Is Survivor Officially Done?

[Slander]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if Survivor is officially over? I've looked for concert dates. Nada! Survivor hasn't updated its fb page since Thanksgiving 21. Cameron Barton, Billy O and Chris Grove are all playing live. Meanwhile Frankie is waxing poetic about songwriting on Instagram.

I wish Peterik, Bickler, and Droubay would reunite just one time, but it won't happen. This thing we loved sure ended with a fizzle, didn't it?

[Journey/Survivor]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if Survivor is officially over? I've looked for concert dates. Nada! Survivor hasn't updated its fb page since Thanksgiving 21. Cameron Barton, Billy O and Chris Grove are all playing live. Meanwhile Frankie is waxing poetic about songwriting on Instagram.

I wish Peterik, Bickler, and Droubay would reunite just one time, but it won't happen. This thing we loved sure ended with a fizzle, didn't it?

Sadly, yes, I assume that Survivor is completely done.

If Peterik had been the one to have kept the Survivor name I'm sure that there would have been at least a couple of more albums than just Reach, and they'd still be doing at least occasional concerts.

Peterik, Bickler and Droubay could at the very least release a 4 song EP that Peterik produces himself like Journey did with their Red 13 EP. Give us at least a little something!

[Andrew]

Done done and done.

Legacy left for Sony to pick at with a couple of hits packages over the next decade and a control freak guitarist who won't let anyone hear anything from the vast unreleased material vaults.

[Slander]

It's absolute insanity! Is there any other artists like Sullivan who are so guarded with their material. I can't think one.

[Abitaman]

Done done and done.

Legacy left for Sony to pick at with a couple of hits packages over the next decade and a control freak guitarist who won't let anyone hear anything from the vast unreleased material vaults.

What VAST unreleased vault. Is it real or in his mind?

[Andrew]

Done done and done.

Legacy left for Sony to pick at with a couple of hits packages over the next decade and a control freak guitarist who won't let anyone hear anything from the vast unreleased material vaults.

What VAST unreleased vault. Is it real or in his mind?

It's real. I have some tunes, I know of another dozen, plus the Fire Makes Steel sessions then there are tracks written and demoed that are part of the Peterik library including several Perterik/Sullivan tracks that are locked up.

[Journey/Survivor]

It's absolute insanity! Is there any other artists like Sullivan who are so guarded with their material. I can't think one.

I was just reading something that I had never seen before, but many of you are probably already aware of? It's something that Frankie Sullivan has online called "If This Guitar Could Talk."

Anyway, in one of the sections that he has listed he says that there are far better recordings of Somewhere In America and Whole Towns Talkin' than what we hear on the album. Well, if that's the case, then why doesn't he release those songs???

He also claims that Peterik caused Ron Nevison to quit the producing of the album. Which of course is a contradiction to what Peterik said in his book. Gee, I wonder who we should believe? Should we believe Peterik? Or should we believe the guy who has lied to Survivor fans over and over again a million times over, Frankie Sullivan?

Also, Nevison has said that he loved working with Survivor. In fact, based on Nevison's comments it seems like he may have enjoyed working with Survivor just about the most of any band that he has ever worked with.
If he disliked working with Peterik so much, then why does he name Survivor, which was first and foremost Peterik's band, as being one of his favorite bands that he has worked with?

[kgdjpubs]

Done done and done.

Legacy left for Sony to pick at with a couple of hits packages over the next decade and a control freak guitarist who won't let anyone hear anything from the vast unreleased material vaults.

What VAST unreleased vault. Is it real or in his mind?

It's real. I have some tunes, I know of another dozen, plus the Fire Makes Steel sessions then there are tracks written and demoed that are part of the Peterik library including several Perterik/Sullivan tracks that are locked up.

There's a bunch of stuff out there. Some of it was temporarily uploaded to youtube recently.

In that stuff....an album or more of early stuff--probably a dozen or more songs pre-S/T album. 3 or 4 songs from Premonition sessions. about 3 songs from When Seconds Count sessions. 3-4 songs from Too Hot To Sleep, plus some early versions of all the above--some of which are very different to what ended up on the album. You've got some songs post-THTS that pre-dates the Fire Makes Steel demos. You've got the Fire Makes Steel demos, which is about 12 songs from Bickler in early 90s. 3-4 more songs that were played live with Bickler where the studio demos never surfaced. Plus Reach demos and whatever was written post-Reach. There is a LOT of material out there.

[Slander]

By the way, didn't Joe Vana and Frankie Sullivan write material for a new Survivor album with Robin Mccauley on vocals? It never saw the light of day.

[Andrew]

By the way, didn't Joe Vana and Frankie Sullivan write material for a new Survivor album with Robin Mccauley on vocals? It never saw the light of day.

They were going to. Never eventuated to the best of my knowledge via my discussions with Joe.

[verslibre]

Done done and done.

Legacy left for Sony to pick at with a couple of hits packages over the next decade and a control freak guitarist who won't let anyone hear anything from the vast unreleased material vaults.

What VAST unreleased vault. Is it real or in his mind?

It's real. I have some tunes, I know of another dozen, plus the Fire Makes Steel sessions then there are tracks written and demoed that are part of the Peterik library including several Perterik/Sullivan tracks that are locked up.

Is there a reason they released no live albums apart from the Japanese concerts with Jimi on video?

[kgdjpubs]

Is there a reason they released no live albums apart from the Japanese concerts with Jimi on video?

If you think about it, they had two hit records. VS and WSC. Vital Signs got a live video/album. WSC got a live video recorded, but with bad laryngitis from the singer so even with overdubs, it still doesn't sound great. There are some other bootlegs from the tour where he sounded 1000% better. Good guess as to why that live recording is hard to find--it does JJ no favors at all.

I guess one can argue that there should have been an official live release from the Tiger era, but the market for Jamison-fronted material is considerably stronger than Bickler-fronted material.

Short version in the end....they weren't quite big enough to gain much of a huge following, and the popular peak was really a very short time, and also cursed from changing singers back and forth, so certain eras got ignored. Being on an odd label didn't help either.

[verslibre]

Is there a reason they released no live albums apart from the Japanese concerts with Jimi on video?

If you think about it, they had two hit records. VS and WSC. Vital Signs got a live video/album. WSC got a live video recorded, but with bad laryngitis from the singer so even with overdubs, it still doesn't sound great. There are some other bootlegs from the tour where he sounded 1000% better. Good guess as to why that live recording is hard to find--it does JJ no favors at all.

I guess one can argue that there should have been an official live release from the Tiger era, but the market for Jamison-fronted material is considerably stronger than Bickler-fronted material.

Short version in the end....they weren't quite big enough to gain much of a huge following, and the popular peak was really a very short time, and also cursed from changing singers back and forth, so certain eras got ignored. Being on an odd label didn't help either.

I think they were still big enough to drop some kind of official live album somewhere down the line. A zillion other (less successful) bands have. I guess an archival release is out of the question, thanks to Sullivan.

I know Bickler was having major issues at the time, but I'd still like a full-length Caught in the Game-era live document.

[kgdjpubs]

Is there a reason they released no live albums apart from the Japanese concerts with Jimi on video?

If you think about it, they had two hit records. VS and WSC. Vital Signs got a live video/album. WSC got a live video recorded, but with bad laryngitis from the singer so even with overdubs, it still doesn't sound great. There are some other bootlegs from the tour where he sounded 1000% better. Good guess as to why that live recording is hard to find--it does JJ no favors at all.

I guess one can argue that there should have been an official live release from the Tiger era, but the market for Jamison-fronted material is considerably stronger than Bickler-fronted material.

Short version in the end....they weren't quite big enough to gain much of a huge following, and the popular peak was really a very short time, and also cursed from changing singers back and forth, so certain eras got ignored. Being on an odd label didn't help either.

I think they were still big enough to drop some kind of official live album somewhere down the line. A zillion other (less successful) bands have. I guess an archival release is out of the question, thanks to Sullivan.

I know Bickler was having major issues at the time, but I'd still like a full-length Caught in the Game-era live document.

Have we ever figured out if there was even any live performances for that album? Reading Peterik's book, it sounds like they never played it live. You certainly hear a much decreased vocal from Bickler on that album. The live performances of the title track from the early 90s sound night and day different from the album--and much closer to what you would have expected the studio version to sound like. Peterik's book suggests the vocal problems started midway through the Tiger tour, and just got worse from there.

[verslibre]

I know Bickler was having major issues at the time, but I'd still like a full-length Caught in the Game-era live document.

Have we ever figured out if there was even any live performances for that album? Reading Peterik's book, it sounds like they never played it live. You certainly hear a much decreased vocal from Bickler on that album. The live performances of the title track from the early 90s sound night and day different from the album--and much closer to what you would have expected the studio version to sound like. Peterik's book suggests the vocal problems started midway through the Tiger tour, and just got worse from there.

Yeah, Bickler was in bad shape during the recording of Caught in the Game, but that's their best material, IMHO. He had to have vocal surgery, and got it, but they started playing dates for CitG after just two weeks. Bickler couldn't sustain that constant output level and needed more rest. And so they fired him.

[Mikele]

Does Bickler answer fans questions via facebook? He would certainly know if there was ever any live date from the CiTg era. Reading Peterik's book you get the idea that no touring was done, but he cuts short on this topic

[Mikele]

According to FS Facebook, the man is on some serious work to prepare staging the newest version of Deceased…er..I mean Survivor.
Apparently he’s hired a few new members to reproduce the hits as they were meant to sound

[Andrew]

According to FS Facebook, the man is on some serious work to prepare staging the newest version of Deceased…er..I mean Survivor.
Apparently he’s hired a few new members to reproduce the hits as they were meant to sound

Does that include the guitarist?

[Journey/Survivor]

According to FS Facebook, the man is on some serious work to prepare staging the newest version of Deceased…er..I mean Survivor.
Apparently he’s hired a few new members to reproduce the hits as they were meant to sound

Does that include the guitarist?

I wish that we could transplant Sullivan's musical talent into someone who's not an asshole and who does want to work and to give the fans what they want.

Does this mean that Sullivan is currently planning on rerecording Survivor's greatest hits? We all know that it will never actually be done though. Sullivan will probably rerecord one song and stop there, and never even release that one recording.

I posted those comments of mine and after I did I realized that it probably only means that he means how the songs should sound LIVE, not that he's going to rerecord the hits?

[Mikele]

According to FS Facebook, the man is on some serious work to prepare staging the newest version of Deceased…er..I mean Survivor.
Apparently he’s hired a few new members to reproduce the hits as they were meant to sound

Does that include the guitarist?

LOL

Journey/Survivor, yes he was referring to live dates. A second guitarist is not an option

[Journey/Survivor]

According to FS Facebook, the man is on some serious work to prepare staging the newest version of Deceased…er..I mean Survivor.
Apparently he’s hired a few new members to reproduce the hits as they were meant to sound

It's awesome news that he's bringing back Bickler, Peterik and Droubay!

I mean, after all, he did say that he wants the hits to sound the way that they should sound.

[capitan2010]

Amigos creo que es el unico de todas las bandas que no quiere compartir nada de survivor con sus fans, lo quiere para el solo, jimi me contaba que habian muchas grabaciones extras por ejemplo del album reach, nunca tendremos musica inedita por parte de jimi jamison.

Survivor a muerto.

Alguein sabe de marc droubay.

Saludos amigos