success may be two different things, regardless of the current climate.

The thread was talking about reunions. I DO think he would love to comeback, but he has the enormous weight of the guilt he is shouldering from 86, and also, he just isn't good enough anymore.

I just have to respectfully and lovingly disagree with you on this.

If you can't really do it, I guess all you can do is relive it. it is sad tho.

But, "doing it" is subjective. It would depend on what the people really expected him to do. Some would be so happy to see him that they wouldn't care about key and range.

What, you want them to tour Friday and Sundays only if they reunited?

Well, to be perfectly honest, I would rather them play a very abbreviated tour with Perry than any tour without him, but that's just me.

I would hope so, but my guess is there was too much bullshit done by him to ever be overcome by him; hence the forever stalemate.

There may have been a lot of bullshit done by a lot of people contributing to this circumstance. We just don't know the whole story, and we probably never will.