Mark Everett has explained how Journey's Steve Perry came to make his live return at a recent Eels concert, admitting that after witnessing the response, Everett may himself consider "going away for 20 years".

"We’ve been friends with Steve Perry for years," Everett told Stereogum. "It started because he’s been coming to our shows for a long time, like 10 years. Then I invited him to one of our weekly Sunday croquet matches, and he came one Sunday and never left. He became a regular for years. Then he started showing up unannounced to our tour rehearsals every year. He would just sit there and watch us. And then slowly over the years, guys in the band would try to bait him by playing a Journey song."



Until Perry's surprise appearance in St Paul, Minnesota, he hadn't performed live since 1995. Apparently it took a while for him to come round to the idea of actually playing: "He would just laugh," Everett recalled. "And then one tour rehearsal probably three or four years ago, it happened, where he surprised us all and grabbed the microphone. And for the first time in 18 years or something, he started singing a Journey song. And it sent shivers down my spine, and I instantly gained an appreciation for his voice and Journey, something that I never got before."



Everett hadn't been a fan of Journey, growing up. When Perry began coming to Eels concerts, "I always felt awkward," he explained. "I felt like, 'Well, I don't know what I'll say to him.'" But after hearing Perry in that rehearsal session, it clicked. "Now when I hear Journey on the radio, I turn it up ... Part of it’s because of my friendship with Steve, and part of it’s because I really have a respect for the man as an artist and how it’s all coming from his heart and how pure he is."



And yet despite Perry's rehearsal sing-along with the Eels, he didn't show any interest in taking the stage until earlier this year. "[Steve] showed up to our tour rehearsals like he always does, but on the second day he came in carrying his own microphone that he brought with him. And I thought, 'Huh, this is different.' We all decided that we’re not going to get too excited about it because it’s more likely to not happen than to happen with him. And then he actually came out to St. Paul — and I don’t know why he chose St. Paul. Only he could tell you that."



Perry himself chose the setlist - the Eels' It's A Motherfucker, plus Journey's Open Arms and Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'. "He sounds more like Sam Cooke than ever," Everett marveled. But the Eels' frontman confessed that he has no idea if Perry will continue the comeback.



"Steve does what Steve does," he said. Perry has already expressed interest in singing back-up on an Eels record, and Everett said he would "love" to hear a "Steve Perry remix of [the Eels'] entire new album".

The band themselves are currently weighing a hiatus. "I’ve been working hard for over 20 years," Everett said. "You pay a price for that. So me going away is probably a really smart idea for me personally. But we’ll see."



Perry quit Journey in the mid-1990s, after releasing 10 full-lengths, including 1983's international smash, Frontiers. The band has continued without him, most recently with the singer Arnel Pineda; they have sold more than 75m albums worldwide.

