New Journey Book Takes Definitive Look At the Band’s History

Share This:

A new book about classic rock legends, Journey, has arrived from award-winning journalist Nick DeRiso. Journey: Worlds Apart, described as “the definitive accounting” of the “Don’t Stop Believin’” hitmakers, was published on December 8, 2023, via Time Passages. A multiple columnist of the year award-winner with the USA Today network, DeRiso conducted dozens of interviews for the book, and offers a detailed look at the band’s evolving lineup, discography (including choices for singles), touring history, and side projects. It’s available to order in the U.S. here and the U.K. here.

From the publisher’s announcement: Journey started as a dream for former Santana road manager Herbie Herbert, who thought he could build a blockbuster band out of the remnants of post-Woodstock Santana with Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon. Turns out, he could – but it would take a few albums, and the arrival of frontman Steve Perry. By the time Rolie exited at the turn of the ‘80s, Journey was already a multi-platinum band – and they would only get bigger with the addition of Jonathan Cain from Journey’s former opening act, The Babys.

Solo projects and long periods apart slowed their momentum until Perry finally left for good in the late ‘90s. Then Journey was faced with one of its biggest challenges: Whether and how to move forward without the singer who had redefined their sound forever on songs like “Open Arms,” “Only the Young” and “When You Love a Woman.”

The story is guided from their earliest roots by conversations with co-founding members Schon and Rolie, and Prairie Prince, along with long-time Herbert confidant Pat Morrow. DeRiso then follows Journey toward music superstardom through additional talks with later-era collaborators Cain, Steve Smith, Deen Castronovo, Steve Augeri and scores of producers, sidemen, label representatives and various industry veterans like former Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild, original MTV VJ Martha Quinn, and longtime San Francisco Chronicle music writer Joel Selvin, the latter of whom covered Journey almost from the beginning. The title takes a similar approach as a definitive series on Eagles from the same publishing company.

A sample two-page spread from the Journey: Worlds Apart book (Used with permission of the publisher)

Journey: Worlds Apart emerges as the definitive look back at Journey, with deep explorations of every era, every album and every song. Pathway collaborations and key side projects complete this detailed analysis, as DeRiso speaks with John Waite, Jan Hammer, Marco Mendoza, Ron Wikso and others.

Spanning 417 pages, this extensive Journey history contains dozens of rare photos from across the years. Also, it includes an exclusive appendix of never-before-seen concept art, designs, sketches, and illustrations of Journey projects — some accepted and some that never made it to production — from the masterful hand of famed rock illustrator Stanley Mouse.

Author DeRiso is currently assistant managing editor with Townsquare Media.