News
(4/18/2005)
From www.ClassicRockRevisited.com, an interview with Neal -
Neal Schon shocked the rock world a few years ago when it was leaked that he was going to be making an album with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Slash. The band was going to be called Planet Us. Slash bailed early to form Velvet Revolver and soon after Sammy and Michael were gone to tour the country with Van Halen. Instead of returning classic rock to the charts, Schon was left holding the bag. Instead of giving up, Neal hooked up with journeyman singer Jeff Scott Soto, via the popular website run by Andrew McNeice, Melodic Rock www.melodicrock.com. The result was a new band titled Soul SirkUS. Marko Mendoza (Whitesnake, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy) joined with Deen Castronova (later replaced by Virgil Donati) and the band was born. The first album was released and Soul SirkUS is on the road promoting their debut album.
In the meantime, Schon has been in the studio recording and instrumental gem titled I on U and making a brand new Journey album. Neal has always been a good friend to Classic Rock Revisited and he speaks his mind and gives his honest opinion on whatever topic we bring up. Read on to discover how Neal picked up the pieces to create Soul SirkUS and how he feels about Journey being on the infamous Walk of Fame. Oh yeah, we end rumors on whether The Main Event with REO Speedwagon and STYX was a success or failure and if Steve Perry is welcome in Journey.
Read on and enjoy.
Jeb Wright, April 2005
Jeb: When Planet Us fell apart, lesser men might have just said, "This is over, I give up but Neal Schon said “Well to heck with you, I’m going to do it anyway.”
Neal: Well you know what, that was basically it. At first, when Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar went to do Van Halen, I was angry because we had plans and I had done a lot of pre-work. I wrote a lot of songs, about 30 or more, and I had just done a lot of work and put a lot of energy into it. When they initially ran I was steaming. A few days later I cooled off and I just re-grouped and got to my senses and I put the pieces of the puzzle back together again with some different guys.
I had been reading about Jeff Scott Soto for quite sometime on Andrew’s site [www.melodicrock.com]. I read a lot of rave reviews about him live. What I was really interested in was finding a lead singer like Sammy that was very strong in a live atmosphere. There are so many guys you can get that go into the studio with ProTools -- that can make you sound as great as you want -- then you get onstage with them and you realize they don’t have what it sounds like on their CD. And so everybody was raving about his live performances so I was real curious to meet him. At the NAMM show the year before, I got a hold of him through Andrew. Andrew gave me his number and I called him up and just ask him if he wanted to meet while we were down there at the Gibson party. , I had a signature model coming out and they wanted me to play at the party. Jeff brought his drummer and his bass player down and we sort of sketched out a little set, even though we didn’t have time to rehearsed. We did some Led Zeppelin and Journey songs and we did some Stevie Wonder and some blues. We played a little 45-minute set and the people pretty much went off; they loved it. Immediately, I knew we had some chemistry and that it would work. The night after that I went to see Marco Mendoza play and he was completely amazing and I realized I had seen him play years ago when I lived in L.A.
Jeb: I had seen him with Whitesnake and the guy is just amazing.
Neal: Yeah, he is just unbelievable. The thing right now is that the band is pretty incredible, musicianship wise, in what we can do and how many gears we can go into. I mean there are more gears in there then any Lamborghini Ferrari I can tell you that!
Jeb: Jeff is an incredible performer and I know Andrew and I know how much he loves Journey and how much he likes Jeff; he must have wet his pants when you all got together.
Neal: Andrew was real happy to see this happen. The more I know the guys, and Jeff, I realize how much chemistry we do have going on. The band works extremely fast. I was in the studio with Journey finishing our new CD for the summer release and I had about six days to finish. I was in there knocking that stuff out and made sure I had finished every little thing before I left and then we jumped in to rehearsal. I had three days rehearsal with these guys to put together a show. We pretty much put the pedal to the medal and got through it. We were doing 11 hour rehearsals. My God, wearing a Les Paul for eleven hours – I need some type of streamlined Les Paul that is more like an Ibanez!
Jeb: The new ones are lighter, you know.
Neal: Mine are not.
Jeb: You probably get the good ones.
Neal: The heavy ones are the ones that sound good. They are not that comfortable but they do sound great. Ibanez are great to rehearse with. I record with them once in a while when I want that sound too. They are so light they are an awesome guitar to rehearse with.
Jeb: Did any of the Planet Us songs make in onto the Soul SirkUS record?
Neal: Only one. Actually, all of the material that is on the Soul SirkUS record was planned for Planet Us. It is just that Sam had not got to anything except for “Peephole.”
Jeb: So basically, it is the same music and you guys added lyrics and arrangements.
Neal: I gave Jeff the music and after he wrote the lyrics, he arranged it and I re-chopped my demos and made it make musical sense. Once we got the demos back, everybody learned the stuff and we rehearsed for a couple days and went into the studio and knocked it out.
Jeb: Where did you come up with the name, because it’s a cool name?
Neal: I was looking through some musical magazines that had like high tech recording gear in it and I saw the name Sonic Circus. I thought that was a really strong name and I went looking on the internet to see if it was taken and it was taken. Then we started shooting around Soul Circus and everybody liked it. We went looking around and we found out that was taken -- with the correct spelling of Circus. Some 80’s R & B band had the name. So, we finally had a moment of frustration and desperation to come up with a name. I said why don’t we just respell ‘circus’ and use a capital US at the end as in Planet US. Obviously nobody had that cause the spelling is so weird.
Jeb: That wasn’t like a little flip of the finger to Planet US was it?
Neal: Shit, yeah. You are talking about the capital US? Yeah, it was the remainders of it.
Jeb: No one has ever accused you of not putting your feelings out there.
Neal: [laughing]
Jeb: Are you working with a label or are you doing this yourself in the US?
Neal: We are doing it our self. We own it. We own everything we have done and basically we are just cutting licensing deals. Frontiers have just cut us a fairly large deal in Europe and Japan. It’s being released over there by Frontiers and right now I am talking to a few people and we are very close to cutting a licensing deal in the US. The new version of the CD actually has a lot more material on it than the previous one. We re-recorded a lot of the songs. We re-did all the basic drums on the whole record. Then I re-recorded some new songs and they are on the CD as well as a live DVD. We have features on the DVD including in the studio, behind the scenes, interviews and two full on videos. We also have a 20-page booklet with pictures and lyrics, so it’s a nice package now.
Jeb: Now what’s the goal of this, are you wanting to have to get to a point where you have to decide who you go on tour with?
Neal: I’m not going to decide anything like that. Everybody’s getting at that but I have been in Journey since the beginning. I am the only guy that’s actually been on every single record they’ve made and I’m not done with that. We just made a great CD and I’m really very much looking forward to the new tour this year. It’s going to be An Evening with Journey where we play everything from our first Journey record ever, pre-Steve Perry, On Through Time and we are going to play our new CD as well. So things are looking up for us, we’re doing very well and I think we just made probably one of the strongest records in our history. Soul SirkUS is a real band; it is not a side project for me. It just means I’ve got a lot of work in front of me.
Jeb: No chance in doing like Warren Haynes does with the Allman’s Brothers is there?
Neal: With who?
Jeb: Warren Haynes. He has his own band, Gov’t Mule, and then he plays with the Allman’s. Do you have that kind of energy?
Neal: I am sure I can get him. I’ve talked to Phil Lesh before. He sorta indicated it would be great if I would come down and check it out but I just don’t have enough time. Between Soul SirkUS and Journey, I am pretty much booked for the whole year.
Jeb: What I meant was that Warren plays with the Allman’s and he will have his band open. Would you ever consider Soul SirkUS opening up for Journey?
Neal: Well maybe we will eventually get to that. I was trying to make that happen this year before we decided to do An Evening with Journey but management was really not keen on the idea. They didn’t want people seeing me before they see me with Journey. They thought that would take some of the oomph out of the show, you know?
Jeb: I think the opposite; man I think it would be cool.
Neal: I think the opposite as well, so maybe we will get back to that again.
Jeb: As if all this is not enough on your plate -- I do a lot of stuff with Steve Vai’s label Favored Nations. It is one of my favorite labels in existence. They actually sent me some autographed copies for a Neal Schon I on U giveaway. It is a wonderful instrumental album. But it is also the third outlet for your music, man. How do you describe your proficiency at this stage in your career?
Neal: I’m just getting older and better I guess, I don’t know. I knocked this stuff out very fast and so that’s a key thing. I’m not a guy to go in the studio and spend months, let alone years, like some people do. I cannot even be in the studio for a month, it will drive me nuts. I’m in and out. I do a lot of first takes and I’m happy with my first takes and that is it. The fact is I’ve got the recording process down and I can knock it out very quickly and it enables me to do more work.
Jeb: You also mentioned a new Journey record. Some people call Journey pop but the Journey I love is really good hard rock.
Neal: The new Journey record people are really going to be blown away with. It is rocking hard. Honest to God, it is somewhere between what we used to have with a lot of hooks and what Red 13 was only with excellent, excellent sound. I mean, there is really some jamming on this record.
Jeb: You seem to be focusing Journey toward that the last couple of albums.
Neal: You know I am not a pop musician; I don’t want to play bubble gummy pop stuff. That’s pretty much where I am at. I’ve been there for a long time, but I have completely grown out of that. You know what I mean?
Jeb: Would it be fair to say in that band you are the leader or are you guys still democratic?
Neal: We’re a band. We’re a democratic band but I think I have a lot of say in the band.
Jeb: I would hope so.
Neal: Because I have been there the longest! [laughter] Ross has been there as well but there is the one record he wasn’t on because Perry fired him.
Jeb: I want to jump back to Soul SirkUS -- I hope you don’t mind me focusing on that right now.
Neal: No, that is actually what I need to focus on right now because we are on tour.
Jeb: In between the blank space between Planet US and Soul SirkUS -- and this might be a little bit of harder question. With Planet US, you had everyone in the world going “Neal Schon just saved rock and roll.” You got the biggest names and you were going to go out and basically conquer the world. Soul SirkUS is still a super group, but it is not quite as a super of a super group.
Neal: In a lot of aspects it’s cooler that we don’t have a lot of really overly famous people in the band. I mean none of us are, individually. But musically, everybody knows every individual that is in this band. And so we don’t have like star status, you know what I’m saying? But, what I have is a bunch of really hungry, amazingly talented guys that can kick anybody’s rear end.
Jeb: Now when you guys do your live set tonight, is it all going to be the album or are you throwing in stuff from other bands?
Neal: We’re throwing in stuff. We’re playing a full record but we are throwing in stuff as well.
Jeb: Now, will it just be from bands you have been in or will there be some of the odd cover here and there?
Neal: Odd covers here and there.
Jeb: You’re not going to tell me though are you?
Neal: No, it will be all over the internet tomorrow.
Jeb: Well that’s true. Congratulation’s on the honor you guys got from the Walk of Fame.
Neal: Thank you, it was a cool day. It was cool for me to see that everybody showed up that was in the band. Actually, the only person that didn’t show up was Gregg Rolie. He had some previous engagement he couldn’t get out of it or something. Everybody else that had ever been in the band was there. It was great; it was just great for everybody to just acknowledge one another and their contribution and their time and effort that they put into the band.
Jeb: Even the controversial Steve Perry?
Neal: Yeah he showed. I was happy that he showed.
Jeb: Yeah, I think everyone was. Hey you know what else is cool Neal? The world didn’t go nuts with rumors.
Neal: There was a few afterwards but you know I think the fire was quickly put out.
Jeb: I get sick of hearing that stuff.
Neal: The world now knows that Steve Perry is welcome to come and sing with us anytime he wants. It doesn’t mean that anyone else is going to go that’s in the band but he is welcome to come and sit in. I invited him in front of TV. Entertainment Tonight was on both of us interviewing Perry and myself and I asked him if he was going to come play with us that night at the House of Blues and he said “Well you never know.” It didn’t happen so we never will know unless he shows. I also asked him if he wanted to come sit in with us this summer. A lot of former members are welcome to come in and sit on a tune or two.
Jeb: I like the way you’ve opened the door and left it in his camp.
Neal: There has been the biggest black cloud following me around. People on the internet like to believe that it’s all my fault that Steve is not here. The truth of reality is that he has always had an open door and he doesn’t choose to do this anymore. So, of course, I have got to be the fall guy because it’s got to be Neal because he’s a trouble maker. I mean that is the honest to God’s truth, the door has always been open but I think he is really retired.
Jeb: What are the touring plans for Soul SirkUS? Are you guys doing both the US and Europe?
Neal: We are doing the States this month and in May we are in Europe. And then I come back and I rehearse with Journey and then I go out with them in the summer.
Jeb: It’s gonna be a hell of a year.
Neal: Yeah it’s gonna be a very busy year for me. It’s gonna be one of the largest traveling years I have done in a while.
Jeb: On the Frontiers version of the Soul SirkUS CD, there are 16 tracks with a bonus track. Did you ever question if a song would be better for Journey than Soul SirkUS?
Neal: The stuff that was on there pretty much spoke for itself. “Alive” one of the last tunes we added, along with “James Brown” really rounded out the record rather nicely.
Jeb: Which one is the ballad? I don’t have the album in front of me. You know the one I am talking about. You could have put it on a Journey album easily.
Neal: “Comin’ Home”. He really sounds a lot like Perry on that track. Jeff is a chameleon as a vocalist. He has done some tributes to Van Halen and some to AC/DC and they are so close to David Lee Roth and Bon Scott that I can’t even believe what I am listening to. He has got the ability to do that. He is like an actor in the sense that he can put his voice anywhere that he wants to do.
Jeb: It sounds like Soul SirkUS is not only musical but it is fun as well.
Neal: Oh, it is fun. Otherwise I would not be traveling like I am traveling. We have one bus and the road crew and the band are both on the bus. Our T-shirts and swag are in the back room of the bus because we don’t have anywhere else to put it. We have a little trailer with our equipment in it. This is the first time I have ever toured like that. It is real back-to-basics but I am very excited to do it. It is going to be a blast.
Jeb: Neal Schon is a famous musician who is supposed to have a big ego. How can you live like that?
Neal: I think it is going to be a lot of fun. We have to start somewhere and this is where we are starting. I am that serious about it. I am looking past all of that stuff; do you know what I mean? Besides that, when I go out with Journey it is a complete cakewalk. I can afford my own bus.
Jeb: Is the new Journey album actually done?
Neal: I am done with it but they are working on vocals right now.
Jeb: Are you still with a label or will this be done by you as well?
Neal: We own that too.
Jeb: What drove you to not go with a label? Better business sense or just sick of the hassle of the music biz?
Neal: It has progressively gotten worse – especially for bands like us that have a large following. We have decided to take it into our own hands. We are doing what Prince did last year. Everyone that comes to a show billed as An Evening with Journey will get our new CD. We figured that is our best store because they are our biggest fans. They need to get our new music. There is a lot of politics and bull going on right now with actual record stores -- I guess they are CD stores. I keep on calling them records because they will always be records to me. People from the record store want five dollars a CD just to stick the CD in their store. The labels are fighting with them because they want their ten bucks. By the end, the band gets zero. We are taking close to ten dollars a CD the way we are doing it and I think that is a fair amount to split up between five guys. Each of us makes like two bucks a record.
Jeb: You said people that come to see An Evening with Journey are going to get the CD.
Neal: Yeah.
Jeb: You mean you are going to sell it to them or give it to them?
Neal: It is built into the ticket price. What we have done is build it into the ticket price where when you buy a ticket, you get the CD. We are also not making the ticket prices astronomically high. We are coming down on the price we get paid to play.
Jeb: I love hearing this. You are serious about the music. Everyone loves money but you seem to be thinking of music first.
Neal: There is only so much money to go around. It is pretty hard to live out there right now and we don’t want to rip anybody off. I don’t think anyone is going to complain about the CD. I don’t think they are going to go, “Oh I wish I didn’t have to get a CD with my ticket.” It is a slamming CD, too.
Jeb: It is a great way to get big sales numbers.
Neal: I saw Prince do it and I thought it was the most ingenious thing I had seen –ever – in the industry.
Jeb: I had heard reports that the Main Event you did with REO Speedwagon and STYX did not turn out so well. Is that why you went back to An Evening with Journey?
Neal: I have been trying to do An Evening with Journey for the past three years but no one would listen to me. After the Walk of Fame thing happened we got a lot of attention and everybody goes “Maybe this is the year to give it a try.” I have always wanted to play by ourselves because I know we can dive into many areas of our career that we don’t normally get to get into. I know we can make a very, very interesting show.
Jeb: I think it is going to be a great show. I read on the Internet that the Main Event lost a lot of money and that you didn’t do that well. I went to see the show in Kansas City and there were a ton of people there.
Neal: No, we were doing good. The people that are on the Internet that were talking how there was nobody there are pro-Perry fans and they hate me because they think it is my fault that he is not here.
Jeb: You are Pontius Pilot.
Neal: Exactly.
Jeb: Last one: Why hasn’t Randy Jackson had you as a guest judge on American Idol?
Neal: That is a good question, man.
Jeb: He owes you!
Neal: Whatever. I probably wouldn’t have the time to do it anyway.
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