During an appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Journey guitarist Neal Schon opened up about how they reconnected with former band member Steve Perry.
Journey experienced its peak between the years 1978 to 1987. During this time, Steve Perry was the lead vocalist of the band. They had released many records that became top-sellers, such as ‘Escape’ and ‘Frontiers.’ Following the success of these albums, the band released ‘Trial By Fire,’ which was Steve Perry’s last project that he was part of before leaving the band.
After Perry’s departure, the band made several lineup changes before landing on Arnel Pineda. Although fans’ initial reaction seemed like he was trying to sound like Perry, Pineda finally found his voice with their latest album titled ‘Freedom.’
Schon revealed that he had been in contact with former band member Steve Perry again. Although his initial reason for reaching out to him was for the Journey trademark, he was able to talk to Perry like before. The musician stated it was a candid conversation where the two people caught up with each other about life and work. He added that talking to him without a lawyer was excellent and that he wanted to stay friends moving forward.
Neal Schon’s words on rekindling his friendship with Steve Perry:
“He likes to keep everything very private, and he probably doesn’t like that I even talk about it; he’s probably going to be pissed that I even mentioned it. But it is what it is. We started talking again, and we had a good conversation. It was very friendly. It was the first time I had talked to him on the phone in a long time, so I didn’t have to go through his attorney.
That was kind of nice. And we were talking about many different things. It definitely was nothing about music at all; it was catching up, some things about business, some things about ‘how’re you doing in your life,’ just general friendship stuff. And I’m looking forward to moving forward with him like that, just as a friend.”
The band’s new album ‘Freedom’ was recently released for fans to enjoy on July 8, 2022. There were also talks about a possible tour with Def Leppard in 2024, but they haven’t made an official announcement yet.
