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THE JOURNEY ZONE
http://www.journey-zone.com
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Jrnydv.Com’s
Exclusive Telephone Interview
with Robert Fleischman
January 8, 2003
Introduction
When I was first approached by Robert Fleischman’s brother Michael, I jumped at the chance to be the webmaster who finally let Robert Fleischman’s Journey story be heard. In the wake of Castles Burning, the Herbie Herbert interview with Matt Carty of August, 2001, it appeared that so much of the Journey story had yet to be told. Herbert had blown the lid off of many long-accepted aspects of the “official” history of Journey, and in so doing had not only shed light on a number of subjects, but raised others we had barely conceived of, and posed even more questions.
Of the seven former members of Journey who were not interviewed for VH1’s Behind the Music: Journey of February, 2001, Robert Fleischman was perhaps the one who had made the greatest impact on the musical development of the band. When we spoke, the time was certainly ripe to hear his story.
Dave Golland: This is Dave Golland of Jrnydv.Com. We’re speaking with Robert Fleischman, former lead vocalist for Journey, founder of Channel, and lead vocalist for the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Robert’s latest solo release, World in Your Eyes, has been doing well in Europe and is due for release in the United States shortly. Is all that correct, sir?
Robert Fleischman: Correct! But you don’t have to call me "sir," alright? (laughs.)
DG: OK, great (laughs). You'd prefer Robert, then?
RF: Yeah.
DG: OK. Let me first tell you that I actually did get a recorder, so this is being recorded.
RF: Oh yeah? So this is going to the FBI? (Both laugh.)
DG: Let me thank you for agreeing to speak with us today. Yours is an important story that I’m sure all Journey fans will be interested in hearing. Let’s start at the beginning. You were born and raised in Los Angeles.
RF: Right.
DG: And you were born on March 11. Can you give me the year?
RF: Nope!
DG: OK! (Both laugh). The order in which I’d like to discuss things is roughly chronological. We’ll begin with your earliest musical influences and experiences, and then move on to the events which led to your joining Journey. Then we’ll talk about your time in Journey, and we’ll talk about how you left Journey. And we’ll cover the way that has been handled by official Journey publications and recent interviews, and then we’ll get your side of the story.
RF: Great.
DG: And after that we’ll talk about what you’ve done subsequently, and we’ll rap up with some retrospective questions on how you view your experience with Journey today.
RF: Alright.
DG: And we’ll give you a chance to talk about World in Your Eyes, and anything else we haven’t covered.
RF: OK.
DG: OK, I must also tell you that we’re probably not going to—well, we’re going to start advertising and I’m going to start making people aware of it immediately, but I won’t put it up for a couple of weeks I think, because Friday [January 10] is actually [former Journey drummer] Aynsley [Dunbar]’s birthday—
RF: Yeah! He lives in Santa Barbara. A friend of mine, John Taylor, actually, is a real estate broker in Santa Barbara, and he sails with him quite a few times a week.
DG: No kidding.
RF: Yeah! He’s doing pretty well, from what I understand.
DG: Yeah, he’s been through a rough time the past couple of years.
RF: Yeah, I don’t know, if he’s been in—if he’s been in rough times or—he says that he’s doing okay there, I guess he likes different—
DG: I mean, I meant that he lost a—he lost a son.
RF: He did?
DG: Yeah, oh, you didn’t—you didn’t know that?
RF: No!
DG: Dash. I think it was—
RF: When did this happen? How old was Dash?
DG: Dash was, I’m not sure exactly but he was certainly under five, I believe.
RF: Oh!
DG: And it’s—it was I think 1999 or 2000 when it happened, and I’m not sure of the circumstances.
RF: God…how did—how did he pass away?
DG: That I don’t remember. I mean, I could look it up for you, but—
RF: Oh, no, I—I just—god, I didn’t know that. I just can’t believe—
DG: I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news.
RF: Yeah…whew!
It was surprising that Robert hadn’t heard of the death of Dash Dunbar prior to this conversation, and for a moment I thought that he would need some time to recover before we moved on. I was concerned that the rest of the conversation might be awkward, with the thought of Aynsley’s grief on Robert’s mind. But he bravely plunged ahead, and so we continued.
This transcript ©2003 Jrnydv.Com. All rights reserved.
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Last Updated 02 July, 2007 (DHG)
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