{"id":24039,"date":"2022-11-17T05:30:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T10:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24039"},"modified":"2022-10-18T12:22:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T16:22:35","slug":"journey-to-infinity-and-beyond-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/17\/journey-to-infinity-and-beyond-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey: To ‘Infinity’ and Beyond (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Though Raised on Radio<\/i> spawned hit singles, on the whole it was less well-received critically. In the wake of that disappointment, and in the face of changing popular tastes, Journey went on hiatus for nearly eight years.<\/p>\n

When the band regrouped, Perry was again its dominant force. The brief reunion included former members Smith and Valory alongside Schon and Cain, but health problems eventually sidelined Perry. By 1998 Journey\u2019s most well-known member announced his exit from the group.<\/p>\n

Many bands have folded in the wake of the departure of their lead singer. It\u2019s difficult, for example, to imagine The Who continuing without Roger Daltrey. Imagine a Mick Jagger-less Rolling Stones. Yet it\u2019s not without precedent for a band to continue with a new lead vocalist. And that\u2019s precisely what Journey \u2013 now effectively co-led by Schon and Cain \u2013 did. The group brought in Steve Augeri, a relative unknown who had worked with Michael Schenker.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Augeri took an active role in songwriting and handled lead vocals on a pair of Journey albums: Arrival<\/i> (2000), 2005\u2019s Generations<\/i> and the band\u2019s only EP, Red 13<\/i>. None sold in quantities remotely resembling the band\u2019s peak \u201880s period. And vocal problems necessitated Augeri\u2019s leaving the group in 2005.<\/p>\n

Former Yngwie Malmsteen singer Jeff Scott Soto was brought in as a replacement, but his tenure was short, and Soto did not record with Journey. Schon admires Soto as a vocalist but says that ultimately he wasn\u2019t a good fit, lacking \u201cthe tenor-alto-soprano voice you need to be able to cover the [Journey] catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Soto\u2019s departure, Neal Schon again sought a new lead singer for the band. In February 2008, Philippines-born Arnel Pineda became Journey\u2019s sixth lead singer. A powerful vocalist, Pineda was a YouTube sensation long before he joined the long-running band. With Pineda on board joining Valory and drummer Deen Castronovo \u2013 and with Schon and Cain as primary songwriters \u2013 Journey returned to the charts. Released in 2008, the aptly-named Revelation<\/i> was a collection of new material plus re-recorded versions of Journey hits, this time with Pineda on vocals. The self-released album sold more than one million units.<\/p>\n

But that level of success would prove difficult to sustain. While 2011\u2019s Eclipse<\/i> performed well on the album charts, none of its three singles charted. In retrospect, Journey\u2019s reign on the singles charts would seem to have ended back in the mid 1990s. Pivoting, the resilient band turned its attention to live work, releasing a string of concert albums and DVDs. Journey would release no new studio material between 2012 and 2021.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the lineup changes that had been a characteristic of the group\u2019s past would return, marked by frequent additions, dismissals and departures. Valory and Smith \u2013 both of whom were on hand when Journey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 \u2013 were fired in 2020; a flurry of lawsuits ensued. \u201cThe cool thing about the name Journey \u2013 and the brand<\/i> Journey \u2013 is that the name means you’re always evolving,\u201d Schon says. \u201cIt’s okay to make changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

2022 marks Pineda\u2019s 15th<\/sup> consecutive year in Journey; he\u2019s long since surpassed Steve Perry\u2019s total of 12 years fronting the group. And the band\u2019s long studio silence was broken with a 2021 album, Freedom<\/i>. Intentionally or not, Cain\u2019s keyboard textures on the new release echo the group\u2019s \u201880s sound. And Pineda remains what he\u2019s been for many years now: an effective ringer who can render faithful readings of the classic Journey tunes.<\/p>\n

Neal Schon is as compelling and tuneful an axeman as he\u2019s ever been. Thanks to his skills, unlike many popular groups, Journey has never really needed a second guitarist. Schon believes that through all of the changes Journey has endured, as the sole remaining original member he represents the through-line that ties it all together. \u201cTo be frank about it,\u201d Schon says, \u201cit\u2019s my guitar playing. I\u2019ve still got the fire; I\u2019ve still got the chops.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s right. Though they\u2019re subtle, echoes of the prog-fusion era band are in there on Freedom<\/i>, if one listens closely and past the studio sheen. \u201cYou never quite leave things behind,\u201d Schon admits.
\nAnd he\u2019s looking toward the future. \u201cEverything just keeps on going straight up,\u201d Schon says, passion and determination in his voice. \u201cWe keep attaining younger audiences: We have five generations of audiences out there right now. I’ll look in the front row, and they’re teenagers, and they’re singing every song at the top of their lungs.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a period marked by gigs in more intimate venues, Journey seems poised to return to the big time. \u201cWe went back into arenas shortly after Lollapalooza this year,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve started selling out arenas again. Now, we’re going to do the same thing at the beginning of next year. We’ve got the first 40 dates booked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journey should be celebrating its half-century of music in 2023. That might not happen, and the reason is actually good news. \u201cWe already have 2023 and \u201824 planned out,\u201d says Schon. So a 50th anniversary celebration may have to wait a bit. \u201cI think,\u201d says the guitarist with a hearty laugh, \u201cit\u2019s going to take a couple more years.\u201d<\/p>\n

And nobody really knows what changes might be in store for Journey between now and then, let alone in the years to follow. It\u2019s all okay, though, because as Neal Schon reminds us, \u201cbands evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Though Raised on Radio spawned hit singles, on the whole it was less well-received critically. In the wake of that disappointment, and in the face of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,62],"tags":[1214,4976],"class_list":["post-24039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-rawk","tag-journey","tag-neal-schon","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24039"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24047,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24039\/revisions\/24047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}