Steve Perry ruled out returning to Journey because he’s aiming to record more solo songs, and discussed the possibility of touring in support of his comeback album Traces, which will be released on Oct. 5.

In a new interview (embedded below) with New York's 106.7 Lite FM (via Blabbermouth), Perry was asked if he’d ever return to the band that made his name. “No. I think that we've gone on our separate ways and we’re doing great," he replied. "Arnel [Pineda] is a great singer and he's been in the band for 10 years. But yeah, I don't think that's where I'm at right now. It took forever for me to find the passion for music again because I felt it was kind of damaged. I thought I would never feel that love again for music, so I had to walk. Now that I've found that again, I have so many other songs ready to be recorded.”

On the subject of returning to the road, he reported, “We're talking about that. I mean, right now, we're trying to do all the radio and talk to people like yourself and talk about where I've been and emotionally what the songs are about and all that.” He added that nerves weren’t an issue: “I never had butterflies…I never had stage fright, but what I think singers don't talk about, if you want to know the truth, it's a very neurotic instrument because it's you.”

Perry also said he’d spent two years working on Traces, and that, until the project began in earnest, he hadn’t done any singing during his two decades out of the spotlight. “[T]he voice was cold when I first started,” he admitted. “It was rough. I went, 'Whoa, I need to do some work on this.' I gotta tell you: I have decided to take that pressure off of me because I'm just an older guy in a new world.” Noting that each of his songs had their own specific requirements, he continued, “Vocally, I kinda kept doing what I thought they needed.”

Soon after the singer confirmed his return, Journey guitarist Neal Schon asked fans clamoring for a reunion to "give it a rest."

Steve Perry Through the Years

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