Neal Schon Reminds Steve Perry That He’s ‘Welcome Anytime’ to Sing With Journey
Much as fans might continue to call for it, another full-fledged reunion between Steve Perry and Journey doesn't seem likely. Still, Journey guitarist Neal Schon insists the band would happily make room at the mic for its former singer if he ever feels like joining them for a song — or anything else.
"The door has always been open, like I've said a zillion times," Schon pointed out during a recent interview with ABC News Radio. "People ask me every day, 'Are you reuniting?' Steve says, 'No,' and I say, 'You never know.'"
Schon's willingness to work with Perry again doesn't mean that he's interested in parting ways with Journey's current singer, Arnel Pineda. "[We] are always like, 'You ever want to come on and just sing a portion of one song, sing a part of a song with Arnel or sing the whole set, you're welcome anytime you want to come,'" he said. "[Arnel is] not threatened. Nobody's on any ego trip. We don't have any bad feelings."
Of course, Schon can only speak for himself — and as he admitted, he doesn't really have a direct line of communication to Perry anymore. "I mean, he won't allow me to speak to him directly on the phone, and I write to him all the time and just say, 'Hey, what's up? I hope you're doing well,' and that's it, you know? And sometimes he writes back and sometimes he doesn't," he shrugged, noting that if nothing else, the two will always be grateful for the music they made together. "He said that he is. But, you know, we're grown men and so it's time to take the chips off the shoulder and to grow up and let the kids be kids."
Schon adds that, like many Journey fans, he noted with interest Perry's surprising series of appearances on stage with Eels last year — and added that he shares their hope that those performances might lead to more music.
"I was just happy to see him get out there," he laughed. "I thought it was quite ironic the places that he chose to do it. But, you know, I was glad to see him sing and hope that he would do more, actually."
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