Neal Schon: Premier Guitar Rig Rundown and interview

Rig Rundown - Journey's Neal Schon



“Blue Rainbow Sky” was written for Ronnie James Dio. How did this song come about?
It was wild. I didn’t have any titles for these songs. The record was way done and titles were the last thing that came to me. I met Ronnie way back when we did the record, Stars [Hear ’N Aid], with all the other guitar players. We became friends and we didn’t see each other all that much but we always had mutual admiration for each other. He apparently really loved my playing. I was going to bow out of that project because I’d been up all night partying and wasn’t feeling so hot [laughs]. I said to Ronnie, “You’ve got a zillion guitar players down there. What do you want me for?” He said, “No, you have to come. You’re one of my main guys.” I was like, “Really?” So I threw a guitar in an Anvil case and jumped on the next plane to L.A. from San Francisco. I said to him, “You gotta promise me that you’re gonna move me to the front of the line so I don’t have to wait around all day to do my parts. I’m falling asleep here.” [laughs] I ended up sitting next to Yngwie, and he was real cool, man—we had a great talk. I was listening to a lot of people overdubbing and overdubbing—punching in solos for like, an hour straight, and I was literally falling asleep in the line. I told Yngwie I was going to go in and do two takes all the way through, no punching in, and that’s what I did.

Read more: http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2013/Jan/Interview_Neal_Schon_on_The_Calling.aspx