A Conversation with Kevin Chalfant

[Don]

It just seems so much an obvious question to be asked by any interviewer. "Did you audition for the Journey job in 1998?"

[Kor'n]

The thing that made Perry standout has always been the physical talent from his vocal chords coupled with his R&B base and emotive abilities, but le Listen to the opening of LTS for an example of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqNG8DW-Ohg

Can someone say try to hold the Jock strap?

Making raspberry/baby fart noises and saying "stick it in" demonstrates artistry? Are you fucking high? Perry sounds like an idiot here.

"To each his own." At that DDD site that rank singers, etc., that is the YT video that they loved and it secured Perry's #1 spot on Best Live Singers top 100 list. I thought it was too awesome. And that is a site of Freddie Mercury worshippers.

Keep up TNC, for Gideon is having so much fun.

[Yoda]

His voice is as pleasant to my ears as Perry's is. Their technical capabilities are comparable; but more, in my opinion: Chalfant emotes/connects with me as much as Perry. And while Chalfant's sharp tenor never plumbed the depths of pitch Perry's did (there's no "Captured By the Moment" in Chalfant's catalog that I'm familiar with), he was able to inject his vocals with raw grit at whim as demonstrated by "Touch And Go" off the Storm's debut album.

Fair enough. As you said, it all comes down to a subjective opinion. Chalfant's vocals are also pleasant to my ears as well, don't get me wrong. Comparing the two, I tend to enjoy Perry's (keep in mind, we're talking about both singers' voices in their prime) better than Chalfants, but Kevin's isn't too far behind. Coincidently, Touch And Go is one of my least favorite from that album.

As a vocalist, it's not at all ridiculous. Technically, they're comparable. This mysterious X-factor you ascribe to Perry and not to Chalfant is simply the product of your own personal, subjective opinion. ST can pretend all he likes that it's some proven fact that Perry's delivery exudes emotion and Chalfant's is soulless, but it isn't.

I can see a comparison IF we put the two voices together on a song in which the vocal melody has already been written, and both must sing that vocal melody virtually the same way. Then, it just simply comes down to who you like better. Where I think the rubber meets the road, would be to give both singers a song in which the main vocal part needs to be written, let's say a song written by Jon Cain for a new Journey album for argument sake, and see who is able to come up with the best approach, arrangement, and/or melody for the vocal part. This is where I believe Perry would get the edge over Chalfant, but it would be interesting to see how close both would come to writing similar vocal lines for the song.

Yeah, neither do any of Perry's works on Street Talk or FTLOSM despite the fact that it's the same guy who sang on Escape or Frontiers. The Storm is a stellar album vocally, but (in my opinion, anyway) hardly extraordinary. But something was once said of Perry that I believe applies to music artists in general: it takes more than a great voice to produce a great album.

Certainly, I would agree that while I do like Steve Perry's solo work, it pales in comparison to the work he did in Journey. Which is why I ascribe to the belief that while Cain or Perry is still very good without each other in terms of songwriting, nothing compares to what those guys did together, along with Schon, in Journey. Arrival and Revelation was very good, and I enjoyed both albums quite a bit. But, in my opinion, having all three working together is ultimately what brought Journey to the forefront.

It has never been more evident how much Journey has needed a vocalist they could trust to come up with the vocal melodies for these songs, than in the present with Pineda. Pineda is great with singing what has already been written, although I've never been a fan of his diction issues or his interpretation of some lyrics, but other than that, he's pretty good with singing what Cain tells him to sing. And I think this is where Cain has alluded to the feeling that songwriting for this band is becoming much more difficult for him. In the past, he would come up with a song, Perry would add his vocals, Schon would add his guitar work. It was collaborative in the sense that Cain didn't have to build the car and also drive it. He could rely on Perry's abilities to add the perfect vocal lines to the songs. It also helped that Perry's voice seemed to work seamlessly with Schon's guitar work as well. They both were a compliment to each other. That's why it worked so well for these guys back in the day, and that's why it was probably both fun and hell for them during the recording phase.

[Gideon]

I plead no contest on Arnel vs. Kevin. Arnel's current issues notwithstanding, he's a great singer. Good enough to spirit my mother from Loon Land and redeem her immortal soul.

But Kevin was even better. As a songwriter, I'm not sure. The Storm isn't really a beacon of quality pop songwriting, but it's serviceable.

[Yoda]

I plead no contest on Arnel vs. Kevin. Arnel's current issues notwithstanding, he's a great singer. Good enough to spirit my mother from Loon Land and redeem her immortal soul.

But Kevin was even better. As a songwriter, I'm not sure. The Storm isn't really a beacon of quality pop songwriting, but it's serviceable.

If it's a debate of Arnel verse Kevin, I would go with Kevin. Even though in terms of strength of voice, Arnel wins out, Kevin seemed to be the more well rounded singer (no pun intended on that comment! ) Kevin has the back catalog as proof of decent songwriting for Journey's genre of music. Yes, some of it seems kind of cheesey and paint by the numbers to me, but some of it is really good. Being paired with a songwriter, such as Jon Cain, would be a huge help to Kevin, and I think Kevin is talented enough to come up with pretty good vocal melodies to music that Cain would produce. Then again, that is all assumption on my part. With Arnel, there is practically no songwriting resume to go by, and I think the band has already decided that is going to continue being the case.

[tater1977]

Now that JC seems to be working with other artists, there in Nashville in his Studio..
Wonder if KC goes & asks him to write with him? Curious as to what might come
out of that pairing...

[Don]

Now that JC seems to be working with other artists, there in Nashville in his Studio..
Wonder if KC goes & asks him to write with him? Curious as to what might come
out of that pairing...

I wouldn't go near him with a ten foot pole if I was Jon.
Dude is still "hoping for the phone to ring." He'd want Cain to help him create some kind of Journey lite act. It's not needed.