Soto and All This Singer Talk...

[cineman74]

So, all this talk about either bringing back Augeri or hiring Jeremy Hunsicker (who I think is really great, BTW, having watched his clips on YouTube) has left me with a question.

Maybe I'm missing something here, and maybe this has already been covered before, so forgive me, but why would the band bring in yet another singer that the public would be virtually unaware of? I knew Soto's work from my teen days as an Yngwie Malmsteen fan, and I saw him kick butt last summer on the Def Leppard co-headlining tour, so I've always known his voice to be one of real power. I know lots of people didn't know Soto before that, but many seemed to think he did a great job, so why fire him if they were going to go with another unknown? If it isn't Steve Perry singing for Journey, isn't one unknown as good as another in the eyes of Joe and Joanne Public? What would filling the slot with anyone other than Steve Perry accomplish? At least Soto had that tour to introduce himself, but the concern here is that fans won't get too attached to anybody if they feel like they're going to be consistently hit with change.

It just seems to me that the thing to do would have been to continue on with Soto. People dug him, and now they know who he is. He's got room to grow. People say the band wants a singer that sounds exactly like Perry, but my thought is that if Soto didn't at least have a little Perry in him, he wouldn't have been singing for Journey in the first place. Soto's a rock singer, and that's why he works for me, he's got that edge that the band needs now.

The twilight of a band's career can cause some crazy decisions sometimes. Good luck to all the singers of Journey, past and future. If it's Jeremey, I wish him the best, but this situation is clearly messy.

[donnaplease]

"People" didn't say they wanted to sound exactly like Steve Perry. Those were the words of Jonathon Cain himself in a recent interview. Your comments are similar to many reflected here since the news broke. It's all a bunch of shit, but in the end, the one who will have benefitted is Jeff Scott Soto. He has established a new legion of fans that are very faithful to him. He will be okay.

[Ms_M]

"People" didn't say they wanted to sound exactly like Steve Perry. Those were the words of Jonathon Cain himself in a recent interview. Your comments are similar to many reflected here since the news broke. It's all a bunch of shit, but in the end, the one who will have benefitted is Jeff Scott Soto. He has established a new legion of fans that are very faithful to him. He will be okay.

He will be BETTER than ok!!

[larryfromnextdoor]

i hope jeremey changes his name to Jake Blades.. THAT would be killer..

[Playitloudforme]

"but in the end, the one who will have benefitted is Jeff Scott Soto. He has established a new legion of fans that are very faithful to him. He will be okay.

Booyah!

[FormerJrnyFan]

i hope jeremey changes his name to Jake Blades.. THAT would be killer..

Hahahahahaha.... there's only Mr. Blades...

[Red13JoePa]

End of the day meeting w/ JSS, ironing out any issues and problems and continuing Journey as contstrued 3 months ago WAS the best way to go.

Look back to June of 2006. We were close to being an utter shambles. Augeri's vocal tank is running on fumes, with still a huge American summer tour to do still ahead. 'Gate is still blazing, the band is somewhat of an online laughingstock and then the atrocious night for SA when has to bail and Deen C rolls out from behind the kit. We were at a low ebb that night.

Then 'Drew's headline before the next show I can still recall it "Journey: Steve Augeri Flies home, JSS Flies in" and there was a swing in the direction of hope....we all watched for reports of the first few shows and despite a few naysayers and some JSS-admitted growing pains the first few shows went over electric, all circumstances considered. From there it became an exciting summer to follow the band and come here and talk about how they played this, and I heard they're working on that, etc etc....JSS himself was in here tipping us off what to expect from a fan's POV for certain shows....
we congregated and dissected the setlists and boots that were starting to pour forth....we went from being bummed out over the situation to being amazed that bringing on JSS saved arguably the most important tour since ROR. We were excited to come here and talk about every subsequent show, pumped to talk about the next album and tour....

I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong that couldn't be repaired through communication.

[cineman74]

I agree with what you're saying there. These older bands just pull these decisions out of nowhere and it's sometimes a bandmate and/or the fans that get hurt. I figured they could have talked things through. Soto's been around this business, he probably wasn't asking for the moon and had already worked with Schon, so it seemed like a great situation. You start thinking about what could have possibly happened between him officially joining the band and today, two drastically different scenarios.

When all is said and done, people will always want the original. So replacing a replacement of a replacement of the original seems like a needless decision. Too many changes and people just get nervous, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still, like I said, Jeremey sounds like a really cool dude. If he gets the job, I wish him the best, it sounds like he's got some choppy waters to navigate in that camp. He's the only reason I'd say the band should go on, not necessarily for Journey's sake, but, hey, just because it might be nice to see him have a taste of that kind of success.

[Kimmy]

"People" didn't say they wanted to sound exactly like Steve Perry. Those were the words of Jonathon Cain himself in a recent interview. Your comments are similar to many reflected here since the news broke. It's all a bunch of shit, but in the end, the one who will have benefitted is Jeff Scott Soto. He has established a new legion of fans that are very faithful to him. He will be okay.

Yep, I think Jeff has made so many new fans that whatever he decides to do, he will have a fanbase that will follow. Well, at least I will!

[frostbite]

I just wonder who the hell's gonna be crazy enough to take the job as Journey's new vocalist. Whoever does take it is only going to be interested in using the position to make a name for themselves and move on. They're not gonna give a crap about Journey or the fans. This is so over.

[Saint John]

I just wonder who the hell's gonna be crazy enough to take the job as Journey's new vocalist. Whoever does take it is only going to be interested in using the position to make a name for themselves and move on. They're not gonna give a crap about Journey or the fans. This is so over.

Having read Jeremey's posts and talked to him a few times, I can ASSURE you that he cares about Journey, and in particular, the fans. And he'd be crazy NOT to take the position if offered it.

[zino]

End of the day meeting w/ JSS, ironing out any issues and problems and continuing Journey as contstrued 3 months ago WAS the best way to go.

Look back to June of 2006. We were close to being an utter shambles. Augeri's vocal tank is running on fumes, with still a huge American summer tour to do still ahead. 'Gate is still blazing, the band is somewhat of an online laughingstock and then the atrocious night for SA when has to bail and Deen C rolls out from behind the kit. We were at a low ebb that night.

Then 'Drew's headline before the next show I can still recall it "Journey: Steve Augeri Flies home, JSS Flies in" and there was a swing in the direction of hope....we all watched for reports of the first few shows and despite a few naysayers and some JSS-admitted growing pains the first few shows went over electric, all circumstances considered. From there it became an exciting summer to follow the band and come here and talk about how they played this, and I heard they're working on that, etc etc....JSS himself was in here tipping us off what to expect from a fan's POV for certain shows....
we congregated and dissected the setlists and boots that were starting to pour forth....we went from being bummed out over the situation to being amazed that bringing on JSS saved arguably the most important tour since ROR. We were excited to come here and talk about every subsequent show, pumped to talk about the next album and tour....

I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong that couldn't be repaired through communication.

Ver well said !!! Must add the excitment of the 3 FLA shows and the European tour in the spring of 2007. everyone here was on a Journey high, then we were chopped at the knees.