The new rock band The Effect, featuring the sons of Genesis’ Phil Collins and Toto’s Steve Lukather, have teamed up with Steve Perry himself for a cover of the Journey song “It Could Have Been You.”
Alongside drummer Nic Collins and guitarist Trev Lukather, The Effect are fronted by singer Emmett Stang. On the band’s version of “It Could Have Been You,” Stang’s lead vocals take center stage, with Perry contributing backing vocals and ad libs throughout the track.
An accompanying music video shows The Effect performing the song in silhouette. While Perry doesn’t appear in the video, he did issue a statement expressing his excitement over The Effect covering the 1986 song by his former band:
“In 1986, the Journey Raised on Radio record was released and in it was a song I’ve always felt was a diamond in the ruff. I’ve known Trev Lukather since he was 9 years old, and he is a very gifted musician. One day we were talking about his new band, The Effect … He surprisingly mentioned ‘It Could Have Been You’ is one of his favorite tracks from that record, I told him I felt the same. I then said, why don’t you record it? He asked if I would sing on it if they did, I said… ‘Of course, my most precious!’ I must say, singing on their powerful track brought out a vocal experience from years ago! So now… Releasing on May 7th on all socials and streaming is a powerful reimagined version of ‘It Could Have Been You’ by… The Effect. Have a listen!”
In March, The Effect released the single “Toxic Envy.” The band is currently working on a debut album that is tentatively slated for release later this year.
This Friday (May 10th), The Effect will kick off a brief run of US dates opening for Billy Idol (pick up tickets here). Next month, they’ll hit the road for a UK/Europe tour that includes several dates opening for Toto. Tickets to those shows are available here.
Watch the video for The Effect’s cover of Journey’s “It Could Have Been You” below.