On the Scene with Neal Schon

Neal Schon was 17 when he was invited to join Santana. Two years later he founded Journey. In addition to being the only member who has been with the group throughout Journey’s entire 44-year history, Schon has released five solo projects and worked with a long list of other artists.

Schon, 64, talked backstage about the group and his plans for the future before performing Feb. 24 at the second night of Journey’s three-night engagement at Blaisdell Arena.

JOHN BERGER: You were an early member of Santana but when Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame you weren’t inducted. Arnel Pineda has been a member of Journey for 10 years and has recorded a platinum album as Journey’s lead vocalist, but when Journey is inducted into the Hall in April he won’t be inducted. I don’t understand.

NEAL SCHON: You and me both (laughs).

JB: One of my favorite Journey songs is “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Did you know it was going to be a hit when you heard the final mix?

NS: I remember talking with Jonathan (Cain) and the rest of the guys and I was like, “I think that song is going to be huge.” What’s funny is that when it came out, it was a big song in concerts but it didn’t go as high on the charts as some of the others off the same album. To have it be pretty much like a world anthem everywhere is amazing, and I feel like I was right.

JB: Did you know it was going to be used in the final scene of “The Sopranos”?

NS: I got an email from the producer like six to eight months earlier saying that they were considering using it, but then I thought no more about it. I was working on some music that night — it was the one night I didn’t watch. My phone started blowing up.

JB: What you do think you’ll be doing in 10 years?

NS: In 10 years? I never thought that we would be here right now, and that this music would still be in the mainstream, with a lot of young people wanting to hear it as well as our older fans. We are truly blessed to have the career that we’ve had — even if it stops tonight, tomorrow or next year.

JB: OK, what about in the next year or so?

NS: I have a record coming out, probably not until ’18, with Narada Michael Walden. Right now it’s all instrumental, but who knows, by the time we get done he’s probably going to get me to sing something and I don’t even know it. He’s been producing the hell out of it — I’ve been feeling like a student. And a friend of ours who has been very successful in the fashion industry wants to do something with us — I’ve always been into fashion and color and material — so we’re working on that.

“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.