New Journey Album, Singer Headed for Top

I have bagged on Journey here and here but lightened up a smidge when hearing about band hitting the road with Cheap Trick and Heart this summer (here).

But I never really explored the story behind how they got their latest singer, Arnel Pineda, until the band recently appeared on CBS News Sunday Morning and a couple of friends said I HAD to check this guy out.

So I YouTubed. And I gotta say - WOW. Not only can this dude sing, he seems to be a very genuine individual with a powerful story.

I will leave the details to CBS News Sunday Morning but the short version is that guitarist Neil Schon stumbled onto Arnel by looking for undiscovered singers on YouTube and found Arnel's cover band The Zoo doing various tunes, including some of the very hard to sing Journey catalog.

One plane ticket from the Philippines later to audition and the band is back in business. And aside from having the pipes, Arnel seems to be a genuine and humble guy as well. Note that in the CBS interview, keyboard player Jon Cain says something to the effect that Arnel is such a good guy that it makes him want to be a better person. Wow - coming from an a-hole like Cain, that is amazing.

Makes me almost WANT Journey to make a comeback and be successful again. And apparently it might be happening. According to an article on Blabbermouth today, the band's Wal-Mart only CD "Revelation" is "poised to sell around 80,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release for a likely Top 10 (possibly Top 5) debut on The Billboard 200 chart."

Revelation is a double disc, with batch of old Journey songs re-done with Arnel on vocals, and a new album's worth of material that producer Kevin Shirley (who also produced the last ten years' worth of Iron Maiden albums) has been raving about for months on his Web site.

Argh - yes, I may have to make a trip to Wal Mart.

Below are two YouTubes - the first is the CBS News piece. The second is one of the videos Neil Schon must have seen. After watching this guy sing his freaking heart out to an empty room (you even see someone wiping down tables in front of the stage at one point), you gotta root for this guy. He's going from literally nothing to the opportunity of a few lifetimes. he is the ultimate underdog, which makes me want to root for him.

More Reasons To Hate Journey

Journey is often lumped in with "corporate sell out bands" like Foreigner, Asia, Loverboy and Boston, most of which are good bands with bad raps, in my book - including Journey.

But there is a form of cheesy power ballad/over the top arena rock that was mastered by Journey on their mega hit albums Escape and Frontiers. The music biz has never been the same sense (and not in a good way).

Some late night Web trolling led from one site to the next and I stumbled on an in depth interview from 2001 with the guy who hand-assembled and managed Journey from its early 70s start to 1993, Herbie Herbert.

This guy himself is a total piece of work, as you'll see. Among his other accomplishments are the first use of video screens at stadium gigs and the success of 80s bands Europe and Mr. Big. Make of that what you will.

The point is, aside from being a no bullshit, tough as nails relentless business man, he is brutally frank about the ups and downs of Journey. And even though he created the band and managed them for 25 years, he sure doesn't have much good to say about them.

Especially wrathful are his comments about Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. The crux is that Journey was a band made of mostly ego-centric megalomaniacs that make Roger Waters look like a diplomat.

The highly amusing four part interview is here (allot some time for yourselves - this is a long interview), but my favorite bits are:

--I'm picking up Jon (Cain) at the Oakland airport…The doors aren't even closed - I haven't closed my driver door, he hasn't closed the passenger door - he hands me a tape, and says 'this is a tape of my wife, Tané. Now, here's the deal - you manage her, you get her a label deal, you make her career happen, or take my keyboard out of the back, I'm out, I'm going right back to LA, no Journey.'…Do I get out of the car, or do I stay in?' And, so I said, 'Well, I will get her a label deal. I'm sure it won't be because she deserves it.' And he said, 'Let's listen to the tape.' and I said, 'No, let's not. Just shut the door.' And so, I gotta tell you, in no uncertain terms, I knew what Jon Cain was like day one. Day fucking one.

--(Steve) Perry - he's got the bulk of the world fooled. And he had you fooled until tonight.' That was it. That was the beginning of the realization for Jon Cain. I betcha right then and there he said 'I wonder a little bit less why Gregg Rolie walked away from such and incredible enterprise, at such an incredible point in their history.' It was just a no-brainer. Stadium act. How do you walk away? I'll tell you how you walk away. If you were drowning in the ocean, and Steve Perry came along in his luxury liner, he would offer you a life raft in such a manner that you would decline it. I'm not just talking about you; I'm talking about anybody. The terms and conditions would be such that you would pass.

--...all of a sudden they call me over to Sausalito for a band meeting on the waterfront. I'm sitting there with Neal Schon, Jon Cain, and Steve Perry. They inform me, 'We're struggling, and Steve doesn't feel right about these recordings.' And I go, 'All the tracks are finished!' 'Yeah, he doesn't like them. He wants to replace Smith and Valory [bass and drums].' Replace Smith and Valory? Over my dead body! What the fuck - this is a group, this is a band! This isn't Steve Perry and his side band. He had corrupted Jon Cain, but the two of them (had) damaged Neal Schon so bad that in his darkest moments I fear that Neal Schon is suicidal over the primrose path he let (them) take him down. That turned out to be a brutal mistake. I said 'OK, but these guys are going to be paid as if though they were here. And we will all eat the cost of this stupidity, and the cost of these sidemen.'

The interview is about as one sided as it gets, but that's entertainment! Enjoy.

PS - I still like Journey (gasp!)