With new singer, Journey’s believin’

By John Benson

The real criteria for finding a new vocalist were vocal presence and style, the bassist said.

A cover band singer in his native Philippines, Arnel Pineda would often belt out pitch-perfect renditions of Journey’s arena rock hit “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Unsure of where his career was going, he found inspiration in the song.

Little did he know, thousands of miles away Journey guitarist Neal Schon was showing his band mates Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass) and Deen Castronovo (drums) a YouTube clip of him effortlessly singing one classic rock song after another.

After flying to the U.S. for a two-day audition last summer, Pineda’s dream of musical stardom came to fruition when it was announced he would become the next lead singer of Journey. That culminated with the act’s latest album “Revelation.”

“This is like the sixth or seventh phase of the band, and it seems to me it’s more than a chapter,” said Valory, calling from North Carolina. “It’s like a new book. This is a new volume with the arrival of Arnel and with the album out, and the reception it’s getting. It’s not like we’re starting all over again but it’s a whole new ballgame.

“I guess it has to do with the right person. The right piece to a puzzle, and that’s the way it has appeared to have happened with Arnel. He has all the right qualities to fit in this band and make it his own. He sounds like Journey. So with the creation of new material that we just put out, and are getting airplay with, it sounds like us. There’s the whole aspect of his performing energy as well on the stage. It’s just infectious.”

When examining Pineda, Valory hits the nail right on the head when he talks about the new singer sounding like Journey. While the band’s previous singer Steve Augeri was competent, there is little argument that Pineda’s voice is the closest to original and band-defining vocalist Steve Perry.

Valory admits there may have been somewhat of a concerted effort by the band to find a new singer that closely resembled Perry, but he said the real criteria was vocal presence and style.

“Yeah, you need someone who can sing that way but that doesn’t mean a clone or a tribute clone,” Valory said. “It had to be someone who could make it his own. And of course in making new material, to be able to do that with a sense of originality, so the band sounds like Journey with someone other than Steve Perry.”

In an attempt to sell its die-hard audience on the addition of 40-year-old Pineda, Journey decided to make its latest album, “Revelation,” a double release with one CD filled with new material and the second disc featuring all of the band’s classic hits with its new singer at the helm. The ploy paid off with the new album selling nearly 200,000 copies in its first week of release.

It appears after a decade of obscurity as a nostalgia act, Journey couldn’t be any hotter at the moment. The momentum that began a year ago when the HBO show “The Sopranos” used “Don’t Stop Believin’” during its final moments of the series (Valory said he saw the scene but is still catching up on the show via season DVDs) has been surprisingly upped with the new album and now tour, which includes a sold-out date Saturday at Blossom Music Center.

Oddly enough, 27 years after the aforementioned hit song was released, its inspiring power can’t be denied.

“The song actually empowered us, too,” Valory said. “The band found a way to reinvent itself with that kind of message. So it’s been a ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ experience for us as well before we found him.”