Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

[MixedPlateBroker]

Well, the news is actually about a month old. But Cyn and I were a tad preoccupied in Oregon what with shopping at Fry's and quaffing microbrews at the Horse Brass.

But I digress. The story begins in August '07 with Journey axeman Neal Schon stumbling across videos of Pineda, a Manila native, powering through covers of Journey hits with his band The Zoo on YouTube. Schon likes what he hears, gets ahold of Pineda and, after finally convincing him that he's not being punked, Pineda and his manager wing it over to the U.S. for an audition. Yada, yada, yada ... fast forward to Dec. 5 -- Journey announces Pineda as their new lead singer with a new studio album to follow this summer!

But how does he sound?

See for yourself:
"Faithfully"
"Don't Stop Believing"

[MixedPlateBroker]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

Here's a classic press photo of Journey back in the day. I'd carbon date this bad boy back to ~'77 when Perry first signed on. Provided strictly for optical-historical context.


And here we have something a bit more recent:

[scrivener]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

I can handle bands in different incarnations, but I have a hard time accepting most of the recent versions of Journey as truly Journey. It's nice to see Ross Valory back with the band (on the Raised on Radio tour, it was Randy Jackson on bass), but a Journey that's missing more than one of Steve Smith, Ross Valory, Jonathan Cain, Neil Schon, Steve Perry, and Greg Rolie is only 60% of Journey at best. This is not to say I won't give it a listen; I might even like what I hear. But I wouldn't pay to see them in concert. I fell for that once during my senior year -- I even lied to my parents about where I was going for only the second time in all of high school -- and regretted it the whole evening. It was good music, but it wasn't Journey. It was really more like Cain, Perry, and Schon (who seemed each to be in a different place that night) and their sidemen. In fact, the only moment that didn't seem completely devoid of joy was when Perry sang some of his solo songs.

[Lanikaibabe]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

Not bad; I used to love Journey. I wouldn't go see them in concert though; cause concerts are way too much $ these days (all except Hawaiian performers coming to the East Coast...yea!) -- but he's not bad. I'll give a listen if and when the tracks come out.

[Pomai]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

Here's a classic press photo of Journey back in the day. I'd carbon date this bad boy back to ~'77 when Perry first signed on. Provided strictly for optical-historical context.


And here we have something a bit more recent:

Good lord. Steve Perry looks like a chick in that picture. He must be wearing panties. lol!

I'm diggin' Arnel Pineda's voice. It's more raspy than Steve, yet still sounds similar and familiar.

IMO, Journey is, and always will be in the same boat as Van Halen. Luckily VH has so far been successful retaining the return of DLR.

Until Neal and the gang can make amends with Steve, they'll continue to search their soul as a band. Yet as long as they keep rockin' (and they indeed still do), that's all that matters.

[cynsaligia]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

i'm listening to pineda's rendition of faithfully and all i can say is go pinoy! his vocal style has certain perry-ish qualities. interesting that i can pick out his accent very lightly especially in his consonant pronunciations. obviously, he's spent quite a bit of time learning to mimic the perry/journey style.

i wonder how people will react to him in concert. will he be the one to make the between-song banter?

i wish i spoke tagalog. in the beginning of the clip, he says something about america. wonder what that was all about. anyone on HT able to translate?

[Kelly0040]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

My husband and I aren't like masisve Journey fans or anything, but Arnel sounds fantastic.

[Paul Ogata]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

On the pinoy tip, if Arnel Pineda doesn't work out, Renaldo Lapuz might still be available. He can sing AND he's a great lyricist. </sarcasm>

[hawaiiguy]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

i wish i spoke tagalog. in the beginning of the clip, he says something about america. wonder what that was all about. anyone on HT able to translate?[/QUOTE]


i saw on another video of Pineda (or was it the same) that he was mentioning to a friend(?) in the audience about he has (?)/ getting his VISA documents in order...

He is the bomb! what a voice...watch his other videos on youtube of other groups he sings...!

[nkth]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

IMO, Journey is, and always will be in the same boat as Van Halen. Luckily VH has so far been successful retaining the return of DLR.

Speaking of VH, have you seen Van Halen's new tour? Took my son to see their tour kickoff concert last year. He's seen the Eagles, Santana and McCartney. Some of the greats, but Eddie was by far the most talented guitarist in that list.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

Journey is getting about as bad as Van Halen in which they change lead singers as frequently as they change their shorts.

Styx has someone else singing lead vocals other than Dennis DeYoung, the Foreigner (minus Lou Gramm) Atlanta Rythm Section (no Donnie Hamond), and many others. I prefer listening to the original voices, I did see Journey with Steve Augeri or whatever his name was. What happened to him?

Aj

[alohabear]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

Good lord. Steve Perry looks like a chick in that picture. He must be wearing panties. lol!

I noticed that Greg Rolie needs a panty...nice lump in da pants

Journey without Perry is NOT Journey. If it was, why get a sound(and look) a like singer? IMO...the band started to lose steam from Escape. Without Greg on keyboards the band lost it's sound and went too syth. Infinity, Evolution, and Departure were the best journey ever made and will ever make.

[cabanalane]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

I've heard the "new" Journey after Steve Perry. His name was Steve ??????? They went on tour, etc, etc. The guy sound sort of like Steve Perry, but not even close. He just tried to sound like Steve Perry.

But this guy.......................

Wow. For Arnel Pineda, I could not believe what I was hearing. This guy is sounds so much like Steve Perry that is almost scary. And I believe that is his natural singing voice. That's how he sings. Not "prentending" like the other lead singers Journey tried to pass off.

I would go just to see Pineda, and how true he really is to the Journey songs.

BTW, does anyone know how old is Pineda? I think the songs are older than he, right?

[cabanalane]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

the band started to lose steam from Escape. Without Greg on keyboards the band lost it's sound and went too syth. Infinity, Evolution, and Departure were the best journey ever made and will ever make.

You didn't like Frontier? I would put that just below Escape in my book.

[pzarquon]

Re: Journey: New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

This story is making the rounds again, now that Arnel Pineda has finally performed live with the band on Thursday in Chile. Here's a clip of what the "complete" sound is like, and I gotta say, it's pretty good. Chicken skin. Of course, the story of how this guy -- who's "thing" was singing in a Journey cover band -- got picked up by the band off YouTube is the most amazing part of all.