Neil Schon: ‘The door is always open

[tater1977]

Neil Schon: ‘The door is always open for Steve Perry to return to Journey’

August 24 2012

http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news ... um=twitter


Journey guitarist Neal Schon has revealed to Classic Rock that a reunion with the band’s former singer Steve Perry is still a possibility.

Perry was Journey’s lead vocalist between 1977 and 1987 and later rejoined the band for the 1996 album Trial By Fire. But since 1998, Journey have continued with different singers: first Steve Augeri, then Jeff Scott Soto, and finally Arnel Pineda, who has been the band’s frontman for four years.

Nevertheless, Schon says he is not ruling out the idea of Journey reuniting with Perry.

“I can’t talk about the future because I don’t have a crystal ball,” Schon says. “But I can say that if Steve Perry wanted to come back and do some kind of reunion tour, I think it would have to be in a time zone when we are feeling like we’re done. He’s certainly welcome to come and join us on stage any night that he would like. If he wants to come and do one song, half a song, a quarter of a song… anything would be fine with the band, I know that. The door is always open. We’ve always loved the guy and Arnel is such an amazing, gracious person, he’d have no problem with it at all. So Steve is always welcome to come and sit in.”

Given Perry’s reluctance to tour outside of America during the late 80s, Schon says he is doubtful that the singer would commit to another world tour with the band. And Schon also says that if a reunion with Perry was to happen, it won’t be happening for many years.

“I think if we were to do a full tour that Steve would wish to be part of – which I don’t think he will, but I could be wrong – I think the only way that would really happen is if we were definitely doing our farewell tour. And I don’t see that happening for a long time. Honestly, we have a lot of life left in this band. But if we were to do a farewell tour, then I would reach out to him – and some of the earlier members of the band. I’d try to get that family type tour together.”

In the meantime, Journey are touring the US until December, and are planning to tour the UK in 2013, with a return to the Download festival under consideration.

Schon says: “Next year is pretty much planned for Europe, the UK, South America, we’re trying to get over to Australia – we’ve never been there – and the Orient. We’ve got a great offer to play Download, or seven or eight other gigs in the UK. I love playing the Download festival, because it’s all just such a scene. But I think I’d prefer to play more than one UK show, because our last UK tour was so great. It’s pretty amazing to me that it’s at this point in our career that things have really taken off for us in the UK. Time keeps flying by but in some ways it feels like we just started, we’re gaining fans all over the world and it continues to be an amazing ride.”

– Paul Elliott

[Yoda]

I'm hopeful for the band to continue as long as they possibly can - because they're good for the AOR genre.

In a perfect world, if a reunion tour would happen, I would see Steve Perry, Steve Augeri, AND Arnel Pineda all sharing mic time - which means more material that could be covered! I would also see Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith return to the band. Have one big long concert covering a few songs from every decade of Journey. It would work a little better because you wouldn't have one singer having to cover all the songs.

[Gideon]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

[Pelata]

Well, people can "love" each other and not get along sometimes. People we love piss us off all the time.

Anyway, I can see something like this happening MAYBE on an absolute Farewell Tour...and even then the chances are pretty damn slim.

[tater1977]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

[Gideon]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

[tater1977]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

So that makes him an Arloon too...

[Deb]

I'm hopeful for the band to continue as long as they possibly can - because they're good for the AOR genre.

In a perfect world, if a reunion tour would happen, I would see Steve Perry, Steve Augeri, AND Arnel Pineda all sharing mic time - which means more material that could be covered! I would also see Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith return to the band. Have one big long concert covering a few songs from every decade of Journey. It would work a little better because you wouldn't have one singer having to cover all the songs.

Gawd, what I wouldn't pay to see Steve Perry and JSS sharing mic time!

[Deb]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Only when it's convenient, love how he throws this out every now and then, knowing full well Steve has stated publicly that he won't.

[Yoda]

I'm hopeful for the band to continue as long as they possibly can - because they're good for the AOR genre.

In a perfect world, if a reunion tour would happen, I would see Steve Perry, Steve Augeri, AND Arnel Pineda all sharing mic time - which means more material that could be covered! I would also see Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith return to the band. Have one big long concert covering a few songs from every decade of Journey. It would work a little better because you wouldn't have one singer having to cover all the songs.

Gawd, what I wouldn't pay to see Steve Perry and JSS sharing mic time!

Only reason why I didn't include Jeff was simply just having the lead singers that had record songs with the band. But, yes, in my world, Jeff is center stage with the rest of the guys as well.

[Gideon]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

So that makes him an Arloon too...

Nah, the Perry variation has cornered the market on retardation. Not a single smart one among their number.

[MCC620]

I'm hopeful for the band to continue as long as they possibly can - because they're good for the AOR genre.

In a perfect world, if a reunion tour would happen, I would see Steve Perry, Steve Augeri, AND Arnel Pineda all sharing mic time - which means more material that could be covered! I would also see Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith return to the band. Have one big long concert covering a few songs from every decade of Journey. It would work a little better because you wouldn't have one singer having to cover all the songs.

Gawd, what I wouldn't pay to see Steve Perry and JSS sharing mic time!

and this would also serve in having schon's head explode on stage while all his former lead singers get all the applause.....

[Michigan Girl]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Only when it's convenient, love how he throws this out every now and then, knowing full well Steve has stated publicly that he won't.

Just thinking the same thing ...didn't we just have a The Door is Always Open thread/interview a few months ago?!

[annie89509]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Only when it's convenient, love how he throws this out every now and then, knowing full well Steve has stated publicly that he won't.

That and "I'll reach out" -- we all know that JC makes all the calls .

[slucero]

Neal's sounding more like Charlie Brown every day.....

[portland]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Only when it's convenient, love how he throws this out every now and then, knowing full well Steve has stated publicly that he won't.

Just thinking the same thing ...didn't we just have a The Door is Always Open thread/interview a few months ago?!

Whatever Neal....Whatever.

[portland]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

Gideon...every time I read your posts it ruins the viewing of the old episodes of my favorite show...Criminal Minds. Gideon was such a brilliant mind on the show you are not doing the name any justice.

[Gideon]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

Gideon...every time I read your posts it ruins the viewing of the old episodes of my favorite show...Criminal Minds. Gideon was such a brilliant mind on the show you are not doing the name any justice.

Portland, we've already established Loons are without exception complete retards. Who you find intelligent is pretty irrelevant to anyone who actually is.
After all, you're the mastermind behind the revolutionary idea that Perry's currently shitty voice is the product of a disease unleashed upon him by Neal and Herbie.

[portland]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

Gideon...every time I read your posts it ruins the viewing of the old episodes of my favorite show...Criminal Minds. Gideon was such a brilliant mind on the show you are not doing the name any justice.

Portland, we've already established Loons are without exception complete retards. Who you find intelligent is pretty irrelevant to anyone who actually is.
After all, you're the mastermind behind the revolutionary idea that Perry's currently shitty voice is the product of a disease unleashed upon him by Neal and Herbie.

Not going down the road....pretty intelligent on my part no?

[Gideon]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

Gideon...every time I read your posts it ruins the viewing of the old episodes of my favorite show...Criminal Minds. Gideon was such a brilliant mind on the show you are not doing the name any justice.

Portland, we've already established Loons are without exception complete retards. Who you find intelligent is pretty irrelevant to anyone who actually is.
After all, you're the mastermind behind the revolutionary idea that Perry's currently shitty voice is the product of a disease unleashed upon him by Neal and Herbie.

Not going down the road....pretty intelligent on my part no?

Not when the reason is because you and your opinions are thoroughly wrecked and resting in the proverbial ditch.

[strangegrey]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

So that makes him an Arloon too...

I think the term your searching for is "arneliot"

[RedWingFan]

I think the ideal reunion would include Perry and Smith coming back with Josh Ramos on guitar.

Neil can play Eclipse in it's entirety at the local Buffalo Wild Wings in front of all 4 people who give a damn (his old lady being one of them).

I can see Neil dodging wings from all directions from people trying to watch the game.

[Gideon]

I think the ideal reunion would include Perry and Smith coming back with Josh Ramos on guitar.

Nah. Schon can still play, Perry can't say the same. So it's only ideal if you're interested in listening to shitty vocals, which, knowing you, is always possible.

[Eric]

I think the ideal reunion would include Perry and Smith coming back with Josh Ramos on guitar.

Nah. Schon can still play, Perry can't say the same. So it's only ideal if you're interested in listening to shitty vocals, which, knowing you, is always possible.

BAM!

[DracIsBack]

Well, people can "love" each other and not get along sometimes. People we love piss us off all the time.

LOL - most people can look at their own family at times to get a sense of this ...

[Deb]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

Gideon...every time I read your posts it ruins the viewing of the old episodes of my favorite show...Criminal Minds. Gideon was such a brilliant mind on the show you are not doing the name any justice.

Speaking of brilliant minds, I have to admit I have a lil nerd crush on Dr. Spencer Reid.

[Yoda]

I think the ideal reunion would include Perry and Smith coming back with Josh Ramos on guitar.

Nah. Schon can still play, Perry can't say the same. So it's only ideal if you're interested in listening to shitty vocals, which, knowing you, is always possible.

You've heard Perry sing recently?

[Gideon]

I think the ideal reunion would include Perry and Smith coming back with Josh Ramos on guitar.

Nah. Schon can still play, Perry can't say the same. So it's only ideal if you're interested in listening to shitty vocals, which, knowing you, is always possible.

You've heard Perry sing recently?

No, I just live in the real world where 63-year-old singers don't typically go from their current raspy asthmatic warbles to the pristine, glass-shattering vocals they enjoyed in their prime, some 30 years ago. Perry's vocals in TBF were passable and occasionally great (WYLAW); the idea that he's somehow transcended that at his age and after this many years since that vocally underwhelming album is... exceptionally unlikely at best.

Meanwhile, Schon, Cain, and even Journey's resident crypt-keeper can still play like it's 1983.

[slucero]

Agreed.

Even Neal says the end is a ways off.. so the likely hood of a Perry reunion is pretty slim... besides, it would be nothing more than a high priced "I was there" ticket...

but Perry won't do it, because the expectation will be for him to sing in the original key. And I'm sure the idea of having Arnel (or Deen) help him out isn't so appealing.


This is just Neal saying "fuck him" in a nice, story-worthy way..

[portland]

We've always loved the guy, have we Neal?

Schons an admitted loon now eh?...

Well, he's been known to demonstrate the cognitive ability of a Loon... which is to say none at all.

Gideon...every time I read your posts it ruins the viewing of the old episodes of my favorite show...Criminal Minds. Gideon was such a brilliant mind on the show you are not doing the name any justice.

Speaking of brilliant minds, I have to admit I have a lil nerd crush on Dr. Spencer Reid.

I am a Dave Rossi girl....can't wait for the new season.