Journey have released their first new music in 10 years, emotional new single The Way We Used To Be.
The single is the first new music from the new-look band, following the exit of long-time bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith. Smith and Valory were sacked from Journey last year following claims that they had attempted to stage a "corporate coup d'état" to gain control of one of the band's business entities, Nightmare Productions.
The band’s new line-up features American Idol judge Randy Jackson on bass, drummer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jason Derlatka, alongside vocalist Arnel Pineda, keyboardist Jonathan Cain and founding guitarist Neal Schon.
“[This song] came out of one of the many loops I’d written while the long downtime continued with the pandemic we all had to deal with,” Schon said in a statement. “So utilizing my time and trying to keep fans in touch I started posting many jams and loops I created very quickly most every day. On The Way We Used To Be I laid down the keyboard loop with over-dubbed rhythm and a little blues lead guitar and sent to Jonathan. He sent it back very shortly after with demo vocals and lyrics and I said to myself with a smile, We’ve still got it!
“I felt Jonathan nailed the lyrics and melody with haunting chorus ‘got to get back’ – ‘to the way we used to be,’” Schon continues. “So this was the complete new beginning chapter for Journey – many more follow the same sequence with all of us collectively writing and working together. We now have over 26 songs that we’ve written and whittling it down to 10 or 12. We are very excited by all the new musical endeavors we’ve created together looking forward to getting back on the road to you.”
Journey will play their first post-pandemic gig at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on July 29 as a warm up for their headline appearance at Lollapalooza.
