![]() ![]() I played in bands all through school, actually I was a drummer-singer. I went to COS (College of the Sequoias) in Visalia, California for two years. When I was fourteen we moved eight miles to Lemoore, California. I was born in the small California town of Hanford in the San Joaquin Valley. To start at the beginning, what is your background? After sitting in on a rehearsal for the band, Steve and I repaired to a restaurant on San Francisco's Pier 39, a few blocks from his apartment, to talk vocal music. It was when Journey was rehearsing for the Departure sessions, that we were able to get together with VOICE Editorial Advisory Board Member Steve Perry long enough for an interview. This all in prelude to the Departure album scheduled for release in March. Last fall Columbia issued Journey's three pre-Perry albums in one single set called In The Beginning. They have bucked the trend at the height of the record recession, having sales surge after sales surge." CBS Records' Mike Jensen said, "The addition of Steve Perry to Journey has made them a platinum act. The chemistry was obviously right, for the next Journey album, Infinity was their biggest yet. They melded well with the remaining founders of Journey, Gregg Rolie (keyboard, vocals), Neal Schon (lead guitar), and Ross Valory (bass). They were replaced by Steve Smith on drums and Steve Perry as lead vocalist. In 1977 George Tickner and Aynsley Dunbar left to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Formed in 1971, Journey was well along to becoming a top draw when changes to personnel occurred. In such an environment it was not surprising to find the top Columbia recording quintet Journey, homed-based. I think it’s gonna be an interesting evening.The San Francisco Bay Area has spawned its share of innovative rock groups. Who knows? I would be surprised if it didn’t happen, but I’ll deal with it whichever way. “I suppose we’ll hear something about it a day before or the day of. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Schon said. It was enough to dispel rumors that his voice is shot, and now that Journey is getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame there’s a tremendous opportunity for him to finally get back onstage with Journey, even if it’s just for a couple of songs. He’s kept a very low profile since wrapping up a short solo tour in 1995, but in 2014 he did reappear to sing a few songs with the Eels. Hovering over all of this is the mystery of Steve Perry. Now that people know him and have seen him so many times, they understand him and they believe it. “If it wasn’t for me finding Arnel, who knows where we’d be right now,” Schon recently told Rolling Stone. The band even got booked on Oprah and became a subject of a documentary, helping Journey sell more tickets than they had since Perry left. Dates were soon booked all over the world, and the story of an unknown Filipino fronting a major rock band was an irresistible story for the media. Check out video right here of “Don’t Stop Believin'” from that big night. It was a bold move to debut a new singer in front of such a large audience, but Pineda was quite up to the task. Journey’s first gig with Pineda took place February 21st, 2008 at the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile. (Check out this interview for Hunsicker’s take on the situation.) ![]() They flew him to California for an audition and came close to having him on the dotted line, but it ultimately collapsed. Out of desperation they turned to YouTube and discovered Jeremey Hunsicker, the frontman of the Journey tribute band Frontiers. The public was hungry for more Journey, but they were a band with a major lead singer problem. The season finale of The Sopranos later that year kickstarted a wave of “Don’t Stop Belivin'” mania that continued in the following years when the song appeared in Rock of Ages, Glee and every karaoke bar on the planet. By the end of 2007 he was gone and Journey seemed to be headed into oblivion. Jeff Soto stepped in for a couple of years, but he didn’t sound much like Perry and the fans never really accepted him. Frustrated with the wait, they hired a soundalike named Steve Augeri (nicknamed “Steve Perry with a perm” by the fans) and toured steadily for eight years, but vocal problems and allegations of lip-syncing surfaced in 2006 and Augeri’s tenure ended. They came close to their first tour since 1986 just a couple years earlier, but Perry injured his hip during a hike in Hawaii and needed major surgery. Journey faced a very hard road back to the top after parting ways with Steve Perry in 1998. ![]()
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