2005-05-0416:57:04
May 3, 2005 -- 2005 is proving to be an excellent year for Journey.

The year started with a historic event on January 21,
proclaimed "Journey Day" in Hollywood, CA, as the band had the honor
of receiving a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Not only was the
current line-up in attendance for the ceremony (guitarist Neal Schon,
bassist Ross Valory, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, singer Steve Augeri
and drummer Deen Castronovo), but several band members from the past
as well: drummers Steve Smith and Aynsley Dunbar, guitarist George
Tickner and singer Robert Fleischman.

Perhaps the greatest surprise—not only to the fans lined up along
Hollywood Boulevard, but to the band most of all—was the unexpected
appearance of the group's former frontman Steve Perry, who had not
been seen anywhere with Journey since his departure in 1996 after
TRIAL BY FIRE was released and earned the band's first Grammy® Award
nomination for "When You Love A Woman."

In March, Journey finished recording their highly anticipated 13th
studio album, GENERATIONS. As a sign of gratitude to their devoted
fans who helped put Journey in the top 30 best-selling music groups
of all time (having sold over 75 million albums worldwide), copies of
the GENERATIONS CD will exclusively be given away free with the
purchase of a ticket at most of the concerts along the tour route. A
worldwide retail release once the trek concludes is currently being
planned.

The 30th anniversary celebration of the 1975 release of their self-
titled debut album continues this summer with the launch of a U.S.
tour, dubbed "The concert that takes you back…and into the future,"
commencing June 26 in Irvine, CA and lasting through October. Dates
are still being confirmed at press time and a large number of shows
are going on sale the weekend of May 7. Tickets for the show at Wolf
Trap in Vienna, VA went on sale April 23.

Journey has teamed up with iloveallaccess.com to offer a variety of
VIP ticket packages. For more information, visit the band's website
at www.journeymusic.com and follow the links.

Keeping with the title of the tour, fans can expect nothing short of
a spectacular concert event—complete with fantastic visual and audio
flashbacks--as the band brings to life a three hour feast of classic
hits, as well as some of the hidden treasures taken from the band's
entire career.

As Neal Schon guarantees, "No matter what kind of Journey fan you've
been, this is going to be the show to see. We're covering the
spectrum of our entire catalog. We'll play songs from the very first
record and the other three pre-Steve Perry ones, and everything else
from there on out, including music from the new album. Then we'll end
the show with a bang and play our greatest hits like we always do.
We're going to be taking fans through a time trip here. It's going to
be very interesting to dive into the past, dive into the future and
dive into what we've been doing for the past eight years."

"No one should be worried," bassist Ross Valory continues. "Yes,
we'll be playing `the dirty dozen' in there somewhere, those favorite
songs that have made us popular and have made people happy over the
years."

GENERATIONS was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, CA, where
the band recorded 1986's multi-platinum RAISED ON RADIO. Their first
new recording since 2002's RED 13 four-song EP and 2001's full-length
ARRIVAL album, it's truly what loyal Journey fans have been waiting
for. "There's a real sense of harmony and melody on this album filled
with heartfelt lyrics," proclaims keyboardist Jonathan Cain. "It has
the ballads that people would expect from us and the rock & roll that
I think has the Journey signature sound to it. There's something for
everybody. There's a mix of fun, playful songs along with some solid
rock tracks. I don't think it's going to disappoint anyone."

"The new record is a real retro record for Journey," Schon
continues. "It's a rock record with some great ballads. What I like
about it is that it's very guitar-driven and there's more rock and
soul on this record and less pop. So I'm happy about that because I
prefer rock and soul."

The band turned to an old friend, Kevin Elson, to produce
GENERATIONS. He's the man responsible for the band's multi-platinum
ESCAPE, DEPARTURE and FRONTIERS albums, as well as their double-
platinum CAPTURED live album. It was Schon's idea to enlist Michael
Fraser (Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith) to team up with Elson to
engineer the sessions.

For Cain and the rest of the band, working with Elson and Fraser
proved to be just the ticket with Journey. "This album happened
fairly effortlessly in the sense that we recorded all the basic
tracks in a week," he says. "We made the album with Kevin kind of the
same way we made ESCAPE. We rehearsed diligently and recorded
everything live, so the whole band got everything done really
quickly. We went into the studio and just played together as a band
with very little overdubs. And it was a laid-back atmosphere. Nobody
was on anybody's case while we were making this album. Nobody got the
primadonna award."

"We mixed the album in Vancouver with Mike Fraser," he
continues, "who worked with Neal, Deen and I when we did the Bad
English album, and he's done a lot of Aerosmith records. So it has
the Vancouver stamp. We say the album has been `Frased.'"

The album title, GENERATIONS, represents the constancy of Journey's
followers old and new throughout the past 30 years. "There's a whole
new generation that has become fans of ours," says Valory. "For the
last seven years in particular, I've been noticing that there are
younger fans at the shows. Being that Journey has been popular for so
long, there are at least three if not four generations of Journey
concert-goers and listeners. We find people older than us and kids in
the front row. So many of the lyrics on the album address the lives
of these people."

With new song titles like "Faith In The Heartland," "Place In Your
Heart," and "A Better Life," "the band has come full circle"
according to Jonathan. "We've been going in different directions in
the past. I think it embraces the elements of FRONTIERS again, our
rock roots, it has a bit of a soul and Motown sound to it. The
harmonies that we've created are strong and have a melodic sense, and
yet it has a playfulness about it. It's fun and it doesn't take
itself too seriously. There are serious things that we touch upon.
We've got a song about the soldiers over in the Middle East
called `Out Of Harm's Way.' The band certainly has a concern and
respect for what they're doing."

In an interesting twist, GENERATIONS will be the first Journey album
in which all the band members get a shot at being the
frontman. "Everyone is singing at least one, if not two songs on the
new album," says Valory, "we've been doing that on the past few tours
and the audiences love it. We're spreading the talent around. I like
to think of it as a blossoming of new singers who've just been
playing their instruments before."

regards,


Russ
http://blomstedt.ssr.be
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