0:01

High Heart Radio Presents Inside

0:04

the Studio, I'm your host, Joe

0:06

Levy. Now

0:08

this time around, I got to sit down with Steve

0:11

Perry, who is the singer for Journey,

0:13

provided the soundtrack to somewhere between

0:16

seventy and one ten million

0:18

high school proms, as well

0:20

as several billion Trips Down the Highway

0:23

and the final episode of The Sopranos.

0:26

We talked about his new album Traces, his

0:28

return to music after a two decade

0:30

absence. We talked about the

0:33

loss of a loved one that motivated that

0:35

return, and we talked about

0:37

the pressures and pains that led to that

0:39

long absence, a time when he found

0:42

he couldn't even listen to music, let

0:44

alone make it. When

0:49

Perry joined Journey in seven,

0:52

he was twenty six and he had already

0:54

been through several bands but never

0:56

landed an album deal. For their

0:59

part, Ernie had already recorded

1:01

three albums to not much notice.

1:04

They were technically gifted. Guitarist

1:06

Neil Showan and keyboardist Gregg Rolie

1:09

had played with Santana, and

1:11

at that point Journey was a slightly

1:13

proggy band that sang about

1:15

walking across the clouds and

1:17

then backed it up with five or six minutes

1:19

of skyscraping guitar solos,

1:24

so they had chops. What

1:26

they lacked was a rock and roll hert.

1:29

Perry provided just that. Yea,

1:36

so how The

1:39

first song he ever wrote with Neil Shane, Patiently,

1:42

was packed with personal longing, both

1:45

for loves and success.

1:49

You listen to the lyrics, it's really a story about

1:51

where I'm at at that moment, talking to

1:54

them, about patiently waiting to join

1:56

that banner, to be under the lights

1:58

that they were under, or your lights

2:00

inside of me. This we bring to you. The

2:08

opening track on the first album Perry recorded

2:11

with Journey Infinity

2:13

was Lights, which is familiar to

2:16

anyone who's seen a San Francisco Giants

2:18

game, and you can hear

2:20

the classic soul music that Perry grew

2:22

up loving in those opening chords. Once

2:25

again, this song is packed full

2:28

of longing, except

2:30

in this case, it's not about wanting

2:32

to be under the spotlight. It's

2:36

about wanting to return home. In

2:39

some sense, those two impulses and

2:41

the contradiction between them, would

2:43

define everything Perry and Journey

2:46

did over the next decade. He

2:48

helped create a stadium packing

2:51

monster of rock. Seven consecutive

2:54

multi platinum albums, eighteen top

2:56

forty singles, from the speeding ticket

2:58

inducing stomper me Way You Want

3:00

It

3:02

Where

3:10

to the slow waltzing Open Arms,

3:13

which will be one of the cornerstones of the

3:15

power Ballot Hall of Fame if they ever get

3:17

around the building. One

3:30

should have been done. No

3:34

Hall Magic

3:36

feels.

3:39

And then there were songs that combined both

3:41

stomping and power balloting, like

3:43

Don't Stop Believing or Oh

3:45

Sherry single

3:48

from Perry's first solo album, Street

3:50

Talk. So

3:52

Steve Perry was a guy who could combine prog

3:55

rock with soul music, or

3:57

the classicism of Bruce Springsteen with

4:00

new wave synths and drums. He

4:03

had a voice that was operatic Freddie Mercury

4:06

style. But one reason his music

4:08

became a soundtrack to everyday life is that

4:10

it actually felt rooted in it.

4:16

It really doesn't matter that there is no

4:18

such place as South Detroit. What

4:21

matters is that there are lonely people

4:24

who feel the way the small town girl and

4:26

the city boy and Don't Stop Believing

4:28

feel, and who want to

4:31

both experience that feeling and

4:33

get some relief from it. For the

4:35

four minutes in nine seconds, that that song

4:37

lasts. Now,

4:40

there were a lot of those kinds of people. Journey's

4:43

Greatest Hits has sold better than

4:45

ten million copies. But

4:48

in February, Steve

4:50

Perry played the last of seventy four

4:52

dates on Journeys tour for their ninth album,

4:55

the aptly named Raised on radio,

4:58

and he returned home and

5:00

for a long while that was it. He

5:04

was done. Perry

5:06

was suffering from what he describes his PTSD,

5:09

and he went back to the San Joaquin Valley in central

5:12

California where he grew up in order

5:14

to recover. And PTSD

5:16

is actually something other musicians I've spoken

5:18

with referred to when they talk about how

5:20

difficult it can be to adjust to the real

5:22

world after life on the road. In

5:25

Perry's case, it was something more than that,

5:28

a burnout so severe that initially

5:31

he found himself unable to listen

5:33

to any music other than the soothing

5:35

sounds of ambient He

5:37

spent time writing as Harley, caring

5:40

for family, and trying to reconnect

5:42

with himself. Though he'd make another

5:44

solo album in four it

5:47

was a little out of step with things at

5:49

the height of grunge, and

5:51

though he'd reunite with Journey for an album

5:53

in nine six. He

5:55

did not want to tour for it. He

5:58

seemed to be done with the hot light that

6:00

he had been longing for back when he

6:02

wrote patiently in ninety seven.

6:05

But something happened during Perry's time

6:08

away. The music he made with

6:10

Journey, critically dismissed

6:12

at the height of its popularity, is corporate rock

6:15

began to be more beloved,

6:18

which is the kind of thing that does happen

6:20

as cultural gatekeepers begin to change

6:23

and the people raised on radio when it

6:25

was defined by Journey to begin to make

6:27

culture of their own. In

6:30

Perry's case, Patty Jenkins,

6:33

whould go on to direct the blockbuster Wonder

6:35

World, contacted him about

6:38

using Don't Stop Believing in a scene for

6:40

her two thousand and three independent

6:42

film Monster, and

6:44

shortly after she made the request, Perry

6:46

turned up on set, asking how he could help her with

6:48

her movie. The two became friends.

6:51

Four years later. Don't Stop Believing

6:53

turned up again in the two thousand and seven

6:56

finale of The Sopranos, after

6:58

which it shot right up the iTunes chart,

7:01

becoming the number three selling download

7:03

twenty four years after its release,

7:08

and the Journey revival would only continue

7:10

from there. It's that that

7:12

revival did nothing to coax Perry back

7:15

into public life, but

7:17

eventually he met a woman who

7:19

would ultimately do so. In

7:22

two thousand and eleven, Patty Jenkins

7:24

directed an episode of five, an anthology

7:27

of TV movies about breast cancer and

7:29

its impact on people's lives. Perry

7:32

was visiting Jenkins one day when she was editing,

7:35

and he was struck by one of the extras in a scene

7:37

that featured real cancer patients.

7:40

It was Kelly Nash, a Los Angeles

7:42

psychologist. Perry

7:44

asked for an email introduction, but

7:47

Jenkins wanted him to know Nash's condition

7:49

before reaching out. She

7:51

had been in remission, but her cancer

7:54

had returned and spread to her

7:56

lungs and bones. At

7:58

that moment, I had the opportunity

8:01

to send no email, pull back, no harm,

8:03

no foul, Perry told Rolling Stone

8:05

recently. I would just go back to

8:07

my safe life. Instead, I

8:10

said, send the email, and

8:13

an email turned into a phone call that lasted

8:15

more than five hours, and soon enough the two

8:18

were living together. They

8:20

had just a year and a half together before Nash

8:22

passed away in December. Dot

8:32

wolf Fly

8:37

Golden before

8:49

her death Nash asked Perry

8:52

for a promise that he

8:54

would not return to isolation. In

8:57

fact, she urged him

9:00

to return to music. That's

9:02

part of the remarkable story behind Traces,

9:06

and Perry had already been working

9:09

on some music before he began recording

9:11

Traces To. The most heartbreaking

9:13

songs on the album, Most of All and in the

9:15

Rain, were actually written before he

9:17

ever met Kelly Nash.

9:20

But one reason the recording of this album took

9:22

five years is that Perry actually

9:24

built a home studio so that he could work his

9:26

own way, at his own pace, and

9:29

he did that work very much in private. Those

9:32

who participated signed

9:34

nondisclosure agreements. The

9:37

album certainly has music of loss and heartbreak,

9:40

but it also has songs that that

9:43

had that healing vibe of Perry's return

9:45

to his hometown, like Nowhere Racing,

9:50

which involves the high school reunion, reconnection

9:53

and some time in the backseat of a car.

10:00

And then

10:04

there are songs that involved both heartbreak

10:08

and healing, like Perry's

10:10

remarkable cover of the Beatles I Need

10:12

You. That cover was

10:14

actually a long time coming. Perry

10:17

had been thinking about what he might want to do with

10:19

that song, written by George Harrison since

10:21

he first heard it on the soundtrack to

10:23

Help in nineteen. He

10:27

told me about playing his version of it

10:30

for Harrison's widow, Olivia, and

10:33

about how music, something

10:35

he swore he'd never returned to, became

10:38

once again the most powerful

10:41

focus of his life. Here's

10:44

what else he had to say to me.

10:49

I'm lonely, could

10:52

be Steve

10:57

Perry. Welcome to inside the studio. Thank you,

10:59

it's nice to be here. Oh, you've got the motorcycle

11:01

boots and you actually ride. I do have motorcycle

11:04

boots, but I sold my bike. I had to get

11:06

rid of it. I was afraid I was gonna kill myself, but I

11:08

did save my life. When I first left

11:10

the band, first thing I did was go back to my hometown

11:13

and jump on Harley that I bought.

11:16

I never owned before. I bought a soft tail

11:18

Custom was a beautiful motorcycle.

11:20

I bought it and by Salia, California, and I drove

11:22

it to Hamford, California, put it in a storage

11:25

unit which I rented, and it lived

11:27

there. So every time I could have had hometown of mine, I

11:29

just parked the car and jump on that bike and I'd ride it.

11:31

Out in the country where the

11:34

Vince posts and the jack Rabbits were of

11:36

my youth. To be honest with you, man,

11:38

I did that a lot back then. There was no helmet

11:41

law. I was just long hair flying behind you.

11:43

You know. I kind of helped put my head back

11:45

together again. Did you grow up riding? No,

11:48

But I did have a Honda when I was a young kid,

11:50

I had a Honda trail bike, so I used to drive to school.

11:52

So I kind of like scooters like that. You know.

11:55

Wait, so this Harley, this is like

11:57

the fulfillment of some sort of it was it

11:59

was. I finally bought a Harley and it

12:02

was an Evolution engine, beautiful and

12:04

soft tail custom had a Cabernet

12:06

color tank and fenders,

12:09

just really beautiful. I used to drive

12:11

out in the country and then after

12:13

it helped put my brain back together and

12:16

give me that comfort, I

12:18

actually just gave it to somebody

12:21

about a year because I just didn't

12:23

think I should be on it more because I'm

12:26

I'm just not that talented writing anymore. Were

12:28

in an accident, well, when I used to drink,

12:30

I certainly would lay it down a couple of times,

12:33

right because the truism is that there are two

12:35

kinds of motorcycle riders, those who have been in

12:37

an accident and those who will be in an

12:39

accident. That's right, that's right. How bad

12:41

was it when you laid it down? Well, I was actually just

12:44

coming out of a bar. I had had too many drinks, and I

12:46

just went to write it and started

12:48

and I lost my balance and then dropped it. With people

12:51

who don't ride don't realize no matter

12:53

of pounds, it's heavy, it's heavy.

12:55

I had to have two buddies help me straighten it up. So

12:58

that's kind of taught me that, remember when I and drink

13:00

and ride. The thing Number two is

13:02

that to maybe I'm just not that skilled of a

13:04

writer. You've said that when

13:07

you left the band thought this Harley had helped put your

13:09

head back together. But you've talked about that as a

13:11

period where you had a

13:13

kind of PTSD. I

13:15

did what form did this PTSD take

13:17

for you? For me, I could not listen

13:19

to music of any kind, and

13:21

I could not sing or write

13:24

music of any kind. The only thing

13:26

I could listen to was stuff that was

13:28

called ambient at that time, which was like

13:30

liquid mind. Steve Roach

13:33

had some music out This was

13:35

like ambient and there was no

13:37

drums, there's no guitars, there's no voices,

13:40

there was no you know, anything like that.

13:43

And it was just something I thought that,

13:45

especially liquid mine, the changes

13:47

of liquid mind, sort of

13:50

we're emotionally putting me back together

13:52

a little bit at a time. But it was quite some

13:54

time before I could listen to the music of

13:56

my youth, which was the

13:59

R and B and said Cooks and all that.

14:01

It took a while just to get back to that and just to

14:03

stick with that notion of putting your mind back together.

14:05

That PTSD it sounds like also you were self

14:07

medicating at that point, self medicating.

14:10

I was not medicating. There's

14:13

no doubt that before I even

14:15

left the group, there were all in some

14:17

sort of behaviors, okay,

14:20

And that contributed to the

14:23

emptiness. That was a

14:25

feeling of disconnected with the passion for music.

14:28

It was a pretty scary thing. So I didn't

14:30

just go back to my hometown and disappear.

14:32

I I reconvened with some feelings

14:35

and streets and the country roads

14:37

and the old ice cream parlor. Plus I had

14:39

at that time my father's sister was

14:41

still alive, and I went and helped

14:43

take care of her because she was in her nineties, and

14:46

got her situated and visited her

14:49

a lot because she was going from from

14:51

one home of assisted living

14:53

to another as her needs became

14:55

more required for assistance. So

14:57

I was taking care of her too. I was a thing

15:00

I was doing at the time. You mentioned the music

15:02

that had first met a lot to you, the music

15:04

that you grew up on. Tell me more about

15:06

that. Who were the singers that you learned

15:09

from. Oh, my goodness,

15:12

the ones I learned the most from. We're

15:14

pocket singers. They had rhythm

15:16

in their phrasings. The Sam

15:19

Cooks, the Jackie Wilson's, the

15:21

Levi Stubbs from the Four Tops. Even

15:23

Smokey Robinson in his own way was very

15:27

light and lilty, but so so full.

15:29

Marvin Gay of course, then later came

15:31

Glady's Night. Um. I

15:33

love the Supremes. When I was growing up, you

15:35

know, I was really big Motown fan.

15:40

So besides the songwriting and recording of the music

15:42

I grew up with, there was this other

15:44

factor of what were they doing? Meaning,

15:47

how are they recording it? How does it sound

15:49

that way? And why does it feel that

15:51

way? And how did they get that drum

15:53

sound, and what kind of echoes on

15:55

the voice of Levi Stubbs

15:57

and the song Bernadine or Baby I

15:59

Need Your Loving There or the Marvin

16:01

Gay Troubled Man. I mean, there was

16:03

just another focus that started

16:06

to show up in my heart of

16:08

trying to learn from all that at an

16:10

early age are production engineering.

16:13

They were, but they were invaluable things

16:15

that I thought I needed to pay attention to. And

16:18

I started really early on listening to

16:20

to the whole thing because I realized very

16:23

early on, like about seven eight years old,

16:26

why does it feel in sound that

16:28

way? It wasn't just a forty

16:30

five? What went into this?

16:32

Why does it come out like that? I

16:35

wanted to know what's behind it? So

16:37

I slowly started to just go to school,

16:39

so to speak, with going

16:42

into these tracks, listening to the echoes,

16:44

is it stereo? Isn't mono? My goodness's mono?

16:47

Wow? Okay? And started really getting

16:49

into why it works the way

16:51

it does, you know, And then all of a sudden years

16:53

later when the Beatles showed up, what

16:56

I found fascinating is if you listen to Motown,

16:59

most of those are done on four track, and

17:02

if you listen to the early Beatles for sale

17:04

record. It's four track because

17:06

you can hear that they've recorded

17:09

like three tracks and bounced them to the

17:11

left of the band. Then you

17:13

can hear that they have on no

17:15

Reply. For instance, they have Ringo and

17:17

I think George and maybe Paul

17:20

in the distance on the right side

17:22

on one track, accentuating

17:24

the downbeat of the chorus no

17:27

we plan do.

17:31

Okay, So you got ring on the right going

17:34

and pinching the symbol with a bassed on boom.

17:37

Okay. See you get that

17:39

in time with what's already there on the left

17:41

side when they get the basic. So they're

17:43

accentuating with an

17:45

accent stuff that works with the main

17:47

track in the most cool

17:50

way. And then they have two tracks

17:52

left of them to mess around and do vocals down the

17:54

middle. Now what's really fascinating

17:56

is if you listen to lead vocal of John in the middle,

17:59

the echoes on the right, it's not on the left.

18:02

So when they're mixing this stuff, these

18:04

are the things. These are the decisions I've decided to

18:06

make to give it spread, to

18:08

give it this inclusive feeling.

18:11

Dude. Four channels, four

18:14

channels. What that means

18:16

is that they had to really make a commitment.

18:19

Once you commit to these tracks, you can't go

18:21

back. It isn't like today

18:24

where you got tracks to choose from.

18:26

You know, like we're recording right now, you've got multiple tracks

18:28

we can choose from. No, you got four

18:31

channels. Since we're talking about the Beatles, there's

18:33

a Beatles song on Traces on your new album,

18:35

Yes there is I Need You. How

18:38

did you come to choose that one? What drew

18:40

you to it? When I was really

18:42

younger? I love the help her, but there was

18:44

one song by George Harrison called I Need You that

18:46

was so beautiful and it was

18:48

a Bossanova field. They were kind

18:50

of into that Bossanova thing at that

18:52

time. They did a lot of tunes like that. Though

18:55

I liked it, I thought it was a bigger

18:57

song than that. I wasn't being there

19:00

rative. I just thought, my goodness, this is such

19:02

a great song. I think it needs a different

19:04

treatment. And I knew that as a kid, so

19:06

that when it came time to do the Traces

19:09

record, So this is when you've been thinking

19:11

about her feeling for a long time, then well

19:14

that has been in the back pocket for years since

19:16

I was a kid. So I turned to my

19:18

co producer, engineer Tom Flowers,

19:20

and said, Tom, you know, I got

19:22

this idea. I got the sketch of me just

19:24

with acoustic voice on one of

19:26

my drives. Can I play for him? It's a Beatles

19:29

song called I Need You by George

19:31

Harrison. So I played

19:33

it for him and he loved it. So the next thing

19:35

I know, Vinny cal Udo was over there recording

19:37

some drums I think for no more crying. I

19:40

said, Vinnie, I got this other song. Would

19:42

you mind just doing a pass on it? She? Sure,

19:44

Man, what do you got? I played it for him and says, oh,

19:46

yeah, you know, Vinny Caludo has got a feel

19:49

from heaven. So he went out there were

19:51

the past just nailed it. So

19:54

from that point on, that song

19:56

became what I always envisioned

19:59

it to be, which is the piano and voice at

20:01

the beginning, then coming in and growing

20:03

and growing with background vocals. I wrote

20:05

different background vocals at the outro then

20:08

are on the original and with a drum

20:10

break going into them. And it's

20:13

on my record now. I

20:16

wouldn't have that if it wasn't for Olivia. By

20:18

that because I was only

20:20

going to put it on my record if I got her. So

20:23

you played her the finished version. So I

20:25

brought the CD into Olivia and

20:27

uh, she turned it on and listened

20:29

to the whole thing top to bohm. And I was very nervous

20:32

because this is Olivia Harrison, you know, and

20:34

I loved George so much. She

20:37

listened to the whole track one time and she

20:39

grabbed the remote and quickly restarted it. And

20:42

I went, oh, my goodness, that she hears something she wasn't

20:44

pleased with, I thought, you know, And she got

20:46

halfway through the second listen, turned the volume

20:48

down and said, George would have

20:50

just loved this so much. And

20:53

I'll tell you what, I felt his soul just

20:55

give me approval through Olivia, and

20:57

I needed her blessing. So that's why it's on the record.

21:00

You know. It's also interesting as well that this is a

21:02

song you've been thinking about since you first

21:04

heard it, that you've had in your back pocket.

21:07

As you say, emotionally but thematically

21:12

fits a record that often

21:14

deals with love loss,

21:18

a record that you said would not exist

21:20

without a heartbreak. I think

21:23

that's very true. I've said it before,

21:25

and I guess I should say it again. The heart isn't complete

21:28

until it's completely broken, and

21:30

until you lose somebody that completely breaks your

21:32

heart, you're just not probably

21:35

as seasoned or complete as a human being

21:37

as you could be. And I

21:39

can only tell you that's been my experience. It didn't

21:41

feel great losing Kelly.

21:44

It was horrible. From time to time,

21:46

I still go through the the

21:48

heartbreak like it was yesterday. But

21:51

that's just, I think, an affirmation of the

21:54

strength of what we had. It's just

21:56

an affirmation of that. But the

21:59

record Traces is not all heartbreak.

22:01

It's about rocket roll, it's about class

22:04

reunion moments. It's it's about we're

22:06

still here, it's about you know, there's

22:08

a lot of great music on the record, but

22:10

there are a couple of songs that do

22:13

deal with the loss of someone. Well,

22:16

you just mentioned a reunion moment. I

22:18

think you might be referring to the first track on the record,

22:23

It's been Coming

22:27

Sweat

22:32

Again in the back

22:34

seat of You'll call You

22:41

Still Beck and

22:45

the first words I know it's been a long time

22:47

coming since I've seen your face, which is an

22:49

interesting way. It's a reintroduction for

22:51

you. It's been a minute since we've heard from

22:53

you. But that

22:56

song tell us what inspired

22:58

that song in Originally just

23:00

started as a sketch with David Spring

23:03

at my house, and

23:05

it started to grow. And I

23:08

love the words no eracin. I

23:10

felt this way before no eracin

23:12

no running anymore. That's how it started.

23:15

And then it came time to do the verse that

23:18

just came out. I know, it's been

23:20

a long time coming since I've seen your face. Uh,

23:23

since I saw your face. I you can't remember now.

23:26

So the song itself evolved

23:29

into a reunion song where

23:31

these two people meet each other at a class reunion and

23:34

they get together, go outside and talk a little

23:36

bit about old times. And they both

23:38

have lives in different cities in the world,

23:41

but they're together by themselves, and they get into

23:43

her car and they go for a drive. And in my

23:45

town, people would go smoothe at this once particular

23:47

place. Is that all they do? They just go for a drive in,

23:50

they jump in the backseat of the car

23:52

and you know, I don't know

23:54

you. Lets

23:56

you figure that out, Okay, I'm gonna tell

23:58

you what happens, all right, Okay,

24:02

Um, you were saying

24:04

that where you grew up there was such a spot,

24:06

Oh yeah, where I grew up. There was a place called Pier nine

24:09

where four or five canals, irrigation

24:11

canals converged, and in

24:13

that spot there was actually a few oil drums

24:15

out there where people could leave their beer cans

24:17

or whatever. So it was a very well known

24:20

spot to park and smooch or whatever.

24:22

And so that's kind of the

24:24

the vision of what the spot is that they would

24:27

go to in the backseat of her car, you know.

24:29

I mean, I can't be the only one to feel

24:31

this way because I grew up on your music and

24:34

I grew up on my music. Interesting,

24:36

well put, but to start with that

24:39

kind of return to the high

24:41

school smooching spot, as it were, right,

24:43

there's something very fitting

24:46

about that. Don't you think that everything comes

24:49

from high school? Don't you think that after we

24:51

leave high school, all we're trying to do is

24:53

become a little more powerful, a little

24:55

bit more monetary. But the truth is

24:57

we're still all in high school emotionally.

25:00

I mean, there is the old saying about Hollywood

25:03

being like high school with money. You know, I

25:06

think that's true. I think

25:08

rock and roll is high school and money.

25:10

Oh yeah, well, the emotionally,

25:13

I think the whole thing Hollywood and rock

25:16

and roll can be wow.

25:18

Now that you mentioned I have a theory

25:20

about, for instance, Hollywood, when you go

25:22

to a set, which I did a lot while I was on

25:25

vacation, by the way, because I love

25:27

film and I love directing, and so many

25:29

of my friends are directors, so I've been hanging

25:31

out a lot of sets. If you walk

25:33

onto a set, what's fascinating is

25:35

the food that's on a set. It's

25:38

children's food. It's a cookie.

25:41

Ye always cookies

25:45

doughnuts a day. It's children's

25:47

food. It's like a dream come true, kind

25:49

of like candy store. So I think

25:52

it's fulfilling this dream

25:54

that you're living, the dream which starts with

25:56

you can have anything you want, almost like a Pinocchio

25:59

or they all go to the island where they can do whatever they

26:01

want and they grow ears. You know. I really think

26:03

there's some truth to that. So there's never never

26:05

land quality and backstage can be the same,

26:08

by the way, presumably

26:11

along with the M and m's, you have other delicious

26:13

things that you can have. No sure, backstage

26:16

famously can be that way. Let's

26:18

talk about rock and roll. I want to go back to a

26:21

moment April seventeen

26:24

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

26:26

It was the first time some of us had seen you for

26:29

a long while. And I want to go back

26:31

to something you said in your induction

26:34

speech talking about growing up

26:37

being in Los Angeles in the mid seventies and going

26:39

to see Journey at the star Wood before

26:41

you were a member of the band, and I quote, are

26:44

you fucking shitting me? Any

26:46

singer would give his ass for that

26:49

ship? I mean, they played so

26:51

well. Now,

26:53

Steve, let me ask you a question, Okay, is that the

26:55

way you wrote it out in advance? I

27:00

was up there and I just kind of turned into

27:03

Joe Pesci for a minute. Tell

27:06

me a little bit about what it was

27:09

like to see those guys at the

27:11

star Wood whenever they were amazing.

27:13

I mean, it was Greg Role, it was Neil Sean, it

27:15

was Ross Valerie. He needs to be dunbar. I think

27:18

George Tickner at that point had already left the group.

27:20

So that was the lineup. Now you know

27:22

that the band was originally built around

27:24

Neil Sean and that Greg Role. He used

27:26

to pick him up in high school when he was like

27:28

sixteen and brought him into Santana

27:31

so that when Gregor left Santana, he brought Neil with

27:33

him and they formed this group around Neil.

27:36

So that was the beginning of Journey. And I

27:38

would see them play all the time, and I

27:40

knew people could get me backstage, and I got to sort

27:42

of hang around and meet him and just sort of like, you know,

27:45

make my presence like high, you know. But they're

27:47

thinking, who's this big nose kid, you know, what's

27:49

he doing back here? All I know is I

27:51

remember the Star with like it was yesterday. I can see

27:53

that stage in the corner. They would

27:55

be just cranking it and Neil

27:57

would have one of these Finder amps

28:00

leaning back and he'd have one strap

28:02

plugged into a wal Wap pedal and we'd only

28:04

use the wal Wap pedal for a tone enhance. He

28:07

really didn't do a lot of my mom watch stuff.

28:09

He just used it to like have its scream

28:12

at spots or pulled back. It's like a

28:14

tone change. It was very,

28:16

very creative. Killing his guitar was sore

28:18

over the whole city of Los Angeles. He really was.

28:21

It was amazing. So when I

28:23

got the call from Don

28:25

Ellis, who was running Columbia Records at

28:27

the time. He loved my demo, but my basse

28:29

player of it in the band I was in that he loved. I got

28:31

killed in a car wrect the fourth of July weekend. So

28:34

the next thing I know, I get this call from Don

28:36

Ellis and he wants to

28:38

know if I'm interested in the band that's on the

28:40

label. Sorry to hear what happened to your band,

28:43

But Journey is looking for a singer and they

28:45

want to write songs. They want to make up musical

28:47

change. That's exactly what I was told. Sauce.

28:50

Yeah, Okay. The

28:52

next thing I know, I'm in Denver, Colorado with

28:55

Neil Sean and we're rooming together after they had

28:57

opened for Emerson Nakel Palmer, and

28:59

we wrote Paciently. That was our first song.

29:02

So

29:10

what song? Shot?

29:23

This? Sweep by? And

29:30

that's the song that you sat down and wrote together because

29:32

you had this other band, So I imagine you might

29:34

have had some songs in your back pocket

29:36

already. Did I had great songs in my pocket,

29:39

but they were not the kind of songs that

29:42

the Journey was probably going to be good

29:44

at writing or playing. Just out

29:46

of curiosity, what kind of songs were they

29:48

if you listen to my Steve Perry

29:51

Greatest sits up and you'll hear that demo that

29:53

got me the gig with Journey is on there. It's called if

29:55

you need Me Call Me. You

29:57

should play that and

30:00

we will

30:19

say the truth. I

30:22

started a pack when

30:24

I heard if you

30:26

need Me Call Me is a song. That

30:28

was the first song that got me the demo

30:31

action with Columbia Records. And

30:33

that's the one that Herbie Herbert, the band's

30:36

manager, heard and convince them

30:38

to fly me out to right So

30:41

you flew out to write with them. They

30:43

were for LP and

30:46

so you had yet to perform with them. You

30:48

just sit down. It's literally after a show

30:50

and you sit down and start writing, just sketching, just

30:52

catching some ideas. And I mean,

30:54

he had these changes that were just beautiful. So

30:57

I just started singing, here I stands

30:59

so patiently, you know, for your lives to

31:01

shine at me, for your song inside of me,

31:03

this we bring to you. It just

31:05

started to go. That song just came quick.

31:07

If you listen to the lyrics, it's really a story

31:09

about where I'm at at that moment talking

31:12

to them about patiently waiting to

31:14

join that banner or to be under

31:16

the lights that they were under for your

31:19

lights inside of me, this we bring

31:21

to you. You know, when

31:24

you were writing these

31:27

songs that have never left

31:29

the radio, did you know? No?

31:34

No, I think that only anyone

31:36

can do is chase after

31:38

the honest emotion

31:41

of making it the best it can be, just

31:45

making it great and then turning it over

31:48

and hoping that people get what you're trying

31:50

to put into it. They all got

31:52

that kind of concerted effort,

31:54

including don't stop believing that one didn't

31:56

get any more than any of the other ones, Like

31:58

there's so many other songs that I love just as

32:01

much, but that one has been embraced

32:03

by a large amount of

32:05

people. So when you came

32:07

back to recording,

32:10

when you came back to writing for this record,

32:12

when and how did things start? Because

32:15

you've been working on this for a number of years, and

32:17

several songs were written before

32:19

you knew Kelly, Well, they were written

32:22

before I met Kelly. The two you're mentioning

32:24

is actually most of all and in the

32:26

Rain, and those are the two songs

32:28

I never played for because they were

32:30

about laws. Especially in the Rain is about

32:33

grieving and laws, and I did

32:36

not want to bring that energy into her struggle.

32:38

She was already going through plenty, so that

32:41

was the only secret I kept from her. Really, I

32:47

wish you.

32:58

After I lost Kelly, I found

33:00

those songs on the hard drive and

33:03

decided they now are

33:05

about my life after losing her,

33:07

and I wrote them before I met her, so

33:10

it was kind of an interesting, bizarre thing,

33:12

and so that's why they're on the record. Then

33:14

I built a studio and

33:16

that took some time, and getting

33:19

that dialed in the way I wanted

33:21

it took some time. Once that was up and running

33:23

with the proper equipment, UH started

33:26

recording. So this home studio

33:28

is something you built to make this record,

33:31

And when you were recording

33:34

writing demos before that, I

33:36

was recording in a pro tool rig on

33:38

a laptop, but I had outboard

33:41

gear annoy him and M forty nine is a Mike,

33:43

and I had an a p I

33:45

would call it a lunch pail, which has a pre amp

33:48

and e Q and a compressor

33:50

limitter in it so I can go right into the inbox

33:52

into my computer. And so the vocals

33:56

on this record, a lot of them are just some of the rough

33:58

sketches because the first time I sang

34:00

it and had a magic to it. And then

34:02

I started surrounding musicians around some of those

34:04

vocals. I mean, I have to say, when you

34:06

listen to this record, my first reaction was, holy

34:08

sh it, it's Steve Perry again.

34:11

It had been a minute. But the vocals are there. There

34:13

is a certain difference to

34:16

them. You've got a little more wisdom

34:18

in the vocals. Now. Yeah, they're a little bit more

34:20

grainy, a little bit more spicy. I

34:23

think, a little bit more soulful. I think in a lot of ways.

34:26

I gotta tell you, I think Patty Jenkins is a big part

34:28

of that. Who is one of my close friends.

34:31

And I had played her one of

34:33

my early sketches and

34:35

I didn't know if she would like it or not. And

34:37

I was afraid to play it for anybody

34:39

but her, because I trust her. She had seen

34:42

me go through a lot. We were close friends, and

34:45

so I played it for after we had lunch one day in

34:47

the car and I looked out

34:49

of the window to the left because I didn't want to watch her reaction.

34:51

And after it was over, I looked at the right and

34:54

I said, so, what do you think She said, I

34:56

think it's amazing, I said, but the vocals aren't

34:59

done and it's just there's a lyrics. I'm just mumbling this

35:01

and that's that. She said. I know all that,

35:03

but it just sounds so much like you. I

35:07

know, I know. I guess I had

35:09

to turn all that thinking off because there was no way

35:12

for me to leave if I was going to keep

35:14

that going. Turn what thinking off? What do you mean?

35:17

I guess to walk away from an amazing

35:20

ride and leave the group

35:22

and look at anything that you're

35:24

saying. I had to turn my heart off

35:27

to keep walking away from the music business

35:29

and including the fact that people

35:32

love me perhaps and I just couldn't look

35:34

at It's like any relationship, you know, if you're leaving

35:36

a relationship and you need

35:38

to leave even though it's I you love it, but

35:40

it's painful how many people have done that,

35:43

no matter what the relationship is. Bands are

35:45

no different relationship and relationship. Sometimes

35:47

to walk away, you've got to keep walking. You

35:49

can't fall back into it. And

35:51

in order for me not to fall back in at

35:54

that particular time when I left, I had to turn

35:56

the volume down on my heart. But it's so interesting

35:59

because absolute we understand what you're talking

36:01

about. And at the same time, when you leave

36:03

a relationship, you don't

36:05

always walk away from a relationship thinking

36:08

that's it. I can never have another relationship.

36:10

But you left music, and for a

36:13

moment that was it. You couldn't hear it only

36:15

because I was toast. I mean I was

36:17

so ptsd burnt that whenever I

36:19

started getting back into music, I would twinge,

36:22

you know at that one. So when did that begin to

36:24

change? And how a couple of years? It took

36:26

good two years, honestly, two

36:29

years out of leaving the group. I

36:31

started to listen to music again, and

36:33

and the music of my youth and and radio

36:36

again. And you know, by then, by

36:39

the way, Nirvana showed up,

36:41

and I'm going, Wow, good for you guys,

36:44

man, Now it's your turn. Fantastic grudge

36:46

love it, garage band, go get

36:48

it, We'll get some. And so here

36:50

came all the Seattle groups. So the

36:53

music had turned another corner. I

36:55

was just happy for everybody. I just thought, well,

36:57

I had my time, now they're having there.

37:00

So what began to draw you back into

37:03

songwriting? I think

37:05

that the passion for sketching some

37:08

rough ideas gave

37:10

me a moment occasionally where

37:12

I go, wow, that could be cool, and

37:14

I would do what I call going under where

37:17

I wear the headphones and I turned the

37:19

echoes up in very very large

37:21

amounts to where I can just zone out

37:24

and pretend there's a landscape of possibilities

37:26

in my mind, and I just love

37:29

some of the interaction of the

37:31

harmonics of changes and my voice

37:33

melodies and see what actually becomes

37:35

complimentary to those. And then I listen

37:38

and I wait, and I start to follow

37:40

those little moments whenever they cross

37:42

like that. That started

37:45

to feed me some hopeful possibilities

37:47

that maybe I could write somewhere music

37:50

again. What about performing. That's

37:53

something we're gonna talk about when I get back to the

37:55

West coast. Right now, I'm

37:57

just talking about this record, and I'm

38:00

so glad it's finally out. It's really been a long time

38:02

coming, really, to be honest with you, and that's

38:04

the most powerful focus of my life

38:07

right now, is that I actually have completed

38:09

something that there wasn't time I saw i'd

38:12

never do again. And it's really crazy.

38:14

Never say never, sometimes be careful.

38:17

I gotta tell you, Steve, we're so happy to have

38:19

you back, and we're so happy to have you

38:21

here. It Inside the Studio. Boy, It's been my

38:23

pleasure and thank you very much for having me. We'll

38:27

still for

38:30

shot us fun. It's

38:34

calling of you. We're

38:37

Still. Inside

38:55

the Studio is an I Heart Radio original

38:57

podcast. This episode was written

38:59

in did by me Joe Levy.

39:02

We'd like to give a big thank you to Steve

39:04

Perry and Fantasy Records.

39:07

You can follow Inside the Studio on I Heart Radio,

39:09

or you can subscribe wherever you listen to

39:11

podcasts.