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<\/h1>\nBy Chris Neal<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonathan Cain is in the midst of a minor crisis. He was just shopping with his son in the Irish capital of Dublin when his wife called to let him know that their laptop computer has gone kaput, the victim of a virus that hacked all their credit cards\u2014except for one, which happens to be a brand that isn\u2019t welcomed by merchants here in Dublin. So while his wife reports the theft and procures new credit cards, Cain has had to head back to his hotel to exchange cash for euros so he and his son can continue seeing the sights. It\u2019s a problem that could happen to any international traveler abroad. But as the musician in the hotel lounge reminds Cain on his way back out the door, he\u2019s not just anyone. \u201cThe guy is playing \u2018Don\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019 as we\u2019re leaving,\u201d notes Cain, making his way back out into Dublin\u2019s bustling streets. \u201cIt\u2019s too funny.\u201d<\/p>\n Journey keyboardist Cain, guitarist Neal Schon and former singer Steve Perry wrote that particular song a full 30 years ago, but its explosive resurgence\u2014\u201cBelievin\u2019\u201d is by far the most-downloaded song to have been recorded in the 20th century\u2014serves as a symbol for their band\u2019s own unexpected return to rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u00a0glory. Since the departure of Perry and drummer Steve Smith in 1998, the group had endured several years of plummeting album sales and a revolving door of lead singers. The unlikely road back to a full-on Journey revival began on June 10, 2007, when \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d was used as the soundtrack for the controversial closing scene of the popular TV mob drama The Sopranos<\/em>\u2019 series finale. The song had been nipping at the edges of popular culture for the previous few years, becoming the unofficial theme song for the 2005 Chicago White Sox\u2019s successful World Series run. But The Sopranos<\/em>\u2019 uniquely incongruous usage of the song gave it an all-new cultural cachet. \u201cThat started the ball rolling,\u201d says Schon.<\/p>\n The other major element of the group\u2019s rebirth came that same fateful summer, when Schon saw a series of YouTube videos featuring Filipino-born Arnel Pineda and was floored by the singer\u2019s power and range. \u201cThe guy\u2019s a true chameleon,\u201d Schon says. \u201cHe can croon with the best but he can also rock with the best.\u201d Pineda uprooted himself to head stateside, and was thrust into the limelight as Journey\u2019s new lead singer beginning in early 2008. His recorded debut with the group, that year\u2019s Revelation<\/em>, became Journey\u2019s first Top 5 hit and platinum seller since Perry\u2019s acrimonious exit. The subsequent tour attracted more than a million paying customers in the next two years. Don\u2019t stop believing, indeed.<\/p>\n Journey\u2019s Ross Valory, Arnel Pineda and Neal Schon onstage in England, June 2008<\/p><\/div>\n These are just the latest unlikely twists in a story that began almost four decades ago when Santana band alumnus Schon and bass player Ross Valory first formed the group in San Francisco. Several albums and personnel changes later, Journey found Perry and a mainstream breakthrough with 1978\u2019s Infinity<\/em>. Cain and Smith joined shortly afterward, solidifying the lineup that would dominate radio in the early 1980s with hits like \u201cWho\u2019s Crying Now,\u201d \u201cOpen Arms,\u201d \u201cSeparate Ways (Worlds Apart)\u201d and \u201cFaithfully.\u201d Albums like 1981\u2019s Escape<\/em> and 1983\u2019s Frontiers<\/em> sold in the multimillions; a 1988 Greatest Hits<\/em> compilation has sold 15 million by itself.<\/p>\n Still, Valory and Smith departed during the making of 1986\u2019s Raised on Radio<\/em>, and the remaining trio soon drifted apart. Cain and Schon formed the supergroup Bad English, but never imagined that Journey was truly finished. \u201cWe never officially broke up,\u201d Schon says. \u201cIt was never like, \u2018I hate you, I never want to be in this band again.\u2019 It was just like, \u2018I need a break. I\u2019m burned out and need some time.\u2019 That time turned into 10 years.\u201d The 1980-1985 lineup reunited for 1996\u2019s platinum Trial by Fire. <\/em>But when Perry balked at touring due to health problems, the remaining members (minus Smith, who was replaced with Bad English drummer Deen Castronovo) elected to hit the road without him. Perry replacement Steve Augeri was initially criticized as a sound-alike, but he hung in for a respectable eight-year run before being felled by throat trouble. When Augeri substitute Jeff Scott Soto didn\u2019t click, the way was clear for Pineda\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Journey\u2019s latest album, Eclipse<\/em>, found the group working again with longtime producer Kevin Shirley and returning to a harder-rocking sound than has been heard from these guys in many years. \u201cIt was Neal\u2019s vision on this one,\u201d Cain acknowledges. \u201cHe wanted to make a guitar-driven rock record and show less of the pop side. I said \u2018Fine, we can do that.\u2019\u201d The twosome began writing songs\u2014their first effort, \u201cCity of Hope,\u201d inspired by Pineda\u2019s story and the group\u2019s triumphant October 2009 show in his native Manila. Back in the U.S., Schon and Cain wrote the remainder of Eclipse<\/em> with a couple of contributions from Pineda. After only five weeks\u2019 recording at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, Calif., Cain and Schon headed to Nashville (where Cain has a home) to finish up with mixer and mastering engineer David Kalmusky. Now the band has already begun a projected two-year world tour. \u201cThen we\u2019ll take another year off and live our lives again,\u201d Cain figures. \u201cIt\u2019s what we do: work like hell and then chill.\u201d We spoke with Cain and a comparably unharried Schon, relaxing at the group\u2019s Dublin hotel, about Journey\u2019s remarkable past and still-unfolding future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How was recording Eclipse<\/em>?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: We made our demos, then Kevin Shirley said, \u201cWell, I\u2019ve only got five weeks free in my schedule, so let\u2019s not rehearse.\u201d So we went straight into Fantasy Studios, where we had done Escape<\/em> and Frontiers<\/em>, with these detailed demos that I had done with Neal. Backgrounds, vocals\u2014everything was pretty much nailed down. Then we had to see if the arrangements were all right and made sense. Kevin took the blueprint that we gave him and we went from there. We were only going to do five songs, but the thing took on a life of its own. Neal and I said, \u201cWell, we\u2019re here, let\u2019s get this done.\u201d We ran out of time with Kevin, but Neal and I weren\u2019t convinced it was totally finished yet.<\/p>\n Jonathan Cain, Neal Schon, Arnel Pineda, Deen Castronovo, Ross Valory<\/p><\/div>\n What did you do after Kevin left?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: We went to Nashville and found this guy, Dave Kalmusky. My daughter Madison\u2019s a country singer, and she really liked his mixing. I gave him a song, \u201cAnything\u2019s Possible,\u201d and he mixed it brilliantly. We said, \u201cOK, this sounds great, we\u2019re going to let this guy mix the record.\u201d Kevin was a little bit reluctant to let go of that, but we told him this is what we want for the record.<\/p>\n SCHON: I was glued to the chair with Dave trying to get it as zoned in as we could, and Jon would come in a few times a day. Overall the record sounds the way I imagined it sounding, so it was worthwhile. It was a lot of extra time, but you get out of it what you put into it. I\u2019m happy with the results.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What has Arnel brought to the band?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: He\u2019s able to switch gears easily because of all the club work he did before joining the band. When he wants to turn on the Bono thing, it\u2019s right there. Whatever the song calls for, he\u2019s got it in his bag of tricks. He\u2019s got quite a magic wand. He also brings a certain humility, a soulfulness. He\u2019s got his feet on the ground, coming from the street like he did. He had been a homeless kid and made something of himself. He reminds us that life\u2019s a bitch and you\u2019ve got to get over yourself\u2014but also that anything\u2019s possible. It makes us all better for having him in our group.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How does your writing process work?<\/strong><\/p>\n SCHON: Songs always start with music and melody for me. I write the music, lay it out the way I hear it, organize everything, arrange it in my head. Then I\u2019ll put up a mic and start singing the melodies that I hear against the bass and the chords. From there I\u2019ll give it to Jon and he\u2019ll do his dance with it\u2014write the lyrics, maybe change the melody a little. Once in a while I come up with a lyric or two, but it\u2019s really not my forte so I don\u2019t try to press the issue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lyrically, what is the album about?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: The concept stems from the Hindu belief that man and universe are connected in an endless circle. Everything is woven together: nature, man, the universe, all of it. We coexist on the physical, spiritual and metaphysical plains. It\u2019s another way of looking at God and life and yourself. I guess the message is to slow down and take a look at how you relate to the rest of the world. I know it sounds like a mouthful, but it\u2019s about giving yourself permission to dream and have hope. Don\u2019t just sleepwalk through your life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What inspired all that?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: I do a lot of reading. Wayne Dyer wrote this book called The Power of Intention<\/em> a few years ago, and it hit me like a brick. He\u2019s a real thinker, and that book put me on the path. He adapted this stuff from what the Hindus believed back in the day, and I think they were really on to something. So we thought, \u201cHey, the \u2018Don\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u2019 guys can bring this.\u201d It\u2019s our job as writers and musicians to bring a richer sense of possibility. We get to sit around and think about all this stuff all day. (laughs) That\u2019s what I get paid for, you know? I want to give something healthy to the fans, something they might be able to dream on. It\u2019s not like I want to be Dr. Phil, but on the other hand I\u2019ve been doing this for too long to just write crap. I refuse to do that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When you\u2019re writing, do you think ahead to how it\u2019ll work onstage?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n SCHON: Absolutely. I had that completely in mind for this whole record. We started playing in Europe, and they liked a lot of our harder stuff\u2014songs that were album tracks, they dug all that. So we started trying to rock the show out more. We have so many ballads that we actually ran out of rock songs to play. That was the whole idea behind it, to write what we didn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n How do you build a guitar solo?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n SCHON: Sometimes I come up with a theme before even going for a solo. I\u2019ll have a melody in mind\u2014sometimes it sounds like it could be a string line. Then I\u2019ll work off it and weave in and out of it. I like to do that because then there\u2019s a built-in melody. I like people to be able to hear a theme as well as some riffing. Apart from that I won\u2019t have anything else planned at all. I fly by the seat of my pants and express what it feels like to me. I don\u2019t like to play zillions of notes. I do like to burn a bit here and there, but not all the time. I try to play what the song requires and not cram too much in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How has touring changed over the years?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: The buses are a lot nicer, the hotels are a lot more accommodating. It\u2019s more expensive\u2014everything costs more, so your bottom line is definitely pinched. We\u2019re not taking home the kind of money we used to, even though ticket prices are up. You used to be able to see Journey for $17.50. Those days are gone. The other big change, one that\u2019s frankly a pain in the ass, is flying. Because of the 9\/11 thing, the security thing, they want to stop and frisk you. I recently got randomly selected to get messed with, and I\u2019m like, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding me. How many seats are we buying on your airline, and you\u2019re going to screw with me?\u201d But they do. In the old days it was pretty cool\u2014we could afford our own plane, and we did that for a few tours. Now it makes more sense to be on the bus if at all possible. It\u2019s much more comfortable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Does the band get the respect it deserves?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n SCHON: I feel like now it does. Finally! It\u2019s taken a long time. I think that respect has come out of our refusing to go away, as well as the demand for our older music. It\u2019s embedded in stone now, and we\u2019re never going anywhere. We can hang onto it as long as we want. I always felt it was not our time to go away. Even when we did take a long hiatus waiting for whoever to come back, there was always something there that felt like the band wasn\u2019t done.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did you decide to go on without Steve Perry?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n SCHON: The turning point for me was when he went out on his own solo tour and started playing all the stuff we wrote together. He had a lot of success with a couple of solo records, so I thought he\u2019d stick to that. But then I heard he was doing eight or nine Journey songs in the set. At that point I went, \u201cWait a minute, Jon and I wrote the other third of those songs. We have every right to play that stuff as well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you feel obliged to sound like Journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n SCHON: We\u2019ve figured out that we just sound like Journey when we get together and play. It\u2019s never a problem. We have lots of different sides now, but we always have. If you listen to Escape<\/em>, which is 30 years old now, there\u2019s a wide spectrum of music on that record. There\u2019s hard stuff, soft stuff and in between. I see people who make a fortune off a hit song, then try to write 20 more exactly like it. We try not to repeat ourselves or get stuck in a mold. I want to move forward, I don\u2019t want to stay in neutral. We could easily play nothing but our greatest hits forever and do very well, but it\u2019s important to keep growing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What are your hopes for the band?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CAIN: I know it\u2019s probably dreaming to think this, but I feel that we could still broaden our fan base. We\u2019ve only got a few years left doing this\u201410 at the max, probably six or seven before we\u2019re done. I\u2019d like to make the best of where we play and how we play. God knows they play our old stuff to death. We forged some new territory with Revelation<\/em>, and it allowed us to do this. It gave us the freedom to do something new, so let\u2019s do it right.\u00a0 M<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Order this special 6 page feature on Journey today<\/p><\/div>\n How a classic-rock powerhouse found rock redemption with a new generation of fans. Read the print edition for even more exclusive content.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n SURROUND SOUND\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>\u2028The frustrating history, uncertain present and promising future of music in the round.<\/p>\n MY MORNING JACKET\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Kentucky\u2019s finest work up a loose and lively new album in a church gym.<\/p>\n COLBIE CAILLAT\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Falling in love proved just the thing for making her latest album shimmer and shine.<\/p>\n B\u00c9LA FLECK\u2028 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>The banjo king and his original Flecktones aim to reinvent bluegrass and jazz yet again.<\/p>\n DEF LEPPARD\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Virtuoso guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell take us inside a hard-rock hit machine.<\/p>\n \u201cWEIRD AL\u201d YANKOVIC\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Being pop\u2019s most beloved funnyman for almost three decades is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n JOSS STONE\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Bringing a little soul to Nashville.<\/p>\n MARC BROUSSARD\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>He just wants to make you dance.<\/p>\n ADAM ANDERS\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Behind the scenes with Glee\u2019s music man.<\/p>\n MARIANNE FAITHFULL\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>A \u201960s icon expands her legacy.<\/p>\n WHO\u2019S NEXT\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Katie Costello \u2028Ambrose Akinmusire \u2028Ximena Sari\u00f1ana<\/p>\n SPOTLIGHT\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>The Greencards\u2028The Jolly Boys \u2028Matt Nathanson\u2028Christina Perri \u2028Gomez \u2028Youssou N\u2019Dour \u2028Battles<\/p>\n How classic-rock juggernaut Journey turned a whole new\u00a0generation into believers By Chris Neal Jonathan Cain is in the midst of a minor crisis. He was just shopping with his son in the Irish capital of Dublin when his wife called to let him know that their laptop computer has gone kaput, the victim of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4835],"tags":[4843,4852,4838,4841,968,4837,4854,4849,4850,4845,4836,1637,1636,2823,4839,4847,4851,4844,4848,4840,4855,974,4853,4856,4846,4842],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7391"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7401,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391\/revisions\/7401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/journey-cover-1.jpg\" "\\"journey-cover-1\\"")
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