My father, Ray Perry, was a singer with the big bands. I get the main ideas coming out of my mouth.
STEVE PERRY JOURNEY HOW TO
When I was younger, my parents were so mad at me that I never learned how to write and read music. We would warm up everyday, do scales, etc. I have to say that did help, in retrospect. But I was sort of spinning my wheels, so I got out of that.ĭid you have any formal musical training privately or at COS?Īt COS I was in Band, Choir and Speech classes. You would have to be, to be able to record in the first place. However, the people coming in to record were already together. I had hoped I would be around the area where I could jump onto something. I found it was taking time away from what I was doing musically. That was a long time ago, but it kept me alive for a while. For a long time, when I was down and could not find work, I was a second engineer at Crystal Studios in L.A. So I met the guys, hung out, and it has been rolling ever since.Ī lot. CBS liked my influence in the band that I had, and though we would be a good match. They wanted to get more vocally and tune-oriented.
CBS told me Journey was a good band, a successful band, with three albums behind them, and they wanted to make a musical change. Just before we were going in to do some serious talking about contracts, the bass player was killed in a car accident. I was working with a band I had put together called The Alien Project. How did you become involved with Journey? Every time I turned around, they would be late, not show up for rehearsals, that kind of thing. They were partying musicians and not thinking any further than that. What do you mean by people who were "not serious"? There was a period in my life that I was not too serious either. It seemed like every time I turned around, I would run into people who would get in my way. Anyway, I moved to L.A., started getting into rock bands and tried to make musical statements. The diaphragm is in a different position. There is a certain feeling I like about sitting in that position. I decided to get off drums my voice was improving more than my drumming was, although I felt, and still do, that I play and sing quite well. I played in bands all through school, actually I was a drummer-singer. I went to COS (College of the Sequoias) in Visalia, California for two years. When I was fourteen we moved eight miles to Lemoore, California. I was born in the small California town of Hanford in the San Joaquin Valley. To start at the beginning, what is your background? After sitting in on a rehearsal for the band, Steve and I repaired to a restaurant on San Francisco's Pier 39, a few blocks from his apartment, to talk vocal music. It was when Journey was rehearsing for the Departure sessions, that we were able to get together with VOICE Editorial Advisory Board Member Steve Perry long enough for an interview. This all in prelude to the Departure album scheduled for release in March. Last fall Columbia issued Journey's three pre-Perry albums in one single set called In The Beginning. They have bucked the trend at the height of the record recession, having sales surge after sales surge." CBS Records' Mike Jensen said, "The addition of Steve Perry to Journey has made them a platinum act. The chemistry was obviously right, for the next Journey album, Infinity was their biggest yet. They melded well with the remaining founders of Journey, Gregg Rolie (keyboard, vocals), Neal Schon (lead guitar), and Ross Valory (bass). They were replaced by Steve Smith on drums and Steve Perry as lead vocalist. In 1977 George Tickner and Aynsley Dunbar left to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Formed in 1971, Journey was well along to becoming a top draw when changes to personnel occurred.
In such an environment it was not surprising to find the top Columbia recording quintet Journey, homed-based. The San Francisco Bay Area has spawned its share of innovative rock groups.
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