Neal Schon on Steve Perry: ‘We’re Talking and Getting to Know Each Other Again’
Neal Schon and Steve Perry are “getting to know each other again,” according to the Journey co-founder/guitarist. However, it’s not what you think.
When asked what his most endearing memory of Perry was in a new interview with Vulture, Schon responded, “We were very, very tight. We’re talking and getting to know each other again — though not trying to get together musically again, but he’s learning who I am now, through a portion of our business that I’m kind of controlling now. I’m talking about a Journey trademark that I’ve obtained, as we’ve never owned our own trademark. All these years, many people lied to us. My wife and I finally got to the bottom of it after investigating for years. We were fought hard by everybody, but we managed to obtain the trademark. So we’re talking about that and figuring out the future of that, but we’re talking.”
Schon continued, “I have great memories of when Steve and I first met. We hung out all the time, man. We were like brothers. We were crazy. We spent a lot of nights out way too late doing things we shouldn’t be doing. Drinking and whatnot. We overindulged in a lot of stuff. But bottom line, we had a really good time for many, many years. Lots of enduring moments onstage and offstage. He was a really funny guy. I saw a fraction of a moment of it when we got together before the Rock Hall of Fame induction. I managed to get into his room, which was locked down like Fort Knox. We had a good hang in there. I felt like I still knew this guy and we were still really great friends.”
On the topic of Journey’s Rock Hall induction, Schon said, “I felt good about what was going to partake on the stage. He was always invited to come and perform at the ceremony, but he declined to do anything besides a speech. I understood why. During that induction, when certain individuals went up and took a really long time with their speeches, there are a few pictures that you can find where I’m talking into Steve’s ears and he’s laughing like hell.”
Schon added, “Some people like to feel like they’re more important because they have to talk longer. Or they feel like they don’t get the attention they need so they want to talk longer. So, that’s my long way of saying that I hope that we can become even better friends in the future.”
As for the current state of Journey, the band is releasing their new studio album Freedom — their first new LP in 11 years — this Friday (July 8.) Freedom is available for pre-save/pre-order here.
Journey is also hitting the road this summer on select tour dates in the United States in between residency shows in Las Vegas. A full list of upcoming show dates can be found at JourneyMusic.com.
GALLERY: Journey’s Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
