2007 Ross Lamont Valory Interview

[Rockindeano]

Deano- Is Ross a tool or kept out of the loop? I have not spent $1 on Journey since hearing Augeri once but Soto I did. Now I have to pass again.

Complete tool and a non voice basically. The guy is nuttier than squirrel turd.

[stevew2]

There were reports in the press and on the internet that Journey used backing tapes on the Leppard tour?

This is another urban myth! It just didn't happen. The rumour got prominence because we were changing singers - Steve Augieri's voice did give out. It's a very difficult setlist. Not even Steve Perry could hold up very long, I believe, because these songs are very demanding of any singer.

I bet you a million bucks Ross, you cocksucker, I can debunk the urban myth?

What a piece of crap he is. The fact that he went along with the shenanigans is appalling especially after he vehemently denies it. And even more so because he sucks as a bass guitarist. Dude, Spraying water at overweight fans with a watergun is not talent, nor is making funny faces you freak. Feel free to Strap on the axe and try learning, err, relearning the chords to great songs of the past, you know, like Winds of March which you all wanted to play but couldn't because you couldn't learn the fucking chords.

haha i enjoyed the shooting water at overweight fans part. but how could he not learn or remember winds of march? not exactly a demanding bass line, nor is any journey song

Maybe Ross is forgetting that It wasn't some forum member that brought this up initially but a person actually involved with recording one of their shows.





I am just back from Sweden Rock Festival, one of Europe's biggest hard
rock festivals. At the festival, I was working for Swedish Radio as a
producer for some of the live recordings done for the radio. Normally,
I am a live sound engineer but once a year, I tag along with my old
friends at Swedish Radio to have some fun on this great festival.

The biggest topic of discussion among our crew during the festival was
without doubt the Journey show. Things started off weird in the
afternoon when we realised that not only had they brought their
producer and studio engineer Kevin Elson along to mix the show, he had
also set up his FOH world at the very back of the house, backstage! He
was standing behind our recording truck with his stuff, listening to
the mix through two stage wedges standing on top of his console.

We were recording the show for the radio and the SRF dvd but beside our
48 track Pro Tools recording, we were told by Elson numerous times that
we also needed to record his mix that went to the PA. Fine, an extra
stand alone CD recorder was brought in.

I watched the show from out front and had a great time. The band
sounded excellent. I decided to watch the rest of the show from the
recording truck. Good sound and tv monitors with a feed from the big
screen out front. Even better than watching in your living room. :^) I
went backstage and on the way, I checked out Kevin Elson in action at
the same time.

When I got into the truck, our engineers was making funny faces and
saying things like, "poor guy!" Lead singer Steve Augeri could not sing
at all! No, it's not the old rethoric of calling a singer with a bad
day someone who "can't sing". Steve Augeri was constantly out of tune
and when he tried to reach the high parts, his voice just died in a sad
croak. But didn't it sound good in the PA out front? I went out to
check again. Yes, the vocals sounded terrific. Was I going insane?

I went back into the bus and the engineers started to question my
sanity too as nothing could be done out front to fix this disaster. The
main project manager for our business at the festival showed up and was
as surprised and puzzled as I was when he heard what was coming down
that vocal line to the truck.

After a lot of running back and forth and scratching of heads, one of
the recording engineers plugged in a pair of headphones into the CD
recorder that was recording Elson's house mix. In that mix, the vocals
were perfect. With one headphone on and the other listening to our feed
in the bus it was obvious that something fishy was going on.

We looked at our surveillance camera on stage and noticed a guy sitting
a bit out of place to the left of the drum tech. I went up on stage to
have a look and there was a guy with two digital multitrack recorders,
apparently sending a prerecorded, correct vocal to the house mix but
not to our bus. There were also some prerecorded synth pads and backing
vocals but we got those to the bus.

This raised so many questions and things running in our heads:

* This was not a temporary solution to help a guy having a bad day on
tour. You don't bring that rack with recorders and one extra guy on
tour to have a backup in case the singer gets a cold. Ok, the rack and
the operatot could have been flown in but wouldn't it have been easier
to just cancel the show if the guy was sick?

* Another thing suggesting this was not just a guy with a bad throat
was that in our feed, the "real" live vocal line, Mr. Augeri was not
holding back like he probably should have done if he had a bad throat.
He was launching head first into the performance screaming his lungs
off. If he has a throat problem, it will only get worse by this
behaviour.

* Neal Schon of Journey has said in interviews that Augeri had throat
problems on the last tour, forcing them to use the drummer to sing lead
vocals on some songs. On the last album, Augeri sings half the songs
and the other members sing the rest. "Because it was fun" according to
interviews with band members. Yeah, maybe so but maybe also to help a
singer who can't sing?

* If the singer really is this bad, why not just kick him out?

* The other band members put on a stellar show. How do they feel on the
bus every night knowing they have to substitute their singer with a
tape? How fun can that be?

* How could Kevin Elson think that our recording engineers wouldn't
notice anything? Wouldn't it have been easier to feed the prerecorded
vocals to our bus too, or just deny us to record the band. We get to
record many bands but there are those that refuse too, without giving
any particular reasons. The first time one of our engineers went out to
talk to Elson during the show, Elson had the fixed vocals in his
monitors but he told our guy that "we probably have to take this home
and fix the vocals", as if Augeri had a bad day. Why lie a colleague
right in the face like that? Later, the cd from the FOH mix was
approved for broadcast the next day. No fixing needed because it was
already fixed.

I don't have any strong feelings against spicing up a live show with
some fatter backing vocals or backup things that makes the show better
but substituting the lead vocals? Reverse karaoke? I'm a big Journey
fan and I don't get sad or angry, just very confused.

/Svante

rom: Svante Pettersson - view profile
Date: Mon, Jun 12 2006 12:15 am
Email: "Svante Pettersson" <svante.petters...@gmail.com>
Groups: alt.audio.pro.live-sound

Elson should be behind bars

[Rockindeano]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

[stevew2]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

You re right,the whole lot should have been behind bars,or give back the the money they stole

[Angel]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

[Don]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Is God's name Azoff?

[Rockindeano]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Is God's name Azoff?

In Journeyland it is.

[youkeepmewaiting]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

[stevew2]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Is God's name Azoff?

Azoff is the antichrist

[Don]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

[youkeepmewaiting]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

[stevew2]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

No that make Friga Hairy Cooter

[Don]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

Maybe he's better suited to be Hermione .

[youkeepmewaiting]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

Maybe he's better suited to be Hermione .

Photoshop anyone?

[stevew2]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

Maybe he's better suited to be Hermione .

Photoshop anyone?

[CatEyes]

Cool, so the tape thing didn't happen? Whew!!

Neither did TBF, it seems!!!

Cat

[Don]

My thread is about to go down faster than a lead balloon.

[mikemarrs]

ross will be ronald weasley.photoshop that,lol.

[G.I.Jim]

I want in before it closes! It's funny to hear Ross totally dismiss the lipping. I'm sure he was just doing what he was told (Ross...Keep your mouth SHUT!), but it still dissappoints me to see him lie like that. I'm sure he had no other option... nor did the rest of the band. Just sad to see.

[stevew2]

My thread is about to go down faster than a lead balloon.

its all your fault

[Don]

pigfuckers

[youkeepmewaiting]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

Maybe he's better suited to be Hermione .

Photoshop anyone?

[Saint John]

Ross Valory is a good dude and a cool motherfucker.

[Don]

Does anyone know if Ross was in the Steve Miller Band the same time that Boz Scaggs was?

[Jana]

Elson should be behind bars

Hey don't blame Kev on this one...he was doing his job and what he was told. The blame starts at the top and when I say that, I mean the very top.

It was God's fault????

Perry?

We're talking God, not Voldemort .

Does that make Cain Harry Potter?

Maybe he's better suited to be Hermione .

Photoshop anyone?

oh, lol at this whole dialogue.

[Rockindeano]

Ross Valory is a good dude and a cool motherfucker.

Really? A guy who calls the fans high and drunks and out of their minds is cool to you? A guy who lies to Rock n Roll's face is cool?

Ok I guess. Journey fans standards are pretty fucking low.

[Saint John]

Really?

Yes, really.

A guy who calls the fans high and drunks and out of their minds is cool to you?

That was a "shot" at a select few and you know it. For a guy that motherfucks everyone you sure get sensitive when the bassist for Journey says something.

Journey fans standards are pretty fucking low.

Considering a fairly large amount came back after Perry packed the band away, then toured alone, then fractured a new lineup and then recorded and bailed, yes, I'd say our "standards are pretty fucking low."

Edit: The above should have also included Mr. Augeri singing into a mic that purportedly was not going out to the crowd. And all parties involved with the band at the time, save Mr. Perry, share the blame in that.

[Rockindeano]

That shot was directed at ONE and you know Goddamned well that was me. You are going to side with a half assed bassist over your 'friends?" Man, I don't know what to say to that.

[Duncan]

That shot was directed at ONE and you know Goddamned well that was me. You are going to side with a half assed bassist over your 'friends?" Man, I don't know what to say to that.

I guess this train has departed.

When I read that quote from the Journey camp, I along with everyone else new it was aimed at Deano, but being partial to getting shitfaced i took a bit of the hit myself. Like you get a face like Valorys by washing your face in mountainside dew! Pot, kettle, black.

----------------
Now playing: Planet 3 - Criminal

[Saint John]

That shot was directed at ONE and you know Goddamned well that was me.

I honestly don't believe that, Dean. That was aimed at you, at me and at AR...just to name 3 off of the top of my head. And if you look back at the tenacity, intensity and repetitive nature that we hammered them with over and over for a long period of time...he's probably got a fucking point! We were waaaay too obsessed with a band that played primarily less than live shows. I mean, it's kind of like...stay on board or hop off, but don't let it consume your life...and for a while we let it do that.

You are going to side with a half assed bassist over your 'friends?" Man, I don't know what to say to that.

I'm not siding with anyone and I'm certainly not going to judge Ross Valory by one fucking comment. That dude is fucking harmless and you know it.

I guess this train has departed.

Well then pull the brake and put that motherfucker in reverse!