Jonathan Cain explains how he became a Journey Member

FREEZE FRAME 1982

This is a very rare interview with Jonathan Cain from 1982. It was on a TV show called "Freeze Frame". Jonathan talks about his time as a Journey as well as how he became a Journey member. He goes to to talk about what it was like to write with Steve Perry and to record new songs with Journey without ever having performed with the band...

It's a fantastic 12 minute interview by Doug Pringle at Freeze Frame

Merry Christmas from Herbie Herbert and Journey 1982 Journey Force Christmas Card

Journey was everywhere by 1982! This was the first year since 1975 that Journey did not release an album. They couldn't, there wasn't any time.

The Escape album kept releasing singles into 1982. The Escape Tour was extended and by 1982, they were playing huge arenas and had video projection so anyone in the audience could see what was happening.

Again, It was a surprise and a delight to receive another Christmas Card from Journey! Although there is no picture of the band, there is a great representation ion what a show is like when way in the back. It sure looks like an exciting night!

Happy Holidays from WHEEL IN THE SKY

Journey Escape Tour Poster for Labor Day, September 1981!

Journey played the Alpine Valley Amphitheater in East Troy, Wisconsin with Point Blank on September 5 and 6, 1981!

WLS Radio promoted Journey in East Troy, WI during The Escape Tour. This stop in East Troy was still very early in the Tour. Journey would go on to play until December 22 and then again the next year, 1982. The opening band was Point Blank.

East Troy, Wisconsin had a population of just under 2400 in 1981. The village has a total area of 4.51 square miles. It is a very small Historic Town that is easy to get to from any direction. People from all over were able to get to East Troy very easily.

Journey's Concert Ticket Evolution Through Time part 4, The Big Escape

This is the big one. Journey's Escape Tour which started in July 1981 saw the biggest growth in audience of any Journey Tour when it ended in December. The audience kept getting bigger and bigger. There were sold out shows across the Country and Internationally as well. This was due to the heavy airplay radio was giving the new songs. The "Escape" album became the number one selling album in America the week of September 12-19, 1981.

Gregg Rolie left the band after the "Departure Tour" of 1980. His replacement was Jonathan Cain who comes from a band called "The Babys". Jonathan Cain's live shows with an audience were at the The Ventura County Fairgrounds and the shows at Calavaris County Fairgrounds in Angel Camp. This was the "Captured Tour" or "Pre-Escape Tour" one month before the album was released.

The face value of the concert tickets were anywhere from $10.50 to $17.50. Unless you camped out in front of the venue the prices you were paying more like $30.00 or more per ticket.

Not only did Jonathan Cain co-write very song on the "Escape" album, he also co-wrote the two songs used on the Disney movie "Tron" Soundtrack. "Only Solutions" is a great rare Journey pop song. "1990's Theme" is a keyboard instrumental. Jonathan Cain and Steve Perry together wrote some of Journey's most popular songs. When working with Neal Schon, the three were absolute magic.

Finally at the end of 1981, with the Tour behind them and their highest success beyond their wildest dreams were achieved so they decided to take a rest. Concert promoter Bill Graham personally asked the band if they would be interested in a big Stadium and Arena tour to even bigger audiences. The answer was no. 

June 9, 1981 - Seaside Park. Ventura County Fairgrounds. Ventura, CA - 415, Billy Squier

September 3, 1981 - Poplar Creek Music Theater, Hoffman Estates, IL.

September 25, 1981 - JFK Stadium. Philadelphia, PA – The Rolling Stones, George Thorogood

December 6, 1981 - Center Arena. Seattle, WA - Red Rider

Bill Graham didnt give up and to convince the band that everyone who paid for a ticket would have a great seat no matter where they sat, the video projection system was developed. From now on there would be giant video screens showing you close angles of the band, so anyone could now see their faces from their seats. Journey was the first band to use video projection during their shows. It was far out of sync, (their was a delay in the video so it didm't match the audio) and it was still great! This also made the shows slightly more intimate again, something the band really liked.

May 6, 1982 - Meadowlands Arena. East Rutherford, NJ - Greg Kihn Band

May 15, 1982 - Joe Louis Arena. Detroit, MI - Greg Kihn Band

May 24, 1982 - Rosemont Horizon. Chicago, IL - Greg Kihn Band

June 12, 1982 - Texas Jam. Cotton Bowl. Dallas, TX
Point Blank, Joan Jett, Sammy Hagar, Santana

June 26, 1982 - Oakland Coliseum Oakland, C
Day On The Green - Santana/Toto/Gamma/Tubes

July 2, 1982 - Rose Bowl. Pasadena, CA - Blue Oyster Cult, Triumph, Aldo Nova

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 11; The End

This week is the last pages and back cover of Journey's Escape Tour Program.

In 1982 this tour was the biggest tour Journey ever had. Neal Schon bought a new Ferrari.

Journey hit the mainstream. The awkwardness that always happens when Rock & Roll meets mainstream America. Journey was now on National TV talk shows, local entertainment shows, they were everywhere!

Once the tour was over, the presuure was on for another album. The pressure was intense I'm sure, how do you top "Escape"?  Rarely does a rock & roll band such as Journey reach number 1 on the mainstream album charts.

The tour book shows us all six platinum albums up to 1981!

We end with the back cover which uses artwork created in the late 1970's and was used primarily for the "In The Beginning" compilation.

Join us next week for a post on the Escape Tour Merchandise...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 10; The Crew

Journey has always had one the greatest Road Crews and band could ever want. This week's pages from the Escape Tour Book is all about Journey's Management and Road Crew.

Walter "Herbie" Herbert started out as a rodeo so he knows what it takes to keep a band on the road and on schedule. He started Journey as manager after working with the road crew with Santana.

John Villanueva was Journey Road Manager for many years was also the one who thought of the name "Journey". Pat Morrow sat in Road Manager chair this time around while John was more in charge.

There have been a couple documentary movies made about Journey's Road Crew. In 1984 NBC films made an excellent documentary titled "Frontiers And Beyond". In 1986 there was another called "The Raised On Radio Tour". They can be found on YouTube.

As the shows were getting bigger and bigger during the Escape Tour is when the road crew started using video projection. The 1982 leg of the tour had huge video projection screens so no matter where you sat, you could see the faces of the band.

Concluded next week...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 9; More Band

This week in the Escape Tour Book, or Program, we have a look into the future.

In just 5 years years time, these three members are all that's left of the band. After this tour is when the real friction begins resulting in their own destruction.

Neal Schon jamming in the bathroom before a show. Steve in the recording booth, and Jay just relaxing on a couch before a show. I've always wondered who the person is that's behind Neal in the bathroom.

We also get a full page shot of vocalist Steve Perry playing guitar. He's wearing that famous red shirt from the Departure era. That could even be Gregg Rolie's set-up behind him for all we know.

Great memories from the great "Escape" shows!

Continued next week...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 8; More Posters

This week in the Escape Tour Book we have 2 great posters. Combining 2 pages creates the posters. These posters are a huge 14 X 24 inches, big enough to be framed. The first poster is self explanatory while the 2nd one is a great shot from a concert at Calaveras County Fairgrounds, Angels Camp, CA at the Mountainaire Festival where they played with 415, Billy Squire, and Hall & Oates.

The 2nd leg of The Escape Tour started on April 9, 1982 in Fukuoka, Japan at the Sun Palace Hall. This was when the tour was huge. Concert Promoter, Bill Graham, convinced the band to do another round of shows at huge arenas so even more people could experience Journey live! The 1982 leg of the tour ended in July in Honolulu, Hawaii, which seems to be where they like ending the tours.

This was the first year Journey did not go into the studio and record an album, instead everyone was caught up in the huge success of the album. This is when their heads might have started to get a little too big for their britches. The grueling 8 1/2 month tour had taken it's toll on the band...

To be continued next week...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 7; The Band

The 4 pages included this week are all about the rhythm section, Ross Valory and Steve Smith. Each one showcased with their own solo's during The Escape Tour.

Ross Lamont Valory was one of the founding members of Journey. Ross has been the Bass-Guitarist for Journey from 1973-1985, and then from 1995 until now. Ross has also been a member of the groups "Frumious Bandersnatch", "The Steve Miller Band", "The Vu" and "The Storm", with Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith. Ross is one of Rock's greatest Bass players out there.

Inset Text;
Ross Valory - Bass and vocals. The bottom line gentleman of Rock and Roll. A prisoner of his own endless mirth.

Steve Elliott Smith is also known as Jazzmaster Saddler. Steve "Machine Gun" Smith was touring with Ronnie Montrose when he first met the guys in Journey. Steve replaced Journey's original drummer, Aynsley Dunbar in late 1978 and first appeared on the album "Evolution". Steve has been with Journey since 1978 to 1985, then from 1995 to 1997. 

Steve Also enjoys a solo career with his jazz fusion band "Vital Information", and was a member of "The Storm" with Ross Valory and Gregg Rolie. He has also worked as a session musician for many pop acts such as Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Savage Garden and Bryan Adams as well as many jazz artists.

Inset Text;
Steve Smith - Drummer. "Crunch" as he is nicknamed, possesses a rare blend of enthusiasm, love and aggression in his "daily assault" on the drums. He has never ending energy for the tour, the music, and the people on our trek across the many nations of the world.

In my opinion of the six drummers that Journey has had to date, Steve Smith is by far the best drummer Journey has ever had or ever will have. He played with such finesse and passion that he can't be out-done. It is also my opinion that Ross Valory has been Journey's only bass player. The Raised On Radio era was almost a train-wreck with-out these two!

Continued next week...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 6; The Band

The 4 pages included this week are some great shots of Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain.

Neal Joseph Schon first rose to fame as a guitar player for the band, Santana. In 1973 he helped form the band, Journey, with Gregg Rolie and Walter J. (Herbie) Herbert, Ross Valory, George Tickner, and Prairie Prince who was replaced by Aynsley Dunbar.

Neal is one of the best live guitar players of all time. He has played with many bands, and has a successful solo career along side of Journey. The Escape Tour gave Neal to expand his range and play for bigger and bigger audiences.

INSERT TEXT;
NEAL SCHON
Guitars and vocals. A man of obsession! His focus has been the guitar since early childhood. He continues to pay respect to his contemporaries by pursuing that obsession.

Jonathan Leonard Friga, better known as Jonathan Cain first became known as the keyboard player for the band, "The Baby's". Jonathan Cain was noticed by Journey while they were touring together in 1980 on the "Departure Tour" and became a member of the band soon afterwards.

Jonathan also has a full line of solo projects to his name including producing his ex-wife's (Tain Cain) band. Jonathan was also in the band "Bad English" with Neal Schon. 

The Escape Tour was Jonathan's first tour with Journey and always performed a piano solo. He can also be seen playing guitar along side of Neal while playing live. Jonathan co-wrote every song on the Escape album and has been a welcome member ever since!

INSERT TEXT;
JONATHAN CAIN
Keyboards, guitars and vocals. His brilliance and drive has been the perfect addition to Journey. He's also one of the most prolific purveyors of songwriting ability in the business today.

Continued next week...

Journey Force 8X10 Publicity Photos for Live In Houston 1981: The Escape Tour

Journey's most famous and bootlegged Journey concert ever is "Live at the Houston Summit 11-06-81". Finally in November 2005, it was released properly on CD and DVD by Columbia Records.

The concert was recorded November 6, 1981 at the Houston Summit in Houston, Texas. Simulcast on March 20, 1982 on MTV and radio stations across America by way of King Biscuit Flower Hour. (Televisions did not have stereo in 1982 and so this was the only way to achieve a TV broadcast in stereo.)

Were we have 2 of the publicity photos from the release of the album courtesy The Journey Force.

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 5; The Band

A great shot of Steve Perry made into a Poster. Steve Perry joined the band in 1978 when they were trying to extend the vocal range of the band. The balance between Steve Perry and Gregg Rolie's voices is what Journey so special and something was definitely lost when Gregg left the band in 1980. What was gained was one of the greatest song writing teams ever assembled, Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. You put that with Neal Schon's Guitar playing and you simply have magic.

Steve was main reason reason the band started gaining more success. His flawless voice combined with his excellent song writing abilities made him the star of the band. Being told how great you are can play tricks with your head and so this tour was last time we would hear that impeccably perfect voice the way we've come to love it again. It was this tour, especially with Bill Graham's 1982 big arena leg of the tour that strained his voice beyond repair. Starting with the "Frontiers" album you'll notice a slightly raspier voice coming through, still unmistakably Steve Perry, but yet not quite the same. Still to this day, the greatest singing voice the World has ever seen!

INSERT TEXT;

Lead Vocals. A range that would astound an opera fan and an unsurpassed rapport with every person in the audience. He's a man in love with his craft. The consummate composer, singer and entertainer.

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 4; Posters

This week in the Escape Tour Book we have 2 great posters. Combining 2 pages creates the posters. These posters are a huge 14 X 24 inches, big enough to be framed. The first poster is a very well known picture of the band used by almost every magazine at the time.

The 2nd Poster is a great shot of the band playing live! I love the Departure Freebird escaping a volcano. I've never seen this artwork in print. I don't know if it exists that way. I find this one equivalent to the Poster inside the 1979 and 1980 Tour Books. This Poster shows Jonathan Cain on Keyboards but not yet the big red piano known as "The Whale" which comes later.

Six dates were played in California as the "Pre-Escape Tour", but "The Escape Tour" officially started in Japan on July 27, 1981 and ran until December 22 where the tour ended in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Tour started as all Journey tours do, but when the album hit #1 in America the shows started getting bigger and bigger. Six dates were played at the Pine Knob in Clarkson, MI as well as 4 dates at the Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Little did anyone know this wasn't the end of the tour...

To be continued next week...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 3

The History of Journey comes to a conclusion and we're now in 1981!

The Captured album was sort of a Greatest Hits from Infinity through Departure. It's really the 1980 Departure on 2 vinyl albums which went double platinum!

The Escape was about to begin. The album was released on July 31st 1981 and by November hit #1 in America. Escape was the  biggest selling Studio album Journey ever had. The album spawned 5 chart topping singles including one of the songs, "Don't Stop Believin'" which was rereleased in 2009 due to it's people;parity as the #1 downloaded song. This was one of those albums that you bought on vinyl and then you had to buy again on CD due to the timing of the release. The Audio Cassette was also still a big seller for your car, so you might have had 3 versions of this album at the time. The album and singles were in the charts through 1981 and 1982.

You also get a great picture of Neal Schon playing guitar!

E5C4P3...

Continued next week...

Journey Drummer Deen Castronovo rapes Wife and is replaced on current concert tour

I've avoided this long enough, but it all seems to be true. Journey's drummer, Deen Castronovo, has been charged with raping his wife. These are serious charges and we don't yet know if Journey will make an official replacement or give him another chance at beating more women.

For now Journey is using Omar Hakim on their current 2015 Tour and could possibly be their next official drummer. This news story can be found all over the internet, here is the story from HuffingtonPost.com...

Deen Castronovo, the drummer for the band Journey, has been charged with raping his wife in addition to several other charges.

The 49-year-old was arrested earlier this month on domestic violence charges in Salem, Oregon and was released on bail.

According to a local news site it's not clear if the new charges are related to the incident that led to his earlier arrest, however, the drummer has now been charged with "unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of menacing, one count of rape in the first degree, one count of sexual abuse in the second degree, four counts of assault in the fourth degree and one count of assault in the second degree, one count of coercion and one count of criminal mischief in the second degree."

Following the drummer's arrest, Journey announced that Omar Hakim would fill in for Castronovo on the band's upcoming U.S. tour dates.

"We have made the decision to have Omar Hakim play drums for the band's upcoming U.S. concerts (Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, June 20 and the Stadium of Fire in Provo, Utah on Saturday, July 4), as well as the band's Canadian tour (July 6 – August 3), due to Deen Castronovo's pending issues," the band said in a statement on June 18. "We are very grateful to Omar filling in with his musical excellence."

Castronovo, who joined Journey in 1998, was also arrested in 2012 for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. 

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 2

This week we begin with a repeat the last page from last week because it's a great lead into the History of Journey and our farewell to Gregg Rolie, Journey Keyboardist and Key Vocalist from 1973 to 1980.

Gregg Alan Rolie was born on June 17, 1947 in Seattle Washington. Gregg first gained success as the keyboardist for the band "Santana". In 1973 Gregg and Neal Schon started a new group that would end up becoming "Journey".

Gregg has been playing on the road for many years in both bands and by the end of Journey's 1980 Departure Tour he left the band. He picked his own replacement, Jonathan Cain and then went on to continue writing and playing the kind of music he wanted to play.

Journey went on to bigger and bigger success and this was just the beginning...

More next week...

Journey's Escape Tour 1981-1982 Tour Book Program part 1

After the 1980 Departure Tour, Keyboardist and Vocalist Gregg Rolie decided to leave the band.

Jonathan Cain, the keyboardist for the band, "The Baby's", joined the band and they set out on the Pre-Escape Tour.

California was the first place the band played to an audience with the new line-up. I saw the band for the first time on June 7, 1981 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, California. They played 5 songs from the unreleased "Escape" Album!

The Escape Tour really kicked off in Osaka, Japan on July 27, 1981 at Festival Hall. The 1981 Escape Tour ended on December 22, 1981 in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Blaisdell Arena.

It was November when the tour made it back to California and that's where I picked up this Tour Book. The last page is yet another version of how the band came together, so enjoy first 7 pages and please click on each one of them to see them better...

More next week..