Journey has been to the mountaintop, leapt over it, and come out standing more times than most of their contemporaries combined. In the summer of 2003, a full thirty years after their initial formation, Journey is ready to make the leap yet again. You simply have to admire the incredible drive that this group has.

Take Journey’s most recent studio offering, “Red 13,” for instance. Conceived as a simple EP to fill the space between full album projects, “Red 13” is a Pandora’s box of riffs and rhythms meshed and mashed with deeply thoughtful lyrical passages delivered so emotionally impactful that it easily rates as some of the best work to be branded with the Journey trademark. Within “Red 13’s” twenty-five minutes exist all the sonic credentialization required of a group continuing to ascend along an already incomparable artistic arc. If you have witnessed the band performing live in recent years then you already know that the live show maintains that same high standard. Journey is every bit as vital today as it has ever been and shows no signs of ever reversing course.

Though Journey are intent to leave further sonic imprints on contemporary Rock and Roll, this summer the group has joined up with both Styx and REO Speedwagon on what is easily the best Classic Rock package of the season. In the early days of this traveling Hit-fest, Journey-man Jonathan Cain found a free hour to phone in and give some insights on the tour, the record, and his group’s place in both the history and future of Rock and Roll.


DAVID LEE I know that you are calling to talk about the tour with REO SPEEDWAGON and STYX but your publicist sent me this EP that you had out a little while back. . .

JONATHAN CAIN Yeah, that has been out for a while, a little while anyway.

DL It is an EP but about as long as a full album of music was in the good old days of vinyl?

JC Yeah. We just thought that rather than making a big ol’ formal record we would put this together. We had these songs and we thought that they all kind of fit together in a cool way. That actually came out as a sort of pre-qual to the tour that we did with Peter Frampton and we thought that the fans would like to hear something new. We had done “Arrival” and basically had done everything that the record company had really wanted us to do and Neil just wanted to do something that he wanted to do so we just kind of Rocked.(laughs) We did it without worrying whether it was going to be commercial or not.

DL Beside having done it all by yourselves it sounds like you, personally, were having a really good time with it, I mean, that intro piece is all you and I haven’t heard you do anything quite like it for a long while?

JC I think that as a unit it was just good for us to come to some common ground and we all had a great time. We got to jammin’ and I think that Neal was especially hot. I played more of an engineer/listener role and there is a lot of Neal on there obviously. I did feel strongly about one song and that was “Walking away from the Edge.” That was kind of a cool song for me to write and I think that it said a lot about substance abuse and things like that. Not that we wanted to be writing these big, political songs but that one, it was like, I had some friends that has some hard battles with it (drugs) and it was kind of neat to hear that finally get finished. It was just a demo that I had hoped would end up on the “Arrival” album and it didn’t end up there.

I thought that it was a cool song and I just loved the vibe of it so it was kind of nice to see it finally come out.

DL So though it was a heavy topic it was still a fun piece to do?

JC The band had fun, I had fun, there was no pressure at all on anything. It was easy and fun.

DL You used the word, “fun” a lot and I think that it is really obvious that you guys are having fun in the band now which I am going to guess wasn’t always the case in the past? The “Raised on Radio” tour for instance, you all seemed very stiff on the shows that I caught from that tour.

JC It was exactly that, I mean, I really missed the other two guys and it was just one of those things where you make some mistakes along the way and that was a huge mistake, to go out there without those two guys. It is great to be able to look back and say, “Yeah, we were wrong about that.” It was kind of out of my control then but I think that we are in total control of our destiny now, in a big way. It is cool and we are real fortunate to be able to still make music and it is our core fans who support us. It is like we get another life or something so it is very good now.

DL And this tour, it seems like everyone is past the point of high career tension in their individual bands?

JC This has been an interesting challenge to play with two other bands and making the whole thing work. I think that it has brought a new respect for what we all do, you know? It is a deeper respect for what we all do and for what we have all accomplished over the years. I certainly have a greater respect for REO and Styx and for what they and their fans are all about. Yesterday I was playing golf with REO’s bass player, Bruce, and he said, “I still have your songs in my head!” (laughs) I got a kick out of that because I had to admit that I had a few of their songs in my head too!(laughs) It is very cool!

DL Between the three of you, what is it like sixty huge radio hits or something?

JC Oh yeah, no filler in any of the sets, that is for sure.

DL Is there occasion for various musicians to jam on this tour?

JC There is not enough time. It is so packed. I mean, everybody wants to do their thing and unfortunately we haven’t got there yet. There is a lot of music to be played and it is not one of those loose festival things, we have got curfews and unions and these halls are pretty strict about getting on and off the stage so. Again, unfortunately, it just doesn’t work. We did have fun at a VH1 Classics jam session that we did in New York. We played each other’s music and that was fun. We jammed on some old songs and did each other’s tunes acoustically, unplugged I guess, and that was a good way to start the tour, it really was. Unfortunately I don’t think that they are going to air that because it was just sort of an informal taping and they didn’t even know that it was going to happen at that point but we all got together and played three songs each, like, “Wheel in the Sky” and then we did “Blue Collar Man” and then “Keep on Rollin’” and then we jammed on some Stones songs and it was pretty good. That certainly broke the ice and like I said, I think that it was really a good way to get to know each other before we actually set out on tour. Styx is out promoting a new record and we are interested to see how they are going to do that.

DL Yeah, “Cyclorama.”

JC Yeah, on Sanctuary. You see, we are at the point where we are going to kick back and see what the next move is as far as our music is concerned.

DL Journey hasn’t sign to Sanctuary, did you?

JC No, no but we are certainly interested to know what happens there because any time you have a band of your like, that does stuff like this you will want to sit back and see the results and that is what we are doing. I know that there have been things where labels have given bands a lot of money and the record companies haven’t done so well because of the whole process that goes on. I think that the answer is going to be, not a lot of front money, you don’t take the money up front, you just make the best product that you can and then the trade off is the promotion. The days of front money are kind of gone, I think. That is fine too because bands like us, we work for a living anyway, you know? It is nice to have a record company that believes in you, that is more important than anything really. I think that all successful bands realize that. Creed was a good example of that, I mean, look of the tremendous job that they did for that band. That is quite an accomplishment for an independent label.

DL Why not release your own records directly to the public?

JC You have to look for the right company really because it takes and army to make it happen anymore today.

DL It has to be doubly hard with the fact that no one ever retires anymore, everyone is still out there and there are more and more new bands crowding the scene every day?

JC Yeah, there is a lot of music out there and it is available in every way. Every time you turn around there is a new way to get it like this new Apple thing. You just wonder where it is all going. It certainly has changed a lot, the strategy and stuff. You have to look at it all and say, “What can we do to be a little different?” You have to reinvent yourself constantly but then to what degree? At the end of the day this is what you are and that is the hardest part, where to draw the line. The band Journey has always sounded like Journey because of the people involved and we have managed to continue evolving. We are less of a Pop band now than we were and I think that we have finally realized that we are a good Rock and Roll band and we enjoy that.

DL As you sit here in 2003 you are married and have kids and have success, is it a completely different place that you need to draw inspiration from for a song as compared to when you first started out in this business?

JC It is just the art of communication really. Take the song, “Walking away from the Edge,” I felt very strongly about those ideas and the idea of choice and being able to stand up to demons and temptation and just the frailty of human nature. It is stuff like that where you really feel that you have something to say and whenever I feel that I have something to say, that is when I start writing. You recharge your battery and you wait but then when it is ready to come out it is almost like grapes on a vine, when it is ready to come, it comes and that is where I am at.

DL Continuing on with the grape analogy, has their been a farmer that you have worked with that helped you know when those grapes are ready for the picking?

JC I see what you are going for, good question, I guess that the thing that you would wonder about is that when you are hot and you are really on a roll but then things just kind of come to a halt, you wonder what would have happened if you just kept on going. You sit down and write a song with somebody and it is a pretty good song and then that is it. You move on but you are always thinking, “Well, what if we had taken that for another week? What if we hadn’t stopped?” I have had writing experiences like that and that is what I wonder about. “Could I have dug a little deeper?” There is that sort of Lenny Kravitz thing, you know, “Once you dig in. . .” that is probably the only time where I would say, “How much did I really have going on with that guy? Was there more we could have done?” Certainly when you are on your own and you are writing your own songs you get in that groove and something just says, “That is enough.” Or something comes up and you just have to stop and you go back and it is tough to find where you were. I know that when I did a solo album back in ’96 I just started writing songs about who I am and then Steve Perry called me back into Journey and we did that. The whole thing seems like a faded memory to me now. It is like, “Well, what ever happened to that thing?” When you get into a mode and are focused, each time it is different and you write different kinds of things.

DL For example?

JC Well, when I wrote songs for that album the songs were totally spiritual and heartfelt which was different from some of the other things that I have written but I still loved them. People have told me that they enjoyed them and that is what it is really about. I have been in smooth-Jazz land for the last four or five years myself, God knows why I went there but there I am, and so it was sort of a calling, the music calls you and you go. I played the piano until I was blue in the face and did have a lot of fun and didn’t have to worry about coming up with a hook or a lyric or a this or that, it was coming right out of my heart and through the keyboard and that was a great experience. I have experimented with a lot of different stuff. I wrote a Christmas song last year for my daughter’s school and had a lot of success with it. I always wanted to write a Christmas song and now I have got one!(laughs) I think that it is a great song that could, some day, be a standard. So, I am accomplishing little things that I have wanted to do. I recently did a Disney tribute album. You know, growing up as a Dad I have sort of admired the movie tunes, especially the animated love songs, they are classics and I spent the whole summer doing that. When you have to watch “The Lion King” twenty times you end up falling in love with some of this music so everything from “Cinderella” to “The Emperor’s new Groove” is on there. I really dug in and found some new things and it was a big challenge for me musically. It is not all the same kind of thing and I think that it helps you grow and when you go back to what you really do it is all fresh again.

DL Do you have a particular piece that you have struggled to finish over the years? A piece or a project that you just have never really felt was complete enough to call it finished?

JC I am sure there are a few lying around that I would have to go back and listen to. I rewrite songs that I believe in constantly, over and over again, until they say something to me. In those kinds of things it is like they just didn’t hit me the first time but yet you say, “I have a great idea here so I will go back and hit it again later.” You know, great lyrics are hard to come by. It seems to be the hardest part for me and I admire people like Stevie Nicks who can just whip them out one right after the other. Don Henley is another one but then again I do hear the stories about how they struggle too and they are just as bad as I am!(laughs) I like to complete things, I don’t leave a lot of stuff lying around. I stay on it and stay in the hunt so I work hard and try not to let things slip away. I just found a song that I started writing with John Waite about fifteen years ago and it was jut covered by Mickey Thomas of Starship, it was just a demo for the Bad English record. So, you know, the beauty of that is that if it was never finished then it would have never seen the light of day and I have got hundreds of songs just sitting there. That is the scary part, you have these songs completed and done and no one has recorded them and that is why I always go back to my solo records to at least get them out there and give them a chance to be heard. My latest idea is that I think that I am going to do a disco version of “Open Arms.”

DL (Laughing) Seriously?

JC In Spanish! It is going to be like a Salsa thing, I think that it is going to be great. I woke up one morning and thought to myself, “This could be a hit!” Mariah Carey recorded a version of it in Spanish and it was this beautiful translation and so I have this new keyboard and it sounds like a Disco box and I am going to stick it up and see if I can’t get someone to demo it for me. Don’t be surprised if you hear it on dance radio.

DL I will dust off my disco ball immediately!(laughs)

JC We heard “Separate Ways” and “Who’s Crying Now” already! That is the other thing, you are constantly trying to keep your catalog rolling and hustle the songs that you have but you have to make sure that they are being represented in all of the right places.

DL Music is a different kind of art form where people other than the original artist can come along and change the artwork. I mean, you wouldn’t think of anyone making a living by painting over another artists canvas in some way, how do you feel about the versions of your songs that have been done by other artists?

JC It is great. It is flattering. “Open Arms” has been recorded now by Colin Ray and Mariah Carey and “Faithfully” has been recorded by a couple different Country artists and Faith Hill sang it when she first came out and then it ends up on American Idol as well and sold 100,000 the first week! Cha-Ching!(laughs) Here I am beating my head against the wall and then I am getting royalty checks so thank you very much! Yeah, you know, half the battle is just showing up. Would “Open Arms” be a hit today? I don’t know. Some of these songs that were hits back in the day you have to wonder if they would have even seen the light of day today. I certainly think that there were some great songs on “Arrival” that never even got looked at, why? What is up with that?

DL No turntable guy in Journey!(laughs)

JC Yeah! I don’t know but like I say, I am grateful and feel fortunate that I have had the career that I have had and I look forward to seeing the next phase. You have to make the next phase happen and be open enough when the time is right but for now we are happy to be out here representing our catalog with two other fine bands. I miss my family, sure, but hey this is what we do. The fans are cool and loyal and we thank them for that.

DL It has always seemed that you guys genuinely do care about the people who are listening to and buying your music, the placards that you put up in front of shows announcing who is playing in the band for instance, a lot of bands don’t do that kind of thing.

JC When you are coming out here and doing business you are selling a product and you are representing a product and it would be like selling a cereal and not putting what is supposed to be in it in the box. You have to be forthcoming in letting people know that Steve Augeri is the singer for Journey and I don’t feel any sort of thing like, it is a bummer that we have to do that. I don’t know what the word would be but I certainly don’t want people to feel fooled. Here is the flip side to what you just said, do you want people walking out and demanding their money back? No, but they will if you are not forthcoming with what the trip is. I have been to see some really old bands like The Platters and The Coasters and yeah, the originals are not there but do I like it any less? I mean, the original guys are all dead!(laughs) Do I still like the music? Absolutely! Are the Temptations still the bomb when they perform? Sure they are and do you know why? Because they have a standard of excellence that was maintained on their records and if you went to see the Temptations in Las Vegas I will guarantee that they will kick your butt. That is their legacy. Will there be a Journey when we are all dead? I don’t know but I can only hope that our songs are still around. They have lasted this long so we will see but it is a testimony to the energy of the whole thing and it is up to us, I guess, to steer the band in the right direction. Back when I joined the band there was a high musical standard set by these guys and I had always thought that Journey had a lot of soul for a Rock band. People will ask me “Why do you think that Journey is still around?” and my answer is that we are a Soul band. We are more than a Rock band, we are more than a Pop band. Soul, to me, is making music that seems effortless, a sort of pure soul that you can hear in our records. When Neal plays the guitar it is effortless and when Steve delivers a lyric it is just there, he sings from his heart and that is Soul, to me. I think that Journey always had that. We had it on the records and I continue to preach it out here with these new guys. We are a Soul band. When we all walk out onto the stage I want Deen Castronovo and Steve Augeri to walk the talk and to represent an R&B spirit and I think that is how we walk.