PBS doc looks at Journey's lead singer search

[Jeremey]

"Stay" and "Can't You See He's Gone" are in frequent rotation on my iPod. Your vocals are solid, but I actually think your strongest asset is as a writer. The latter track especially; it communicates a great story. It's like a 4 minute movie w/ Julia Roberts lol.

It's a nice eclectic album that showcases your strengths. The next album needs to flat-out rock.

Thanks man, always enjoyed writing. That's what I'm doing now ... but for advertising and marketing instead of music. It pays a whole lot better, LOL. If I would have written a follow up record to Every Little Thing, I would have focused on music in the style of "Every Little Thing" and "Can't You See He's Gone," which wasn't necessarily the Journey style but brought in elements of the singer/songwriter stuff with the huge vocals and harmonies. Right now I can't see me doing another CD, it's just a very expensive and time consuming project for very little return (I think I sold about 400 copies, did not break even between my investment and the Kickstarter stuff), but I'm glad I did it and grateful for the opportunity people gave me to make it.

[annie89509]

Another side-note question for Jeremey, if you don't mind:
If the incident with the fog machine hadn't happened, would you have continued doing the Frontiers gig, or would you have continued in the direction you are now?

The fog incident thing was great for me in one respect - it allowed me to get out of a management contract that was sucking every bit of profit out of my business and keeping me on the road for 200 shows a year ... the bad thing was, I felt "obligated" to continue singing through the multiple gigs we had on the books still, as bad as it was ... and caused multiple hemorrhages during that time, all which resulted in the permanent sulcus on my vocal cord that changed my voice.

So to answer - I needed something, the business was killing me and I was miserable. But if I had the foresight to stop what I was doing and rest for 6 months I could have made it into something more manageable and enjoyable.

But geez, you can't stay on the road forever. So I look at it as a blessing in disguise.

Jeremey…you’re a very talented person. Being regulars on these boards give us a lifeline to each others' personality, business, interest…. I’ve been exposed to your music and now your current advertising endeavor. Best of luck to you.

[Marabelle]

I had always hoped you'd have a "happily ever after" ending to your story Jeremey. I remember back in the days of Perryville your
enthusiasm, excitement and sheer will power in believing that anything was possible with the talent you had in your voice. What an instrument it is! I along with many others there and here on this site wished you the best and for a brief moment in time you had the golden ticket. Now I'm reading this stuff and wondering what you're feeling after all has been said and done. I'm glad you are still standing and still pursuing your dreams. You have to believe in yourself! I'm so glad you are still into your music. What a ride!! I don't keep up much with everything else that is going on in the music world but I wanted to stop in and comment after reading your posts. After all is said and done; nobody can take away your talent or your dreams.

[Jeremey]

Thanks for the kind thoughts, Annie & Marabelle!

[jestor92]

Jeremey,

I have a couple questions about your time with the band.

After Schon decided he "wanted more time" and you decided that you didn't want to wait around for him to make up his choice did you have to sign anything to say that you wouldn't really go in depth with what went down with the band during that time?

What happened to the demo's the music that you recorded with Journey? Is there any chance that those demo's might at some point see the light of day?

Have you ever had any kind of contact with JSS after he was left go from the band and have you ever met Arnel?

Never Walk Away:
https://soundcloud.com/bigbangagency/ne ... way#t=0:00

From the SoundCloud page:
This is the writing demo of "Never Walk Away," recorded in June 2007 with the band Journey at Jon Cain's home studio. We had been rehearsing all week and Neal had the music pretty well mapped out for this one. I scat sang a melody and brought in a notebook page full of lyrics into the studio the next morning for Jon to go over. He took literally 20 minutes and was able to edit and refine them into what appeared on the record. One change we went back to - that is evident from this demo - is that my original lyric was "don't give up, never walk away," and Jon changed it to "you're never sure, never walk away." After we recorded the demo he, Neal and I were sitting at his console and agreed that we should go back to the "Don't give up" lyric.

Where Did I Lose Your Love:
https://soundcloud.com/bigbangagency/wh ... -your-love

From the SoundCloud page:
This is the writing demo of "Where Did I Lose Your Love," recorded with Journey at Jon Cain's home studio in Novato, CA, June 2007. This originally was a demo leftover from the Arrival sessions, and we changed some structure and lyrics to that old demo ... my lyrical changes did not apparently reach the level of writing credit for the song, though they were carried over into the official cut of the tune released on the "Revelation" CD. This, and the demo of "Never Walk Away" would be the only souvenirs I took home from that experience, as I had been told I'd be returning to finish writing the record in just a few weeks, and I didn't want to seem like a tourist. After 6 years, I see nothing wrong with sharing the tracks here.

The recording of "Winds of Freedom" was about 4 hard drives ago ... I don't know where I would go to find that, but maybe someone has a copy around here you could track down.

No, I didn't sign any kind of non-disclosure agreement with the band. There was no money that changed hands ... obviously they paid for my expenses in California and reimbursed my vacation time from work that I had spent, believing that I'd be working for Journey by the time my baby was born. But there was nothing involved that would have required any sort of NDA.

I have talked to Jeff probably 6 or 7 times since 2007, always been an extremely cool dude.

Holy crap Jeremey! Those two demo's blow the friggin doors off the versions that made it onto Revelation. I heard Winds of Freedom before and didn't care for the track at all.

[Jeremey]

Holy crap Jeremey! Those two demo's blow the friggin doors off the versions that made it onto Revelation. I heard Winds of Freedom before and didn't care for the track at all.

Cool, thanks man! Based on the feedback I get from more people, it seems others like these tunes more than I actually do (ha), but then again, I'm hearing my voice knowing that I had just been singing for 5 days straight, and I'm picking up all the uncertainty from just learning and trying to flesh out the melodies & tunes, etc. Yep, Winds of Freedom was meant just as a lyric-writing exercise to be honest, the quick demo of the tune with my lyrics was not very good at all. But I do like some of the lyrical changes I made.

[jestor92]

Holy crap Jeremey! Those two demo's blow the friggin doors off the versions that made it onto Revelation. I heard Winds of Freedom before and didn't care for the track at all.

Cool, thanks man! Based on the feedback I get from more people, it seems others like these tunes more than I actually do (ha), but then again, I'm hearing my voice knowing that I had just been singing for 5 days straight, and I'm picking up all the uncertainty from just learning and trying to flesh out the melodies & tunes, etc. Yep, Winds of Freedom was meant just as a lyric-writing exercise to be honest, the quick demo of the tune with my lyrics was not very good at all. But I do like some of the lyrical changes I made.

Didn't they write Winds of Freedom with JSS?

[Jeremey]

Didn't they write Winds of Freedom with JSS?

Yes, the original song was for the anniversary of the founding of Virginia and was about pilgrims & stuff. I rewrote the lyrics to try to bring some more universal meaning to the song rather than the specifics of pilgrims and Virginia, etc just as a project to see if a more general version of the tune could be reworked for the Revelation sessions. My demo I recorded that I put out was singing the lyrics I rewrote. I found the lyric file this morning when I saw your post and they aren't as great as I remembered them LOL.

[The_Noble_Cause]

J's version of NWA is great. The chorus is not as bright and uptempo as the Rev verson. Neal's solo is also great. He play on this live? Or were u just singing to a demo?

[Jeremey]

J's version of NWA is great. The chorus is not as bright and uptempo as the Rev verson. Neal's solo is also great. He play on this live? Or were u just singing to a demo?

Thanks man, it was tracked at Jon's studio with the band. We wrote it and recorded it together in one day (aside from the instrumental demo that Neal brought of course). Neal changed the solo in the Revelation version for some reason, I think Jon told me it was to make it "more Journey-esque," but I liked this original version better.

[tater1977]

New hairstyle by Nemi Rafanan

New hairstyle by Nemi Rafanan.JPG

Trying to figure out if this was an accident...or on purpose...

[JRNYMAN]

This has turned into one of the best threads on this site in a looooong time! Many thanks to Jeremy for taking the time to not only fill in the blanks in so many areas of the Jeremy/Journey non-merger, but also and maybe even more importantly for taking the time to actually sit at your keyboard and write the long, detailed replies and answers you have. I thought I pretty much knew the whole story but I've learned I was lacking more details than I actually knes.

I hadn't heard the demos prior to you posting them here. Good stuff! One thing that comes through crystal clear in them is how comfortable you are with the songs which is evident in your deli8very. You just sound more like the words you're singing are your words whereas Arnel doesn't convey that confidence level. His delivery lacks the confidence and conviction.... if any of this makes any sense to anyone else besides me...

Stay and This is Your Life are both in heavy rotation in my playlists. My wife really, really likes Stay and after telling her the highlights of the saga with regard to you and Journey et al, she gets pissed off at Neal every time she hears Stay and calls him a douchebag!
As for "This is Your Life", I've told you before how big of a role that song ended up playing in the emotions and personal feelings I was dealing with when my oldest daughter was moving out on her own for the first time. "...instead of letting go, I've learned to let you grow" hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I heard it and you could almost see the clouds part and the sun shine through in my head when I realized her taking one of the biggest steps into adulthood was a good thing.

It's a very cool thing to have watched everything unfold the way they have since 2007. Also cool to watch and listen to your performances over the years knowing you were an active member here who has remained approachable and real as everything has taken place.
Of all the things you have done since I became aware of who you were back in 2007, the thing that stands out in my mind above all of your live performances, your demos, etc. is the way you handled yourself in the situation that took place between you and Neal. Kudos my brother!! Not everyone would have come away from it with their class, integrity and pride as neatly in tact as you did.

Steve

[slucero]

yup... Jeremey is a class act...

Journey is getting what they deserved...

[FamilyMan]

Finally got around to buying the DVD of "Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey." Better than I thought it would be. I'd seen quite a lot of the footage in its raw form, when we licensed some for the CBS profile. But, in fact, most of what I had seen wasn't even used.

What struck me the most was the care, concern and tutelage that Jonathan was showing with Arnel. All the voice lessons and discussions about the set... how he shouldn't push it. It seems like he was keenly aware that this was their golden goose. And they better not cook it. Who knows if that's still the case on this tour. But it was nice to see.

[mrsp]

Neal is a bigger diva than Elton John.

[Arkansas]

... What struck me the most was the care, concern and tutelage that Jonathan was showing with Arnel. All the voice lessons and discussions about the set... how he shouldn't push it. ...

I think I remember JSS talking about that too. Said something like JC had exercises to open up the voice so the higher notes would come more naturally. Said he taught relaxation and the "don't push it" thing. Don't remember the exact interview. In fact, it may have actually been Cain talking about Soto. Hhmm... ?


later~

[FamilyMan]

... What struck me the most was the care, concern and tutelage that Jonathan was showing with Arnel. All the voice lessons and discussions about the set... how he shouldn't push it. ...

I think I remember JSS talking about that too. Said something like JC had exercises to open up the voice so the higher notes would come more naturally. Said he taught relaxation and the "don't push it" thing. Don't remember the exact interview. In fact, it may have actually been Cain talking about Soto. Hhmm... ?


later~

I think with Soto, it was "don't push it. You won't be here that long."