Neal interview Fireworks mag

[stevew2]

I cant read the second page of this post,maybe its on its way to being locked.Thanks for posting the interview. I think it s another good example why Journey members should avoid interviews.

[brywool]

Regarding Generations- Augeri DID sing his ass off. Why should HE get the blame for what some term as a bad album?

Of course it sounds like Augeri sung his
ass off on Generations...
Pro-Tools and a few other high-end
components/computer plug-ins can do that
for anyone. You really think Paris Hilton or
Lindsay Lohan can really sing???

Deano, you can spin Neal's comment anyway you want, but the quote was "...that we've NEVER had before". He's completely mental if that's his thought process. For you to interpret that as "well, he meant the last incarnation" doesn't hold water with the quote.

Neal's exact words were,
" Also what he brings to the table that we've never had before is a very, very strong frontman – an entertainer – a guy who knows how to carry himself on stage and work an audience – he's real. A lot of singers just do the Vegas type thing – you know, they rehearse a show and they say exactly the same thing every night."

In a sense, he is right. Forget Augeri; most agree this statement would fit for him.
But with Perry this statement also makes a little sense.
Perry was phenominal, end of subject.
But even Perry fell into a stage "routine" where the same lines
were spoken to different crowds every night, what Neal refered to
as "Vegas". Perry was a truly great entertainer but he just wasn't as
spontaneous as Jeff is right now. Maybe after touring these tunes
for a few more years, Jeff will fall into that kind of routine (let's hope not).
But for right now, Neal's statement isn't far off.

Plus, you gotta admit, Jeff IS a very, very strong frontman...
That bastard could probably do curls with Perry and Augeri in each fist!

"Hello Cleveland!!! Look at these Pythons baby!!!"

Jeff's been in the band a few months. Perry was in it for years, Augeri was in it for years. At the beginning everyone says different stuff, then they use tried and tested banter. I'm sure eventually, Jeff will be the same with Journey. Gotta remember, the new car smell is still in the Journey mobile. Regarding Pro Tools- Lindsay and Paris sound like shit and you can hear the ProTools. With Augeri a lot of what was there was there from the recordings. ProTools cannot make a completely shit singer sound good. Also, MOST artists from Aerosmith to Styx use ProTools. It's a common studio tool. I never said Jeff wasn't a strong front man, but there's NO way he's better than Perry.

[JrnySuxBalls]

I never said Jeff wasn't a strong front man, but there's NO way he's better than Perry.

Perry then? Or Perry now?

Huge difference.

[yulog]

"We're also re-recording all our Greatest Hits and some of the more obscure songs that are on our big records, with Jeff in the studio. That's probably the first thing we'll put out'


Oh PLEASE! Not this again.....

Big mistake if they do --Neal makes the comment that perry is sort of living in the past, But re recording their old music is the same thing--living in the past, holding on to that crutch. Move foward ,start new, stop the BS!

Also lets see, last interview Neal says he doesnt hear anything when on stage so he didnt know of any lippin --but now he knows that Augeri was struggling for 4 years???

Sometimes i wish he would avoid the issue like hes done all along.

[ohsherrie]

If these men want my money and attendance they are
gonna have to put out something brand spanking new.
I'd be ok with one or two different versions of originals
but create some new tunes or I ain't buying.

I won't be buying it either Moon. In fact if they redo the classics it'll probably cool off a lot of the excitement I've been feeling for this new line up.

[Saint John]

Sherrie and Deb, please, for fucks sake!

He didn't bash Perry. This gets so old. Every fucking post has got to be turned into a dramatic Perry v Journey thread.

Tell me how he dissed Perry? What was untrue about that?

Come on already.

It IS a cheap shot. It would be JUST as bad for Perry to say "Yeah, there's old Neal. Guy can't hold a relationaship for too long so he has to tour making money OFF OF THE PAST to maintain a decent standard of living." Neal has done the SAME THING. He has toured off of the past for 8 straight years. Both guys are entitled to tour, master, re-master, re-re-master, til their hearts are content. They are simply entitled to that. I sense that Neal is frustrated that Perry won't get on board so Neal can have one more huge payday and not have to tour til he's 90. Why should Neal care about what the fuck Perry does? Because he wants Perry to line his pockets again, THAT'S why!!!

[Saint John]

I think what is really pissing Neal off is that whatever is repackaged and sold will outsell anything Journey ever does again. At least that has been the case up until now.

That before or after Arrival and Generations both charted Billboard? I respect your opinions so I have to assume it was exaggerating as I'm fairly certain none of the old albums reentered the Top 200 in either 96 or 06.

Arrival and Generations COMBINED haven't gone Gold. Perry-era albums have sold over 10 million since he left the band in 96. And say what you want, bring up your dumb Billboard shit, but Arrival and Generations were monstrous flops....with Generations being the worst Journey album of all-time. Pure shit. Neal has only now come to say that the vocals were "so so" which is WAY too much praise, and that the overall sound of the album was basically shit...which is also an understatement.

[Eric]

1) I'd like them to re-record some obscure/non hit songs (ex. Edge of the Blade) and give them another shot to radio, but not the GH...not even live. I would buy anything for my personal listening, but as a fan and marketing person, I'm not wholly on-board with a GH release. Hey ohsherrie - how would you feel if they were to re-release "Liberty" or "Edge of the Blade" or put JSS vocals on "With a Tear"? I guess I feel if Perry can work with some crappy punk band and re-do an obsure song (and make it worse), why can't the band Journey do the same with JSS and even update the song some? Ya know?

2) I was excited to hear Schon say they did record some stuff on tour on the bus. I'm pretty sure that we heard they hadn't previously.

3) I don't think from the video I've seen that Perry was as energetic as JSS is on stage. Comparing boots, JSS is very spontaneous. One of his first shows his spontaniety was amazing during the intro to Separate Ways...(PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER NOW SON!) I think it was meant more to be a compliment to JSS than a slam to Mr. P.

4) The comments about living in the past weren't completly unaided...that is, Schon didn't just spout that off...he was asked about Perry and pushed some. if I were ohsherrie I too would be bothered, but on the other hand what he said was indeed true. All in all, it probably would be better not to say things like that, but oh well. He likely sees an opportunity with Europe, to establish Journey without Perry in mind. Europe is a bit of a blank slate with regards to Journey. They put on a kick ass tour, talk about Perry in the past, put the current members in the best light, etc. It makes sense.

[Carlitto H@kk]

2) I was excited to hear Schon say they did record some stuff on tour on the bus. I'm pretty sure that we heard they hadn't previously.

Depends on who you know
Heard about this a long time ago.

And I like some of your 'obscure' song choices.
EOTB, Liberty, Dixie, Troubled Child, Homemade Love, Lovin' You is Easy...

[Eric]

Waiiiiiiit a second, what do you know? If someone has heard any clips, they best fess up!

[ohsherrie]

1) I'd like them to re-record some obscure/non hit songs (ex. Edge of the Blade) and give them another shot to radio, but not the GH...not even live. I would buy anything for my personal listening, but as a fan and marketing person, I'm not wholly on-board with a GH release. Hey ohsherrie - how would you feel if they were to re-release "Liberty" or "Edge of the Blade" or put JSS vocals on "With a Tear"? I guess I feel if Perry can work with some crappy punk band and re-do an obsure song (and make it worse), why can't the band Journey do the same with JSS and even update the song some? Ya know?

Eric, I've said before that I wouldn't object to them redoing some of the obscure tracks from the old albums or sessions. I don't think I'd like Liberty to be one of them, nor anything from TBF(excluding I Can See it in Your Eyes, I never liked that one) or ROR. That's just a personal thing with me though. Those are my favorites with Perry and I really wouldn't want to have them done by anyone else.

My biggest problem with it is having them redo the hits though. I see no point at all in it. Comments that Neal has made in the past about Perry, and even moreso now with the cracks in this interview, I see the redoing of them as just another way of Neal throwing a dig at Perry.

4) The comments about living in the past weren't completly unaided...that is, Schon didn't just spout that off...he was asked about Perry and pushed some. if I were ohsherrie I too would be bothered, but on the other hand what he said was indeed true. All in all, it probably would be better not to say things like that, but oh well. He likely sees an opportunity with Europe, to establish Journey without Perry in mind. Europe is a bit of a blank slate with regards to Journey. They put on a kick ass tour, talk about Perry in the past, put the current members in the best light, etc. It makes sense.

You're right, the question was leading, but all Neal had to do was say, yes, no or I don't know. He never seems to miss an opportunity to get shitty about Steve though. The best way for them to put Perry in their past is to quit talking about him and inviting comparison. And it definitely isn't going to happen by rerecording the hits that wouldn't even exist if not for Perry.

He said they wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for Augeri, hell they wouldn't have had anything to perform for the last 10 years if it hadn't been for Perry. How is Perry remastering the original hits rather than recording new music any more living in the past than their touring on them and rerecording them rather than new material? They wouldn't even have had a catalog to tour on if not for Perry, and now he wants to disrespect him completely in both words and deeds.


There were some encouraging things said in the interview, but they were totally overshadowed for me. I can see a few of those 10 replacements falling off the Journey train if they continue to do this.

[Red13JoePa]

I think what is really pissing Neal off is that whatever is repackaged and sold will outsell anything Journey ever does again. At least that has been the case up until now.

That before or after Arrival and Generations both charted Billboard? I respect your opinions so I have to assume it was exaggerating as I'm fairly certain none of the old albums reentered the Top 200 in either 96 or 06.

Arrival and Generations COMBINED haven't gone Gold. Perry-era albums have sold over 10 million since he left the band in 96. And say what you want, bring up your dumb Billboard shit, but Arrival and Generations were monstrous flops....with Generations being the worst Journey album of all-time. Pure shit. Neal has only now come to say that the vocals were "so so" which is WAY too much praise, and that the overall sound of the album was basically shit...which is also an understatement.

Well, the question was did anything repackaged in either 96 or 06 outsell arrival and gens.
Also, my theory is Neal is downplaying the vocals on Gens as groundwork to support the claim that his voice was infected.
You read the reviews of the record before tapegate broke and most of them agreed Augeri sounded better than he ever did in studio.

[brywool]

I never said Jeff wasn't a strong front man, but there's NO way he's better than Perry.

Perry then? Or Perry now?

Huge difference.

There IS NO Perry now...

[brywool]

I think what is really pissing Neal off is that whatever is repackaged and sold will outsell anything Journey ever does again. At least that has been the case up until now.

That before or after Arrival and Generations both charted Billboard? I respect your opinions so I have to assume it was exaggerating as I'm fairly certain none of the old albums reentered the Top 200 in either 96 or 06.

Arrival and Generations COMBINED haven't gone Gold. Perry-era albums have sold over 10 million since he left the band in 96. And say what you want, bring up your dumb Billboard shit, but Arrival and Generations were monstrous flops....with Generations being the worst Journey album of all-time. Pure shit. Neal has only now come to say that the vocals were "so so" which is WAY too much praise, and that the overall sound of the album was basically shit...which is also an understatement.

Not many classic rock bands do go gold these days. It's a different time and you can't compare todays sales to yesteryears. Internet sales aren't even counted and it's already been proven that internet sales account for about 80% of music sales now. The CD is dead.

[The_Noble_Cause]

For the record, I think Steve sounds great on all tracks of Generations, and this is coming from someone who owns not just the Journey stuff, but Tall Stories and his Tyketto albums. If his mysterious throat ailment in any way hamstrung the recording of the album, it certainly isn’t audible in the final product.
I think Steve threw himself into the songs more, with vocals sounding more impassioned than “Arrival”.
In some cases, like “Harm’s Way’, the dark edge on certain words raises his delivery above standard issue viscera-gripping operatics, with lyrics actually seeming poison tipped!

[YoungJRNYfan]

HMMM so they are re-recording the GH. Interesting..

[The_Noble_Cause]

"I just got out of the dentist's office, if I'm talking funny it'll be because my mouth is numb," says the guitarist apologetically.

Translation:
"I just received my bi-daily Botox injection and my cheeks are swollen, which is fairly poetic irony, since I now look as full of the shit I am about to verbally truncheon you over the head with."

If it wasn't for Steve Augeri we wouldn't be here eight years later – he helped us get to that plateau with his vocal ability and song writing – but in the end it's about the songs and conveying them to people who want to hear those songs."

Yup, great word for it, Neal.
With Augeri at the helm you guys truly had reached a seemingly interminable flat stretch with no foreseeable surprises or end in sight. Plateau, indeed.
Next time you’re asked, try damning yourself with other oxymoronic variants of faint praise such as,
“Thanks to Steve Augeri, we....

“..finally reached the summit of the bottom of the ocean!”

OR

“…..had the highest year-end county fair circuit revenue, narrowly beaten only by itinerant freak show mainstays like ‘Lady with a Beard’ and “Incredibly Tattooed Contortionist Guy!”

Feel free to contribute your own.

We're also re-recording all our Greatest Hits and some of the more obscure songs that are on our big records, with Jeff in the studio. That's probably the first thing we'll put out and then we'll come with a brand new record as well, and then we're coming back over to Europe to headline some festivals. How about that? We're headlining!"

Thatta boy, now you’re putting that wiry mop of unwieldy jew frizz to good use.

If so much as a hair's breath shot for this band to take charts by storm exists, this would be it.
Cultural relevancy through retreading the past - sounds crazy, no?
Just ask Rod Stewart.
Unfortunately that’s the wretched musical landscape in front of you.

There was nothing more to it than that, and people read into it that Augeri obviously couldn't sing and that's why everybody else was singing – it's so funny what people read into things and think they understand everything and what the reason is for it. It had nothing to do with that, we had all been singing and just said "You know what? Screw it, let's all sing a song on the record" - big deal!"

Oh yes, how silly of fans likes me to leap to such unconquerable-divide-like conclusions.
I mean, after all, we only had you complaining about Augeri on the song “Highest Ground”, industry veterans telling us that Augeri is waning, your own admission that songs were spread out nightly to lighten Steve’s work load etc. etc.
Why would anyone remotely think there was an ulterior explanation besides a band wanting to show off their criminally untalented vocal chops?

So Steve wasn't having any vocal problems at that time then?

"He's been having them for the last four years to tell you the truth,"

“Errr....uhh...I mean, that is to say, every year except for 2005. You got that? Let me hear the scurrying of the ballpoint pen as you write that. You better quote me on that. I have powerful friends in this industry. Did I mention I worked with Randy Jackson? If you do wrong by me, I will have him patronizingly Uncle Tom you to death. You got that, Dawg?
What was I talking about again-oh right, did I mention Augeri was riddled with problems every year except in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand Five Anno Domini?"

and Deen, our drummer, was saving him from night to night. Deen was singing all the high stuff – although Steve was singing along – and Kevin (Elson – producer and live sound engineer) was switching to Deen's microphone out front."

Any of these unscrupulous assholes ever hear of “No Comment” before?

[brywool]

Okay, I rarely agree with TNC as I think he takes a pretty harsh approach, but this line had me spitting my Diet 7 Up all over my computer keyboard

"Thatta boy, now you’re putting that wiry mop of unwieldy jew frizz to good use. "


Damn, that's some funny shit!!!

[JrnySuxBalls]

For the record, I think Steve sounds great on all tracks of Generations, and this is coming from someone who owns not just the Journey stuff, but Tall Stories and his Tyketto albums. If his mysterious throat ailment in any way hamstrung the recording of the album, it certainly isn’t audible in the final product.

I don't know, I heard it. The timing of some things seemed weird, and sometimes it sounded to me
as if he was out of breath support. I mean Pro Tools, Auto Tune & lots of compression can do so
much.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Okay, I rarely agree with TNC as I think he takes a pretty harsh approach, but this line had me spitting my Diet 7 Up all over my computer keyboard

"Thatta boy, now you’re putting that wiry mop of unwieldy jew frizz to good use. "


Damn, that's some funny shit!!!

Neal's not really of semetic origin. He's italian.
Michael Bolton's a thoroughbred heeb though.
Let's pick on him.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I don't know, I heard it. The timing of some things seemed weird, and sometimes it sounded to me
as if he was out of breath support. I mean Pro Tools, Auto Tune & lots of compression can do so
much.

I hear yah on the timing.
Many of the vocals sound like they were done in increments or in piecemeal.
That notwithstanding, I think he sounds good.

[perryfaithful]

Any of these unscrupulous assholes ever hear of “No Comment” before?

Well AMEN!

[Rockindeano]

HMMM so they are re-recording the GH. Interesting..

Frankly, I don't think you'll ever see it.

[perryfaithful]

Any of these unscrupulous assholes ever hear of “No Comment” before?

Well AMEN!

Over the years, I have often thought that Neal should keep a roll of duct tape on his person at all times for that very thing. Just tape it and go! The Hole he digs keeps getting deeper and wider. Interviews are not always his friend.

As Oh sherrie said, he does not often miss an opportunity to "get shitty" over Perry. No need, leave it alone, was a very good time for both of them.

Most important, there seems to be diehard friends of "Journey past" (CLASSIC Journey with Perry) who are rejoining the fold with the addition of Jeff (myself included) so give this some thoughtful consideration before dissing Perry in public.

[Rockindeano]

Any of these unscrupulous assholes ever hear of “No Comment” before?

Well AMEN!

You are such a sad person. Really, you need to go fuck yourself with a dildo cactus. I hope your fuckin head falls off..Just falls off. For no reason. The world would be a better place.

Really a sad person.

[junky]

Any of these unscrupulous assholes ever hear of “No Comment” before?

Well AMEN!

Over the years, I have often thought that Neal should keep a roll of duct tape on his person at all times. Just tape it and go! Hole keeps getting deeper and wider, adding tunnels now

Maybe he should use that sock of his.

[brywool]

Okay, I rarely agree with TNC as I think he takes a pretty harsh approach, but this line had me spitting my Diet 7 Up all over my computer keyboard

"Thatta boy, now you’re putting that wiry mop of unwieldy jew frizz to good use. "


Damn, that's some funny shit!!!

Neal's not really of semetic origin. He's italian.
Michael Bolton's a thoroughbred heeb though.
Let's pick on him.

This I know, but it was still funny.

[Moon Beam]

If so much as a hair's breath shot for this band to take charts by storm exists, this would be it.
Cultural relevancy through retreading the past - sounds crazy, no?
Just ask Rod Stewart.
Unfortunately that’s the wretched musical landscape in front of you.

Though I agree with your logic here I'll
still keep me my musical cash flow for another
if they do a whole CD of remakes.

[brywool]

I don't know, I heard it. The timing of some things seemed weird, and sometimes it sounded to me
as if he was out of breath support. I mean Pro Tools, Auto Tune & lots of compression can do so
much.

I hear yah on the timing.
Many of the vocals sound like they were done in increments or in piecemeal.
That notwithstanding, I think he sounds good.

I think these days vocals are done like that quite a bit. Do a bunch of takes and take the bits from each take to assemble decent vocal.
It's a drag for the singer, but it does get a better performance on record- Doesn't it Michael Riesenbeck???

[brywool]

If so much as a hair's breath shot for this band to take charts by storm exists, this would be it.
Cultural relevancy through retreading the past - sounds crazy, no?
Just ask Rod Stewart.
Unfortunately that’s the wretched musical landscape in front of you.

Though I agree with your logic here I'll
still keep me my musical cash flow for another
if they do a whole CD of remakes.

I'm with you MB. It's one thing to cover songs from the 40s by other artists, but to cover your own stuff again (other than a live album) is a waste. Maybe if Rod could get some good writers working for him again, he wouldn't have had to do those albums. Not to mention his throat cancer which sidelined his range for a while. (has that come back?) I haven't listened to Rod since Camouflage or the album after that.