NEAL SCHON: Why JOURNEY Continues To Put Out New Music

JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon, who is promoting the band's latest album, "Freedom", was asked in a new interview with AXS TV's "At Home And Social With…" why he and his bandmates continue to put out fresh music. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have a whole new generation of fans out there. There's five generations right now I see in the audience. And the kids are getting younger and younger, and we still have our older fans too. So the older fans, sure, they just wanna hear their hits, but they like to see some growth too. A lot of 'em write me on social media, and I'll write back, 'cause I like to stay in touch with them.

"When we played Lollapalooza for the first time in Chicago, our first show out when we did the first East Coast run this last year, I didn't know what to expect 'cause we had never played that festival before," he continued. "Everybody was going, 'Wow, you're the last band I would think of that would be on Lollapalooza, because it's usually about this, that, this, that.' I've gotta tell you, Post Malone was on the bigger stage on the other side. He came on stage at the same time we did, and I'm a fan. And we went on, and I've gotta tell you, I think three songs into it, the whole audience levitated to our side, and we had over 120 thousand people out there."

Released on July 8 via BMG, "Freedom" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Current Rock chart.

The members of JOURNEY celebrated the album's release by kicking off a residency featuring special symphony orchestra performances at the new, state-of-the-art Resorts World Casino in Las Vegas. The residency continues this Friday, July 22 and Saturday, July 23. Tickets for the special engagement are on sale now.

As JOURNEY's legend continues to grow larger and their touring gets bigger, "Freedom" is the band’s first album of new material to be released in eleven years, since 2011's "Eclipse", and in addition to Schon, along with longtime keyboard player and primary lyricist Jonathan Cain and vocalist Arnel Pineda, one more member was recruited for the LP — bassist extraordinaire Randy Jackson, who had played on JOURNEY's 1986 album "Raised On Radio".

Inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017, JOURNEY has 25 gold and platinum albums, with total sales adding up to over 100 million albums worldwide, earning the band two Diamond Awards with a third on the way for the "Frontiers" album. JOURNEY has also surpassed one billion streams on Spotify.