EP. 140 How Hugo Valenti And Adam Holland Keep Journey Alive On Stage

You can fake a lot online, but you can’t fake a band that actually sounds right in the room. We sit down with vocalist Hugo Valenti and guitarist Adam Holland to talk about the real journey behind a Journey tribute band that’s built on musicianship, not costumes and tricks. From a couple of Long Island kids chasing club gigs to navigating record label chaos, they lay out what it takes to keep your identity intact when the music industry keeps moving the goalposts.

We get into the Valentine years, why the “hair metal” label still misses the point, and how the 90s shift and executive turnover can derail even strong records. Hugo also shares the behind-the-scenes story of his solo work and the Hugo Ramos collaboration, plus the practical reality of singing in the stratosphere and staying healthy enough to do it night after night.

Then we go deep on what “live” means in 2026: in-ear monitors, silent stages, why front-row phone videos can sound weird, and why Hugo posts raw vocals with zero polishing. We also talk setlists, deep cuts versus the big hits, what makes a crowd great, and why nostalgia works best when it’s played honestly. Subscribe to The Ben Maynard Program, share this with a fellow music nerd, and leave a review if you want more conversations like this. #thebenmaynardprogram #70smusic #80smusic #classicrock #journeymusic #classichits #deepcuts #hugotheultimatejourneytribute

Transcript

Welcome And The Early Tech Glitch

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey there everyone. Welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. It's it's something, I'll tell you what, you guys have no idea. But uh before we get started, if you guys want to hear great stories about music and you want to meet two wonderful musicians and artists, then stay right here. But before we get into that, as you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts and it's on YouTube. So just search the Ben Maynard program and subscribe. Last but not least, follow me on my socials uh on Instagram, simply one word, Ben Maynard program. And uh where I'm a little more active on the TikTok. That's for us old guys here. That's how we say it. It's at the Ben Maynard program. So there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And away we go. Uh, my guests, yes, two guests today. Um, wonderful guys. Let's just get right into it. I'm gonna bring in Hugo Valenti and returning to the program, Adam Holland. Thanks, guys, for doing this. Returning guests. Oh no, yes, oh no, you lost me. How'd you lose us? I lost you. What? We hear you. I'm gonna put this up. We hear you. Can you guys hear me?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yes, you can. I cannot hear anybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Oh, of course. We shouldn't have left them.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Oh man. Okay. Let me see. Let me do this. Let me just do that, and then let me try this again.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Should I should I try logging in again? I guess. No.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

No. Um, go ahead and try it again. Go ahead and try it again.

unknown 1:57

This is cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

All right. I'm gonna hit this right there. That's okay. Oh, and we're back. All right. We did have to pause

Ultimate Journey Tribute Show Dates

SPEAKER_00 2:05

just for a second, folks. But listen. Of course we did. Of course we did.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Oh good, all good. Everyone's safe, no one got hurt.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah, thanks to Hugo and Adam for doing this, guys. Thank you so much. Uh just for those that you guys can see the crawl at the bottom of the screen here. Uh, Hugo Valenti is um legend. Well, yeah, he is. He is. I and listen, people, I promise, it's actually Hugo. It's not Steve Perry. Okay, it really was.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Be kind of cool, but you know, whatever. It's fine. We still have another legend on the program. Actually, two of them today, really. We have two. But uh let's talk about the ultimate journey tribute. It's Hugo's Ultimate Journey Tribute. Um, you guys do have three shows coming up. One is August 11th, Hillside, Illinois. The other one is August the 14th in De Plains, Illinois, and then August the 15th in Chicago, Illinois. So um, since I'm plugging those shows, I want to say what happened to Southern California.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Oh boy. You got to start this.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

We, you know, yeah, we'll be out there. You know, we're just uh we go where they they take us, where they have us. Uh we have a we know we have a great relationship with the Illinois area, Chicago area.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

I usually we do one or two shows for this certain promoter who's great out there, Ron Onesti is fantastic. So we're doing one indoor show at the Best Plains Theater, and then we're doing two outdoors for the summer festivals that week. So we have then we're gonna try and go see uh a baseball game. We've got to squeeze in a baseball team. We have a day off in the middle, we're gonna go see something.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

You can go to Wrigley.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Well, you know what? There's no Cubs game, it's only a White Sox game.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Oh, okay. All right, we'll do what we have to do.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

On a day on a day off, so that's good though. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah, all right. Well, uh here's the thing though, fellas. Yes, my birthday is August 17th. So I was hoping I'd catch a show, you guys would like to sing me happy birthday, bring me up on stage, give me a cake, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

If you get there, we'll do that.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

But we know oh, I gotta come to you now, okay. Sorry, all right. So, all right. So let's start right here. Um,

Long Island Beginnings And LA Leap

SPEAKER_00 4:30

and this is for both of you, okay. Uh, how did you guys meet? Because you guys go back a long way.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

We do, we do, we really do. Yeah, we go back. I mean, any I don't want to feel free to jump in. Long island. You know, we're both born and raised in Long Island. I'm in House County, you go to Suffolk County, and you know, all the the whole Valentine band, its original members are from Long Island, and you know, that we all just met because we knew somebody who knew somebody. We were all playing in different bands in the club circuit back in our late high school days. And then what happened is you hear like someone we're looking for a singer, we're looking for this and that, and then um slowly but surely we all came together in the and in the world. And once we met Hugo, we said this guy has the voice, and that he and we started writing right together. Myself, Hugo, Craig, and all of us started writing, and then here we are, still uh how many years later? 40 years later. So something happened. We we had a connection and we had a bond.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

And and we had a commitment to you guys. We were so driven when we met at a at a gas station on the southern state parkway, right? Was that so driven? We are gonna we're gonna get signed, and we're gonna get the uh the big old record deal and all that stuff. And what did we do, Adam? We moved to LA, we moved back, and within six months we got signed uh signed to Sony, you know, collecting it.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Right, right. It was a great we had we could right, so that's exactly right. So we met and we instantaneously we knew that Hugo's voice was what we all were looking for, and and him uh we lost him.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Keep going, yeah, keep going. That's all right.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

You know, Hugo back to us as far as looking for writers in a band. So we did, but but we had a false illusion of like we have to go to California naked, but really it was a blessing and a curse. But we went there and realized, okay, like how can we compete in this world where everyone else has already has their footing? We had to like start from zero. So but we we took the lessons we learned out there for the few months we were there and realized, okay, let's let's we're New Yorkers, let's bring, let's bring, let's go on our own turf and take what we learned. And we were very lucky to catch that wave of like New York signings, you know, danger, danger, skid row, trip for us. We were in that little maybe there's another band or two, I don't even know. But then also the Philadelphia thing happened. You had Brittany Fox, you had um's edge, I guess the Jersey Skid Row thing that the tricks just there with a lot of you know signings on the East Coast.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, you guys, you guys were all coming up at the same time. We'll get Hugo back. That's all right, he dropped out for a second, we'll get him back. We can hear him.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Can you hear us?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

I know, hear hear him breathing.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Um it was so I believe I lost Ben and volume.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

All right, uh, so all right, hang on a second. And we're back again. We're back again.

unknown 7:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

So as Hugo was saying, we we went to LA and realized that you know living became the priority, not our music. And and we realized that we we took all what we saw on the Sunset Strip, we saw poison, we saw Guns N' Roses, we saw all these bands out there in the clubs before they were signed, and we brought it back to New York and and and just took that fuel, it gave us a nice boost, and we started writing, and we were like even more determined. And really closely after that, we got signed.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Yeah, John Murbrose, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Yeah. But we clicked right away. The writing, you know, we we knew we had found what we the pieces Hugo to us, uh Hugo, all of us, and we started writing, which was pretty much the first album in that really early months of all of us meeting.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Right.

Hair Metal Label And Real Musicianship

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Now, so um, and that Valentine album, that first one, that's a really good, that's a really good record. It is. Um, you and I talked about it. I don't know, we're getting some background noise. Oh, yeah. Oh, that is so cool. I don't know if you saw that, Hugo, but Adam's got the vinyl there.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, I saw it. I saw it.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

So um, but it and and you and I, we talked about it previously, Adam. Yes, it's it's a little more of the time, so it's got that late 80s sound to it. But what a but what a great sound. Oh, I gotta show everybody this. I was able to dig this up and I gotta show this to the keyboard. I got tons of those. Look at those pretty colors. Yeah, there they are. I got tons of that stuff. I got tons of it. You may have tons of it, but I don't have any of it. So yeah, you guys are all Adam, your hair. Oh my goodness, man. It was like, but you know, that's but that was that was the style, that was the like I said, it was of the time. And the bad part about it was that a lot of bands during that period were getting bashed for it and getting looked at for their look and not their music, and which was a real crime. I I hate the term hair metal or hair band or anything like that because it just it go it it just says it's style over substance, and there that's not the case. Yeah, there were some bands out there that were that way, but right, but you know, a lot of them weren't, and you guys were not in that lane. You guys had more substance.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

We appreciate that. We did listen, get grouped under that category, and we did look like that, and we were in all those magazines with the poofy hair and the purple backgrounds and the uh shirts open. So we were by the way, that was the era, so like you couldn't era, yeah. Like you just did. I don't know. So we weren't like we weren't the next thing, we were in that genre of music that polished pop produced stuff. So that's what we did. I don't know. It wasn't like we couldn't like we think let's try and be different. We'd almost like want we that's what everybody did. It was like you had to sort of look like you had to look like that. If you look different, it would have been like what do you look at? You look weird. Yeah, so we had that right. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I mean, and I think a perfect example is Winger. If you look at Winger, I mean, you know, it's crazy, Chris. The talent in that band, and it's so funny. There's there's Metallica, you know, throwing uh darts at like Kip's head, pound for pound, they destroy Metallica. I mean, if you look at Rod on the drums, what are you kidding me? You know, Kip, I mean, forget about it. Uh Paul Taylor, the band pound for pound just destroys Metallica, and it's so funny that they they got the shitty end of the stick when they're just amazing, you know, and they survived. They survived.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

They did, right? So it's a it's a funny, you know, like at the time, you don't when you're in it, it's hard to see the future. So we just didn't, I don't know, we left we had long hair, we were long haired. I don't know, it just it's what was what was happening at the moment, so we did it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Well, you didn't just have long hair, you had high hair, but whatever. So I still don't have high hair, I still got the hype. But but here's the thing, here's the thing though, too. Now, all those, but see, it wasn't just it wasn't just the hard rock band from the 80s, it was even a lot of the the uh the 70s acts that just got destroyed in the early 90s. However, however, the good part is that when you got towards the back end of the the decade and then you started to turn into the into the 2000s, some of that some of those acts started coming back and they were being received uh better than they were, equal to or better than they were in late 80s before they got

Open Skies And The Label Revolving Door

SPEAKER_00 12:18

destroyed. And um, I think you know that lent itself to you guys being able to put out a second record 20 years later.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

Well, it is too so like right. So the 90s came and it whatever just that was a chapter in music history. Looking back, it was a great chapter, and you could see why it was a sort of rebellion against that polished 80s, and you now that time has gone by, so it's not people like oh, it's it's just a different style. I don't those that those kids wanted something different, so they didn't want they want they didn't want their polished 80s, they wanted some rougher 90s stuff. So, but then time goes on, and then you're right, it just sort of all balances out, like like like right now in the 2026, whatever it is, 2000s, 90s, 80s, all sort of kids listen, they don't even know what era it came from.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

It's like they listen to the song. Like, how I was we were talking earlier, I have a younger daughter. I'm like, how did you even come to know this song? And by the way, some songs are from 2000s, like Kit The Killers, and then some are from like the 90s, you know, like Radiohead, and some are like Little Mac 70s. I'm like, so the time frame of where it comes from, yeah, I don't think as important as it was back then, like eight defining chapters. That's my feeling.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

You know, getting back to the early days, too, it was so so hard because we knew we had what it took, you know. Just we were a victim of the times, and you know, at that time they took 20 bands who kind of look and sound and they were rocking, and they throw them against the wall and they see who sticks, and the rest of them just kind of fall and you shake it off and you try it again. And we were in that position so many times, Adam, right? I mean, it was hard. And you know, hearing record company guys like, well, go back and write more songs. Like, we have 40 more songs better than the ones you just heard. But it's like you still gotta go write with people, you still gotta do this, and and you do it, and two years go by, and three years it was terrible.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

The good, the upside is thank goodness we had you know, we the band was tight. We never had we always had, you know, we were we're still here, so we we had we didn't have like crazy band drama, thank god, because we had every other kind of drama, but somehow our songwriting, Hugo's vocals, the band performance. We were always had somebody who would like who stuck by us, and then we've got to be make another record as your shirt you're wearing. Open skies, we got to evolve. So that was a great, also a great chapter. We got another chance to make a record with some great people, Richie Zito, RCA, and you know, and our managers got God blessed, they stayed with us and got us this other deal when we did the soundtrack to don't tell mom the babies that it's dead. So we were able to like like creep into the 90s and thank God we made it, you know, made it till midway, made a good record. We got some touring, and um, and again, and and again, same thing happens. The record industry is just you know, it happened to us several times where like a president of a label would change. It happens in every industry, CEOs come and I mean, and then all of a sudden you're not their thing, and then so times are no time that happened to us a few times, also. Nothing to do with the genre of music, just coming in onto someone else's watch, you know. So I remember we were in RCA and all of a sudden I remember that like oh, we got this new band, Dave Matthews. We're like, Great, sounds like let's check it out. I remember hearing his demos, someone was playing it for me because I got our AR guys from Giant came over to RCA. So we all you know, everybody knew everybody saw and this guy's singing like here, right? So we're like, I don't know. Either way, we were lucky in our career, we've had some great records, worked with great producers, writers, and like I said, we we all we never had the like the breakup of like I hate you the band fighting. We just were like mentally, physically exhausted after 12 years of like record company insanity. So we were like just had to like lay down and you know on the floor somewhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

I I what do you want to add to that, Hugo? But yeah, oh god, it's so true. It the the frustration was was just amazing. It's true. We got signed to RCA and um Joe Galante came in, right? And he was from RCA, which is you know, the the acronym is the Record Cemetery of America, right? That's right. They hadn't had a hit since Elvis, you know. So so we go out there and he comes in, he's from RCA country. I'm like, well, what the hell does it know about rock and roll? It was a big, big change, you know. They were cool guys. I remember one funny story we when we did the showcase for RCA Adam, right? There was Richie Zito came down partnering with um Rick Rick Alaberti, Joe Galanti, a whole bunch of Italian guys. So we're at SAR in Manhattan, and uh we bring Cappuccino and we bring uh uh you know cannolis and stuff. Cannolis.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

We got signed, we got signed. Yeah, we don't know if it would not help push it. They're like, all right, we can at least look, you know. But now here's the I was I told this story somewhere else. Like, so here we are, like we have long-haired 80s guys, and you know, and remember Richie Zito, which he was great, he really helped us evolve into this. He's like, I want you to rock a little differently. He's like, think he always said, think like how does Tom Penny and Lenny Kravitz rock? Think about that. We'll make we'll make we'll make I'm like, all right. But then he's like, he came over to my all my gear. He's like, all right, no, no, no, don't bring this, don't bring this, don't bring this. So either way, he's like so it was funny, but either way, we did it and we made open skies album.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah, so okay.

Hugo’s Solo Records And Ramos Collab

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Now um Hugo, you've act you've gone off and done um some solo projects. You released uh a solo record, I think it was around 97. Um that was your was that your debut solo record?

SPEAKER_01 18:12

That was the debut one, yeah. I did a few after that too. Um yeah, um, yeah, some independent labels uh overseas, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah, Frontier Records. Front year, man.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

It wasn't very funny, but now you did, so it's all right.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Next question.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Well, so but but then you in I think it was 2008, you released a record with now. Okay, it was let me let me stop first. Is it Ramos or Ramos? Because I've heard it pronounced both.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

It was yeah, Josh Ramos, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

That's what I thought. Okay, yeah, Josh Ramos. Uh, you did the Ramos Hugo record, right? And I have to say, I really, really like that record.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Cool, man. Thanks. Great. Um it really started off as a uh a Josh instrumental solo thing that he was doing. And Frontiers came and said, We'd love to Josh would love to have you sing on it and do like maybe do something. They sent it to me, and thank God for Eric Reno. I don't know if you know Eric, he's just part of the the melodic community, like big time, just great, fabulous keyboard player, arranger, composer, and he just sorted out a whole because you know Josh wrote a whole bunch of the music, right? And it took Eric to just you know put it together and then send it to me. And I was able to write all the lyrics to the album, but only because it was somewhat of uh there was a little bit of uh you know structure there because you know, guitar tech guitar players, sorry, Adam, you guys tend to just go. Yeah, so but uh Eric kind of put it put it together, threw it to me, and I was like, yes, this is this, this is this, and the lyrics came and uh it was a nice little partnership, you know. Um Josh is awesome and great guitar player, and yeah, there's some good tunes on there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yeah, there really are. There really, really are. If for for for my audience, if you like that, obviously, obviously, if you like Journey and you like bands of that, you know, you know, of that sound, you're gonna love this record because it's just that melodic AOR hard rock. It's not in your face hard rock, it's just nice stuff. And your um your vocals on it are absolutely incredible, Hugo. Thanks. They really, really are. And I'm not just trying to, I'm not just trying to, you know, stroke your ego or anything like that or score points. I'm I'm I'm sincere because first off, I love I love singers. Okay. I I tell my my audience, I'm a singer of songs, and and so yeah, and I I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, you know, if I had to. But but I do my best on a karaoke stage. So um, but I admire singers, I love singers. Um and I I think I just love guys who like they can just get into the stratosphere, you know, with their vocals, where they have just have that great range. And you know, obviously, obviously, guys like Steve Perry have that, Mike Reno from uh from Loverboy has that, Lou Graham had it in his day, you have that, and there's some others out there as well. And and I it's just it's it's amazing. And look, I see some of your videos that you put on reels or Instagram, whatever it is, you know, and I I see you in the foyer of your of your house there for the acoustics.

Keeping Live Vocals Truly Live

SPEAKER_00 21:52

And you know, let's see what was the uh what was the last one I saw? See the trap like turning red. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Don't you listen to what's said? I just sit, I just sit in my foyer and I'm like, check, check. I'm like, it's got some pretty cool verb. It's either out of my bathroom, and I get tired of my bathroom. So I do out there and I think, you know what? I just want people to know this is real and not go back in, remix it because there's so many people that go out and they auto tune and they make it's ridiculous. Just do it. Everything I do on my on the piano in Florida, and I send it out there and in my foyer is real. Everything we do in the Ultimate Journey tribute, we put out there, there's nothing ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

Actually, we try and take like iPhone audio because we try we don't edit it. We just keep it, whatever. Just it is what it is. If it's the good or the bad, that's we don't go back and tweak it. We've met with you know, and if some that's it.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

And with us, like with us, a bad night is still a pretty good night. That's how the band sounds great, you know.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Well, I I love that, and I'm so glad that you said I'm doing this because I want people to see that it's real, that it's live, you know, because because you know, if you follow music at all, and obviously the three of us are music lovers, and you guys are the best of the best because you're the musicians, you're the ones doing it, and I'm just poor schlubb over here. But but we love music, and there's nothing better than it being live and it being real, and no fakery, none of that stuff. And the thing is, you know, it's nice when an artist, whether it's the the uh one of the musicians in the band or the singer, makes a mistake somewhere because it's like, oh, see, it is real, and um a lot of people don't pick it out anyway, but but nonetheless, it's just because it a live show is is that that's what it's supposed to be live, and if there's a mistake here or there, a bum, that's just the way it goes, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

I agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

It's interesting now. Very quickly, when you see our shows too, what one of the one of the problems, and it it's a bummer when you listen. I we we always invite people to come down and videotape the show, you know, cell phones and post it on on social media, please. The problem is we all use we use uh in-air monitors, so the closer you are, the vocals you don't hear, yeah, because everything's here, everybody's hearing the voice through here, so there's not a lot of voice on stage. When you step back and you hear the mix, it's like holy cow! But if you're in the first, second, third row taking video, it's tough to really hear voices. So a lot of people say, He's not singing loud, not singing loud because you need to step back and hear the voice.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

No, but also it's also two things on that. I'll comment. But when you play on it, what's called the silent stage, we don't have any amps on stage. It's you have to we do have to get some mangers on there to get because you do want some noise and to music and hear it for that reason. People up front need to hear things, but also you know, in the day, everyone's a critic, so you know, just like you can't everyone has a comment, and it now everyone has a place to comment, so you just do your best. And I I can't even look at that stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Oh, it's so funny. This this guy's no Steve Perry. I'm like, thanks for checking in. This guy can't sing, well, yes, I can, you know, it's like okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

But yeah, you know, to to what you were saying, Hugo, about people, and it's great that you invite people to to to get their cell phones and take some video and post it and all that, you know, and it's good and bad because you don't know what kind of what kind of phone someone has. Obviously, the sound, the microphone is so much different than what you guys are actually, you know, the equipment that you use. So it's gonna sound a little bit different from from time to time, but right, but I you know, the the a lot of people would say, and I used to be like this too, the best place to be is in the front row. I don't want to be so close I can scare the band. And it's not if you want to hear the show, the best place to be is near the soundboard.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Right, well, back a little bit, right? When I'm going to see a concert myself, I like to sit, I just I like to sit like 50-yard line up a little bit. I like to see the whole thing, I like to hear it. So some people like to be right up front, but the sound is always different, especially so when people do post, they could post 10 videos of the same exact performance, and it'll sound different on different angles, different phones. But that's just the way that's the world we live in. That's weird, we don't care.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Yeah, if you're on one side of the stage taking video or this side, you're gonna get more bass over here, more guitar over here.

SPEAKER_03 26:27

I can hear the guitar, I want to hear more vocal. There's too much, there's too much that so that's just the nature of the um of the of the iPhone world we live in on on social media recordings. But it's you know, they get the gist of it though. People get the gist of it.

Deep Cuts And Setlist Choices

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Well, I can uh let me let me let me go back, let me back up a couple years and and and uh I do want to bring up the show that I did see a couple years ago, Hugo, on Meet You. And that was that was your previous band Voyage. And if you don't want to talk about that, we don't need to, but what I want to mention is the fact that because obviously you're doing a journey tribute, you're gonna probably be playing like the dirty dozen, correct? Um, because that's what the casual fan wants to hear, right? And for us music nerds, we love the deep tracks, you know. Forget forget the hits. It doesn't matter what band it is, whatever band you love, you want to hear those deep tracks. Right. But if you play those at a show, even look, even the artists that are out there playing these days, they're gonna play their big hits because that's what people want to see. And if they don't, maybe they don't come back next year when the band's in town. So I'm at the show, and you guys are doing a fantastic job. And then all of a sudden, you break into Dixie Highway, and I just about lost my mind because I absolutely love that song. And I was probably I was probably the only one in the room there that I would have stood on my chair, but everybody would have told me to sit down, and everyone else was just kind of like, what, what, what, and I'm losing my head here in Dixie Highway. And I thought that was fabulous because that is a song that not even the band plays. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

It's it's it's such a classic track, right? I mean, uh, yeah, we can do it again too, you know.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

I don't know, it really depends on the we also sometimes you want to play things for the band. Like, you know, we've been playing Escape. We added that in because we love playing it, and you know, the audience does like it, but we really like to play it. So, you know, just like things like that that are not right, not hit, but we are good for the band. So, but it's a balance because you're right, people want to hear what they want to hear, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

You got you guys introduced uh chain reaction back to this band because you were playing it with the Steve Board Jerry thing, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:53

Yeah, that's great, you know. That's a great one, too. We and it's a great rocker, up tempo. People do know it, they're like, Oh, I haven't heard that in a while.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

So yeah, that that is that is a good one. Um, let me ask you this, Hugo. All right, because you I like I said, you still sound absolutely fantastic. Oh thanks. Hey, K. Do you guys have you ever done lay it down?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Uh no, you know what? No, only because we wound up doing 17 or 18 songs. And if I think about the stratosphere of that, oh man, get all this get all this cream cheese off my voice. I'm like, how the hell, how am I gonna do that?

SPEAKER_00 29:36

So you might be done for about a week or so, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:39

No, it actually it's great once you clear it up, you can do it, but to do it all the time, it's like geez. There's a reason why, like Steve Perry, they never did like uh something something to hide, or uh they never did you know uh sweet and simple because it does do it's like geez.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Yeah, people think of the when they when they think of stuff in the stratosphere when it comes to Steve, they think more of the the the up tempo stuff, the the more rocking stuff. But if you go back and listen, you brought it up sweet and simple, um uh good morning girl, little girl from the the dream after dream soundtrack, that kind of stuff. We didn't too deep now. I don't even know that one. That stuff is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

And if you if you listen to Steve do it, it's very light and very easy, and up in that up here, you know, not not down here and not kicking it, you know. And I I I read a great article with Steve Perry, and he was saying those things, those notes, I go for them, and if they come out, great. And if they don't, I don't go back there for the rest of the night, you know. And that's it, that's true. That's what you have to approach it because all it takes is a little bit of uh catering, sitting here and like not warming up enough, and stuff starts flying around. Not that you hurt your voice, you know, but you you know, you it's it's just too much garbage, you know. The singer shouldn't shouldn't be drinking dairy and stuff like that. There's a reason why because that's what I heard, yeah. It kind of ends up here, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Okay, okay, maybe that's my problem. That's why I can't sing because I love too much dairy. Uh we'll go on a stricted diet. That's what I tell everybody anyway. So uh so speaking of speaking of warming up, do you have a warm-up and a warm down routine that you do before shows? I

Warmups, Dairy, And Vocal Health

SPEAKER_00 31:30

do, I do.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

I took lessons a long, long time ago when I was a kid and uh from a great, great teacher in Long Island, Chuck Arnold, who taught Billy Joel back in the old days. And um, I stayed with him for a little bit and I learned the scales in falsetto and you know, regular voice, and to kind of bridge the gap. And that's kind of what I do. Take falsetto down, and this it's kind of hard to explain, but you have a chess voice, a falsetto, and it's a lot of teachers would sing, would teach da da da da da da da da da da and when you get to a point, just go la la la, go into falsetto. But he taught me to take falsetto down and kind of bridge the gap. And before you know it, you're singing down here, but it's really here, but you're here. So you bridge the gap. And when you're done, you go, whoa, it's one voice.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Oh, it's remember, you asked, you gave you a very technical answer. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

No, that's okay. Yeah, you gave me a technical answer. I have no idea what you're talking about, but but it was beautiful though, because I get to hear you sing a little bit, you know. Look, I see I get a little live performance right here on the podcast, so that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

A tough one. You know, I used to be a nerd. Now I just tell people, yeah, this is what it is, and it's too lengthy. I'm sorry, I'm gonna shut up now.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

No, no, it's great. Um, but yeah, I I I do hear like that that you have multiple voices. I like you said, the chess voice, a head voice, a throat, and all that, and it's trying to figure out how to manipulate all that and and work with work through all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

For me, I'm just a screamer. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

I just you know, so it just let me add that listen, as a guy who I've I've sang, I've played with this guy my most of my adult life, he he's singing better than ever. So let me say that much.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

It's crazy, Adam. I think once you you know, man, once you just relax and don't pressure yourself to hit notes, you'll wind up hitting it anyway, you know.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Right also, technology having in ears has help helped a lot of singers and not having the volume, it really helps the singer. Yeah, get the right place to be. So either way, whatever you're doing, keep doing it. Uh, you too, man. Yeah, that's my advice.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Whatever you do. A lot of dairy. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah, okay. So

Influences, Vinyl, And Music Memories

SPEAKER_00 33:58

um some of your favorite bands growing up. That's for both of you guys. Some of your favorite bands.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

I mean, obviously, like we have to say journeys, we're definitely we're all inspired. I always say, you know, I go back to my my so again, early 80s, late 70s. My my older sister used to play in the morning these records. I think Ben I mentioned this when I did this podcast. She would play Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, Boston, Farcat, whatever, like Steve Miller, the Times, those Van Halen, whatever that calling outs, whatever the Times that she, you know, hit radio, she would play him. So I really got to hear, like, she would crank it up, which was kind of like a morning wake up. You know, we were like, ah. But um, so like I remember hearing those Foreigner Boston records and Farcat Live, like I'm so late 70s, like what do you call radio rock with the cars like that, like you know, the chunky, you know, it's not wasn't metal, but it was like hard rock. That's where I got my original, like my love for all that kind of cause applied mixed in there.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

So those are all those are all right. Those are my that's my foundation. Yeah, all great bands. And and and and that even and I mean look, I I love all that stuff, and including Holland Oaks. I love Holland Oaks. These guys are fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Oh my god, so good. Yeah, just in great stuff.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

That's the eight drags in that era. Of that's those are like my core, you know. Of course, we're on to all kinds of stuff, but those are my core early movies of music.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

What about you, uh Hugo?

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Man, uh Elton John, the Stones, certainly Zeppelin. Um, yeah, that was my uh my my junior high years and stuff. Before that, my first concert actually, my parents took me to Whispering Music Fair, Adam, in Long Island, uh, to see the car the carpenters. Holy cow and for me, Karen Carpenter was just just everything, man. She was a drummer, singer, her voice was smooth as silk, and you know, she just kind of you know had her little her big headphones on and she would drum and sing. And I was a drummer singer, you know. So that that was my that was my start, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Oh, so you're a drummer too.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, wow, that's awesome. So I could do sound, I could do sound checks too, man. I could do it.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Yeah, I gotta also I could kiss. I have to, I can't leave out kiss. That was like an early, you know, like the the glad the long-haired guys like with loud guitars. Kiss was definitely an early age really early influence.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Kiss was kiss was huge. Look, Kiss is huge on my uh look, I always say it's like my one in one A or journey in Kiss. You know, it just depends on the week. One, you know, so just great influences throughout music, period, just those two bands. But um uh, you know, Adam and I, we were talking earlier, Hugo, about about music listening, like the way we did it when we were kids. You know, you go buy a record and and and you put it on your turntable, and then you grab the you grab the record sleeve and you just lean up against your bed and you just look at the artwork if there was some good artwork on it, or um read the liner notes, and it's that is has lost so much. It's it's a lost. I don't want to say in art form, but it kind of is. It really, really is every different times music is absorbed in a different way. Yes, I'm looking for something right here. I'm gonna I don't know. Let's see. I find something. Um maybe if I oh, this is actually a really good one, but it doesn't have any artwork on it. Uriah Heap Live 1973.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

Woo! Okay, yeah, that's that's good, man.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

That I'll tell you, I'll tell you, they get kicked, they they get kicked around. I don't say kicked around, but they get compared to deep purple a lot, you know. And they so deep purple gets more of the spotlight than Uriah Heap ever did, but boy, they came up right at the same time. What a fantastic. Sorry, I just grabbed that one by by chance. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

I'm going to see Rush tonight with Gerard. Oh, you are great. That's great. We're gonna go high school throwback. We're going to see Rush.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

No, that's fantastic. And and everything that I I haven't watched anything online regarding them, but everything I hear is just man, it is out of sight.

SPEAKER_03 38:16

It's just been, you know, talking about nostalgia. We all it's amazing. I went, they were on Rick Beato and they they've been doing some press. I went back and did a full like listen to all like I wanted to go back and listen to the first like 10 records. And the crazy thing is, like I knew all of it, and I'm not even a huge rush fan, but I'm like, just through osmosis, it's all in my I knew every single song, and then so it definitely part of our history too. All going to see those guys at the NASA Cosse and right, how many times have I seen Rush?

SPEAKER_01 38:43

I think I'm like, I was just thinking about it. How many it got to the point I would just like listen, I got passes. I you know, you love Getty, just go backstage and I I couldn't get anymore, but right.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

So either way, I'm going, we're going, we're doing a full nostalgia tonight.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

That's awesome. Speaking speaking of guys with high voices, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And and also, you know, singers who probably sound better than they did, you know, 12-14 years ago because they cut out dairy.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Getty. Another band with a singer with an incredibly high high voice, the outfield. Oh great.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

So we were we were for a brief moment, we were on originally got signed to Columbia Records, and we used to get those little pre-album cassettes, those little pink and blue cassettes. I remember someone sat, I don't know when it was, sat us down in the office and said, Check this out. And they played us, you know, the outfield before it came out. And I was like, Holy shit. I was like sounding great. So I remember that's one of my memories of Columbia Records, carrying the outfield before it was the outfield.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah, this is such great legend.

SPEAKER_03 39:54

Hello, ready? Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Wait, don't move. Oh, he's gonna go get oh yes, they're gonna show us something here.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Wow, remember those? Yeah, I sure do, man.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Sure does like either way. That was like uh these are like the the record companies would have like a ver a sample on the record.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

I remember someone put this in in the outfield and and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Sorry, I didn't that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Showing your age again. Yeah, yeah. People like what's that thing he's holding?

SPEAKER_00 40:24

We're we're all there, so you know, I think I think Adam's got a couple months on me, and uh, you know, I I I don't know how old you are, Hugo, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

Like two years old, yeah. Over the over Adam. Yeah, so okay. We're all in the same bracket. We're all the same bracket.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

We're all yeah, we're all right there. We're all right there. So um, you know, uh Adam, a couple years ago, and that was kind of why you were on the podcast, you you released a solo record, um Rapture, all instrumental. And I want to, I want to to I want to tell the audience that if you know, if you like guitar work, if you like something that is so easy to listen to, and it I I tell you, I I've texted you before, Adam. I'm like at work and I'm listening to it on a Friday, and I texting up, I'm listening to this. This is getting me, this is really getting my Friday morning going, you know, and because it's so good each and every track. And what I love about it is a lot of a lot of guitarists, a lot of instrumental records, and of course guitarists, you know, they they want to show you how flashy they are, how many notes they can play in a minute or a second, whatever it is, and how fast their fingers move. And yes, I've heard I've heard your stuff from Valentine and and and and you you I know you can do all that, but on this record, it I I guess the best way I can describe it is that it's all tasty licks, and you don't play one more note than what is necessary. I appreciate it. Thank you. Beauty, it's a beauty, right? It's so good. It really truly is. And and I'm sorry, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to ask you, uh Adam. Yes, um, you're gonna have to put out some money because I want physical product. I want it on vinyl and I want it on CD. Okay. Well, I gotta I have to hold it, Hugo. And I was I was telling Adam earlier, I don't I don't even own a turntable right now. And I'll go out to the record stores just for kicks and I'll just go buy stuff. I don't even know what it is that I'm looking for, but I know when I find it. And um, and then I I get it. And sometimes I share it on the podcast, and sometimes I just come sit in the studio here and look at it, you know. But um I just one of these days I'll get a I'll get a turntable. I I promised my audience I would get a turntable before the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

I was having talking earlier, so my younger daughter just got a turntable. So I've been going back to some vinyl, finding some old things for her. It's pretty cool, you know. And I was saying these young kids are sitting in the room listening to a full album. It was I'm like, holy crap, that it's such a bizarre, like, you know, to see them do that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, okay,

Rapture, Road Life, And Crowd Energy

SPEAKER_00 43:24

all right. Question for um question for both of you. All right. Speaking of speaking of the band, who in the band Hugo, the ultimate journey tribute, who in the band is most likely to miss a flight?

SPEAKER_03 43:43

Oh, interesting. That's a good one. We have to throw Craig onto the bus. Maybe Craig. Oh, you not really. I don't know. That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

I don't uh you know that's a good point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Well, I don't know. You threw Craig under the bus, though. Yeah. He wouldn't miss a flight, but he likes to like if if Lobby calls like 715, he likes to be there 717 just because he can.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Like he just oh okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

Just because then he can say a flight, but he likes to show you like I'll be there 716 just, you know.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Just so he can say I'm I'm worth the wait.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

I'm just yeah, he you know, so right, right, right, right. I don't think that's a good I don't think anybody's miss a flight, really. I don't think so. No. But I know what you're saying though, the concept of who might miss it. I'm gonna go just because I want to.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Maybe that's more maybe that question is more for the 70s or 80s when that was like typical, you know. So I could ask you who's more likely to throw television out the hotel room, you know.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

That'd be Gerard. I'm calling Craig as soon as we hang up because that was oh, you're gonna let him know that uh that Adam's throwing him under the bus, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:56

Well, he's not here, so he's you know, can I tell you?

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Honestly, with you and Gerard, honestly, Adam, we're so organized that it's it's impossible to uh miss the flight unless there's lightning.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

You know, life happens. You know, listen, we've had missed missing flights. Sometimes the flight misses us and we have to drive. You know, the whether, you know, in this day and age of Friday, sometimes we have to drive to the Midwest like uh on a Friday afternoon because we have to do it. So that's that's another podcast. Travel woes, yeah, of a Friday.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Oh, and then you guys will have to come back on and talk about all the traveling issues and the woes.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

People can have a travel therapy. One of the first or second shows we did for Ronanesi in Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Uh my wife and I were we we flew in because we were, I think, in Florida and we flew right up to the place and your flights got canceled. You had you the my boys drove from New York to Chicago. Took you flip.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

Wasn't happy, but we did it.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

You did it with people with Orgery too, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 46:01

I've done it many times through the years because the flights, you know, the weather something happens, you're like, screw it, let's get in the car.

SPEAKER_01 46:07

So I I gotta tell you, I would have faked an illness. I don't know how you did it. I got I'm so good.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

You can't fake an illness, you're the stinger.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

Exactly. Gotta do it. You gotta do it.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Yeah, so um, well, then who uh who in the band do you think is likely to become uh I uh yeah, at our advanced age here. What's that? It's like the dating game here. I just yeah, I just having some fun here. Who's gonna become famous outside of music? Bachelor number two. When you make Whoopee, Craig, it's all Craig's gonna be a good thing. That's the newlywed game. That's the newlywed game.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

Yeah, sorry, but when the old game's right, what's your question? Sorry, I digress, I digress.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Well, then just tell me just okay, let's get back to like the live show. Um when it comes to a crowd, what what like what separates a good crowd from a great crowd? Or can there be a good or a great crowd? Or you know how is that uh okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

The answer is I think tell me from the size of the crowd doesn't make it a better crowd. Okay, sometimes you can have a couple hundred people on their feet and the crowd and the energy of the show is great. Sometimes we play to thousands of people, you know, multiple thousands, and they're just sort of, you know, some maybe they're not up, but maybe the dist sometimes the distance from the stage to the crowd, you know, it's multiple things can cause it to be like a great vibe or like stiff, but and it doesn't mean the size of the crowd. Would you agree with that, Hugo?

SPEAKER_01 47:50

I I totally agree, yeah, yeah. And by the same token, the like the crowd, I mean, Adam, you know, we we we'll play shows and no one's on their feet, or like, well, okay, we can't be doing because it sounds pretty good from where I am, and we do our shows and at the end, or certainly by don't stop believing or towards the end, any way you want it, some of those songs, the place just absolutely goes crazy, and they get up and the right the ovation is just through the roof. So you know they're reserved, right? And maybe maybe they're told not to stand up front, but yeah, so you don't know, right?

SPEAKER_03 48:24

It's a good point. Some sometimes, especially I tell you with a tribute band, like people are coming because they want to hear this music, so really, and they know Hugo. So the people most of the time, I'd say people are right up from the get-go, they're like, whoo, you know, pump. So it's nice.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

I think um, to what you were saying, guys. Um, like when I okay, as an example, when I went and saw you in April, Adam, um, I I mean, I purposely picked my seats more in the middle of the house there because I wanted that full sound, but it was an older crowd. Right. And like I said, I mean, I'm gonna be 61. So but I I like to stand up. I want to stand up and I want to pump my fist, I want to shake my tail feathers, all that stuff. But but I felt really bad because like I'm looking around and everyone is sitting on their hands. Yes, after every song, they'll clap, you know, and and they'll cheer and that type of stuff. But while the music's playing, while you're actually performing the song, everyone is just sitting down, right? And I thought, man, are we like in the UK or something where everyone is just you know trying to?

SPEAKER_03 49:34

There were they were reserved, but they will, but now that was a loud crowd, but you're right, they didn't stand up at all. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

And I don't want to do that because I don't want to be that guy that the one person behind me is saying, Hey, sit down, I can't see, I can't see. And I'm like, Well, you could stand up. I don't want to be that way.

SPEAKER_03 49:50

Right. We're all here to dance, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:52

Right. But um does uh Hugo, does the crowd can they pull uh can they pull the energy out of you, or do you just like come on stage on fire already?

SPEAKER_01 50:09

Um do do I need to kind of get them? Uh I know, you know, it really it's it kind of goes either way, Ben, honestly. Um sometimes I I it sometimes you get an energy immediately and it's wow, holy cow. And maybe they're looking because you know, it's so funny because we used to be the band. They look at like, oh my god, he looks like oh my god, he sounds like and then they look at Adam like, oh my god, is that Neil Shaw? It's like, what is going on right now? So it's too funny, but I think by by the first by the first verse, get to the first chorus of whatever whether it be separate ways or you know, uh only the young, we kind of open up with people are just hooked in, and they're they're more like, This is like 1981. I'm seeing I'm seeing Journey for the first time, and it's so cool. And that's what we want to do, just kind of get the people transported, man, and just have a good time. So a lot of them I think a lot of resilience that the band is that good, it sounds really, really good. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, I'm not. I'm just saying the band sounds good. I look around, I'm like, geez, my bro is just wailing, and Adam's just like and then uh right.

SPEAKER_03 51:24

So another let me take it another way from the audience on a selfish point, you're right. So we're we've been doing this for a long time and now we're back together tomorrow. So we're we are our own personal selves having a good time right now in this chapter. We're and and like and it's true, we play, we've done a lot of gigs, and we're like, holy shit, it sounds good. And so we, you know, sometimes just play for our not that the audience always has a great audience, but if the audience isn't in our face, we're still having a good time because we're like we still get like holy shit, 2020, you know, it's 2026. We you know, we started this a hundred years ago, and we're still doing it. We're still sounding good. I think we're sounding better than ever, to tell you the truth. Like I said before. Amazing. So um, we we we we still crack ourselves up, like we're about to get away. We have a little huddle. We have a little huddle. Yeah, so we we did a private show. We just did a great venue at the Raddy Shell. It was a private show for CVS, but the crowd, the place holds 8,000 people, but there were it was only a couple of hundred because it was a private event and they were not in front of us. However, the venue and the sound, it was so amazing. One of the nicest venues I think all of us have played. We were like, and our our our agent was there, and we're like, screw it. We were like, this is for us, and we played, we kicked it like hard. There was no one, literally, no one, it was wild. So sometimes you do that, you're like, This is for us. That was one of those gigs that was like amazing. But it was again, they didn't need no crowd needed. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It was like a private show for ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Sometimes you just close your eyes and say, Hey, this is Madison Square Garden.

SPEAKER_03 52:59

But here's the crazy part I wanted to open my eyes because the visual was the greatest. We're on the bay in San Francisco, San Diego. It's insane. Thanks. So anyway, it all depends. You know, the older you get, we're also more appreciative, more grateful that we even get to do this with our friends and our brothers, and we're just so we don't take that for granted. So I think the audience speaks up on that, tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

Um, go ahead. I'm sorry, Hugo. You were gonna say, No, I was just thinking we belly laugh. Remember last time Craig did that little flute thing, and we you have a little like belly laugh, and I'm like, I I gotta get off the stage.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

I'm gonna, I'm just gonna knucklehead teenagers, even though we're old men, you know, say so.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

But I think that I look there's something to be said where obviously you take the job serious, but then by the same token, look, we're playing music here and we got people coming to see us. Let's not take ourselves seriously and where you can have some fun on the stage. And if the when the audience sees it, you guys are having fun, that's a chance to let them have more fun too.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

I agree. Also, we we've traveled to get there, they've come and they've paid. So all of us, everyone's made an effort to be there. Yeah, and yeah, I look at music, us, anybody you go see in the in the if you want reality and put on the news that there's enough reality in reality, right? We all got so when you come to see a music concert, us or anybody, you want to escape for a few moments. So we try and make sure that they do.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

And like with you uh going going to see Rush, you're gonna be you're gonna be transported back into the 70s, 80s, you know.

SPEAKER_03 54:36

I went, by the way, yes, I I'm going for I how about I don't I've seen a bunch of concerts in the last month. I saw Earth, Wind, and Fire, which and Ronald Ritchie, which was amazing. Wow. Yeah, last minute when I went to see John Millencamp, last minute, like day of the show, bought some cheap tickets. So again, a lot of nostalgia. You know, I was probably the youngest guy in all the shows, which is scary. Yeah, this year, but they were great. So my point is though just like holy crap, all this took me back to the hips and seeing these older guys with in a modern sort of like technology and live performance and sound it's come so far. And this is you know, high what's it called? Um not low budget events. So it was it's kind of cool to see this older music in a modern setting. I don't know how to explain that.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

So it's all right, yeah. No, I just for me, I love to go see live shows, and there's nothing better than going to see the bands that you love, the bands that you just appreciate. And when they're on fire, it's great. I'm gonna go uh next next week. Um, Catherine and I were gonna go see Angel.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_03 55:51

Yeah, you know, I heard they were back around, right? Punky Meadow, right? Is that him? Punky Meadows? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

Punky and Frank. They're the the the chief the the the chief guys or the main guys of uh in the band, they're they're out there. Greg DeFreo was what about Jafria though? Greg, Greg, yeah, Greg, um obviously he was in the band, and then when they split up in 19, it was like late 80, early 81 when they when they split up, and it it's a whole sad story, it's kind of um Greg. Um Greg formed the band Jafria, had one one top 40 hit with um what was it, Closer? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

Was it David Glenn Isley? Is that his name? Yeah, that's right. Great singer, great singer, great singer.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

And and then uh great voice. And then um, and then I guess it was around late 80s, early 90s, um, rebranded the band as House of Lords, and then they had that cover with uh of the blind blind faith song. Um Can't Find My Way Home.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

By Way Back Home.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Yeah, and then and then uh but but when the when the band reformed, Greg didn't really let's put it this way, Greg didn't need the money. So he okay, Greg, Greg was doing very, very well for himself. He got involved in uh like slot machine music or something like that, with and he got involved in casinos and that kind of thing. So he's he's doing really, really well for himself. But but uh Frank and Punk. Shout out to him. What's that?

SPEAKER_03 57:31

I said we're giving a shout out to him. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Yeah, that's right. But uh yeah, no, they're they're out there doing it, and they put on a fantastic show. Um, it's certainly not as elaborate as it used to be, right? Uh, which is part of the reason why they got in so much debt to the record company early on, was because they had an elaborate stage show and hadn't built the following to come along with it, you know. And um, but but they they still do a great job, they still sound great. They've actually put out music over the last few years, so um, which is all really good stuff. So we're looking forward to seeing them.

SPEAKER_03 58:09

I'm looking forward to seeing review.

SPEAKER_00 58:12

Yeah, yeah. Oh no, I'll I'll do a review on it. And I'm uh I'm hoping to say hello to the guys. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens. We'll see. Try to get them on the podcast, yeah. Right. But uh but we'll work it, we'll see.

Tribute Band Reality And Final Plugs

SPEAKER_00 58:27

But uh yeah, so and uh again, people. Um this is Hugo Valenti from Hugo, the ultimate journey tribute, and Adam Holland. These guys are absolutely fantastic. Um, I'm gonna run down these shows that I hit early on again so people get a pen and paper. Uh, the next show is August 11th, uh Hillside, Illinois. And then there's one on August 14th in De Plain, Illinois, and then August the 15th, the following night in Chicago. So you guys got to go out and see these guys. Um, it truly is the ultimate journey tribute. Um, I can't wait to see you guys out on the West Coast. Um don't make them travel too far, you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:18

We're looking forward to it. Honestly, Ben, we have a lot of uh lot of really good things in store for 27, so it should be good. Oh, that's uh is a great, great agency and a lot of lot of hookups. It's just uh interesting times out there right now, a lot of a lot of competition, you know, a lot of national acts are even scaling back. So it's tough, but we'll we'll find our niche in there and the band is is is worth it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

And there are uh just a boatload of tribute acts as well, and um it's that that's actually becoming a very uh competitive thing as well, right? It is, yeah, that's right. Sure is probably because you know, where uh a club or a theater wants to bring in uh a certain act, but maybe it's a little bit too much for them. Now they can bring in a tribute and have the same the same vibe, the same feel, and uh drawing a good crowd, too.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:16

And I think with tributes, like there's obviously different regions of the country have bands that you know, and then we play our obviously all over. But I think that the reason, like, and I'm gonna go back to 2005 when we first started Hugo first uh not we Hugo first started even doing a tribute, tribute bands first came around, and um you know obviously our whole career is you know it's like people are like you look like kind of like Steve Perry. He's like, All right, might as well let's just write. So he's like, okay, I get it, let's do this. And then we had that was evolution back in the late 2000s. So I think that you know it gives it that's what we we do it, we we love the music, it comes naturally to us, and and Hugo, this is what he looks like and what he sounds like. So it's not like we're not putting on any wigs and makeup, but this is what we play. So I think that comes across, I think that's makes us at the top of the level of tribute bands. Yeah, we're not trying to use it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Right. Absolutely, Adam. You know, sonically, the band sounds so spot on, and in in terms of visual, it's really what you want in a trivia band without guys throwing wigs on and running around with you know, Steve Perry Tails. I'm done with that stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:37

By the way, you know, we played, I think Ben, I think you know we did a show with Jonathan Kane last year. You know, he hired us, he had a gig overseas, and he brought us to play with him as his backup then. So, how many guys, you know, that that's the ultimate uh what's it called? Um you know, check mark of respect, but we're doing our compliment, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

Who else gets an endorsement from you know the band themselves, you know, keyboard keyboardist and chief, you know, songwriter in the band, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

So there you go. So that that's the ultimate endorsement. So that was uh there you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:13

So yeah, that's that's absolutely fantastic, man. Let me let me ask you one thing. I don't think I asked you this uh before, Adam, but um uh didn't do it. Your favorite, I shouldn't say favorite, but like some of you the the guitar heroes or guitar guys that you really dig and you have followed, besides, of course, you know, Neil Sean.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:35

Right. I mean, Neil is a legend, so thank God. I mean, I think yes, those wraps I get to play his thank thank you, Neil, for all the great things I get to do. Um, obviously, I grew up Jimmy Page, I said Ace Freely, like there early on. Eddie Van Halen's obvious. I always loved um John Sykes. I loved him in the 80s brain. Wow, wow. Steve Vai. You know, I like a little bit different stuff. Steve Vai, I said Stevie Ray Vaughn, and then I always loved Slash too because he had that bluesy thing he did, which was like he sort of bridged the gap between shredding and bluesy, which was kind of like a unique, you know, like edgy like blues, but like more rock. So he okay, I've always been a slash fan. I love and I love that he's just like guys that die hard like rocker man slash, you know, to you know, so those are the guys, like I said, Eddie. You know, I love Randy Rhodes in the for a while, but not but he was a little bit more precise and technical, which I respected and appreciated, but I always like a little bit looser, like you know, Warren D Martini, George little George Lynch, like shred with the little blues in there, whatever you call it, you know, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:45

And you mentioned you mentioned Ace Fraley, and he was not talk about not being technical at all. He wasn't. And I mean, a lot of people referred to his playing as kind of sloppy, but not in a derogatory way. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:58

But back in the day, you know, he he was in those first kiss albums, he was like, Man, his solos were really like they were they were amazing. Like Dr. Love, all those, you know, like I remember um making love that did it that solo. Or like the live the live, his famous thing is the live kiss alive, I think one or two, his guitar solo. She so you know, back in the day, he in that chapter before Eddie Van Helen, he was like, Holy shit, he was like a modern day, like he was great.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:27

100, 100. I love I love Ace. I I I love Ace. I think his playing is phenomenal, and his his solos are just they're like songs within the song.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:37

So you could sing you could sing every ace freely solo.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:40

You really can. You know, yeah. Melodic, right? Yeah, just I I love the breakdown of firehouse. Exactly right. There you go. Like my that's the ace freely thing. It's it yeah, so good. Anyway, I don't want to get off on a kiss tangent here, but um look, you guys have been uh very generous with your time. I so greatly appreciate it. Um and both both of you are from are are are you know calling me in from the east coast too. So you're three hours ahead of me, so I don't want to take up too much more of your time. Um, but uh yeah, I just thank you so much for this. This has been fantastic. It really has.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:24

Thank you for taking the time to have us on. And uh I appreciate I want to say thank you to all the people who come to the shows and see us. It's so cool. And what we're doing here, talking about our history, which what's so we're playing this journey tribute, obviously, but what's still pretty cool is that almost at every show, somebody shows up with some open skies, Valentine, Hugo. That's right. People show up with the stuff. It's pretty cool. I have to the open sky shirt. So people show up with the stuff, and it's like you know, it kind of gives us a little like pat on the back for all the all we've been through with together as a as a unit. So it's nice, it's a great chapter. We're we're super we're loving it. Yeah, this guy over here is the man, this guy's voice better than ever. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Yeah, exactly. And you guys and it's great, it's a nice, it's a nice, not just a pat on the back, but it's like, hey, they actually know us not just for doing this, they know what we've done in the past and they appreciate that too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Yeah, that's yeah, it's exciting. Ben, thank you, and our fans really thank you. Uh, we we we see all the you know, we'll put out a video on the social media page and uh and see the responses. And people are just so you know, so amazing and so complimentary, and so like, oh my god, you you you you bring me back. I can't wait to see you live. Can't wait to see you live. That's right. We're coming, we're coming to your town in South Florida. We hear you, Texas, we hear you. Yeah, that's because I keep on telling the booking agents, I'm like, 1981, Houston, we gotta go to Texas. Come on, that's the place.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:04

No, you guys need to recreate that 1981 Rose Bowl or 1982 Rose Bowl. Yes, we do. That was a good idea. That was that was my first journey show, it was uh January 2nd or July 2nd, sorry, July 2nd, 1982. It was this the stadium, the stadium uh uh version of the escape tour. It was fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:25

I was about to say what record it was an escape.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:27

Yeah, it was it was uh for the escape record, yeah. It was awesome. So before so before Frontiers, wow. All right, well they played they played separate ways that night. Oh wow, introduced it as a new song, said, Hey, this is a new song off of our new album. That's why I asked, right? Played separate ways, and even they even played only solutions off of the Tron soundtrack.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:52

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:53

Yeah, so talk about you know going deep and bringing stuff that people hadn't really heard. That was awesome. So that's a good concept. Wow. Um, stick with me just for a minute, guys, just for one more minute. All right. Uh, you guys, you guys are just so awesome. Thank you very much for doing this. I greatly appreciate it. Uh, people, as you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts and it's on YouTube. So uh just subscribe to the Ben Maynard program. Last but not least, follow me on my socials. Instagram is Ben Maynard program all one word or on the TikTok. It's at the Ben Maynard program. I hope you've enjoyed this. It's been a kick for me. And if it's a kick for me, it's got to be a kick for you too. So anyway, uh behave yourselves. I'll see you guys next time. All right. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend. Take care.