77. Steve Smith: Journey Drummer, Jazz Legend, Vital Information, Top 25 Drummers of All Time, Interview

Episode 77: Steve Smith.
The incredible, multi-faceted, Steve Smith was one of my favorite drummers growing up. His playing with Journey blew me mind, and the fact that he had a full-on jazz career alongside his rock success made him even more inspiring to me.

Steve made Modern Drummer’s Top 25 Drummers of All Time list and won the #1 All-Around Drummer Award five years in a row. His credits are stacked, from early gigs with Jean Luc-Ponty (alongside Allan Holdsworth), Focus, and Ronnie Montrose, to arena-filling hits with Journey, to leading his band Vital Information (for the past 4 decades). He’s done sessions with Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Vasco Rossi, Zucchero, Savage Garden, Bryan Adams, and Zakir Hussain.

On the jazz side, Steve has played with heavyweights like Steps Ahead, Tom Coster, Ahmad Jamal, Victor Wooten, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Frank Gambale, Stuart Hamm, Dweezil Zappa, Hiromi, and Bill Evans.
Steve is one of the greatest to ever do it, and it was a total honor to have him on the show. I hope you enjoy my conversation with the legendary Steve Smith!

Special thanks to Zildjian. I used their ALCHEM-E Perfect Tune Headphones in this episode and loved it. Check it out! https://zildjian.com/products/zildjian-alchem-e-perfect-tune-headphones?variant=49623287628068

‘Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.

(0:00:00) INTRO

(0:06:01) FROM JAZZ TO JOURNEY

(0:11:02) PROGRESSIVE FUSION, BOSTON FROM 1972 TO 1976

(0:12:24) JEAN-LUC PONTY

(0:13:37) MOVING TO L.A. IN 1978

(0:15:13) SONOR FUSION DRUM KIT, RONNIE MONTROSE

(0:16:24) OPENING FOR JOURNEY IN 1978 WITH RONNIE MONTROSE

(0:17:02) TOURING WITH VAN HALEN, RONNIE, AND JOURNEY

(0:18:37) GETTING THE GIG WITH JOURNEY

(0:20:51) AN IMPRESSIVE CAREER AT 24 YEARS OLD

(0:21:49) WHAT VAN HALEN WAS LIKE IN THE EARLY DAYS

(0:24:25) RECORDING JOURNEY’S ALBUM, “EVOLUTION”

(0:24:54) HOW JOURNEY’S HIT SINGLES CHANGED STEVE SMITH’S LIFE

(0:27:42) PLAYING JAZZ, MEETING RANDY JACKSON

(0:28:40) STARTING VITAL INFORMATION

(0:29:32) GETTING FAMOUS

(0:33:36) “DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’”

(0:40:45) CREATING JOURNEY’S BIGGEST HITS

(0:44:03) DRUM SOLOS

(0:45:44) ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME, DANNY SERAPHINE, NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN, BILLY COBHAM

(0:46:56) MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA

(0:48:13) LEAVING JOURNEY

(0:53:11) “TRIAL BY FIRE” ALBUM

(0:55:02) TRANSITIONING OUT OF JOURNEY

(1:02:20) BUDDY RICH BIG BAND

(1:06:13) NEAL PEART FRIENDSHIP

(1:07:08) TOURING

(1:11:31) TOURING WITH VITAL INFORMATION IN 2025

(1:12:09) HOW TO PLAY GREAT EVERY NIGHT

(1:13:58) STAYING INSPIRED

(1:15:00) DRUMMING IN NEW YORK CITY

(1:16:19) HOW TO BUILD A DRUM COURSE

(1:20:02) HOW TO SYSTEMATICALLY PRACTICE

(1:23:12) KONNAKOLS, ZAKIR HUSSAIN, INDIA

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Journey's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Acceptance Speeches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XyCKJ-Z9dA

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