Journey back to rock Birmingham LG Arena

First it was Glee, then Journey's Don't Stop Believin' played a key role in the last episode of The Sopranos and then in the stage musical Rock Of Ages. Now the song has had even further exposure after Rock Of Ages made it onto the big screen with Tom Cruise in the lead role of fictional rock star Stacee Jaxx.

"I've seen both the film and the stage show," says the band's keyboard player Jonathan Cain, who wrote Journey's iconic hit with guitarist Neal Schon and former singer Steve Perry.

"I think it was a good use for our song. I mean actually I wrote the lyric back in the 70s so a decade later not much had changed really. We're thrilled at the exposure and I think Tom Cruise did an excellent job.

"In the play I think they got a little too heavy with the sex and there weren't any drugs, none at all, and nobody did any lines or anything and I thought 'Wait a minute, which 80s are you talking about?'!

"I mean, come on, there was so much cocaine, it was like everybody was doing it."

Cain adds: "I went to the film's premiere and met Alec Baldwin, so it couldn't have been cooler. It was good for us in the end."

Journey play Birmingham's LG Arena on Tuesday, May 28, alongside British rockers Whitesnake and Thunder.

Cain says the band is looking forward to tailoring their set for British fans in a way they can't back home in the States.

"I think they're (UK audiences) pretty progressive rock fans and so we're able to play an edgier version of Journey, where in the States it's more the greatest hits. We kind of really get to be a rock band in the UK.

"I think they're more in tune with the band's music. They buy a band's music and listen to it and they do their homework on a band as opposed to the American audience which just likes Lady Gaga, you know," he laughs.

"They (the American audiences) just want Don't Stop Believin' and go home. In the UK it's a little more in depth. I think the fans are a little more 'indie'. They tend to be a little bit more interested in what the band's been up to."

Journey last toured the UK in 2011 to promote their album Eclipse. But there is no new material this time around, instead the latest Journey "product" is a documentary film chronicling the arrival and evolution of the band's previously unknown, Philippines-born singer Arnel Pineda, who joined in 2007.

About the lack of any new Journey songs, Cain says: "Since Eclipse we had to kind of shut it down for a while, we already have so much material. As far as making a new CD again, the last one was a lot of work and it really didn't pay off for us. I don't think CDs are selling anymore, especially with bands like us.

"But we have this movie coming out, called 'Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey'. It's made by a Filipino independent filmmaker who came into our camp when Arnel first joined and documented three-and-a-half years of his touring and rehearsing and recording with us.

"It's really exciting and it's going to really change a lot for us. I'm hoping it changes the perception of what we're doing and I think Arnel's fabulous. It'll really be the shot in the arm that we need. His story is just sensational, telling his background and showing where he grew up.

"The end of the movie is actually in Manila, so it was really exciting. We went to the Tribeca Film Festival and we had pretty good reviews. I don't think anybody's done anything quite like it. Arnel's story is so unique – the evolving of the rock star."

Cain is looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Whitesnake singer David Coverdale and Thunder on the UK tour.

"I know David and I think Tommy Aldridge is back with them. I toured with Whitesnake with Bad English and Thunder played Monsters Of Rock. They played right before us and then someone told me they had broken up for a while. I quite enjoyed them live; I thought they were a lot of Bad Company. It felt pretty cool.

"Everybody gets along. David and I we make wine. He's got a little wine label and I've got a little wine label. We have fun.

"We are definitely excited to come back to the UK, we're just wondering about the setlist, what to throw in for you guys."

Journey play the LG Arena, Birmingham, on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, alongside Whitesnake and Thunder. Tickets cost £50.75 plus booking fees.