"In 2008, Journey introduced a new singer to the world, Arnel Pineda, with the release of their 14th studio album ("Revelation") and an extraordinarily successful world tour. It was the latest chapter in a rock and roll saga that started more than 35 years ago and has produced some of the best-known rock songs of the 1970's and 80's.
Journey's story begins in Northern California with guitarist Neal Schon, a child prodigy who dropped out of high school to join Santana just prior to the San Francisco band recording its third album. Schon, while in high school, had been jamming with Santana keyboardist Gregg Rolie, who ultimately would follow Schon into Journey.
The union of Santana and Schon was short-lived, but in that time period, Schon would meet a man who believed that a band formed around his guitar work would be a viable entity. When Schon left Santana, he explored the idea of a power trio with two former members of Sly and the Family Stone, drummer Greg Errico and bassist Larry Graham. Playing funk, however, limited Schon's amount of soloing, which prompted him to look for another musical vehicle. Walter "Herbie" Herbert, a guitar tech for Santana who had added management duties to his job, approached Schon in early 1973 about forming a guitar-centric band. Herbert has said Schon was, quote, 'the quintessential guitar expressionist of the time', and to further his career, Herbert connected Schon with two members of the popular local act Frumious Bandersnatch, former Steve Miller Band bassist Ross Valory and guitarist George Tickner. They enlisted drummer Prairie Prince, a member of the Tubes, and the all-instrumental act began performing as the Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
They developed a local following, one that was strong enough for San Francisco FM station KSAN to hold a contest to see if a better name could be given to the GGRS. The contest yielded the moniker Journey. New name in place, Rolie joined the band in the summer of 1973. The first edition of Journey developed a largely instrumental progressive rock sound. The first change in personnel came in early 1974 when Aynsley Dunbar, a British drummer who spent time in the bands of Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and John Mayall, took the place of Prince, who decided to stay with the Tubes.
CBS/Columbia Records signed that lineup in November 1974, but by the time "Journey," their debut album, was released, Tickner had left to attend medical school. Tickner, whose compositions were the backbone of Journey's earliest repertoire, was not replaced, making the band a single-guitar outfit.
Journey's story begins in Northern California with guitarist Neal Schon, a child prodigy who dropped out of high school to join Santana just prior to the San Francisco band recording its third album. Schon, while in high school, had been jamming with Santana keyboardist Gregg Rolie, who ultimately would follow Schon into Journey.
The union of Santana and Schon was short-lived, but in that time period, Schon would meet a man who believed that a band formed around his guitar work would be a viable entity. When Schon left Santana, he explored the idea of a power trio with two former members of Sly and the Family Stone, drummer Greg Errico and bassist Larry Graham. Playing funk, however, limited Schon's amount of soloing, which prompted him to look for another musical vehicle. Walter "Herbie" Herbert, a guitar tech for Santana who had added management duties to his job, approached Schon in early 1973 about forming a guitar-centric band. Herbert has said Schon was, quote, 'the quintessential guitar expressionist of the time', and to further his career, Herbert connected Schon with two members of the popular local act Frumious Bandersnatch, former Steve Miller Band bassist Ross Valory and guitarist George Tickner. They enlisted drummer Prairie Prince, a member of the Tubes, and the all-instrumental act began performing as the Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
They developed a local following, one that was strong enough for San Francisco FM station KSAN to hold a contest to see if a better name could be given to the GGRS. The contest yielded the moniker Journey. New name in place, Rolie joined the band in the summer of 1973. The first edition of Journey developed a largely instrumental progressive rock sound. The first change in personnel came in early 1974 when Aynsley Dunbar, a British drummer who spent time in the bands of Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and John Mayall, took the place of Prince, who decided to stay with the Tubes.
CBS/Columbia Records signed that lineup in November 1974, but by the time "Journey," their debut album, was released, Tickner had left to attend medical school. Tickner, whose compositions were the backbone of Journey's earliest repertoire, was not replaced, making the band a single-guitar outfit.
The group disbanded in 1989, seemingly for good, as Schon and Cain created Bad English with John Waite while Valory, Smith and Rolie joined the Storm. In 1993, the band reunited, sans Perry, for a Bay Area concert honoring their former manager Herbert. Perry, Schon, Cain, Smith and Valory reunited one last time for 1996's Trial By Fire. The dozen songs on the album were written in just two weeks. It opened at No. 3, yielded the Adult Contemporary hit single "When You Love a Woman," which would garner the band their first Grammy nomination, and a 25-date tour was booked. Perry moved to Hawaii to get in shape, but while there he developed health problems and was eventually told he would need a hip replaced. The tour never took place and with no fanfare, the members of Journey went their separate ways.
Ultimately, Schon, Valory and Cain decided the band would forge ahead. Steve Augeri was brought in as lead singer and Dean Castronovo, a member of Bad English, replaced Smith on drums. (Steve Smith opted to continue with his solo career as a recording artist and band leader, forming the band Vital Information). Their first recording as Journey was Remember Me for the Armageddon soundtrack. Arrival, Journey's 11th studio album, was released in April 2001.
A 30th anniversary tour followed the release of Generations in 2005. The tour featured shows that were more than three hours long and included material from every phase of the bands career. A year later, Jeff Scott Soto replaced Augeri, whose time in the band was cut short due to a throat infection. Sotos tenure was short-lived and in 2007, Journey tried a variety of ways to land a new singer. After two days of watching videos on YouTube, Schon came across a video featuring Arnel Pineda performing with a Filipino cover band in the Philippines and had his management book him for an audition in the States. Within just a few songs he had secured the job. Pineda made his debut with the album Revelation, which was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart outlets and was certified platinum within several months of its release. More than 700,000 fans saw Journeys 2008 tour with Pineda as lead singer. After seven months on the road with Journey, Pineda told the media in Asia, quote, This is the best job in the world and as long as my band mates will let me rock with them, I will keep singing with Journey." Source & Full article available at www.journeymusic.com.
0 comentarii:
Post a Comment