Questions about the Steve Augeri era.

[TotoFan77]

I honestly never listened to Journey much during the Augeri era. I lost interest after Perry left and it wasn't until Arnel came that I regained interest. I listened to songs Steve Augeri did back in 1998 and it sounds amazing! When did the vocal problems begin? I saw a performance from 2005 and he sounds good in that but I'm guessing it's not live?

[TotoFan77]

That's really interesting that he was still singing live up until 2005. I remember reading he first started lip syncing around 2003 but I guess that was bullshit. It's a real shame because his performances back in 1998 were AMAZING.

[Eric]

That's really interesting that he was still singing live up until 2005. I remember reading he first started lip syncing around 2003 but I guess that was bullshit. It's a real shame because his performances back in 1998 were AMAZING.

More like "miming" more and more and relying on Deen more and more. I remember reading (at the time) he blew out his voice at a rodeo in February 2003. So, while he had troubles as far back as needing to re-do the 2000 live DVD - that might be where it really started.

[TotoFan77]

Didn't know about the DVD, what's the story? He actually had to go into the studio and re-record all the vocals?

[FamilyMan]

Didn't know about the DVD, what's the story? He actually had to go into the studio and re-record all the vocals?

That's supposedly what happened ... that the vocals you hear were added later. I saw Augeri in '98 on the Vacation's Over tour. I was blown away. If the Arrival 2001 Live DVD was in fact re-recorded, that means he was toast after only one tour.

http://www.journey-tribute.com/journey/ ... /vacation/

[YoungJRNY]

Tapegates well known. That said, some of my favorite handful of tunes came from the Augeri-era and remains, to me, one of the most underrated eras of Journey. Most respect and hold Augeri to a high standard by filling unfillable shoes that Perry left and it didn't end well with Tapegate but everything else in between deserves to be recognized and appreciated IMO.

Steve Augeri proved his worth, toured his ass off and threw his hand in the pile to give us some rockin Journey music with new material with his lineup. As far as when it started, I have heard some boots starting in 2003 of him relying more and more on the crutch of tapes, still singing most of the setlist live but only relying on some help here and there and over the next few years, becoming nothing but totally relying on the tapes to get through tours before finally exploding in controversy in 2006's DL tour.

[Aaron]

I seen Augeri at his first show with Journey in 1998 and he was really good. Nervous but good!

The funny part about the Def Leppard Tour was DL had a LOT of backing vocals running (seen them in Indy). Elliot sounded like crap and was way down range wise and low in the mix. However, Elliot was also running in his original range at the same time through the PA. I guarantee DF was running backing tapes of Elliot from years ago to augment the vocals, it was apparent. He wasn't lip synching but where do you draw the line? Funny how it works ...

Funnier yet, you know Schon and Cain knew exactly what was going on during tape gate and did not want the money train running off the tracks until gig was up. Once the lid was blown, Augeri was a wheel choke getting thrown under the bus and the dudes pushing the issue rock on. DH's

[Rick]

I honestly never listened to Journey much during the Augeri era. I lost interest after Perry left and it wasn't until Arnel came that I regained interest. I listened to songs Steve Augeri did back in 1998 and it sounds amazing! When did the vocal problems begin? I saw a performance from 2005 and he sounds good in that but I'm guessing it's not live?

I didn't listen to the Augeri albums much for a while, but when I did, I realized it was really good stuff. He sang his ass off for Journey. As to the tapegate thing. I don't fault Augeri a bit. Not now anyway. I had other things to say years ago, but taking it all in, I realize that if he were able to sing, he would have. He was just under pressure to keep the machine rolling.

[JeremyP]

This has always been my favorite era of Journey. I love the songs and Steve's voice. He's got a really warm tone that suits Journey material and I appreciate that fact that his phrasing on classic Journey songs was more like the record as opposed to Perry and by extension, JSS, who would alter the melodies and phrasing frequently.

[kgdjpubs]

I saw Augeri in '98 on the Vacation's Over tour. I was blown away. If the Arrival 2001 Live DVD was in fact re-recorded, that means he was toast after only one tour.

I think the Augeri vocal problems were off/on from basically near the beginning. The Escape-era material was always near the top end of his range, so if his voice was just a little off, it was noticable. He never had much "cushion" so to speak--and that was the problem as much as anything. Saw him numerous times, and it was always the question of how much voice he had available. Some nights were really good, others he managed to get by, and there were one or two shows where it almost seemed effortless. He was very strong as late as 2003, and that was a 2hr Journey set, but it was part of the one-off mini tour after the big summer co-headline event.

I think the problems really started mid-to-late 2004. There's one recording from late 2004 where you can tell he's struggling pretty good. After that, it was problem city, and the Generations tour where he was warming up just to stand on stage for an hour with instrumentals from the first couple of albums and then expected to come on strong when your voice had cooled down pretty much finished him off.

[Aaron]

Augeri is a great singer and a great guy. I think the tour where they did 3 hour sets (I don't remember the tour but I've seen them all), is what hurt Augeri. They did a lot of old songs and went on for 3 hours. I think that was the begining of problems for Augeri. He's a good dude and a great singer. I'll see him again.

I saw Augeri in '98 on the Vacation's Over tour. I was blown away. If the Arrival 2001 Live DVD was in fact re-recorded, that means he was toast after only one tour.

I think the Augeri vocal problems were off/on from basically near the beginning. The Escape-era material was always near the top end of his range, so if his voice was just a little off, it was noticable. He never had much "cushion" so to speak--and that was the problem as much as anything. Saw him numerous times, and it was always the question of how much voice he had available. Some nights were really good, others he managed to get by, and there were one or two shows where it almost seemed effortless. He was very strong as late as 2003, and that was a 2hr Journey set, but it was part of the one-off mini tour after the big summer co-headline event.

I think the problems really started mid-to-late 2004. There's one recording from late 2004 where you can tell he's struggling pretty good. After that, it was problem city, and the Generations tour where he was warming up just to stand on stage for an hour with instrumentals from the first couple of albums and then expected to come on strong when your voice had cooled down pretty much finished him off.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Augeri is a great singer and a great guy. I think the tour where they did 3 hour sets (I don't remember the tour but I've seen them all), is what hurt Augeri. They did a lot of old songs and went on for 3 hours. I think that was the begining of problems for Augeri...

Augeri was already in the raw waaay before the 30th anniversary tour. Sorry. The first hour barely had SA singing, and then the band took an intermission before resuming with all Perry songs. More than likely, the band felt comfortable doing 3-hour shows because no amount of time (on-stage or off) would help SA with his ongoing issues.

[AR]

The over toured. Journey loves destroying vocalists because other than Perry these guys are too busy paying for divorces.

Perry is the one guy that doesn't need to go out there every year.

[tj]

I just finished re-reading Andrew's interview with SP (great by the way). I think anyone trying to sing the Journey catalog in the original key is going to eventually crack. SP, SA, Arnel, doesn't matter.

I do think that JSS could have lasted longer but the songs didn't sound the same. Different voice altogether. I enjoyed him, just different.