onmyjrny wrote:Monker wrote:RedWingFan wrote:annie89509 wrote:The_Noble_Cause wrote:During the FTLOSM tour, Perry used to introduce "Missing You" by saying how he learned to accept the feeling of being without Sherrie in his life and that it was OK to simply miss someone. Acknowledge the feeling of loss without trying to act on it. He echoed similar sentiments about the band in Andrew's monster of an interview. Saying things, like, "I really do love the Journey guys and I know in their hearts they love me....Maybe we don't like each other that much, but we do love each other." Sounds like he's in a really good place. I would love to get a rebuttal from Herbie or Neal concerning Perry bringing the band back together for TBF. He makes it sound like the Chalfant-Rolie lineup wasn't ever in the works.
Monker, TNC...we may never know the true story. Don't know the exact timeline...but didn't SP do and come out with his solo record (FTLOSM) before the Chalfant-Rolie lineup was ever contemplated? My thoughts are this... when SP showed up at the Bill Graham tribute (1991), after several years of (perceived) seclusion and sang with JC/NS, people thought the band was back together. For all intents and purpose, Journey was SP/NS/JC as Ross and Smitty were previously dismissed last in '86. But, instead of getting back with the band, Steve went solo with a record in '94. Adding insult to injury (for the Journey folks), Steve proceeded to talk, then embarked, on a solo tour. This is when (I think) they started to get serious about reforming Journey with Kevin as the LS. Who knows?...maybe Sony didn't like the idea...maybe KC was used as a threat to get SP to come back. What we do know is...when SP made that call, Jon/Neal gladly took Steve back. That is an undisputed fact.
Add to that the fact that the only way Steve Smith was coming back was if Perry was involved. It was Perry that got Smith back into the band.
You guys are just flat out wrong.
The fact is the band, Neal, Jon, Steve Smith, Gregg Rolie, and Kevin Chalfant was together writing music. This lineup was first together at the Herbie Herbert roast which occurred while Perry was RECORDING FTLOSM...In fact that was his reason why he did not attend.
Steve Perry was even specifically asked about the Journey 'reunion/' without him in an interview (Kerrang?) and he said he knew about it and basically said the others had their time to be solo and do what they wanted to do outside of Journey, now it was his time to do his solo thing.
Then there is the FACT that during one of Perry's canceled Florida shows they had a band meeting to decide the future of Journey, who was going to be in the band. That is where it was decided that Perry was in and Gregg, Kevin and Herbie were out.
The phone call that Perry is always talking about may have been to get that meeting together and put forth his arguments and interests in being in Journey again...but the band, every other member, was already together without him.
But, that doesn't quite go with what Neal was saying at the time...that they were going to get Perry back in the band even if they had to hold him down and torture him...This was after the band meeting and I always felt that it was just PR bullshit and Perry was already in the band, and Neal knew it. But, it was a PR nightmare for Perry since his solo tour was still going at that time...but it was soon canceled and it was announced that he had joined the reunion.
Also, the Bill Graham tribute was not supposed to be billed as Journey. Neal did not like that at all...in fact he said that Journey was always: Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, AND Steve Smith, AND Ross Valory in a later interview,.
So, the phone call that got the band together is Perry's perspective on this...but it doesn't show the big picture of everything that was happening at that time. If you ignore all of the above, it makes it sound like Perry pulled the entire band back together with one phone call. That is frankly a fantasy and not true at all.
Jon AND Gregg were both going to be in Journey together? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I really wasn't following the band during this time. Are there any interviews anywhere about this time period?
There aren't a lot of interviews from this time.
This is about the only thing I've been able to find
http://www.melodicrock.com/interviews/k ... ant00.html
Kevin Chalfant:
I had been writing with Neal, Jonathan, and Gregg when the rumors were flying.
Steve Perry came back to make another record and Ross told me that they (Steve & Ross) had discussed me. He told Ross that he thought that I was a great singer, the feelings are mutual. After that record was released, the feelings about my involvement changed. I can't put my finger on any one thing. It doesn't really matter though.
My guess on the way everything went down was that Journey was facing significant pressure to reform without Perry from the record label, and big money got involved. It makes sense to go for the easy money if you believed that Perry would come back and stick around. Of course, that didn't exactly go to plan.
