AXS TV has shared the clip below featuring former Journey frontman, Steve Perry, speaking with dan rather about why he stepped away from his music career. Perry opens up about how the fame got to him and reveals what he does to stay grounded.
Perry: “The passion for music had left me. I could not find honest passion for singing, and because of that I was stepping into some other dare I say party behaviours to augment my frustrations. I think my voice was also suffering. Everything started to suffer for me, and it did not help restore my passion for music. Eventually, the feeling got very clear to me that I need to just stop.”
Perry was the frontman for Journey during their most successful years from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He recorded the Journey albums Infinity (1978), Evolution (1979), Departure (1980), Dream, After Dream (1980), Escape (1981), Frontiers (1983), Raised on Radio (1986) and Trial by Fire (1996).
Los Angeles rockers The Effect, the trio comprised of Trev Lukather (son of Toto’s Steve Lukather) on guitars, Nic Collins (son of Phil Collins) on drums, and newcomer Emmett Stang on vocals recently partnered with Steve Perry to record a cover of Journey’s “It Could Have Been You”, from that band’s 1986 album, Raised On Radio.
Rolling Stone hopped on Zoom to hear how the song came together, and Perry told them that he has other projects in the works.
“I just signed with a new label,” Perry says. “I’m very excited about it, and I’ll have an opportunity very soon to work with these very, very musically creative people. I’ll probably announce who I signed with very soon. That’s about as much as I can say, but I’m excited about that, and I am working on stuff.”
Perry emerged from a 22-year recording hiatus in 2018 with the release of Traces. But he didn’t tour behind it, disappointing many fans. What got in the way? “Well, it’s a long story,” Perry says. “Uncle Steve is up in age, and everybody at this age has some aches and pains and things like that. But it’s a really good question that I’ve been asking myself too. And Trev’s been busting my balls about it for a long time, to be honest with you.
“It’s something that I’m absolutely missing terribly,” he continues. “I can’t even tell you how much, but there’s been a big soulful reclaiming of this original feeling that I had about singing that I needed to get back to. I didn’t want to go out and just turn the wheel or turn the crank.”
Read more at RollingStone.com.
A message from Steve Perry about the above-mentioned “It Could Have Been You”: “In 1986, the Journey Raised On Radio record was released and in it was a song I’ve always felt was a diamond in the ruff. I’ve known Trev Lukather since he was 9 years old, and he is a very gifted musician. One day we were talking about his new band, The Effect … He surprisingly mentioned ‘It Could Have Been You’ is one of his favorite tracks from that record, I told him I felt the same. I then said, why don’t you record it? He asked if I would sing on it if they did, I said… ‘Of course, my most precious!’ I must say, singing on their powerful track brought out a vocal experience from years ago! So now… releasing on May 7th on all socials and streaming is a powerful reimagined version of ‘It Could Have Been You’ by… The Effect. Have a listen!”