Journey/Arnel - Rolling Stone - New Article - Very Interesting

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23088297/sad_journey_for_new_singer

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Sad 'Journey' for New Singer

Discovered on YouTube, Filipino frontman finds Journey tour "a curse"

ANDY GREENE


Two minutes before Journey kicked off their world tour in February, with new singer Arnel Pineda, the whole thing nearly fell apart. "I told them I wanted to back out," says the 41-year-old Filipino vocalist, whom the band discovered on YouTube. "[Journey guitarist] Neal Schon told me, 'It's too late now.' He pushed me a little and said, 'Go. Go sing for us.'" Pineda overcame his butterflies and took the stage in front of 20,000 fans in Chile, singing an hour of hits in a soaring voice incredibly similar to former Journey frontman Steve Perry.

Since then, Pineda has played more than 63 concerts with Journey, including a current three-month trip through American amphitheaters, which has been averaging 13,000 people a night. The tour is the sixth-highest-grossing of the summer, and the band's performances are as high-energy as they were during Journey's heyday.

Unfortunately, Pineda isn't finding the tour nearly as fulfilling as his bandmates are. He misses his girlfriend and son, and the grueling pace is grinding him down. "It's very, very sad," he says. "There are days I just break down and cry. This is a job I'm doing for my family. That's all the consolation I'm getting." Traveling around America isn't what he expected. "It's all buses, stage, microphone," he says. "I never really get to go around and walk. They wake me up for soundcheck, then I wait until the show at nine. It's a fantastic job, but at the same time it's a curse. . . . I told Neal that the only thing that will make me quit this is if I get sick. I guess that's the same reason Steve Perry bailed out."

Just last summer, Pineda was fronting the Zoo, a band specializing in Eighties rock covers. YouTube clips of Pineda singing "Don't Stop Believin' " and "Faithfully" came to the attention of Schon, who had recently parted ways with Journey's fourth lead singer, Jeff Scott Soto. "I told him, 'You have to show your face so I can believe you,' " Pineda recalls of his first conversation with Schon. "I challenged him to talk to me on a Webcam."

Within weeks, Pineda took his first trip to the U.S. and auditioned for the band in San Francisco. A few days later, he was hired. "Mr. Neal Schon picked me up and told me, 'You got the job,' " Pineda says. "For a guy like me, it's surreal — like some sort of miracle." Quickly, the band cut two discs worth of material: one of new songs and another of rerecorded hits. "It was spooky, sitting behind the desk watching Arnel record these songs," says keyboardist Jonathan Cain. "It was like going back in a time machine." Since coming out in June, the album has sold 441,000 copies; it's the band's biggest hit since Perry left the group.

This all comes at a time when Journey's work has re-entered the pop-culture landscape in surprising ways: Their 1981 smash "Don't Stop Believin' " has made memorable appearances on The Sopranos and Laguna Beach, and Kanye West performed it nightly on his 2008 tour. "When you work at something long enough, things just sort of turn around," Schon says. "I'm ear-to-ear smile every night." But is he worried about his frontman? "He's missing his family, missing his homeland, you know?" says Schon. "But he's having a lot of fun, too."
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That's it Uncle Neal ...... comfort and understanding (why do I have an image in my head of Neal looking like Keith Moon as Wicked Uncle Ernie in "Tommy" - oh, and guess who the deaf, mute and blind kid is?)

VERY compelling... if Arnel goes back home he will never come back, unless he moves his family to the USA...MHO.



Rick

In his own words on his own site, he says he HATES it. He cant wait for it all to be over. He is dealing with his acid reflux but cant get the congestion under control.

Who cares what he thinks or says, he is only a cash cow, right Neal?

I wonder if he still has to call Neal, Mr. Schon...
The fourth lead singer...you know if he quits, Neal won't miss a beat and go out and get lead singer No. 5...alimony must be a bitch!!!

at mr front page Drew has a recant of the statement...well sort of... from MR...

Rick

JOURNEY SINGER: MAGAZINE QUOTES OUT OF CONTEXT:
A cool little video interview with Journey frontman Arnel Pineda can be viewed at: cbs5.com/entertainment/Arnel.Pineda.journey.2.824979.html.
Arnel and guitarist Neal Schon discuss the recent Rolling Stone article which painted a negative picture of life on the road with the band - out of context claims the duo. The full transcript from the RS interview (now online at: www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23180978/qa_journeys_arnel_pineda) suggests that certain statements were indeed emphasizes to create a more sensational headline.
Says Arnel in the video interview: "I'm having a blast up here on stage," Pineda said in Concord, as part of an interview alongside guitarist Neal Schon during a break before a concert Wednesday evening. I can't deny it. I miss home. I'm homesick, but... I've got the best gig in the world. How can I be so miserable?"

They're obviously in CYA mode.

Hey, at least JSS got mentioned in Rolling Stone!

CYA and shut the fuck up!

Yep, the cash cow isnt listening....they recanted on that article, byt ap hasnt recanted on his site.

NealIsGod wrote:They're obviously in CYA mode.

CYA???

joeydelight wrote:

NealIsGod wrote:They're obviously in CYA mode.

CYA???

CYA = adious, au revoir, toodles, dont let the door hit you on the way out, your about to get a phone call from the National Enquirer telling you your services are no longer needed, it's been nice, BUT, you dont fulfill me like you once use to, I've made enough money to pay my child support for the next 2 years, we decided you are not taking us in the right direction as we have planned, you're only a relief pitcher, in other words GOOD BYE.

doka wrote:

joeydelight wrote:

NealIsGod wrote:They're obviously in CYA mode.

CYA???

CYA = adious, au revoir, toodles, dont let the door hit you on the way out, your about to get a phone call from the National Enquirer telling you your services are no longer needed, it's been nice, BUT, you dont fulfill me like you once use to, I've made enough money to pay my child support for the next 2 years, we decided you are not taking us in the right direction as we have planned, you're only a relief pitcher, in other words GOOD BYE.

I thought it meant Cover Your Ass

...And the joke will just continue on....

Yes, it means Cover Your Ass...

I'm really going to enjoy the bullshit spin Neal puts on this one if he cans Arnel.
If Arnel leaves on his own, well you really CAN'T blame Neal and the rest of the "bunch." At THAT point, it's time to end Journey...I'm sorry, they're on the THIRD lead singer post-Perry. To go out and get another lead singer would make them more pathetic than they are now.
It would be time to start up a Bad English, The Storm, Soul Sirkus sort of band at that point...calling Greg Rolie and Steve Smith...do you read me?