Melodic rockers Hardline were on the trajectory to be megastars throughout the early 1990s when newcomer singer/guitarist brothers Johnny and Joey Gioeli linked up with guitar god Neal Schon straight out of Journey and Bad English, the latter’s drummer Deen Castronovo (who later jointed that same “Wheel In The Sky”) and ex-Sequel/David Lee Roth bassist Todd Jensen.

The group inked a multi-million-dollar record deal with MCA for “Double Eclipse,” traversed the globe in arenas opening for Van Halen and Extreme, shot glossy videos for the singles “Hot Cherie,” “Takin’ Me Down” and “Can’t Find My Way,” plus popped up in TV’s enormously popular “Baywatch” and the Brandon Lee flick “Rapid Fire.”

Though the arrival of grunge instantly hijacked that ascent and caused everyone to go their separate ways, Johnny eventually got going again with various line-ups as the group’s legend started building overseas, in tandem with his other roles as vocalist for German metal shredder Axel Rudi Pell, and oddly enough, Crush 40, the soundtrack creators for Sega’s mammoth video game franchise “Sonic The Hedgehog.”

The gregarious Gioeli reached Chicago Concert Reviews right as Hardline wrapped up its seventh studio album, “Heart, Mind And Soul,” to hear about the mental health-themed writing process, band members past and present, along with becoming the unlikely voice for multiple generations of gamers.

How did Hardline go from an American act to having international membership?

Johnny Gioeli: Right now, the band is like an Italian menu that you would get at a restaurant. Alessandro Del Vecchio de pasta! The rebirth of Hardline happened because Serafino Perugino, another Italian of course, from Frontiers Records recommended that I work with Alessandro, who’s a producer, songwriter [and keyboard player] located in Somma Lombardo, Italy. We cultivated not only a great friendship and bond as family, we work so well together. Then it was just a natural progression that when we needed a musician, he said “okay, well my friend is right here in my town” and it just turned into this Italian group. We really didn’t try. There are millions of amazing musicians all around the world, but the proximity of the musicians to Alessandro’s studio is what made it so easy. But now our bass player, Anna Portalupi, lives in Florida, so we have two in America and three in Italy [including guitarist Mario Percudani and drummer Marco Di Salvia].

What was on your mind lyrically as you set about making “Heart, Mind And Soul”?

Gioeli: The writing process all started with Mario, another Italian. You can’t swing a cat without hitting an Italian in our whole company! Mario loaded us up with musical ideas he had in his head and then Alessandro takes them and sort of organizes them. We go through them, sift through what we like and what inspires us. Then he comes to me by the way of a file and I get [to be this] weird, eccentric, creative, artistic guy, and go into the studio, and I have at it. I go to town lyrically and melodically and create. “Heart, Mind And Soul” came together under absolutely no pressure because we were all stuck at home anyway with this whole COVID tragedy. It was a good time for us to reset…

I’m not home a lot normally. I’m touring and traveling all over the world, so I got to really do a lot of reading, watch a lot of TV and sample all the different Cheetos. I didn’t realize how many flavors they had [laughs], but now talking seriously, I realized how this world is struggling with serious mental health issues. Fortunately for me, I don’t have any of those issues, but I recognize that a large sum of people in our world do. I was devastated by that and I want to lyrically make it uplifting, positive, helpful and have purpose so that people understand if they’re struggling with a mental health issue, whether it be chemically, or environmentally, or whatever, that they have purpose. People ask me, “is this a Christian record?” No, it’s not a Christian record. “Are you Stryper?” No, we’re not Stryper [laughs].

Where does this project fit within Hardline’s prior history?

Gioeli: I think it fits in line with the rawness and power of “Double Eclipse.” We’re going back thirty years to “Double Eclipse” when I was in my young twenties and I experienced like no life back then. I didn’t even know how to buy a house. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have a car. I had my license, but I didn’t even have a car until I was 21 cause I didn’t need it. I was touring and we lived on a bus, so I think what’s happened with the last two records, “Life” and “Heart, Mind And Soul” currently, is they fit the feel of “Double Eclipse, but with a lot of life experience…

I am just as energized today having completed, are you ready for this, 95 albums worldwide! I’m working on album 96 that I either created or was a part of and I’m as excited to make 96 as I was to make number one! I think it stems from being not only fortunate, but being grateful that there’s people who still want to hear me sing this stuff, and the day that they don’t, then okay, I’ll stop. But for right now, it’s [for] the people who have given me my voice, cause some of these talent shows that we have on TV, like “American Idol” for example, [have] some great freaking singers out there that are never known. I am just the luckiest man in the world to be able to have the fan base and the platform to be able to continue to do what I love to do, and that’s create music and hopefully affect people.

When did having the Journey/Bad English connection bring when you debuted?

Gioeli: I’d be lying like a rat if I said, “oh, it was just cool, blah, blah, blah.” Being involved with those superstars did a number of things. First of all, it put me at a different level, there’s no question about it. When you’re the singer of Hardline and Neal Schon is in your band, I mean you’re automatically by default at a different level than another band trying to come up. That’s just fact. Sometimes I would look over and I would go, “that’s Neal Schon from Journey, holy s—,” even well into Hardline!

But what was most important was the experience and the knowledge that I gained. I was young, but it’s like being thrown into just a freaking cage of lions as far as learning. I mean, we had a massive record deal. Here I am I’m in my ‘20s and we have like an eight-and-a-half-million-dollar record deal. We’re going back 30 years, so that’s probably like 15, 16, 17 million in today’s money. That’s a lot of money and then we had top managers. I had personal managers, business managers and accountants. I walked on some fluffy clouds for quite a while. I’d wake up and tell my girlfriend, who is my now my wife, and say, “every day we have to be grateful that this is happening because it could all end in a second.”

It was about recognizing that, “wow, I’m now at a different level and I have to maintain it.” It’s like a baseball player being called up from Double-A or Triple-A up to the major leagues. Now they better hit the damn ball! For me, it was like starting at zero again. I’d been playing professionally since I was 11, worked really hard to get that record deal and make those contacts. Now Neal Schon wouldn’t have given two s—s unless I had the right songs. Just cause he liked me, he’s gonna do something? No, the songs had to be great and I think they were, right? Here we are 30 years later from that time period and I’m still making records. Sometimes I pinch myself, “no it can’t be,” but yeah, here I am. Until you tell me to shut the hell up, I’m gonna keep making records.

Even though you’re been back for quite a while, what made you walk away from music entirely right after the original band broke up?

Gioeli: That was an interesting time period. I hate the title “rock star,” but I’ll use it just for this description and explanation. What people forget on occasion is even a rock star is a human. When the grunge music literally invaded in the ‘90s and our AOR [album-oriented rock] and melodic rock started to fizzle out, this deal went away. So here you work all your life and you’ve got millions of dollars invested in you. You’re touring the world and all your dreams are coming true, then all of a sudden, it’s gone. Let me tell you something, you need therapy [laughs] and my therapy was time. I needed to digest everything that happened, what I was gonna do next and really just regather myself. I tried to revamp Hardline a couple times in that time period and it didn’t really work. It wasn’t the right players and it wasn’t the right time, so I ventured out and did other things.

I had a very big e-commerce business with my brother and then I owned restaurants, of course, Italian restaurants [laughs]. It wasn’t until the owner of Frontiers, Serafino, reached out and said, “I want to do a Hardline record.” I said, “no,” and he said, “I’ll give you this much money.” I go, “no, it’s not about the money. I’m not ready.” Then some months went by and he emailed again. “Come on Johnny, the world wants to hear your voice. I want to hear your voice. Let’s make a record.” When he said that, I went, “wow, this guy who I don’t even know, living in Italy, wants to hear my voice. I’m gonna do this!” That’s how it all restarted again [in 2002], but I needed my time and my therapy.

Not even taking into account working with Axel Rudi Pell, there’s your other life with Crush 40 and “Sonic The Hedgehog.” How did that happen and what did it bring to your career?

Gioeli: That changed my life. In 1998, this gentleman named Jun Senoue, who’s the head music production person for Sega, contacts another rock star buddy of mine, Doug Aldrich, from The Dead Daises and he was also in Whitesnake. Doug reaches out to me and says, “hey, there’s this guy named Jun. Can I give him your information?” I said, “sure.” He contacts me, says “I’m a huge hardline fan and I’d like to have you sing some songs for games.” And I said, “what the hell are you talking about, games?” He says, “yeah, console games for Sega.” I knew Sega, but I was never a gamer. I did like frickin’ “Frogger” and “Pong,” stuff that you plug into the TV. “Well, this sounds interesting,” so we met in L.A. and the first, like, nine songs went into an arcade game for NASCAR that was owned by Sega. Then they asked me, “hey, would you sing and write for this new game, ‘Sonic Adventure?’” Then I did “Sonic Adventure 2,” and it goes on from there.

I wrote some of the most, I think, recognizable and epic gaming songs for Sega ever and I didn’t even know what was happening. I didn’t understand it! I even remember writing the song “Live And Learn,” which is an epic gaming song, and when I sent it in, I said, “Jun, I don’t know, is this good?” “Are you kidding me? It’s a smash hit!” At that point, I said, “you know what man, I think we need to be a band. I don’t understand this business, but there’s soundtracks to movies and there should be soundtracks to games.” To me, it was like scoring a film, which I played with but never did professionally. Sega would send me drawings and scenes to give me the feeling, then I would write the song for that scene. For me, it was like a movie, not like a game.

I was in my young ‘30s and I didn’t want to turn 40, so I said, “let’s call the band Crush 40.” Now we have to rename it to Crush 60 cause I don’t want to go there either [laughs]. “Crushers” are the most dedicated, amazing, incredible fans I’ve ever had. I did a show with Axel. It was the first time we played in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was completely sold out and half of that audience were Crush 40 fans. I couldn’t believe it! So it’s just wild and it lives today. Those fans are there and I love them all, man. It’s just incredible!

With any of your projects, can you recall a specific concert in Chicago?

Gioeli: There’s one that stood out in my mind. I remember we played this club in Chicago, but I don’t remember the name of the place. Hardline did not have a lot of airplay in Chicago and we were paid a large sum to play a show. No one really knew us. We were new and the album was barely out [before the days of the internet]. We played, literally, to the club owner and the club owner’s wife or girlfriend. I’m telling you the place was that empty. I will never forget that, but I’m gonna tell you, it was a kick a– show! Imagine Neal Schon from Journey and we’re playing an empty place [laughs]. I mean empty man, but the club owner didn’t give a s—. It was like a private party for him. We kicked a–, had a great time and we moved on, so that was my recall for Chicago [laughs].

What are your plans for performing “Heart, Mind And Soul”? Is America in your forecast?

Gioeli: We’ve been very reluctant to post tour dates, [which are thus far all international], because I’ve had to move close to 70 shows three times already. I’m already into 2024 with shows, which is insane to me, but it’s a great problem to have. We don’t focus on America because we have such a massive fan base across the pond. I’ve gotta be honest with you cause that’s who I am. Some of its fear. I’m always fearful that I’m gonna put, like, ten people in Starbucks. I don’t know what would happen if we played here. I’m sure we would do really well, but I think what we would do first is connect with some of the bigger festivals in the U.S. and then branch out from there. It would certainly be easier for me and Anna, but we have nothing on the books for the good old U.S.A. yet. Isn’t that weird?

Give us a few key Hardline moments, touring or otherwise, that will remain with you forever.

Gioeli: There are always shows and occurrences that stand out. The biggest one for me was when I was playing Wembley [Arena]. It was sold out two nights when I was on tour with Extreme. My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, said to me, “look at that guy over there. He thinks he’s [The Who’s singer] Roger Daltrey,” and I said, “honey, that is Roger Daltrey!” I’ll never forget that, and then I flew on a flight with him and his wife. We were up front and it was just the coolest thing. I will never forget talking with [Queen guitarist] Brian May and my wife at the catering table. Having a conversation with Brian May, you realize, “wait a minute, where the hell am I? This is just like I’m walking on clouds!”

My first show as an international artist with Hardline was at The Palace Of Auburn Hills in Detroit opening for Van Halen. We used to have, like, a hundred pounds of carrots with us. I was really into health and I’m still into health. To sit and share carrot juice recipes with Alex Van Halen, I mean, come on man, what world am I living in? Those are some of the greatest experiences and being on those stages have just been absolutely awesome.

Then you grow up and you realize the impact your music can have on people. Just this past holiday season during COVID, a fan reached out to me and said, “listen, I was gonna kill myself and then I heard your song and I decided, no, I’m not gonna do this.” That was a real wake up for me where I realized, “wow, people really need music.” I tell people, “look, music isn’t in my blood. Music is my blood!” That was another huge milestone and that was not too long ago. We’re talking about December when I was home and realized there are people I don’t know that know me and need me. That’s a heavy responsibility, but I like it, so I’m gonna follow through, focus on the fans, and continue to be humble and grateful that I can continue to make this music.

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For additional information on Hardline, visit HardlineRocks.com.