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Even though they’re doing fine as a touring act with new singer Arnel Pineda, Journey remain open to the idea of working again with original lead singer Steve Perry. In a new interview with the Huffington Post, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain spoke about the band’s decision to continue without him, and what would happen if Perry ever decided he wanted his old job back.
For Schon and Cain, Perry’s decision to not tour behind their 1996 album ‘Trial By Fire’ due to a hip injury was the last straw. “[W]e kept calling, ‘How are you doing? How are you doing?’” Cain said. “And then it was no reply and we sort of lost touch with the guy. It was almost two years that went by. A platinum record and we’re not going to do anything? So we were like, let’s just call him and do another album. Maybe we can just be in the studio. We called him, ‘Nah, I can’t do that either.’ We had nothing.”
The band were in New York due to the premiere of a new documentary, ‘Don’t Stop Belivin’: Everyman’s Journey,’ which chronicles Pineda’s rise from living on the streets of Manila to fronting one of the most famous bands in rock. When asked if they would take Perry back, Schon left the door open, but with a condition.
“I don’t think there’s anyway not to have Arnel at this point,” he said. “Who can say never? You can never say it’s never going to happen. Maybe ten years from now? Six years? Who knows? But if that situation ever came up, I think it would be the both of them. And I think it would be at the point where it’s a farewell tour … and we’re done. That’s the only appropriate way to go about it.”
Even though they’re doing fine as a touring act with new singer Arnel Pineda, Journey remain open to the idea of working again with original lead singer Steve Perry. In a new interview with the Huffington Post, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain spoke about the band’s decision to continue without him, and what would happen if Perry ever decided he wanted his old job back.
For Schon and Cain, Perry’s decision to not tour behind their 1996 album ‘Trial By Fire’ due to a hip injury was the last straw. “[W]e kept calling, ‘How are you doing? How are you doing?’” Cain said. “And then it was no reply and we sort of lost touch with the guy. It was almost two years that went by. A platinum record and we’re not going to do anything? So we were like, let’s just call him and do another album. Maybe we can just be in the studio. We called him, ‘Nah, I can’t do that either.’ We had nothing.”
The band were in New York due to the premiere of a new documentary, ‘Don’t Stop Belivin’: Everyman’s Journey,’ which chronicles Pineda’s rise from living on the streets of Manila to fronting one of the most famous bands in rock. When asked if they would take Perry back, Schon left the door open, but with a condition.
“I don’t think there’s anyway not to have Arnel at this point,” he said. “Who can say never? You can never say it’s never going to happen. Maybe ten years from now? Six years? Who knows? But if that situation ever came up, I think it would be the both of them. And I think it would be at the point where it’s a farewell tour … and we’re done. That’s the only appropriate way to go about it.”
