Sweden-based melodic rockers Streetlight have emerged as one of the best AOR bands in recent memory and are riding high following the release of their excellent sophomore effort, “Night Vision,” via Frontiers Records. It’s a good thing for rock fans that Journey didn’t end up using the song pitched to them by Streetlight frontman/guitarist Johannes Hager and his friend or the band might not even exist.
“In the beginning, I have a friend Erik (Tilling) who is a guitar player and a big Journey fan,” Hager explained. “He read somewhere that Journey was starting to record a new album. So we thought, ‘Why not try to write a song and make a demo and send it to them and see what they think?’ So that’s what he did, and he asked me for help to sing on it and mix the track. We sent it to Arnel, the singer in Journey, and he liked what he heard, but it did not end up on the album. So that was the beginning of the band Streetlight.”
The track in question, “Overjoyed,” ended up on Streetlight’s debut record, “Ignition.” Like many of the band’s songs that came after, it certainly wouldn’t sound out of place on a classic Journey record. In fact most of Streetlight’s tunes would sit well on some of the biggest AOR records of all time by bands like Foreigner, Survivor, Boston, Kansas and others.
Hager recently chatted with Web Is Jericho via Youngstown Studio about all things Streetlight, his Top 4 albums of all time, and he named the 3 songs that rock fans unfamiliar with the band should start with, though to be honest, he could’ve picked any of them as a good place to dive in.
Check out the full interview below along with the band’s most recent singles, “Sleep Walk,” “Captured In The Night” and “Long-Distance Runner.”
