Journey: Live in Houston 1981 Escape Tour DVD
Looking Back
by Steve Smith

When I first got the DVD, I was surprised at how good the band sounded. For the most part, I thought the grooves were pretty good.

Because we were playing for a large audience and trying to generate a lot of energy, the grooves can sound a little edgy at times, but the band does sound exciting. The vocals sounded good too. Of course, there were no “fixers,” Pro-Tools, or anything like that. This concert has been sitting on a shelf all these years and was recently mixed and edited. I think the mixes are good and the editing is also well done. The concert was originally shown on MTV in the early 80s, but this new version is longer.

I was 27 years old when this concert was filmed and we played HARD for about two hours a night. I was usually pretty wiped out after the concerts and would sweat off about 3-4 pounds a night (we played a lot of sports arenas and there were scales backstage so, of course, we would always be weighing ourselves before and after the gigs!)

It took a lot of energy just to play drums that large. Now, my drums are much easier to play, plus with my revamped technique, I don’t have to work as hard to get the same results.

The drum set I used on the Escape tour in 1981 was a Sonor Signature Series, with (to the best of my memory) four rack toms; 8”x8,” 10”x10,” 12”x12,” 14”x14” and 16”x16” and 18”x18” floor toms. The two bass drums were 24” x 14.”

I originally had the kit sent to me with a Bubinga finish on the inside of the shells, but unfinished out the outside. I sent the kit to an auto-body shop in the Bay Area to have it painted “fire-engine” red – Jon Cain had his piano painted at the same shop.

The snare was a chrome over wood Slingerland 14”x8.” The cymbals were all "A" Zildjians; 24” ride (I had been using this since 1977 when I saw Lenny White with a 24” A Zildjian and decided to go for that sound), three 18” crashes, a 10” splash, 14” heavy hi hats and a 22” swish. I had a white rough coat Remo Ambassador on the snare drum (with a ring of “duct” tape around the top head), clear Remo Ambassador heads on the top and bottom of all of the tom and the bass drums. I also had DW 5000 bass drum pedals, a small LP cowbell mounted on the bass drum and I was using Vic Firth 2B sticks!

The kit was repainted a kind of “Sunburst” finish about a year later and I used it for some more touring. When I got a new Sonor kit in 1983 and knew I didn’t want to use the Signature kit any longer, I had it for sale at the Creative Drum Shop in Scottsdale, AZ. They ended up selling the kit and then going out of business. I never got paid for the kit and, at this point, I have no idea where it ended up.

As you can see in the DVD, I sat rather low and had the snare drum tilted toward me. I have since changed my technique. When I played with Journey again in 1996/97 for the recording Trial By Fire with my “new” technique, I could play the music better than with the old technique.

When I watched the DVD, I noticed that I played a few tunes with “left hand ride.” I did this on ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ so I could play the tom and cymbal bell patterns that I was hearing for the tune.

On the other songs that I played left hand ride (I actually played on the hi-hat, not a ride cymbal), I did it to get a rougher, less polished sound. I noticed that if I played right hand ride on certain tunes like ‘Where Were You’ and ‘Dead or Alive,’ the drumming sounded a little too slick, so I could make it more “rock” by playing with the left hand ride, which wasn’t all that smooth.

I don’t have a copy of the original MTV concert, but from what some folks have told me, my drum solo is longer on this new DVD version!

Enjoy,

- Steve

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