Arnel Pineda does not hate being in Journey
by Josh Kimball
Despite quotes to the contrary in a recent issue of Rolling Stone (an American magazine that apparently covers music), Journey’s new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, does not hate being in the band. Quotes Rolling Stone: “It’s a fantastic job, but at the same time it’s a curse.”
Mr. Pineda said has comments about the “days I just break down and cry” were taken out of context.
And he is angry about it. Please stay tuned for more breaking Arnel Pineda news as it happens.
Why is this a BIG Deal?! Who cares?
At least the latest Steve Perry imposter has an understanding of the extraordinary demands the REAL Steve Perry endured during his tenure with the band. And… the REAL Steve Perry did not have the luxury of performing classic songs written by other songwriters…he WROTE THE SONGS.
Pineda hit the lottery. He will be able to retire on his earnings attempting to impersonate one of the greatest American performers ever to hit the stage…the ONE AND ONLY Steve Perry.
Gee this is such a long discussion. It only means Arnel Pineda is worth talking about. I have checked amazon.com and the only thing new about Steve Perry is a compilation album of his old hits outside Journey. And only 2 songs there became popular. Steve Perry without Journey is much like any singer that’s not connected to them anymore. Steve Perry had a wonderful voice but he wasted it by leaving Journey. His popularity went to his head. What is important is that people are watching them now and they are earning through ticket sales. And Arnel Pineda is helping them with that. And all other members are happy. Haters are so LOOSERS, because they aren’t happy. Why don’t you make your own club? STEVE Left the band for no reason. what do you expect wait for him till they reach thier 90′s? they have family to feed..
I meant for my last post to go to Tia. Sorry……….
Still don’t like Arnel. And Steve Perry will continue to earn quite a bit of money for the rest of his life from the songs he wrote. I wonder who will be the lead singer in the up and coming Journey’s Greatest Hits 2–it will be out in November.
He is not inpersonating Steve. He is doing the job he was hired to do and he is doing it very well. Perry is the one who quit, regardless of the reason. Get real.
I hear that perfectly said. he is the one and only.
AMEN!
why hate man? he did not pursue the job, he was recruited by journey. the man was doing his own gig in the philippines, he also idolize steve perry. he is not an impostor because he is not claiming he is steve perry. hatred will get you nowhere!!!!!!!!
Who hates she just said the truth.
You go Ed Chan Yee!! I agree 100% I have had the pleasure of seeing Mr Pineda in concert with Journey and he and the band were amazing, as is Mr Pineda’s whole story. Plucked from pretty much obscurity and thrown into the limelight. He has every right to have moments of missing his family and home country. Put yourself in his place Tia. He is living his dream and we are very proud of him and thrilled for him as well!!!!
Where just saying Steve Perry is the man. that’s all he was the first and the Best.
Steve Perry may be the best journey singer with Arnel a close second but he was not the first singer of journey.
I must say that I have been reading allot of news articles regarding Arnel and Rolling Stone Mag. I have to aggree with Ed Chan Yee and Kim. Yes, to many Journey fans, Steve Perry is God…but…Steve Perry is no more. There is allot of Talent in the Philippines…Lea Salonga is one of them. To “Tia”…get over it. The U.S.A. did not have the talent Journey was looking for. I’ve seen Journey live in concert with Steve Perry and in Toronto (Sept.2008) with Arnel. Steve Perry is no match for Arnel live. Rock On Arnel. Keep up the good work.
Sorry, as talented as Arnel is he is no match to Perry live. Perry had an amazing connection with his audience (as does Arnel) and he sang with unmatched emotion. Also, I have read that he could sing as well as he did on his album and many times even better live.
I also viewed some of the live performances (not in real life since I wasn’t around then or too young) online/DVD, and believe that Perry sounds better live. I don’t hate Pineda, he just isn’t where Perry was at yet.
Who said he was bad all where saying is Steve Perry was the first and the Best. everybody has different likes and dislikes your proble a little jealous of all the attention Steve Perry gets.
Hello fellows! i cannot agree more. Arnel Pineda is a legend in music history. He has hit the limelight which he has dreamed for all these years. He did it through hardwork which paid off really well.. He will never be Steve Perry..because he is better..far better..Imagine,of all the talents in America, Journey chose him..it only means he is “the One”…too bad for those who cant accept that afterall these years of search, Journey stumbled to a persona who deserves the praises of Steve Perry himself..We have to acknowledge that Arnel Pineda brought magic back to the Journey…again, Arnel Pineda is “the ONE”..
I am a hardcore Steve Perry/Journey fan. I like the sound, the style and The Voice. To me, Steve Perry IS Journey…he is the voice of Journey. So when I heard there was yet another lead singer (I had heard Augeri) I was skeptical. When I heard he was Filipino, I was even more skeptical. But I listened. And I was impressed. I always wanted to hear Journey again, with that old familiar sound. I would have loved to see a reunion, with Steve Perry, but after reading the GQ article, I knew there were too many bad feelings for that to happen. So in walks Arnel Pineda.
I like him. Is he Steve Perry? No. But he comes damn close. With the exception of a few things that he needs to work on (which he will get with time), he’s pretty much nailed each of my favorite songs. I love Revelation. It’s a recording that gives me the opportunity to hear Pineda’s voice and the chemistry between him and Journey. Do they sound like the band I grew up with? Yes, and Pineda fits well in my mind.
Now…I am still a hardcore Steve Perry fan, but I know that he will never again play with Journey, so I have to accept that. But I still want to hear more of Journey, so I am happy that they have found someone who respects Steve Perry and sings with his same timbre.
Arnel Pineda better than Steve Perry? No way. He has a lot to learn to even be able to fill that footprint. But he has great potential, if he decides to stay with it.
I will say this: Steve Perry may be gone, but he does deserve your respect. He worked hard to make Journey what they are today…they were obscure before he joined the band. He wrote songs with Jonathan Cain that touched our hearts and measured moments in our lives. The songs that he helped write and sang are indelibly written in our past present and future. Don’t cheapen that.
That was very well said. you said it perfect.I know that Steve Perry won’t be with journey again. they ditched him for the hip thing that was wrong but Don’t stop believing he will be back one last time.
Ok I am 22 years old and my parents have raised me to listen to music from bands such as Journey… I grew up listening to their songs during the years they were broken up. I still love Journey and I will always. No one can replace Steve Perry like Arnel Pineda states. He is humble about his fame and he realizes that he can never replace a rock legend. In light of all of this, I am SO HAPPY that Journey and the music behind the band is back and alive. Arnel Pineda is a very talented artist and the band sounds AMAZING together with AP. I am just so happy to hear Journey songs again and I cant wait to buy the CD so I can hear the new Journey songs. The best part of all of this: a new generation can appreciate and learn to love the old and new Journey… you have to admit with all the disturbing music out there for my generation, Journey is a MAJOR sigh of relief… rather a huge breath of fresh air. So everyone stop hating. Embrace the old and the new.
PS read the whole rolling stone Q&A. People need to stop misquoting
wow I’m happy that majority of journey’s fans appreciate Arnel Pineda and even hardcore Steve Perry’s admirers give him a chance. I respect those individuals who are open for newbie and changes.
I’m proud of Arnel and i think, he’s not performing to replace somebody, Perry is a legend, but to entertain the audience and achieve his dream.
well i saw arnel in concert. he had such a strong accent he was no steve. at one point coveniently when a high note was coming he dropped his mic and the drummer took over the high notes. as we all know journey was here before steve but no one knew of them or they didn’t have any hits on the charts. until steve joined them then journey made a name for themselves. if the beatles were alive would you think replacing john would be the same. or mick jagger from the stones. van halen tried it , and look now davids back.
yaaaaa, that it so true nobody is better than the one and only.Steve Perry. i seen both of them theres no contest. but they our nothing with out Steve Perry.
Why are people living in the past. Steve Perry is no more. At least the other band members are still doing their stuff live in front of huge crowd together with Arnel Pineda. Where is Steve Perry anyway? Why doesn’t he prove to his fans that he still has ‘the voice’. Or he is just to old.
he his working on his music and he’s going to rock your world one day. so don’t stop believing.
I have heard Arnel will be collaborating in writing the songs for Journey’s next album. He stated before that he could never be Steve Perry and he further stated that “there’s only one Steve Perry in the world”. He said that Steve is one of his heroes in singing. I’ve seen Arnel live in concert and to be fair I’ve seen DVD’s of Steve Perry’s live concert. I’m too young to have seen Steve Perry with Journey live in concert. Arnel is completely a different artist, he sounds similar to Perry but given time if he remains with Journey with his incredible charisma and monster talent there’s a great chance that he might be remembered not as a Perry imitator but a unique artist.
I have great respect for Perry, if he ever returns…I would really want to see and hear him sing live with classic Journey.
What will be really telling is how the NEXT album after Revelation sells IF it has only new material on it-with Arnel covering NONE of the old Perry numbers that Perry not only sung, but co-wrote. I think Arnel has the talent to be a mega star in his own right-but frankly, you would have to prove to me that Revelation going platinum is anything other than( A.) Pent up desire to hear ANYTHING that sounds like Perry and the old Journey; (B.) the marketing wizardry of Azoff with Walmart-who worked the same magic for the Eagles comeback. (The same person Perry had replaced H. Herbert with before to do the same for Journey after making Trial by Fire in the mid-1990′s before he hurt his hip with the plan falling apart.) What is telling is LOOK AT THE ALBUM SALES FIGURES. I’m only talking about commercial success here-I realize that Schon is talented on his own, that the original Journey was artistically a great fusion band, etc. But what is telling is that ONLY during the Perry era have they been commercially successful. Not before, not with Augeri after, ONLY with Perry. And Revelation as an album is a full 1/2 Arnel sound alike covers of Perry-which can appeal to young people who don’t know the difference because it is new to them, or curiosity seekers who want to hear how he stacks up to Steve, etc. Just like people were so desperate for a Beatles reunion that they would go to see the impersonator shows on Broadway and in Vegas just to have something CLOSE to the Beatles-until Arnel can record and maybe write with the guys some original music and have an entire album be that stuff, and have individual songs chart high that are totally new-well, I don’t think he’ll be able to really know whether it is just nostalgia rock from people hungry for anything resembling Steve or that they are coming to see HIM. Until some totally new Arnel songs have staying ‘evergreen’ power like the old Perry writing/singing collaborations, well, to me you’ve got a very talented singer (Arnel), stuck in a tribute band because Schon and Cain, talented as they are, aren’t commercially viable without the sound of Steve Perry. And so far, the only song I’ve seen that has been half way successful ‘After All These Years’, is a milktoast, insipid, syrupy pale imitation of the raw power and emotion that Journey songs used to have when Perry was the other part of that writing threesome. Just like Rodgers and Hart, and other great writing collaborations, sometimes it is the chemistry between artists that creates the magic. So, prove it to me Journey that you actually can create magic on your own without Steve-but you haven’t done it yet! And those European sell out crowds were multi-artist stadium shows-they weren’t just Journey shows. And in the states, now that people have satisfied their curiosity once about Arnel, will they be able to sell out the same venue a SECOND time? Only time will tell…Frankly, I’d pay twice to see Steve Perry doing new material with his more mature, soulful, R&B/jazz timbre in his voice in a small,intimate club. And I wouldn’t spend a dime to see a nostalgia tour with Arnel covering Steve’s stuff-any more than I would go see someone who sounded just like Paul McCartney, or Springsteen.
And that is NOT a slam against Arnel-again, I wish him well in creating his OWN legacy. Just hopes he realizes that they’ll throw him away like so much spoiled meat if he allows them to damage his voice with too much touring. If rumors are true, Schon has now imploded his 4th marriage, and with all his kids by the various wives, and the costs of divorces, well, it is likely that he HAS to tour financially-and I hope Arnel doesn’t find that he is expendable like all the other singers they’ve discarded over the years.
very true and very well said Steve Perry will be back but not with the band he has to much talent his own magic.
Diane…..DREAM ON…Elvis is still alive.
It is agreed there’s only one Steve Perry. But saying Arnel Pineda is an imposter??? only haters would say that. Imposter are fraud people. Arnel was picked by the band, not the other way around. And he is now being introduce as the new voice, fresher voice. People come and go, and sorry to say, it is time for Steve Perry to go, and Arnel to come.
I love Arnel Pineda! He is better than Steve Perry.
So! get over it.