Not long after Their wedding in 2022, Trev Lukather (son of Toto guitarist Steve Lukather) and Madison Cain-Lukather (daughter of Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain) played some vintage tunes on a road trip. They came across Journey's 1986 song “It Could Have Been You,” which neither of them had ever heard. “We just went crazy,” says Trev Lukather Rolling rock. “I loved his banter, and Steve Perry's vocals were just insane. We kept playing that song on repeat.”
It was the start of an unlikely series of events that led to Perry singing a new version of the song with Trev Lukather's new band Effect, which features Nic Collins (son of Phil Collins) on drums. It's the first single from Effect's debut LP, due out later this year. “They did an amazing version of it,” says Perry Rolling rock. “In my opinion, it's completely fresh, refreshed and ready to go out there and do some damage.”
Trev Lukather was just 9 years old when he first met Perry at the studio of songwriter Randy Goodrum, co-writer of Perry's 1984 solo hits “Foolish Heart” and “Oh Sherrie.” They reconnected 11 years later, once again through Goodrum, when Trev came to Steakhouse Studios in North Hollywood to play on one of his father's solo albums. They started chatting and Trev invited Perry to his car to listen to some music he had created himself. “It was like, 'Oh my gosh, man, this is great,'” Lukater recalled. “When will you be in the studio next?” He left the studio. And from that moment on, Steve was just a mentor to me, along with my dad, and just a loving brother.”
As any Journey fan knows, Perry is not on good terms with Jonathan Cain or any of his former bandmates. They haven't worked together in nearly 30 years, and almost certainly won't again – although a reunion would be a hugely lucrative endeavor. But he couldn't have liked Cain's son-in-law more. When Trev shows up on the Zoom call, Perry lights up and starts gently teasing him about his long, messy, blonde hair. “The hair is on fire, Trev,” he says. “It looks amazing.”
“It's the head of the bed, bro,” Lukater replies. “I wake up like this, as people say.”
The conversation quickly turns to Perry's initial impressions of the young Lukather. “When I hear someone who has musical talent, just God-given talent and not someone who wants to be something, but really has that drive inside of them, I can't stay away from that,” Perry says. “And that's what happened when I heard Trev play the first time. I thought, “Jesus, man, this kid has taken his DNA to the next level.”
Early in their relationship, after watching Lukather shred on the guitar, Perry gave him a crucial piece of advice that stuck with him. “He said, 'Let me ask you a question,'” Lukater recalled. “Which do you want in the front row: boys or girls?” I was 20. I was like, “Steve, of course I want girls in the front row.” He said, “Stop playing it and play lick in the front row.” Those are three words I will remember for the rest of my life. And he said, “Sing with this guitar. If you sing with this guitar, you'll have girls in the front row. If you slice, you'll have kids in the front row.”
“It was the best advice I've ever been given,” Lukather continues. “As you see on Instagram and TikTok, there are a lot of spoilers. There are 8 year old shredders that will outlast anyone on this planet. But there are few guitarists who sing and play melodic solos. I think of David Gilmour, Neal Schon, my pop. These guys have melodic powers on the guitar that stood out amongst the track. And so when Steve told me that, it changed my life. That's the direction I went for the rest of my game.”
However, the years that followed were not always easy. He recorded an entire album with an early band, but they broke up before it ever came out due to behind-the-scenes drama. The bitter situation plagued him in groups until he stumbled upon singer Emmett Lee Stang's cover of “In Your Eyes” on Instagram. She DMed him, they got on the phone and decided to try making music together. At the time, she linked up with Nic Collins on a trip to Miami. “We first met at a Phil Collins concert in 2018,” says Lukather. “And when we went to dinner years later with his girlfriend Isabella, we were instantly siblings.”
Lukather, Collins and Stang called themselves Effect and released the singles “Toxic Envy,” “Something Wrong” and “Unwanted” last year. When they started thinking about cutting songs for a full album, Lukather played Collins and Stang “It Could Have Been You”. “They were like, 'What is this?' says Lukather. “Their reaction was the same as mine. That's what sparked the idea to do it again. I thought it would be sacrilege to try to touch on Journey's greatest hits. Leave it to the gems that they are. But I said, “This could be something we can make ourselves and be really cool.”
They invited Perry to listen to a new version they edited. Before they knew it, Perry was laying down his own vocals. “They had reimagined it so beautifully that I just had to do my best to fall into what felt right for the track and what felt believable about where they were taking it,” says Perry. “They had already stacked the parts that were there, and I added a few embellishments and a few inverting choices over their chord arrangements… All I did was follow the sketches of the backgrounds they had already put in there. That's because Trev and Emmett are both great singers.”
In Perry's mind, the final version is far superior to the original version of Journey in 1986. “It's not easy to do,” he says. “I was told a long time ago, if you can't beat the original, don't cover it. Not only did they win it, they reimagined it. The inversions are different, but this is where my sensitivity is revealed…they didn't go far enough where it wasn't complementary to the original strength of the melody I wrote. It was super complementary, but different. You can't know how hard it is to do, but they did it.”
Days after the song hits, the effect is tour” target=”_blank”>start of an American tour opening for Billy Idol. In the summer, they head to Europe for a series of headline dates and festival gigs, including a spot at the Isle of Wight festival. “We're going to close the show every night with 'It Could Have Been You,'” says Lukather. “It's going to give us a chance to break out and have that huge finish. It's also a great story, obviously, which I'll leave with the audience before we play it.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/journey-steve-perry-it-could-have-been-you-steve-lukather-1235014055/