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THE JOURNEY ZONE
http://www.journey-zone.com
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June 16, 2004: Infinity: A Tribute to Journey
July 2005: Journey: The Generations Interviews
December 2005: Steve Perry with Melodicrock.com
June 14, 2007: Steve Perry with Entertainment Weekly
February 2008: Kevin Chalfant with Melodicrock.com
March 2008: Herbie Herbert with Melodicrock.com
May 2008: Steve Perry with GQ Magazine
February 2009: Steve Augeri with Melodicrock.Com
March 2009: Steve Augeri with Rock Eyez
July 21, 2009: Steve Perry with QCBC Radio Canada
February 12, 2010: Neal Schon with Classic Rock Magazine
February, 2010: Jeff Scott Soto with Classic Rock Revisited
February 14, 2010: Gregg Rolie with Long Live Rock
Infinity: A Tribute to Journey
Interviewer: Wistyxfan
Date of Publication: July 16, 2004
Date of Interview: July 10, 2004
Location: Round Lake Beach, IL
Infinity is:
Band members: Bob Biagi, James Cairo, Vincent Ribando, Len Schillaci, Kevin Willison, Dennis Zarobsky
Crew: Scott Flaws, Bill Rueschaw, Zach Willison
Ten Questions with Infinity
1. How did you meet and decide to play together?
Bob: We’ve been playing together since 1984.
Kevin: Bob actually started the band. We’ve only had four member changes over the years….and always the keyboard and bass players. (Len is the newest member, with a year and a half playing with the band.) Bob and Jim are cousins.
Bill: Even I have been with the band since the beginning…but I still consider myself the “wer-gin”!
2. Infinity is the most active tribute band covered by the Journey Zone. What do you think makes you so successful?
Bob: I think we naturally identify with our audience, we listened to the same music growing up, and it brings back memories. We like to take the focus off of us, and put it on to them.
Jim: I think it has to do with Bob going out in the crowd.
Bob: Our audience seems more like friends than fans. The came to the show, met us, met each other….some of them had kids, and now the kids come to the shows. The music we play spans time from about ’69 to 2002.
3. Besides making your schedule more accessible, how has the internet helped Infinity?
Bob: I think it is (mainly) making the schedule more accessible. Our site averages 700-800 hits a week. We also have the Infinity2k mailer we send out, and a hotline for fans to call: 630 – 964 – 1956.
4. The song list on your website represents selections from 32 different bands. How do you choose songs?
Bob: Mainly fan requests – we never work with a set song list.
Dennis: We use hand signals on stage, like baseball players use, for what we are going to play next.
Kevin: Crowd reaction is the key….like tonight with “Enter Sandman”….that will be going into the set.
Bob: I promise to learn the words! We talk a lot with fans before and after shows to see what they wanna hear.
5. Have you thought about creating an internet poll to let fans help you choose/add songs?
Len: That’s an idea.
Bob: Maybe, but we like talking to the fans to see what they wanna hear.
6. Favorite Journey song to perform?
Bob: It’s one we don’t even do: Mother/Father.
Kevin & Scott: Stone in Love.
Bill & Len: Separate Ways.
7. Most embarrassing moment on stage or off?
Bob: You don’t have enough paper!
Len: Before when we played a Ted Nugent medley, I didn’t know what they were doing, so I played the wrong chord!
Dennis: At the end of the Queen medley I totally messed up the notes!
Jim: Vinnie has a good story!
Bob: Vinnie, the drummer who’s so quiet, has a good one!
Vinnie: Ok, ok. This one happens a lot. I come offstage, dripping wet after a set. I’m in line for the bathroom, and the guy behind me will go, “Hey, you know that band? They’re pretty good huh?” All laugh.
Bob: They have no idea who he is.
Vinnie: You think they could tell, I’m dripping with sweat!
Bob: Ok, one time I went to a pool party before the show….and I didn’t swim in all my clothes. Later at the show, I see some people auctioning off underwear. It’s pretty funny until I look – and it’s MY underwear!
8. What is the craziest thing a fan has asked you to do?
Bob: You don’t have enough paper! All laugh.
Bob: Signing body parts. I look at them, hold up the marker and say to them, “This is permanent marker!”
Len: Once I was asked to sign a brick.
Kevin: I think it’s been asking me to sign a Journey shirt.
Bob: Yeah. I mean, it’s their Journey shirt! But sometimes they’ll say, “Hey, this is the closest I’ll get to Journey, man.”
9. What is your first reaction to this situation: You are on stage performing and you get word from a reliable source that a member of Journey is in the audience.
Bob: It’s happened!!
All: Yeah!
Bob: It was our first fest at Glendale Heights, and we heard that Deen’s (Castronovo) mom was there. When I saw her backstage, I wanted to ask for ID! We heard that Deen himself was there, but we didn’t see or meet him…they couldn’t tell us where he was, you know.
Len: It was nerve-wracking.
10. You have 25 words or less to say anything you want to any member of Journey – go!
Bob: I grew up listening to your music, I used to wear out your albums. Thanks for the roots, man. We’re just trying to keep the music alive.
Len: Neal was the biggest influence on me musically – thanks!
Kevin: They began real vocal rock. Thanks for starting that, and making it ok for guys to sing slow songs.
Click HERE for Jan's pictures of Infinity.
Journey: The Generations Interviews (top)
by Andrew McNeice, Melodicrock.com
July 2005
Steve Augeri
Neal Schon
Jonathan Cain
Ross Valory
Deen Castronovo
Steve Perry: Mother, Father (top)
by Mitch Lafon, reprinted at Melodicrock.com
December 2005
Click HERE for the interview.
Steve Perry with Entertainment Weekly
June 14, 2007
Interviewer: Missy Schwartz, Entertainment Weekly
We weren't joking when we said that questions about the Sopranos finale go on and on and on and on... 'Cause just when we were giving up hope that Journey's former frontman Steve Perry would call us back to chat about Tony and Carm taking a midnight train goin' anywhere, there he was on the horn, explaining that he'd watched the episode not once, but twice, and was even planning on watching it a third time that night. ''The last two days have been amazing,'' he told us, sounding very excited. ''It's just unbelievable.'' Here's what else Perry had to say about handing over ''Don't Stop Believin''' to New Jersey's first family.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So did you know ''Don't Stop Believin''' was going be in the episode?
STEVE PERRY: I did know ahead of time because they had wanted the song and they approached us, the writers — myself, [Journey bandmates] Jonathan Cain, and Neal Schon — a long time ago. Honestly, it didn't clear until last Thursday, because I was concerned that this could be a finale bloodbath or a Valentine's massacre. So I said, ''Well if you can't tell me what's gonna happen [in the episode] and trust me that I won't tell anybody, I can't personally feel comfortable approving the use of the song.'' They said, ''We'll tell you under one condition that you can't say anything.'' And they told me the exact layout of how it's used, what happens, where it goes to black and everything, including [Tony] thumbing through the little jukebox on the table looking for songs.
Wow, they must have really wanted the song for David Chase to lift his omerta on Sopranos plot points.
Yeah, I'm dying to meet David Chase. I didn't have that privilege. I sure would love to congratulate him and thank him. I think I'll try through channels to make that happen.
So how did you feel watching the episode?
Well, what [HBO] didn't tell me was all the tension that had built up in that scene: the daughter's having difficulty parking. I'm freakin' out, thinking Tony's being whacked, then they cut to some buffoon walking down the aisle to go to the bathroom, Godfather style, to get the gun on the back of the toilet bowl, you know? And then when they cut to black, I just shouted out loud. Like, you've got to be effin' kidding me! That's AMAZING! That's just perfect. And then he went to titles with no music and it was still audio black. I was stunned at that point. I thought it was pretty ballsy! [Laughs]
What is your interpretation of why Chase chose your song?
I don't know. I guess he saw something in the song that resonated with what he wanted to do. I'll tell you what I did see: I think he tried to grab the normalcy of family in the midst of any chaos or fears. I think that all families have fears and chaos, and I think the Sopranos have their share, but man, underneath it all is this, like, foundation of life. Life goes on and on and on. ''Movie never ends, it just keeps going on and on.'' And I think that the song has a lot of that in it.
Right, a lot of us here in the EW offices interpreted it that way — that very little changes in the Soprano life. By the way, is ''Anyway You Want It'' the real B-side to ''Don't Stop Believin','' as the jukebox has it?
Good catch on your part! To my knowledge, it was not. They're from two different albums. I'm trying to remember what the B-side was. I'm looking at the single in my head... It could have been ''Still They Ride.''
I wasn't expecting to get all teary during the episode. Does the song still make you emotional after all these years?
Yeah. I remember when I was working on the Live in Houston '81 DVD, and there's a moment where [we start playing] ''Don't Stop Believin','' and the place goes crazy. I remember getting that same choked feeling on stage and then I got the same feeling when I was mixing it. So just to know that people love it that much just takes me down. I mean, it's just an emotional song. I can't take credit for it. Nobody can. We were just writing from our hearts and doing the best we can. But we sure got lucky with this one. And I think you need to print that I have not been in the band since May of 1998. That's almost 10 years, Holy Christ. [Laughs] But the guys and I disagree on some of the requests that we get, and some of 'em I don't want to do and they do. This one, we all agreed that it was great.
And now the whole country's humming your song. Well, I am. I can't seem to get it out of my head. And the song is up to No. 30 on iTunes.
That's pretty cool.
What do you think about the band going on without you?
Um, you know, I have such a hard time voicing any opinions with the new incarnation of the group. I just have an opinion and memories of the Journey that I was in, that I can have opinions about and remember good and bad times, as they do. But the new incarnation, really, it's none of my business.
Are you working on anything?
Actually, I am messing around with music again. I'm starting to write and enjoying the process. We'll see where that takes me.
So, the journey goes on. Ha ha.
Right. Though we've gone our separate ways. Oh sorry. Did I say that? [Laughs] Okay, good-bye.
Kevin Chalfant: Flying to AOR Freedom (top)
by Andrew McNeice, Melodicrock.com
February 2008
Click HERE for the interview.
Herbie Herbert: One Man's Journey (top)
by Andrew McNeice, Melodicrock.com
May 2008
Click HERE for the interview.
Foolish, Foolish Throat: A Q&A with Steve Perry (top)
March 2008
Journey's ex-frontman talks vocal burnout, hip replacement, rock superstardom, and coyotes with Alex Pappademas, GQ Magazine
Click HERE for the interview and Neal Schon's response
Steve Augeri with Melodicrock.Com (top)
February 2009
Click HERE for the interview.
Steve Augeri with Rock Eyez (top)
March 2009
Click HERE for the interview.
Steve Perry Uncut (top)
July 21, 2009
The former singer of superstar rockers Journey discusses the enduring popularity of the band's hit, "Don't Stop Believin'"
Click HERE for the interview.
Neal Schon: "Simon Cowell Is Brilliant," by Peter Makowski (top)
February 12, 2010
Classic Rock Magazine
Click HERE for the interview.
Jeff Scott Soto, by A. Lee Graham (top)
February, 2010
Classic Rock Revisited
Click HERE for the interview.
Gregg Rolie (top)
February 14, 2010
Long Live Rock
Click HERE for the interview.
Last Updated 20 February, 2010 (DHG)
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