Former Journey frontman Steve Perry has released what hes calling his first official music video in nearly 25 years for the song Were Still Here from his 2018 comeback album, Traces. He did release a series of live performances videos of Traces songs last year, but this is a legit video where he drives around Los Angeles in a black 70 Chevelle SS and reflects on the passage of time. His last solo video was Missing You in 1994, though he did appear along with Journey in a video for their 1996 hit, When You Love a Woman.
[Perry collaborator] Brian [West] and I had just started writing the song and were sketching it out in the studio, Perry said in a statement, recounting the inspiration for Were Still Here. When we broke for dinner, I went to this place down the street, and that was the first time Id been in Hollywood in a long time. There I was on Sunset Blvd. and Hollywood and Vine just walking around. I saw a whole new generation of 16- and 17-year-olds running around just alive. And through these kids I felt a kinship. Were still here doing the same thing.
Flashback: Steve Perry Makes a Shocking Return to the Stage in 2014Steve Perry Soups Up 'Traces' Album for Deluxe EditionThe Making of the 'Woodstock' DocumentaryThe 10 Wildest Led Zeppelin Legends, Fact-Checked
The video was created to promote the new deluxe edition of Traces, which features five bonus tracks from the album sessions. As he told Rolling Stone last year, Perry was inspired to record Traces his first release after a two-decade departure from the music world after losing his girlfriend, Kellie Nash, to cancer in 2012. She turned to him near the end of her life and presented him with something very serious. She said, If something ever happens to me, I want you to make one promise, he said. Promise me you wont go back into isolation. If you do, I fear this would all be for naught.
Perrys return hasnt led him back to the concert stage, at least as of yet. Besides a handful of brief appearances with the Eels a few years back, Perry hasnt performed a show since the end of his last solo tour in 1995. He did show up to Journeys 2017 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he didnt sing that night. Fans keep hoping hell announce a Traces tour, but so far no dates have surfaced and theres no indication anything is even in the planning stages. I dont know if a tour will happen, he told Rolling Stone last year. Right now its premature to even guess.