Finally!

[yulog]

I have been hoping he would change his mind and do another album . Sounds great cant wait for this release in November.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOc_xS5gn4

[Journey/Survivor]

I have been hoping he would change his mind and do another album . Sounds great cant wait for this release in November.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOc_xS5gn4

Who is doing a new album?

Is it Steve Perry?

I can't watch YouTube clips on my insanely out dated computer.

[Monker]

I have been hoping he would change his mind and do another album . Sounds great cant wait for this release in November.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOc_xS5gn4

Who is doing a new album?

Is it Steve Perry?

I can't watch YouTube clips on my insanely out dated computer.

It sorta is. It's Hugo with his Journey tribute band Voyage doing an original song...sounding like 1983 Journey.

Way back when, I loved the Open Skyz CD. Yeah, he sounds like Perry...but he sounds different enough that he is his own singer. This new song is just Voyage trying to be as much like Perry and Journey as they can. It's a good song but I wish they would be a bit more original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-WfJ9U ... Skyz-Topic

[The_Noble_Cause]

I've seen Voyage sell-out and play venues that real Journey had performed at. Even at smaller theater venues, Hugo/Voyage sometimes have to do two shows due to demand. I've never been a big Hugo guy (too much falsetto-y), but it makes sense for him to try to do new music with the band. They have drawing power! As for the song.....not bad!

[Monker]

This brings up an interesting question. When does a "tribute band" cross the line and get into trademark infringement?

If Voyage goes on tour and performs their current show and adds five original songs from a recently released album, is that trademark infringement? They would then be using "Journey" to sell tickets and a new album. If JTT provoked a trademark complaint would not Voyage, or any "tribute band", risk the same thing? I can see Nightmare giving tribute bands a pass...because it really promotes Journey. But, if they are really promoting themselves, I don't know if they would let that go...unless they have to.

[Jeremey]

This brings up an interesting question. When does a "tribute band" cross the line and get into trademark infringement?

If Voyage goes on tour and performs their current show and adds five original songs from a recently released album, is that trademark infringement? They would then be using "Journey" to sell tickets and a new album. If JTT provoked a trademark complaint would not Voyage, or any "tribute band", risk the same thing? I can see Nightmare giving tribute bands a pass...because it really promotes Journey. But, if they are really promoting themselves, I don't know if they would let that go...unless they have to.

I think trademark infringement is pretty cut and dry, if you use logos or trademarked graphics you're in trouble. Journey currently has no interest I would think in trying to pursue something like this, they seem to have enough lawsuits to go around.

When Frontiers went "full-time" back in 2008 we had a pretty heavy full-court press from Journey's attorneys against us. Any YouTube video we put up would be hit with copyright strikes and takedowns. We were told that our logo, which was the word "FRONTIERS" in Futura font, was too similar to Journey's... when we were hired to play at EPCOT at the time they required tribute bands to have the management of the actual band sign off on them performing. We had to make all kinds of concessions in order to get that gig (which coincided with the loss of my voice).

To this day you won't find any Frontiers videos online unless they were small fan-recorded accounts. And there are hundreds of other Journey tribute bands. I guess the point is, if Journey wanted to make business tough for tribute bands they could easily do so but they really don't have any incentive at this point nor the organizational capacity to actually take on something like that.

I still want to see Voyage sometime, the closest I came was when I was in Greenwich CT last year on business and I saw they were playing at a venue on Long Island. Not knowing anything about geography I thought, "hey it's right across the bay here as the crow flies, like 5 miles from here!" But actually driving there would have been nearly 2 hours after driving the entire length of the state of CT and then taking a bridge over to Long Island etc. Maybe someday I will see them. I don't think Hugo has the most powerful voice or the closest to "Steve Perry" out there either, but I have tremendous respect for his career as an artist and would love to see one of their shows.

EDIT: I just listened to this song - well, the first 30 seconds of piano that directly ripped off of Don't Stop Believin - the song is a blatant ripoff and they should be ashamed for releasing it. Ugh.

[The_Noble_Cause]

EDIT: I just listened to this song - well, the first 30 seconds of piano that directly ripped off of Don't Stop Believin - the song is a blatant ripoff and they should be ashamed for releasing it. Ugh.

Outside of the intro, I don't hear that much similarity. Journey's first Freedom single, "The Way We Used To Be", has a slightly derivative DSB-ish into as well.

I wish them a lot of success with the album. I hope it outsells Freedom just to piss Neal off.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Samples from the full album.

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/inception/1698735307

Tracks like Sound of A Broken Heart, A Friend Like You, and I'll Be Around almost have a Perry-solo Street Talk vibe.

[Onestepper]

Samples from the full album.

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/inception/1698735307

Tracks like Sound of A Broken Heart, A Friend Like You, and I'll Be Around almost have a Perry-solo Street Talk vibe.

Yep gotta agree. Inception and the first single to me though sound straight out of the Journey playbook.

[ebake02]

Hard pass for me. Eddie Trunk played this on SiriusXM during my drive home from work and I hope they gave Neal, Steve and Jon a co-writing credit on this. The lyrics are the only part of this song that could be considered original material, they plagiarized the rest of the song.

[ebake02]

EDIT: I just listened to this song - well, the first 30 seconds of piano that directly ripped off of Don't Stop Believin - the song is a blatant ripoff and they should be ashamed for releasing it. Ugh.

Outside of the intro, I don't hear that much similarity. Journey's first Freedom single, "The Way We Used To Be", has a slightly derivative DSB-ish into as well.

The entire bass line and most of the drumming was a blatantly obvious rip off too.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Hard pass for me. Eddie Trunk played this on SiriusXM during my drive home from work and I hope they gave Neal, Steve and Jon a co-writing credit on this. The lyrics are the only part of this song that could be considered original material, they plagiarized the rest of the song.

I don't think the chorus sounds anything like DSB. If there are some similarities, good for them. They are a Journey cover band after all. I will take a competent knock-off over something like Let It Rain any day.

[jrnyman28]

I asked Andrew if he thought the similarities were intentional or organic from the years of playing Journey music. He said intentional.

[OlHoag]

Sneaking back in here after years away. Greetings!

Other than obvious keyboard intro, I was wasn't offended by influence of DSB. Song was a good listen. Just wish Hugo would grow a beard, wear a hat, shave his head... or something. I'd find him much more acceptable if he wasn't trying to immulate Perry's look. Voice is one thing, but both is too much.

[Monker]

This brings up an interesting question. When does a "tribute band" cross the line and get into trademark infringement?

If Voyage goes on tour and performs their current show and adds five original songs from a recently released album, is that trademark infringement? They would then be using "Journey" to sell tickets and a new album. If JTT provoked a trademark complaint would not Voyage, or any "tribute band", risk the same thing? I can see Nightmare giving tribute bands a pass...because it really promotes Journey. But, if they are really promoting themselves, I don't know if they would let that go...unless they have to.

I think trademark infringement is pretty cut and dry, if you use logos or trademarked graphics you're in trouble. Journey currently has no interest I would think in trying to pursue something like this, they seem to have enough lawsuits to go around.

When Frontiers went "full-time" back in 2008 we had a pretty heavy full-court press from Journey's attorneys against us. Any YouTube video we put up would be hit with copyright strikes and takedowns. We were told that our logo, which was the word "FRONTIERS" in Futura font, was too similar to Journey's... when we were hired to play at EPCOT at the time they required tribute bands to have the management of the actual band sign off on them performing. We had to make all kinds of concessions in order to get that gig (which coincided with the loss of my voice).

To this day you won't find any Frontiers videos online unless they were small fan-recorded accounts. And there are hundreds of other Journey tribute bands. I guess the point is, if Journey wanted to make business tough for tribute bands they could easily do so but they really don't have any incentive at this point nor the organizational capacity to actually take on something like that.

I still want to see Voyage sometime, the closest I came was when I was in Greenwich CT last year on business and I saw they were playing at a venue on Long Island. Not knowing anything about geography I thought, "hey it's right across the bay here as the crow flies, like 5 miles from here!" But actually driving there would have been nearly 2 hours after driving the entire length of the state of CT and then taking a bridge over to Long Island etc. Maybe someday I will see them. I don't think Hugo has the most powerful voice or the closest to "Steve Perry" out there either, but I have tremendous respect for his career as an artist and would love to see one of their shows.

EDIT: I just listened to this song - well, the first 30 seconds of piano that directly ripped off of Don't Stop Believin - the song is a blatant ripoff and they should be ashamed for releasing it. Ugh.

Jeremy,

Was it Journey hassling Frontiers or was it Nightmare? Nightmare is who made the trademark complaint against Neal and "Journey Through Time"...they hold the Journey trademark, not Journey. Kinda odd, but true. Journey is LICENSED the trademark, but they do not own it...maybe they have certain rights or had Nightmare's backing.

After you mention it, I remember you posting about this before years ago. Do you know if other tribute bands had to go through this or were they singling you and Frontiers out?

Also, totally respect your words on Voyage and Hugo. It's pretty clear to me that people seem to have their favorite tribute band and I'm not going to argue against any of that. It's a TRIBUTE BAND, have fun with it...I think it's kind of stupid to argue about tribute bands. I will always respect Jason Kelty and Escape (there are other Escape bands, BTW) for some of the same reasons you state. Check them out if you have a chance.

Just general to the thread:

Yes, the piano intro and the baseline is definitely DSB. It's not an exact copy, but close enough to know what they are emulating. I sent it to a friend who is a huge classic Journey/Perry fan who I have known for, well, a very long time to get her reaction because I completely respect it...and she has always been totally disconnected from these forums and Journey social media. Her reaction was essentially that it is a good song and will probably check out the album when it is released. So, in general, I think Voyage may have something here...kinda like The Storm did back in the 90's.

After listening to the preview that TNC posted....with the exception of this song, I don't think they blatantly copied Journey. I think they copied Steve Perry and are sounding like what Journey could have been between Frontiers and ROR...and doing a good job of it. I really liked the other songs, much more than this first song...and I will probably get the CD because of that.

[The_Noble_Cause]

As far as calculated deliberate JRNY knock-offs go, "The Dream" (the song not the whole cd) by Hugo/Ramos is the worst offender.

Just listen to Hugo's "in the niiiiight" vocal run here. Again. it's on-purpose but it's still so so so derivative.


https://youtu.be/5kV66s3vn5g?si=eLhUIvSo3ObMDR4J

[Jeremey]

Hey Monker

From my recollection it was the songwriting publishing company that was behind the YouTube take down notices. I don't think it was a trademark issue but a video sync issue. Technically any song on YouTube *should* have sync clearance from the songwriter's publishing companies. That's impractical to police on the scale of YouTube, and so they simply send all monetization for claimed videos to the publishing companies.

BUT in some cases publishers can actively seek and destroy all instances of their music on YouTube. Rick Beato is famous for talking about this - he can't publish videos on music about The Beatles or Ozzy etc because they will issue takedown requests.

Takedown requests were issued specifically to my Frontiers YT account from the publishing company during this time - to my knowledge no other tribute bands were targeted in the same way and I could only figure it had to do with my tenuous association with the band as a possible lead singer. The band was not happy that I had continued Frontiers after my deal with the band fell apart and they built the new story around Arnel. For what it's worth, Steve Perry's people would have been a totally different organization (Lee Phillips, etc) and I never heard anything from them on any of our material (noticeably there was never any takedown notice on any recordings of "Oh Sherrie" or "Missing You," etc).

It's been years at this point - there are hundreds of Journey tribute bands and it would be impossible to police them but at the time I think we were probably one of the more popular touring Journey tribute bands for nearly a decade and there's barely a trace of our existence online or on YouTube. So that kind of sucks but at this point who cares. My kids can hear me sing whenever they want and they'll have my recordings when I'm gone.

I have always been a fan of most Journey tribute bands. I knew Jason and worked with him - he filled in for me for several Frontiers gigs after my voice injury and we were on the road together so I got to know him well. I've always had huge respect for Hugo and have had good relationships with Departure from Atlanta and other Journey tributes. There were other specific individuals in the Journey tribute band realm that weren't as professional as I was going through my injury and recovery but that's on them I guess, I couldn't carry their misery at the time and now over 10 years later what does it matter anyway?

So I agree - why would people argue about something as subjective as their preference for a tribute act? There's a lot of great bands out there today and I'm glad I had some opportunity to be a part of that scene for however long it lasted.

Sorry for the delayed reply I've had trouble posting a reply the past couple of days (throws me to an error page when I try to post).

[The_Noble_Cause]

Real Music Observer is a complete tool. He traffics in conspiracies, spews untruths, and turns off comments so no one can call him out on his BS.
Now, with that out of the way, I have to share that RMO interviewed Hugo today (10-09) about this impending Voyage release. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8TKVWfuAEk

[yulog]

If anything , the first thing I noticed when I heard this song is Hugo ripping himself off from his first Solo album.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKyDX0GZk-o

[Monker]

Real Music Observer is a complete tool. He traffics in conspiracies, spews untruths, and turns off comments so no one can call him out on his BS.
Now, with that out of the way, I have to share that RMO interviewed Hugo today (10-09) about this impending Voyage release. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8TKVWfuAEk

Yeah, he went on and on about Jason Kelty a while back...he had 4 or 5 videos about him. I didn't really watch them but it seemed like he thought he discovered him or something and wanted him to be the next lead singer. He is just so annoying.

[Aaron]

Yep, and it's awesome!

If anything , the first thing I noticed when I heard this song is Hugo ripping himself off from his first Solo album.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKyDX0GZk-o

[Aaron]

The dude is a dumb ass for sure.

Real Music Observer is a complete tool. He traffics in conspiracies, spews untruths, and turns off comments so no one can call him out on his BS.
Now, with that out of the way, I have to share that RMO interviewed Hugo today (10-09) about this impending Voyage release. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8TKVWfuAEk

Yeah, he went on and on about Jason Kelty a while back...he had 4 or 5 videos about him. I didn't really watch them but it seemed like he thought he discovered him or something and wanted him to be the next lead singer. He is just so annoying.

[Aaron]

You beat me to it Y, thanks for posting it. It sounds just like an early Hugo solo tune. Awesome!

I have been hoping he would change his mind and do another album . Sounds great cant wait for this release in November.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOc_xS5gn4

[Eric]

Hard pass for me. Eddie Trunk played this on SiriusXM during my drive home from work and I hope they gave Neal, Steve and Jon a co-writing credit on this. The lyrics are the only part of this song that could be considered original material, they plagiarized the rest of the song.

I agree. I don't get the fascination at all.

[yulog]

You beat me to it Y, thanks for posting it. It sounds just like an early Hugo solo tune. Awesome!

I have been hoping he would change his mind and do another album . Sounds great cant wait for this release in November.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOc_xS5gn4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJNwiXmAyog

[The_Noble_Cause]

Reviews coming in. Out in 2 days. Really thought Frontiers would do another single by now.

https://youtu.be/FEjs4FtSvNg?si=-V-ZMwhuN4Y9xuUF

[The_Noble_Cause]

New video and single, A Friend Like You.

Mellow breezy tune channeling Street Talk vibe. Hugo could have sang this straight without the Perry affectations and it would still be keeper.


https://youtu.be/YXY_WCU1N8A?si=P93tadfv5Ypl-I-a

[Onestepper]

New video and single, A Friend Like You.

Mellow breezy tune channeling Street Talk vibe. Hugo could have sang this straight without the Perry affectations and it would still be keeper.


https://youtu.be/YXY_WCU1N8A?si=P93tadfv5Ypl-I-a

Agree. Personally just not a fan of his need to use those affectations in everything about their original work. But ultimately a good song.

[UrbanCoyote]

I like the song. I can't watch their vids tho. Creeps me out too much how he tries looking and acting like SP.

[Memorex]

I listened to the album. 6.5. Too many Perryisms. The best songs are the ones that sound truly original. I'll Be Around might as well have been called If You Need Me, Call Me, I'll Be Around. Another seems to take from Young Hearts forever. Others in there. However, good voice, good musicians. Not The Storm level, but I'm sure they had more money, plus 3 Journey dudes.