Journey Announces New CD and Summer Tour Dates

JOURNEY CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF MUSIC WITH YEAR-LONG CELEBRATIONS; BAND SET TO RELEASE GENERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH SUMMER TOUR STARTING JUNE 26

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, California 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, Virginia 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."

Here's the first batch of confirmed tour dates:

DATE/CITY/VENUE

Sun 6/26 Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Wed 6/29 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre

Thu 6/30 Tucson, AZ Casino Anselmo

Sat 7/2 Kelseyville, CA Konocti Harbor Resort

Thu 7/7 Muskegon, MI Heritage Park

Sat 7/9 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Mon 7/11 Lansing, MI Common Ground Festival

Fri 7/15 Walker, MN Moondance Jam

Sat 7/16 Chicago, IL Northerly Island Amphitheatre

Sun 7/17 St. Louis, MO UMB Bank Pavilion

Wed 7/20 Cleveland, OH Blossom Amphitheatre

Fri 7/22 Goddard, KS Lake Afton Park

Sat 7/23 Kansas City, KS Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Sat 7/30 Paso Robles, CA California Mid-State Fair

Sun 7/31 Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery

Tue 8/2 Denver, CO Universal Lending Pavilion

Wed 8/3 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion

Tue 8/9 Sturgis, SD Buffalo Chip Campground

Wed 8/10 Sioux Falls, SD Sioux Empire Fairgrounds

Fri 8/12 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre

Sat 8/13 Twin Lakes, WI Country Thunder USA

Wed 8/17 Kingston, RI Ryan Center

Wed 8/24 Toronto, Ont. Casino Rama

Fri 8/26 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

Sat 8/27 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga PAC

Sun 8/28 Wantagh, NY Jones Beach Amphitheatre

Wed 9/7 Vienna, VA Wolf Trap

Thu 9/8 Kettering, OH Fraze Pavilion

Sat 9/24 Biloxi, MS Beau Rivage Casino

* All dates are subject to change.

Check out the band's website (www.journeymusic.com) for the latest additions to the anniversary celebrations in the coming weeks.

[Editor's note: Also see related article: Neal Schon Interview.]