Steve Perry said he found that sports provide a human element that’s increasingly lacking in modern music, and also revealed that he’s written new songs.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the former Journey singer, who released his comeback album Traces earlier this month, said the "electronic aspect of music just started wearing me out. There’s not a lot of live musicians being played on the radio anymore. But when I’m watching baseball, these guys walk out there and hit, play, catch, run. … I mean, they’re just killing it. There’s no Auto-Tune for baseball. They have to play. The musicianship of the music industry used to be that way.”

He also pointed out that his voice wasn’t what it used to be. “I have my vocal box checked all the time,” he said. “The only thing is I didn’t really use if for a while, but it’s like working out when you begin using it again.”

Perry remains uncertain whether he’ll tour in support of his new LP, but he was aware of what he’d be putting his voice through if he did return to the road. “There would be no way in the world I’d go out there and not sing Journey music too," he said. "It would be solo and Journey together. But those songs are vocally challenging. They’re challenging for Arnel [Pineda] and everyone else. They’re not easy. They were challenging for me when I wrote the damn melodies, but back then I was young and in my Olympic singer mode. [Barbra] Streisand lowers the keys when she does her old songs. There’s nothing wrong with lowering a key. … We’re not spring chickens.”

Perry, who in recent months has frequently rejected the suggestion of a reunion with Journey, said the move remained extremely unlikely. “The only thing I’m willing to be definitive about is that at this age I am right now, I have to do things that I feel really great about, that feel life-sustaining and give me passion,” he stated.

Adding that he was “not too excited about going backwards,” he noted, “I’m more excited about moving forward to what is next. I’ve already written a lot more new material, in fact.”

 

 

Steve Perry Through the Years

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