Hi All,
Just found this on the old site, why no announcement here????????

Regards

Tony

Band Announcements

Dec 05, 2007

JOURNEY WELCOMES ARNEL PINEDA
WITH “OPEN ARMS” TO THEIR FAMILY
AS THE BAND’S NEW LEAD SINGER

December 5, 2007 -- After much speculation…the wait is finally over.

JOURNEY--Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums)--is proud to introduce fans all over the world to their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda (“pin-eh-da”). He replaces Jeff Scott Soto, who parted ways with the band earlier this year after stepping in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the band in 2006 for medical reasons.

Arnel hails from Quezon City in the Philippines and has been singing Journey songs--in addition to original material--with his band, The Zoo, for the past couple of years in clubs all over his homeland. Joining the legendary band is a dream come true for him.
“It’s so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world. It’ll be a lot of hard work on my part and I’m actually looking forward to the scrutiny I’ll get from the hardcore JOURNEY fans. I know they’ll expect me to sound exactly like ‘the voice’ (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there's only one Steve Perry in this world.”

When it was time for JOURNEY to look for a new lead singer, the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After finding Arnel singing “Faithfully,” he knew he had found the perfect frontman.

“I was frustrated about not having a singer,” explains guitarist Neal Schon, “so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘he can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.”

Arnel Pineda picks up the story: “My friend Noel picked up the message on YouTube and told me it was from Neal. I thought it was a hoax so I ignored it. Noel said, ‘what if it really was Neal and he wanted to offer you the chance of a lifetime?’ So I e-mailed Neal back and the rest is history.”

“Arnel brings a soulful and passionate voice to JOURNEY,” continues keyboardist Jonathan Cain. “His personality is very well-suited to our music. He’s a sincere, authentic person with a great smile and a big heart. I think fans are really going to love him. With Arnel’s soaring tenor, Journey returns to our heritage sound.”

Schon agrees, “We feel reborn. I think there’s a lot of chemistry between the five of us. At first we were going to go into the studio and just write 4 songs, but now it’s escalated to a lot of great new and diverse material. The stuff sounds tremendous. Everyone’s so stoked about it. We feel very fortunate to have found Arnel.”

JOURNEY is currently working on a new album with legendary producer Kevin Shirley, which they hope to release by spring/summer 2008. Details will be announced early next year.

© 2007 Journeymusic.com

Rock On JOURNEY!

Rock On!

--
'Ryan Christopher'
ryanchristopher726@hotmail.com
www.myspace.com/ryanchristopher726

I totally agree that Steve Perry returning as the front man. However, Steve Smith would be a tough one to bring back into the band, being that he's been with Vital Information for a while, I don't know if it would be that much more on his plate to be playing in two full time bands, but it sure would sound like it is.

Maybe once in a while Steve Smith should jump into it? who knows. I wonder what Mike Baird from the Raised On Radio album is doing these days? He's an awesome drummer, but I know everyone prefers Smith being back into the group. But hey, even at that, it would still be awesome to see Mike Baird back into the band.

but like the comment below mine, there's something about Journey that cannot compare to other bands. If there was word that if even Steve Perry was back(Steve Smith too, wishful thinking), and if they were to play near where I live, it wouldn't matter what it took for me and maybe a friend to go see them in concert. I just feel like I couldn't leave this earth without seeing them atleast once, talk drum talk with Smith would make my century(not day mind you), all that.

Neal, Ross, and Jonathan came back, lets put the other pieces of the puzzle back together!

Just like it was stated above about the other bands putting aside their differences and just play music, Journey Music!!
My first concert was the Escape tour with a bunch of friends. It was Great!! I still have all my concert shirts from that concert and all the concerts since then (with Steve Perry).
I went to the Arrival Concert in 2001 @ Camden's Tweeter Center. Nothing to brag about.
My 10 yr. old son just started listening to music and I had to burn all my Journey CDs for him!!
We just seen a Journey tribute band over the summer called Separate Ways. They were not to bad. I want my son to experience the real Journey sound!!
Remember, "Don't Stop Believin"!!

I agree, I saw the Raised on Radio tour, parents would not let me go to Escape, I was only 13 in 1981...my older brother went. I recently bought the Live in Houston 1981 tour DVD and CD. I also just bought the Live Captured CD...this was the first album I had from Journey back in 1981. I had lost the album and just recently bought the CD to replace it. Man, what a great CD. What a great band. Life is too short, resolve the differences and get back to making awesome music with Perry and Steve Smith on drums. I also saw Journey a few years ago with the other Steve. He did a fantastic job but it just wasn't Perry. As far as the music I listened to growing up I could care less about most of the bands that broke up but there is something about Journey that gets under my skin. It really bums me out that they are no longer together.

Ive heard that journeys goin to hire new frontman coming from the philippines named Arnel Pineda how do you comment on this,they say that they will be tourin with arnel this coming december

Amen to that !!!
--
Life as up`s and down`s but it will always be a JOURNEY

I AM VERRY GLAD SOMEONE FINALLY SPEAKES UP ABOUT THIS WHOLE SCENARIO, IF THE ROLLING STONES CAN KEEP DOING IT SO CAN JOURNEY WITH STEVE PERRY IT IS TIME TO PUT DIFFRENCES A SIDE AND MOVE ON TO A BIGGER AND BETTER JOURNEY. IT IS TIME FOR A LOOK INTO THE ESSENTIAL EYE OF JOURNEY, COME ON GUYS LETS GET A MOVE ON. HOPE TO SEE YOU REAL SOON.