Tunes, Aug, 1989
SCHON & CAIN USE "BAD ENGLISH" TO DEAL WITH PAST
by David Huff
"I know who you are," replied Neal Schon over the telephone as I identified myself. "Jonathan told me he had spoken with you last summer when he finally got it off his chest about what really happened with Journey. Since you know everything, I really don't want to talk about it. I hope you understand. I don't want to talk about him."
I really couldn't fault Neal Schon for not wanting to talk about the end of Journey, or him. Only a few weeks ago, Schon broke his cool veneer and vented his anger at him, Steve Perry, that made nationwide news. It wasn't going to happen again.
"I guess someone just caught me at the right time," Schon theorized about his outburst. "I can't deny I'm not upset with Steve Perry, I don't know what's going on in his head, and to be honest with you, I really don't care. He's in the past as far as I'm concerned, and it's the future I'm looking at now."
That future for Schon, incidentally, is linked directly to his past. Now a member of the group Bad English, which has just released an album on Epic Records, the band consists of three former members of The Babys - singer John Waite, bassist Ricky Phillips, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. Cain's departure from the group in 1980 to join Journey brought an end to The Babys musical legacy that had been wrought with internal problems. Journey had become aware of Cain's talents when The Babys opened for journey on their nationwide tour that year. When founding member Gregg Rolie announced he was retiring from the music business, Journey's management asked Cain to join the group. That he was once again joining forces with the neucleus of The Babys, and bringing Neal Schon with him, was indeed ironic in itself. But then again, after all Cain's been through, it was par for the course.
As far as Journey went, Neal Schon very much in the background as Cain became the sounding board for Steve Perry as he wrestled with his decision to abandon Journey in favor of a solo career. Schon makes no bones about the fact he feels cheated by Perry's decision to leave Journey. Though their personal relationship had been strained for years, musically, they were sync. Cain on the other hand, had maintained a close relationship with Perry throughout the years, and he was hoping that bond they'd developed would strenghten itself as time went on. It didn't.
Schon won't talk about the past, but Jonathan Cain has finally broken the silence. Here, in the final installment on the break-up of Journey, Cain fires off the last salvos from the cannon who's slow burning fuse has been building up inside him for some time. "The sheriff decided he didn't need his deputies around anymore," said Cain wryly, "and he thinks he can run the town by himself now. We'll see."
Journey was an intricately woven fabric that was held together with some delicate thread. Jonathan Cain had mended the fabric to the best of his abilities, but some of the cloth had torn loose, mainly bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith. Cain had managed to stitch the remaining personalities together for at least another album they called Raised On Radio. But it was the beginning of the end, and it was that end that Cain was finally coming to grips with this hot, balmy night standing on a street corner on Bourbon Street in downtown New Orleans.
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I know talking about this isn't easy, but the break-up of Journey centers around one thing - Steve Perry!
I know it does.
Has it been easy for you to mask your feelings about this whole situation?
We went through some very trying times emotionally together as members of Journey, and as friends outside of the band. To be honest with you, I really don't know what Journey really meant to Stephen when he got wound up about it, because once the machinery was in place, Journey became a circus. God knows I wrote about it in "Faithfully".
Journey was a circus and Steve Perry was the ring leader.
He was the leader of the show who finally said, "No more!" We couldn't go on without him. Rather than talking about putting a new Journey together without Steve Perry, rather than forging ahead and trying to put a facelift on the situation like so many bands in the past have tried to do but failed miserably at, Neal and I chose to leave the legacy alive, and that's not taking anything away from the two of us, Journey is just not recognized as Journey without Steve Perry singing the music.
Come on Jonathan, there is more to journey than just the voice. You wrote the songs, Neal's powerful guitar work took the music to another level, and Steve Perry put in the emotion.
'
Listen to me, Steve Perry was a lot of the face and the fire, and when he lost the direction and said, "You know, I don't know anymore," that was the point where everything should be laid to rest. If he didn't know about where he should go with the situation, then I had no choice but to throw in the towel and go "Hey, this is where it's at Neal. Do you understand what we are hearing here?" I know Stephen didn't make the decision to leave Journey overnight. He really thought about this from his heart. I don't want Steve Perry's confusion to come across as the only reason Journey broke up.
So was there confusion on your part and that of Neal's?
All I can say is that collectively, all of us are held responsible for the outcome of the band. It had come to a point in Journey where things were incurable on all sides. Nobody is innocent, nobody is held totally guilty. Being in a band is like a marriage. You don't really know, or have a guarantee, that the situation is going to live it's life out. There is still a lot of love there between us, and that's the way we should leave it. We are letting it lie while there is still a positive breathe of hope. In the end, as we walked away from each other that day on the pennisula, there was some hope, and there was a chance. If everybody is fair, and there isn't any egg throwing, and I don't want anybody to throw eggs or spread shit around about who's responsible, because we all are, there may be some life left in the band.
Are you hinting around that Journey may happen again one day?
Right now, Journey is only a name on a piece of paper. It's disbanded for all practical purposes, but there is a contract at CBS Records that says if these guys ever want to come back and make a record, they can do it, and it will be Journey, and that's where it stands right now. The people I really feel bad for, and the worst part of this whole thing, are the loyal Journey fans who have to suffer throught this whole ordeal. Until we all realize how important those fans are, I don't know what will happen. You know, loyalty in rock and roll is so rare. Our fans are losing out, and I feel really bad about it. I've been all over the country, and all I hear is "Why did you guys break up?" or "When are you going to make another album?"
That's because Journey was one of those rare bands that actually struck a nerve with the music you played.
I know there will never be another thing like Journey again. It was unique and spiritual in a very, very positive way. We all knew that. But I'll tell you this, I'd rather be where we're at right now than at each other's throats or even being half-ass about our problems and making a record for the sake of making one. Ultimately, you have to answer for your music, your lyrics and whatever you're going to say. Stephen had a hard time finding out where taht place was for him. He wasn't ready to make a record with us. It was as simple as that.
Tell me Jonathan, do you believe that time heals all wounds?
It's an old cliche, but it's a true statement. Listen, I don't know what to say or think about the situation. I don't know if this is a wound that needs to heal or what. It's like the situation has run it's course for the time being.
It's hard for me to understand that music can be so mentally and physically draining on the individuals involved.
You just don't know. There is a lot of suffering that goes on with each record. With us trying to write our own stuff and digging deep down inside of ourselves to get it, you find out things. There is a lot of pressure making a record and there's a lot of struggle that goes into writing music, especally when you're working with a perfectionist like Steve Perry. He sees in his mind's eye what Journey has been and what it should be. With those standards set, he truly believed that his energy level wasn't up to the standards to where he could say, "Guy's, let's go. I want to make this record in two months, or four months. Let me do my thing first, then let's do another Journey record." He didn't feel the energy.
Come on Jonathan, you have just as much to give, if not more, than Perry could ever muster.
I know I'm a part of it too. What I was trying to say was Stephen's energy wasn't matching the level where Neal's and mine were. He felt drained and uncommitted.
Drained and uncommitted about what? Hell, Raised On Radio went triple platinum and you played to sold out crowds throughout the country, I would think that that album would have proven a very strong point about the validity of Journey?
It did, and it should have, in my mind, proven to Stephen that it wasn't the phenomenal success of Escape or the sales numbers of Frontiers that makes or breaks a band. It's the music.
That's right. And let's really get to the point here. If you had not joined Journey when you did back in 1980, this band would never have realized the potential they ultimately did. You're one of the greatest songwriters in the world today, and no one can argue the point.
I still feel that collectively all of us made Journey click. If you don't have 100 percent from everybody, then it's not going to fly.
It's like a team without a quarterback. It was like the Chicago Bears playing without Jim McMahon, who physically couldn't pull it off. He was limping around at the end, they pushed him around, the beat him up and the Bears went down. Now, should we do that? Should we go out there with Stephen bruised and beaten like that emotionally, wondering in the back of his mind if he should be there, and then find out later on down the road that he wants to pull out, or he's screaming at Neal, he's screaming at me and the whole things a mess? Is that what we want? No. At least Stephen had the guts to say he couldn't do it anymore. Someday, hopefully, he'll figure out why, but now he can't.
There's more to this story than Perry's fragile emotional make-up?
If anybody bled for a band and went out and proved who was No. 1, Stephen did. Neal's raw talent and animal energy doesn't necessarily focus in on the stuff the music is made of. Sometimes, there was a personality clash. When you stop sharing the same vision of a movie, you can't go on making it. Neal saw something else that he thought was more important. I think that Steve and I related and it was unfortunate somehow it just didn't all come together.
Was Perry's life too much of an open book for him to handle?
Stephen was so open, that he could take a song like "Faithfully," put his signature on it, and make it a classic for me and the rest of the world to remember. Like I've said, I have no bones or beef to pick with the guy for what he stands for. If it is to end, then let it end on a high note.
You sound very optimistic about the entire situation. How did your meeting with him leave you emotionally?
I was unhappy when I talked to Stephen at first, and I was in shock. It was a loss for me to think about not making Journey records or not working with Stephen because frankly, I want to reserve that time again for Journey. Stephen can go writing with other people in L.A. or whoever else he wants to, but he knows that if he calls me, it is going to be for Journey. He knows that when Jonathan Cain and Steve Perry sit down, then it's Journey, period. Neal Schon is Journey, don't get me wrong, but the two of us together doesn't constitute claiming the name whatsoever. We'd be jipping the people out of something that is real special.
Are you holding your breathe for the day Stephen Perry calls you up?
I'm holding a slot open for him to see if he ever wants to write again, to see if he ever wants to write another record. In the meantime, I am going to produce, write and play with other people.
Did Journey know how to deal with success and pressure?
Yes and no. Journey was a child that grew up too quick.
It's been two years since you're dialogue with Perry, right?
Yes.
Have the rough waters calmed at all?
Yes they have.
Is Jonathan Cain loyal to a fault?
Interesting question. Am I loyal to a fault? I don't know. I just thought the story needed an ending, and as I look back on it, I understand it.
You DO understand it?
Yes I do.
You understand that Steve needs space?
Yes, but most of all, he doesn't need the responsibility that comes with being the marshall of the town, like I said before. Right now, he's not ready, nor does he want it anymore.
That may be so, but if I recall, it was Steve Perry who insisted on carrying all the responsibility of Journey on his shoulders, especially with Raised On Radio.
Yes, I know. He took on more than he could handle.
Steve Perry was not the only life that hinged on the balance here Jonathan?
Yes, I know that too, but Steve Perry had the option of saying, "I'm by myself, I will make a record when I feel like making a record. I'll live my life."
Did the death of Steve's mother have anything to do with the attitude Perry adopted about Journey? She loved the band, and loved Steve being a part of it.
On the surface I'd say no. But I honestly can't answer the question, only Steve could. I will tell you this. Her death devastated him and to this day, I really don't think he's gotten over it, or ever will.
When you called Journey's manager, Herbie Herbert with Perry's decision, what did you say to him?
I told him that there wasn't any way possible that Journey could continue on in it's present state.
And this was after your heart to heart talk with Perry?
We spoke non-stop for four hours. That's about as heart to heart as you can get. It was the last five minutes however where Stephen said basically, this is it. I admired him for being honest and saying it the way it was.
And how was it?
It wasn't going to happen, and he didn't want to hang up Neal's life, or my own, on whether or not he was going to participate on a Journey album. He didn't want to leave us with the impression that Journey was going to happen. He knows Journey was a great thing for all of us. However, he felt itwas time to go our separate ways.
Didn't the last tour mean anything to him?
Yes it did. It meant a lot. It was a tough tour on him vocally and emotionally. Journey became the responsibility that he didn't want any part of, not right now anyway.
Why was Journey's burdens suddenly placed upon his shoulders? What about you and Neal?
It was on all our shoulders, but as the lead singer, Stephen was feeling more pressure than he should have. If he was truly honest in his feelings about the situation, then I can see where he had no other choice than to leave the band. If he couldn't look himself in the mirror and say, "I can't go on," or "I don't like who I am right now," then so be it. Getting on with his own life was more urgent than carving out a two-year window for Journey. There was turmoil in his life and with his own sanity, and when it gets to that point with anybody, then this whole business is just not worth it.
Did he feel he had a calling somewhere else?
No, I don't think he really knew. He didn't want us waiting on him six to eight months down the road, a solo album later, to tell us that he wasn't ready for Journey because it wasn't in his gut to do so. He came clean with me, and said, "Hey, I can't do it again. I don't feel like I have what it takes to do another album for some reason." It was a tough reason for him to tell me in his heart.
Did he ever tell you?
It was a lot of things that go way back. It was a story that will always remain private.
Thanks to Tree for transcribing this article for the fans
