Steve Perry has shown a newfound willingness to revisit Journey‘s classic songs, issuing a surprise duet recording of “Faithfully” with Willie Nelson. But that doesn’t mean he’s considering a reunion with the band he fronted off and on from 1978 to 1998.
“I mean, we’re all good. We were great together,” Perry tells the Los Angeles Times. “I think the material and our accomplishments stand the test of time, which proves that we were good together. I’m really proud of what we accomplished together, because we were kind of like soldiers in the trenches trying to do something together. We knew we could do what we believed in.”
They had unprecedented multi-platinum success together, topped by 1981’s diamond-certified No. 1 smash Escape. Journey sold millions more with 1983’s Frontiers, home to the six-times-platinum “Faithfully.” “But I really love new music, and when I’m writing here in the studio, I try to remove myself so I can continually chase after these new ideas – and not be influenced by anything except these new ideas wherever they show up,” Perry added.
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Perry returned after a nearly 25-year hiatus with 2018’s Traces then issued The Season in 2021. He’s continued tinkering with both albums, releasing updated versions including 2020’s Traces (Alternate Versions & Sketches) and 2024’s The Season 3. Beyond the Nelson collaboration, Perry also completed his first-ever original holiday song, “Maybe This Year.”
No tour has followed. “You know, I really don’t have any plans for that at this moment,” Perry told the Times. “I’m really having so much fun recording, writing, mixing and mastering at this moment that I just don’t want to break up the flow I’m in right now.”
Perry’s only major solo trek dates back to 1995; his last tour with Journey ended in 1987.
“I think I really do enjoy the solitude and privacy that my life has right now. I enjoy my studio,” Perry added. “I’m staring at my speakers right now, and it’s an environment that is so creative and so fruitful with all these other ideas that I have coming that need to be finished. So, I don’t know. I think I really enjoy committing to this creative new buzz that I’m falling into with new music, new writing, new recordings.”
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