Neal interview/ revisionist Augeri history

[The_Noble_Cause]

"But after Perry left the group in 1998, the band replaced him with Steve Augeri and saw their popularity plummet. In the middle of Journey’s 2006 tour — the band’s first joint outing with Def Leppard — they fired Augeri due to a chronic throat infection."

https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/26/j ... eve-perry/


This author is an idiot and full of shit. They enjoyed a lot of touring success under Augeri.

[tj]

“Arnel is tremendously talented and the band is as well, especially with Steve Smith back,” Schon said. “We’re not going away anytime soon.”

Wishful thinking on Neal's part or do they have a plan?

[RPM]

Are they back to the original key for this tour? or stepped down?

[JeremyP]

Jumping in here to post my annual $00.02/Augeri (my dawg) defense.

Journey experienced such a resurgence in popularity that the Journey 2001 dvd was the best selling music dvd at Cdnow.com for quite some time. Number 1, beating out all other music/concert dvd's in stock, which at that time was pretty much everything that was out. Kevin Shirley even commented that he was sure that Journey's and Dream Theater's respective record companies were no doubt shocked at the upswing in popularity regarding the Cdnow sales figures. Dream Theater had secured the number one studio album spot at that time with "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence".

Journey also had appearances on VH1 (back when it was good) including Behind The Music which was popular enough to merit a Director's Cut episode, which someone on the Journey BackTalk message board confirmed through VH1 that it was due to the popularity of that episode. They also appeared on "Where Are They Now?", "Blind Date", the CBS Early Show, as well as at least one more daytime news show, the title of which slips my mind.

I also heard both "Remember Me" and "With Your Love" played on the radio as well as an Augeri-era live version of "Separate Ways" way down in my little corner of the Southern United States, the DJs at the time discussing the lead singer replacement issue. Furthering my own anecdotal evidence, when RED13 came out, I asked a family member to pick it up for me since the music store (I miss music stores) was on their way as they were shopping. They didn't have it, but the sales guy said, "Man, so many people have been in here asking for this. We don't have it right now." They eventually got it.

You get my point. Back in another year or so.

Be Awesome To Each Other.

And MAGA.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Jumping in here to post my annual $00.02/Augeri (my dawg) defense.

Journey experienced such a resurgence in popularity that the Journey 2001 dvd was the best selling music dvd at Cdnow.com for quite some time. Number 1, beating out all other music/concert dvd's in stock, which at that time was pretty much everything that was out. Kevin Shirley even commented that he was sure that Journey's and Dream Theater's respective record companies were no doubt shocked at the upswing in popularity regarding the Cdnow sales figures. Dream Theater had secured the number one studio album spot at that time with "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence".

Journey also had appearances on VH1 (back when it was good) including Behind The Music which was popular enough to merit a Director's Cut episode, which someone on the Journey BackTalk message board confirmed through VH1 that it was due to the popularity of that episode. They also appeared on "Where Are They Now?", "Blind Date", the CBS Early Show, as well as at least one more daytime news show, the title of which slips my mind.

I also heard both "Remember Me" and "With Your Love" played on the radio as well as an Augeri-era live version of "Separate Ways" way down in my little corner of the Southern United States, the DJs at the time discussing the lead singer replacement issue. Furthering my own anecdotal evidence, when RED13 came out, I asked a family member to pick it up for me since the music store (I miss music stores) was on their way as they were shopping. They didn't have it, but the sales guy said, "Man, so many people have been in here asking for this. We don't have it right now." They eventually got it.

You get my point. Back in another year or so.

Be Awesome To Each Other.

And MAGA.

Thanks Jeremy. You should send this excellent response to the writer of the biased article. His email is below.

rraihala@pioneerpress.com

[JohnH]

Are they back to the original key for this tour? or stepped down?

I checked. Down half step still. Saw Foreigner last night -also down a half.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XyYPv1lG0k

[Aaron]

True! And not interested a half step down.

Are they back to the original key for this tour? or stepped down?

I checked. Down half step still. Saw Foreigner last night -also down a half.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XyYPv1lG0k

[Aaron]

The band would be nothing without Augeri. The dude was good. I saw them several times with Augeri, the dude was cool as a fan.

[ebake02]

The band would be nothing without Augeri. The dude was good.

Jon said as much in his book too. He said they’re would be no Arnel without Steve Augeri and I completely agree with him. The band’s popularity went down the toilet after Perry quit the last time and Augeri is the only reason they got it back.

[steveo777]

The band would be nothing without Augeri. The dude was good. I saw them several times with Augeri, the dude was cool as a fan.

Absolutely agree! Mr. Augeri was a key factor in the resurgence of the band. His hard work eventually got respect of the fans and got them to accept that Journey could go on with a replacement singer. He did a hell of a job, until his health issues. Had they gone straight from Perry to Arnel, I don't think AP would have been accepted very well at that time and the band would not be where they are now. The point is Augeri was the very talented buffer that got the band accepted again with a replacement singer. Things were tough for Arnel, at first, but it could have been much worse, had Augeri not preceded him.

[Abitaman]

The band would be nothing without Augeri. The dude was good. I saw them several times with Augeri, the dude was cool as a fan.

Augeri gets the short end of the stick. If it wasn't for him stepping in and taking the lead spot for 8 years, Journey may be just a footnote in history, with Perry getting all the credit for Journey,

[Greg]

I also heard both "Remember Me" and "With Your Love" played on the radio as well as an Augeri-era live version of "Separate Ways" way down in my little corner of the Southern United States

Were you in Roanoke, VA at the time? I'd always have the radio on either a Roanoke station or a Greensboro station, and would always hope to hear Journey played. Seems like the only time I would hear Journey on the radio is if it was a classic tune on WROV or 99.9. They did play When You Love A Woman back in '96, which I was shocked it got radio airplay. Back in those days, radio stations were purely "New Rock" as they labeled alternative rock.

[Aaron]

Think about it, Augeri stepped in to take over for Christ on a mic. WTF would do that. Dude had balls just giving it a shot. I saw one of his first shows, maybe the first one in Louisville in 1998. He was a scared and you could tell but delivered it and did it well. Dude is a good guy and could sing well. Journey owes Augeri their future and resurgence. I hope he's getting what he deserves $ wise. They would be nothing without him.

The band would be nothing without Augeri. The dude was good. I saw them several times with Augeri, the dude was cool as a fan.

Augeri gets the short end of the stick. If it wasn't for him stepping in and taking the lead spot for 8 years, Journey may be just a footnote in history, with Perry getting all the credit for Journey,

[JeremyP]

Think about it, Augeri stepped in to take over for Christ on a mic. WTF would do that. Dude had balls just giving it a shot. I saw one of his first shows, maybe the first one in Louisville in 1998. He was a scared and you could tell but delivered it and did it well. Dude is a good guy and could sing well. Journey owes Augeri their future and resurgence. I hope he's getting what he deserves $ wise. They would be nothing without him.

The band would be nothing without Augeri. The dude was good. I saw them several times with Augeri, the dude was cool as a fan.

Augeri gets the short end of the stick. If it wasn't for him stepping in and taking the lead spot for 8 years, Journey may be just a footnote in history, with Perry getting all the credit for Journey,

Agree 100%

I also heard both "Remember Me" and "With Your Love" played on the radio as well as an Augeri-era live version of "Separate Ways" way down in my little corner of the Southern United States

Were you in Roanoke, VA at the time? I'd always have the radio on either a Roanoke station or a Greensboro station, and would always hope to hear Journey played. Seems like the only time I would hear Journey on the radio is if it was a classic tune on WROV or 99.9. They did play When You Love A Woman back in '96, which I was shocked it got radio airplay. Back in those days, radio stations were purely "New Rock" as they labeled alternative rock.

Nah, I was in Mississippi. I heard "When You Love A Woman" all the time back then. I didn't know who Journey were at the time, though. I was like, "Argh, that song again!" I grew to like it as I got older.

[SusieP]

I like Augeri.
I think he's cool. He has a great look and his voice soared back then.
His 'Higher Place' is one of my favourite Journey tracks of all time. I LOVE it.
Those classic songs in those keys are punishing.
Playing shows as frequent as they do when touring takes its toll on a voice.
And its harder for a mature male to keep hitting those high notes without some issues. He wasn't a kid when he joined the Journey machine.
Journey work their singers hard.
His voice issues became obvious to us all -specially by the time they got to the UK and we had 'tapegate.'

Ok they decided to have him mime - which was a decision we all hated - but they did it because they needed to keep the Tour rolling and they knew his voice was in a bad way.
Yes he was fired, but he knew he couldn't go on. He needed vocal rest.
All quite upsetting really.
I think what happened to him did make them stop and think that their catalogue in its original keys ruin voices, so they had to either take everything down a semi tone or more to keep the circus rolling.

Either that or get in Ann Wilson or a bloody Soprano to sing 'em.


I'm off to listen to Augeri sing Higher Place on repeat now.
He did a great job.
And yeh, he probably did save the Band.
I love him.

[tedpruitt]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XyYPv1lG0k

Sorry for the late interjection - but is the whole band on stage for that intro minus Neal? If so, that really shows how fragmented things have become. In the old days, the intro was just that - just a build up for the band (the ENTIRE band) to come on stage. Usually from under that stage - it looked so cool. Now it just looks like they're lost up there. Anyone who knows their stuff in the least, knows it's all sequenced. No one is playing - unless you count pressing the button on the computer (or if all of that noodling is actually Neal off-stage.)

Not to mention that the intro could be about a minute shorter...

Oh well. My two cents.

[slucero]

Majestic is their intro... they need to keep using it..

[The_Noble_Cause]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XyYPv1lG0k

Sorry for the late interjection - but is the whole band on stage for that intro minus Neal? If so, that really shows how fragmented things have become. In the old days, the intro was just that - just a build up for the band (the ENTIRE band) to come on stage. Usually from under that stage - it looked so cool. Now it just looks like they're lost up there. Anyone who knows their stuff in the least, knows it's all sequenced. No one is playing - unless you count pressing the button on the computer (or if all of that noodling is actually Neal off-stage.)

Not to mention that the intro could be about a minute shorter...

Oh well. My two cents.

I don't know what you are seeing. He's right there wearing a backwards hat playing the guitar.