Kevin Chalfant's Journey Experience

[DigiMix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35E9bgpQ ... ture=share
Kevin hits it out of the park.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Apparently this is Kev's Two Fires touring band, but the name Two Fires wasn't exactly paying the rent. But, that's ok. If anyone has earned the right to shamelessly ride the coattails of Journey, it's this cat.

[Aaron]

I had a quick read on his web site. He claims to have direct experience with Journey and replace Steve Perry for a period of time ensuring his band isn't a cover band? I'm only aware of a one off show he did with Journey that no one has heard. I also understand he wrote some songs with the band. Does this really justify his position? I love Kevin but this seems like a stretch to me. Augeri is the only guy that can make that "direct" experience claim. And Jeremey did write a song with them.

[george_g]

I had a quick read on his web site. He claims to have direct experience with Journey and replace Steve Perry for a period of time ensuring his band isn't a cover band? I'm only aware of a one off show he did with Journey that no one has heard. I also understand he wrote some songs with the band. Does this really justify his position? I love Kevin but this seems like a stretch to me. Augeri is the only guy that can make that "direct" experience claim. And Jeremey did write a song with them.

"formerly" of journey is way too much for Chalfant...he might have trouble with Journey management...

[Jeremey]

I have the utmost respect for Kevin's talent but I was a little put off when my agent told me a couple years ago that Kevin was soliciting him to book HIS Journey tribute at the time, insisting that he was with formerly with Journey, and had Herbie's blessing for his project, and wanted to schedule a conference call with my agent and it sounded like Herbie as well...didn't think it was too cool at the time but in hindsight, having barely survived my schedule this past year, it would have been interesting to see how that pairing would have worked out LOL

[george_g]

I have the utmost respect for Kevin's talent but I was a little put off when my agent told me a couple years ago that Kevin was soliciting him to book HIS Journey tribute at the time, insisting that he was with formerly with Journey, and had Herbie's blessing for his project, and wanted to schedule a conference call with my agent and it sounded like Herbie as well...didn't think it was too cool at the time but in hindsight, having barely survived my schedule this past year, it would have been interesting to see how that pairing would have worked out LOL

LOL!

[Abitaman]

I have the utmost respect for Kevin's talent but I was a little put off when my agent told me a couple years ago that Kevin was soliciting him to book HIS Journey tribute at the time, insisting that he was with formerly with Journey, and had Herbie's blessing for his project, and wanted to schedule a conference call with my agent and it sounded like Herbie as well...didn't think it was too cool at the time but in hindsight, having barely survived my schedule this past year, it would have been interesting to see how that pairing would have worked out LOL

I hear you have an ITUNES release coming out soon? When?

[Don]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

[Abitaman]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

He is a great singer, IMO. He is NOT a Perry copy cat or clone. He puts his on feeling into his songs and whatever other songs he is singing. On the Storm there are a lot of moments he has that Perry vibe going on, and a lot where he doesn't. But either way he nails the songs.

[Eric]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

Agreed

[The_Noble_Cause]

I have the utmost respect for Kevin's talent but I was a little put off when my agent told me a couple years ago that Kevin was soliciting him to book HIS Journey tribute at the time, insisting that he was with formerly with Journey, and had Herbie's blessing for his project, and wanted to schedule a conference call with my agent and it sounded like Herbie as well...didn't think it was too cool at the time but in hindsight, having barely survived my schedule this past year, it would have been interesting to see how that pairing would have worked out LOL

Always wanted to see a "Voices of Journey" Act - featuring you, Soto, Chalfant, Augeri, Fleishman, whoever.

[kgdjpubs]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

He is a great singer, IMO. He is NOT a Perry copy cat or clone. He puts his on feeling into his songs and whatever other songs he is singing. On the Storm there are a lot of moments he has that Perry vibe going on, and a lot where he doesn't. But either way he nails the songs.

Agreed. Listen to him on the Running with the Wind solo cd, and 95% of the time, he is very far away from Perry. This, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUFe-tgFyPA, is about as close to Perry as he gets. He does have a very similar range however and could really pull off the Journey songs at the time (aka around the time of The Storm's Eye of the Storm cd). Out of everyone, he probably has the closest natural range to Perry, and therefore stood the best chance of not shredding his voice, but he isn't a clone by any stretch of the word.

btw, for what it's worth, I don't get the Bickler comparison at all....

[Journey/Survivor]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

He is a great singer, IMO. He is NOT a Perry copy cat or clone. He puts his on feeling into his songs and whatever other songs he is singing. On the Storm there are a lot of moments he has that Perry vibe going on, and a lot where he doesn't. But either way he nails the songs.

Agreed. Listen to him on the Running with the Wind solo cd, and 95% of the time, he is very far away from Perry. This, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUFe-tgFyPA, is about as close to Perry as he gets. He does have a very similar range however and could really pull off the Journey songs at the time (aka around the time of The Storm's Eye of the Storm cd). Out of everyone, he probably has the closest natural range to Perry, and therefore stood the best chance of not shredding his voice, but he isn't a clone by any stretch of the word.

btw, for what it's worth, I don't get the Bickler comparison at all....

There are The Storm songs like "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love" and "Show Me The Way" where Kevin sounds a tremendous amount like Steve Perry. I can't go that far with any comparisons with Dave Bickler.
But, ironically, shortly before I read these comments on this page, I was thinking about how Kevin Chalfant was almost the replacement for Dave Bickler in Survivor back when Bickler left the band in the 80's. And I was thinking that even though I'm an even bigger fan of Jamison's singing, that Chalfant had a more similar range to Bickler's than Jamison does.

[koberry]

Meh, not so much... Absolutely loved his vocals on the 707 Megaforce album way back. Just about wore out that on cassette

[Arkansas]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

Yeah, I think I can see/hear that. But going back 15 or so years, I think that Chalfant was an obvious choice that could have done some great things for Journey...especially, if they'd have brought back Rolie too. Of course, that means that we might have never seen Augeri, or Arrival as we know it now. And no offense to SA, but that may not have been a bad thing. I still think that there's a lot of great 'Storm' music that would have reached a lot of people if it had the Journey name on it. And perhaps, some of Arrival, in whatever form, would have come about anyhow...maybe even pieces of Generations, at least the best couple parts of it.

Now then, there was something about Chalfant that Journey/Schon didn't like. May not have been voice, but rather creative leadership, and they feared a competitive ego. Who knows. I speculate that Perry, although on the fringe then, feared the same thing, and that's exactly why he jumped back in. Maybe he didn't really want to 'do Journey again'...maybe he just didn't like them leaning toward Chalfant. (It is a plausible thought.)

But let's shift gears to post-Augeri, post-Soto. It's been suggested, through media friends, that Jeremy Hunsicker sounded more like Chalfant than Perry. And they chose not to go with him, because of that. Since they didn't do Chalfant, they didn't want to do a guy that sounded like Chalfant.

Maybe a stretch overall, but I can agree that Hunsicker does sound more like Chalfant than Perry.


later~

[The_Noble_Cause]

Craziest rumor I ever heard (and one not to be taken entirely seriously)....is that part of the quid-pro-quo to let the band continue, was that Perry had final veto power over the band's selection. Perry was intimidated by Chalfant's talent, (or at least acknowledged knowing him in one of the Journeyforce newsletters), and only would sign off to the lesser talented Augeri.

[Gideon]

Perry was intimidated by Chalfant's talent, (or at least acknowledged knowing him in one of the Journeyforce newsletters), and only would sign off to the lesser talented Augeri.

As self-conscious as Perry apparently is, I could believe that he might be intimidated by Chalfant.

[Arkansas]

Perry was intimidated by Chalfant's talent, (or at least acknowledged knowing him in one of the Journeyforce newsletters), and only would sign off to the lesser talented Augeri.

As self-conscious as Perry apparently is, I could believe that he might be intimidated by Chalfant.

I think that if there was any intimidation, it was once he heard Chalfant & Rolie do 'The Storm', which included Valory & Smith. Although not a big commercial seller, I think the sound of that record probably shook Perry to the core. (It probably woke-up Schon & Cain too, btw.)

I can't imagine that Perry had any say-so over Augeri at all. That's a different thing. Perry has said many times about the 'divorce' being final on May something 1998. He also recently said that he hated them (at the time) for doing that. Remember, he wanted Journey to STOP, period.

Muy interesante, todo.


later~

[Jeremey]

I just don't get all the hoopla when it comes to this guy. Listening to the Storm, he sounds more like Dave Bickler than Steve Perry.

But let's shift gears to post-Augeri, post-Soto. It's been suggested, through media friends, that Jeremy Hunsicker sounded more like Chalfant than Perry. And they chose not to go with him, because of that. Since they didn't do Chalfant, they didn't want to do a guy that sounded like Chalfant.

Maybe a stretch overall, but I can agree that Hunsicker does sound more like Chalfant than Perry.


later~

Naw, it was much simpler and ultimately more disgusting than that, LOL.