just going to be single sets from everyone?
Neal Schon: Well, you know what, we
haven't gotten there yet, so you never
know. I did a whole tour opening up for
Steve and I've known Steve for years and
of course [Journey bassist] Ross [Valory]
played with Steve Miller before he was
actually even in Journey. I opened for
Steve Miller with Paul Rodgers doing
[the] Muddy Waters Blues tour with him
great way to listen to music. It's smooth
on the ears and it's a wonderful departure from CDs.
Steve Miller: Yes, Jonathan, I agree. I prefer to listen to music on vinyl. When digital first showed up, I thought it was really great because it was cleaner, there wasn't tape hiss and there wasn't the crackly
sound. [But] I was over at a musicologist's house, a guy who had 10,000 singles, and we sat around for about two
06•2014
and we jammed like every night. So who
knows, he might come on with us. We'll
have to just get out there first. And
Tower, I'd love to play with those guys. I
don't know if they're willing to hang out
that long though, 'til the end of the night.
IE: Lately, there have been a lot of reissues on vinyl, including several of your
bands' past projects and even Journey's
newest album, Eclipse. What's everyone's take on this vinyl resurgence and
do you think it's a nostalgic fad, or
something that's here to stay.
Jonathan Cain: I think it's here to stay. I
think the kids have plugged in their
turntables and heard for themselves
what we love so much about the sound
of vinyl. I can vouch for that because my
son [had me hook up] a turntable and he
goes into his music room and digs on
vinyl. It's a niche market that started
about ten years ago and I think it's still a
hours listening to old 45s, which is the
worst vinyl there is. We were listening to
songs and then we were looking for one
song and he said, "Well, I don't have it on
vinyl. I've got it on CD," and we put the
CD on and it was like thin and transparent compared to the vinyl. So vinyl's like
a really juicy steak compared to like a
kind of tough steak or something. It's
really good. And once you listen to vinyl
and get a chance to hear it, I think anyone
will enjoy it more than they will digital,
but it's just the world we live in. The fact
that it's coming back, I think is great.
IE: You guys have been on the road for
decades now, long before the days of
iPhones and the Internet. How have they
made traveling for you and your crews
easier compared to how it was back in
the day?
JC: Let's start with our crew. First of all,
in advancing shows, it was all done on
Journey and Steve Miller Band
the phone. Slots and stage plots had to
be sent in advance and now everything's
online. So all of a sudden, the stage manager's got his computer, everybody's all
linked together and it makes our crew's
job way easier. When it comes to communication, the bus and truck drivers all
have GPS and it makes for a real tight
team. When they hang the points in certain venues, there's a laser that can tell
the rigors exactly where something is
supposed to be and they chalk it out and
that's pretty cool, something that didn't
exist in the old days. We have satellite on
our buses now and we're not stuck
watching old VCR movies. We're connecting with our fans on Facebook,
which can be great. You can do podcasts
and blogs and all kinds of things like
that. I just did one for Pat Monahan of
Train, [who] on his days off does podcasts.
Mostly, I think about the way The
Beatles had to break up because they
couldn't hear each other. They had to
deal with terrible audio back in those
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12 illinoisentertainer.com
june
2014