It's been a long Journey for Kevin Chalfant

[tater1977]

It's been a long Journey for Kevin Chalfant

http://lancasteronline.com/article/loca ... lfant.html

By JON FERGUSON


Kevin Chalfant's involvement with Journey, which will take him to the Village Nightclub, 205 N. Christian St., Saturday night, began in 1994 when he sat down for a cup of coffee with the rock band.

Chalfant, an Illinois native who had previously played in the bands 707, Steel Breeze and the Storm, was brought in to replace Steve Perry, Journey's leather-lunged singer, who had retired.

"We started working on a record together," Chalfant says during a telephone interview. "We started writing songs. ... I don't know how Steve felt about it, but I'm sure it wasn't something that rested very easy with him because he came out of retirement.

"You can kind of look at how the chips fell. He came out of retirement, and they did another record."

With Perry back in, Chalfant was out.

Perry, however, didn't stay unretired and left a few years later. When the others members of Journey decided to shoulder on with other singers, they didn't contact Chalfant. Instead, they've hired a series of singers, including Steve Augeri, Jeff Scott Soto and current vocalist Arnel Pineda.

"I've told them," Chalfant says, " 'If you ever need a good relief pitcher, I've done it before. I'm staying in shape and I'm singing your songs.' I joke around with them about it but, gosh, I know, if anything, they're going to keep dipping in the young pool."

He stays in shape through a touring show he calls Kevin Chalfant's Journey Experience, which he's been doing for about five years. Backing Chalant Saturday at the Village will be the veteran band Hybrid Ice, which he has previously played with and is familiar to patrons of the Village. (For more information, see http://www.villagenightclub.com.)

"The band does a great job, they really do," Chalfant says. "They step up and they play the Journey stuff pretty darn good."

Chalfant, who is married and has three children and one grandson, says the show got its start when he started adding Journey songs to his solo repertoire and discovered they got a great response from the audience.

He kept adding more and more until it got to the point where he decided to simply make it a Journey tribute show, singing the band's huge hits, including, "Don't Stop Believin', "Faithfully," "Who's Cryin' Now" and "Open Arms."

Chalfant does mix in some songs from his other musical endeavors, including Storm, a band he formed in 1990 with Journey member Ross Valory and former members Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith.

The Storm enjoyed immediate success as its self-titled debut album sold well and a single, "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love," peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard charts.

The band. however, soon was forgotten by its record label as rap and grunge moved to the musical forefront. The band wasn't able to release a follow-up until 1996 and, by that time, any momentum the band once had was gone.

Chalfant says he harbors no ill feelings.

"I've had a great career and I've had a great life," he says.

Chalfant also says he has no problems with the members of Journey, and they have no problems with his tribute show.

"Even though I'm not working with them, I'm sort of working alongside of them," he says. "I'm not a threat to them. If anything, it's probably amusing to them."

[The_Noble_Cause]

Thanks for posting. Chalfant in PA? Wow. Don't think he tours out that way much.

[AR]

I had obligations last night or I would have gone.

[kgdjpubs]

Thanks for posting. Chalfant in PA? Wow. Don't think he tours out that way much.

tell me about it. He doesn't tour outside of the midwest very often at all. I'll be up there in the Lancaster area about 2 months. Just my luck....

[maverick218]

I really like Kevin, personally, I would have loved to have heard a Chalfant led Journey.

[tater1977]

The Storm and Former Journey Lead Singer Kevin Chalfant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjfhzyxJ ... ture=share

KC describes his time in Journey as their lead singer...
Start at 2.35 - 4.15 ...

[brywool]

jees, do ya think that if the press quit making the Journey jokes that Chalfant might actually have a chance? I do. Get away from JOURNEY, you were in it for a fleeting second. Honestly, to say "Oh, I was in Journey for a bit, but then they went with someone else" really probably isn't the best thing to put out there. I would think that "I was in the Storm with members of Journey, it was a great band.... etc." might be a better way to go if we have to bring "Journey" into the conversation at all.

Take Hugo for example- do you really think it's doing him a world of good being known as a Steve Perry soundalike, especially when he's trying to push his own stuff? I don't.