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Rolie does an "I remember when" for Rolling Stone


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Thanks for sharing. Article covers a lot of ground. Never knew Gregg's relationship/friendship with Carlos was so "on-and-off." Some rather pointed jabs at Steve Perry toward the end, as well.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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I read that the other day and got a rather mixed message about Steve Perry...towards the end he seemed to be taking shots, but I swear I remember earlier in the article that he was saying okay things about him. Granted, I didn't take the time to reread the article, so maybe I'm mistaken.

 

He didn't say anything overtly bad about Carlos Santana, but sometimes he seemed to be hinting that Carlos was, perhaps, on a bit of an ego trip.

 

Rolie wasn't always as clear grammatically as I'd like, but it could be one of those times where you're better able to follow someone if you're actually listening to them rather than reading a transcript of what they said.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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Thought it was a great article I only read Greg striking out at Steve the one time and

think he kind of had it coming. Other than that, seemed like he let a lot ride so I don't

see any real animosity going on there. The Article, the videos, they were rather very

heart warming. No Ax grinding although in that Video with Neil and Carlos playing, well

Neil had his $hit together and then volume hog Carlos went into an Epileptic seizure.

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Loved this article.

 

As for the Santana/Schon video you never know whether it is the mix or the reality. If you have ever seen Neal Schon live in any band you know he has his guitar volume too low. At least in the early Journey years his tone was clear, but the volume was relatively low. Once they added Perry his tone was also mud. There are exceptions. Unrelated to Rolie's presence but coincidentally, that first album with Jonathan Cain is when their mix improved and the band sounded like they were all playing together in the same room at once (studio performances not live), this being the Perry years Journey.

 

At the R&R Hall of Fame event for Journey the press respected Rolie and went to him first for questions, that was cool. Rolie is an ageless rocker. He is almost unrecognizable compared to his younger days but he looks great. If you just have to dye that hair go light not black old rockers!

 

I don't know who the interviewer is but he came off like a Millennial, very much of the individual nobody is more important than the movers and shakers of the world.

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Interesting article. I wonder what he was going to say in the blank, in this sentence:

 

We made it a little more earthy because there was no . . . It was just real. Everyone played real.

 

??

 

The context was "...Deen was singing the stuff and it sounded the way it"s supposed to sound....."

 

Match the references to "real" in your quoted text with the "real" here:

 

"Steve is very protective of who he is and his vocal prowess. It"s fucking nonsense. Sooner or later, everyone is going to go, 'He"s kind of a dick, huh?' I know I"m right. That is what is going to happen. The real people will show up, and the ones that aren"t, they will show up too."

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Not sure exactly what he"s trying to say without saying it there...

 

The other guys that have been with the band a long time also say Steve confounds them. That they don"t know why Steve feels he was never fully accepted into the band when he was with them for so long and they all capitulated to his wishes, direction, song writing, etc. The majority of Journey fans came on board after they hit it big with Escape - and for those people, Journey is Steve Perry. Heck his 1984 Street Talk album could very well have been a Journey record. That was their sound at the time. But Perry is an athlete past his physical prime. He can"t keep trotting out and doing what he brought to the band forever like the instrumental guys.

 

For the most part the interview comes off as very honest and real. Rolie could have answered the Arnel question - said something kind in the 'All You Need is Love' Ringo way. Of course he"s a hired gun - but come on, it"s hard enough stepping into a legend"s shoes... But Arnel is the one that makes it possible for the remaining members to keep going since Steve won"t/can"t go on. Dean does a pretty good job on Perry material, and he sings with a lot of heart. But you can"t carry a Journey show from behind the drums, he might not be able to keep it up for a tour and maybe he doesn"t see himself as the front man. A lot of great players don"t.

 

Anyway - a lot of history across multiple bands and musical styles here. I enjoyed the links to these musical moments.

 

 

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Interesting article. I wonder what he was going to say in the blank, in this sentence:

 

We made it a little more earthy because there was no . . . It was just real. Everyone played real.

 

??

 

 

My first thought was 'backing tracks.'

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Has Journey ever used backing tracks? If he was referring to backing tracks he very likely would have said backing tracks. He is forthright in the article. He used the term "earthy". That suggests uninhibited. While the opposite, inhibited, ties in with Perry's affectations / exaggerated importance / pretentiousness.

 

"We made it a little more earthy because there was no . . . It was just real. Everyone played real."

 

Did you talk to Steve Perry that night?

"No. Nobody talked to him! He does everything behind closed doors and I don"t get it. I don"t understand it and I don"t care. I wouldn"t do it that way. Here I am talking to you. And aren"t I pretty simple to talk to? It"s me. All that nonsense that he goes through, sneaking in the back door. . . . Come on, man! Are you going to do this your whole life? Are you kidding? [Laughs]"

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Interesting article. I wonder what he was going to say in the blank, in this sentence:

 

We made it a little more earthy because there was no . . . It was just real. Everyone played real.

 

??

 

 

My first thought was 'backing tracks.'

 

That's what I first thought, but after reading Ampy's post, his take probably makes more sense. I've heard that they currently DO use tracks, but haven't seen any evidence (other than precise starts with no count or audible click)â¦

 

 

 

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Interesting article. I wonder what he was going to say in the blank, in this sentence:

 

We made it a little more earthy because there was no . . . It was just real. Everyone played real.

 

??

 

 

My first thought was 'backing tracks.'

 

That's what I first thought, but after reading Ampy's post, his take probably makes more sense. I've heard that they currently DO use tracks, but haven't seen any evidence (other than precise starts with no count or audible click)â¦

 

 

 

Doesn't necessarily change the discussion, but yes, I think there are tracks!... ;):cool:

 

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I friend of mine has met the Journey band backstage nearly every tour when they come to the area and specifically has spent time major time with Jonathan Cain. He has proof if there's any doubt with photos along side Cain's keyboards. As unbelievable as it sounds...he says besides guitar/instrumental interludes during the set, the songs are PRE-RECORDED. The band does play live but playing over themselves, maybe just in headphones. Is it every instrument? Vocals? I don't know. A backup if something fails? He was pretty adamant five years ago this is how they do it. If true I wouldn't think they would ever admit this publicly.
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I've read some interview with the musical director of a live performance of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

They utilized a monstrously huge live band (four keyboardists etc.) and it was readily admitted in the interview that should any player's equipment or instrument fail, the engineer would instantly switch over to the backup pre-recorded track.

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I friend of mine has met the Journey band backstage nearly every tour when they come to the area and specifically has spent time major time with Jonathan Cain. He has proof if there's any doubt with photos along side Cain's keyboards. As unbelievable as it sounds...he says besides guitar/instrumental interludes during the set, the songs are PRE-RECORDED. The band does play live but playing over themselves, maybe just in headphones. Is it every instrument? Vocals? I don't know. A backup if something fails? He was pretty adamant five years ago this is how they do it. If true I wouldn't think they would ever admit this publicly.

 

Without a doubt the backing vocals are canned. That's been true for a long time. And Dean plays to click in-ear. Hey, they have to compete with all the music acts of today that don't think twice about playing to the studio tracks. Do they do this with the lead vocal? And if so, when did they start doing that? Who knows. Due to the physicality of what's required of Steve or Arnel over and over again throughout the touring year, I would assume that most definitely they have a track prepared for when the starting quarter back is under the weather. There's just too much hype to live up to. In the 70s audiences were more forgiving, they expected to hear live music. Then autotune showed up, autotuning live, and then - screw it, at that point just sing to the track.

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Wow....this thread sure took a detour, and there is a bunch of misinformation.

 

First, Deen hasn't been with the band since around 2014.

 

They did use some more tracks when drummer Omar Hakim filled in after Deen's intervention (which by the way he is several years sober now, and doing great with The Dead Daises).

Then Steve Smith came back. They still use click , as they fly in some string parts. (Open Arms, especially).

 

They also brought in Travis Thibodeaux to round out the backing vocals, and play a bunch of the pads, live, under Jon's piano playing.

The last two tours, including the recent residency in Vegas, they would call audibles and go off setlist to another song.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for sharing. Article covers a lot of ground. Never knew Gregg's relationship/friendship with Carlos was so "on-and-off." Some rather pointed jabs at Steve Perry toward the end, as well.

 

The Santana thing...nothing weird there. It's like any other band or friendships, they wane and they crest again.

 

Steve Perry tho....Herbie Herbert was never shy about calling it out, so I'm not surprised. You'd think, since Gregg left prior to Escape, he and Steve would have an easier time reconnecting than maybe Perry would with Cain or Schon since they didn't have as MUCH bad blood! :D "he's kind of a dick, huh?" LOL that's funny.

 

Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me.
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Has Journey ever used backing tracks? If he was referring to backing tracks he very likely would have said backing tracks.

 

Yes, they've used them quite a bit. When I first read the interview, my impression was that Rolie was headed down that road but caught himself so as not to embarrass Schon. "Everyone played real..." [not to tracks]. But I could be totally wrong as to what he was thinking.

 

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Alert: Gregg Rolie is featured on Profiles at 3:00 AM tonight on the NY Life channel in the New York City area.
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Wow....this thread sure took a detour, and there is a bunch of misinformation.

I don"t see a detour. Almost everything coincides with the content of the interview including room for speculating what different statements tied with other comments. There is some misinformation leading to comments based off the ideas consequently presented ...just a bit.

 

Now that it is clear they have used backing tracks I am leaning toward 'backing tracks' as the subject not stated. One could argue the context in which Rolie used 'real' is consistently referencing Perry just as easily as the use of the word came to Rolie"s mind in more than one context because he was speaking his mind and not thinking he needed to use a different word like you might do when writing an article.

 

There are audience videos of Arnel singing poorly. It is nice to see him do a good job in recent videos. He has not blown out his voice. He shines on Who"s Cryin" Now. The echo reverb harmonizer technology they use on vocals and Schon"s guitar really sounds nice for that tune. The caveat of Arnel and faking to a recording if required is that he is over the top as it is if he lip syncs on a bad voice night he would do better by dialing back his animated stage activity.

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Most of the stuff he talks about we can all related to if you have been around long enough or in a band that has ups and downs. I don't know much about the Steve Perry stuff although I saw an interview that he never "felt" like Journey he was his band although he called a lot of the shots. Escape Rocks could comment on that better than I could.

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I don't know much about the Steve Perry stuff although I saw an interview that he never "felt" like Journey he was his band although he called a lot of the shots.

 

I remember that interview as well. Long time ago... his remark surprised me.

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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I don't know much about the Steve Perry stuff although I saw an interview that he never "felt" like Journey he was his band although he called a lot of the shots.

 

I remember that interview as well. Long time ago... his remark surprised me.

It was in Behind the Music. The best part was the incredulous reactions from Cain and Schon IIRC when they found out Perry said that.

 

Also great is the Herbie Herbert (written) interview somewhere online about the whole history of the band.

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i dont know about misinformation or detours, but if we're referencing the "no, they didn't/dont use tracks"....I believe even Herbie Herbert has confirmed the use of vocal "augmentation".

 

A band stays together long enough, they begin to become caricatures. Their choice in 3rd wives leaves me scratching my head; one is a "spiritual advisor" to an infamous guy, and the other one crashed the inauguration of a famous guy.

Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me.
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