Why didn't Journey hire Chalfant in 1998?

[Don]

If Herbie, Ross, Rolie, etc. were so high on him as a lot of folk here seem to think, why didn't Jon and Neal pull the trigger?

[steveo777]

If Herbie, Ross, Rolie, etc. were so high on him as a lot of folk here seem to think, why didn't Jon and Neal pull the trigger?

Because they knew it was not the right decision, maybe?

[Don]

If Herbie, Ross, Rolie, etc. were so high on him as a lot of folk here seem to think, why didn't Jon and Neal pull the trigger?

Because they knew it was not the right decision, maybe?

No shit, Sherlock. The question is why did they come to that decision.
You've got the guy 15 years on still lamenting not getting the gig. And every other dozen threads here, the usual line about how this guy should have gotten hired is brought up.
Why did they go with a guy who could write but would never be in Perry's league vocally (Augeri) instead of a guy who supposedly had all the tools and had worked with members of the band before?

Personally, I think David Glen Eisley and others blow this guy out of the water when it comes to being in the range of a Steve Perry but so many here seem to think he was somehow shortchanged on not becoming Journey's lead singer.

[Don]

I've been listening to both Storm albums over the past few hours and all I'm hearing is a poor man's Survivor. What's the infatuation with this guy?

[Gideon]

They're morons?

It's all subjective, but I'm shocked as hell anyone could love Perry like you do and not get similar vibes from Chalfant.
I played "Show Me The Way" for my parents, both ardent Journey fans, and had them convinced that it was an obscure Perry track. He's got the range, the power, the phrasing, all the mannerisms with one distinct difference: Chalfant can tap into his inner Rob Halford (let the jokes commence) and go from a pristine high note to a convincing scream the next second.

[STORY_TELLER]

I don't think he's all THAT great. Definitely not in Perry's league, not even close, but much stronger than Augeri for sure.

Is he better than Arnel? I don't really know, kind of a toss up. For the songs found on Arrival, Generations, Red 13, Revelation, Eclipse, I think Chalfant's vocal character would have been a better fit for the band than Augeri or Arnel. However, after listening to some youtube clips of both of their live takes on Journey's songs, I now give the edge to Arnel for the dirty dozen tour. He's definitely a stronger singer live. My opinion of course --

I read in an interview with Herbie that he told Chalfant he didn't understand why they didn't choose him over Augeri. He sounded pretty dumbfounded about it. So if Herbie didn't know why, I doubt anyone here would. (Although, that could have been Herbie protecting Neal or Jon for the interview.)

[steveo777]

If Herbie, Ross, Rolie, etc. were so high on him as a lot of folk here seem to think, why didn't Jon and Neal pull the trigger?

Because they knew it was not the right decision, maybe?

No shit, Sherlock. The question is why did they come to that decision.
You've got the guy 15 years on still lamenting not getting the gig. And every other dozen threads here, the usual line about how this guy should have gotten hired is brought up.
Why did they go with a guy who could write but would never be in Perry's league vocally (Augeri) instead of a guy who supposedly had all the tools and had worked with members of the band before?

Personally, I think David Glen Eisley and others blow this guy out of the water when it comes to being in the range of a Steve Perry but so many here seem to think he was somehow shortchanged on not becoming Journey's lead singer.

Don't get pissy pants with me, young man! What the fuck just happened to to the forums. This gay colored shit on my right and the emoticons for dummys shit has to go!

[steveo777]

Fuck..never mind. It must be the wine!

[The_Noble_Cause]

The band wouldn't have chosen Perry, if not for Herbie. By the time Herbie wanted Perry out, he has lost power over the band. That is all. Nearly every decision the band has made w/out Herbie has been questionable or outright bad.

[annie89509]

According to the Herbie (Castles Burning?) interview, KC was a better choice than SA, but that KC would come with baggage, and baggage is a dirty word in Jon's way of thinking. He didn't elaborate.

Like some others here, I don't understand all this lavish praise for Kevin, either. I would choose Mickey Thomas and Jimi Jamison ahead of him as a credible replacement.

[Aaron]

I would love a Chalfant fronted Journey. I think The Storm records were strong and Kevin is a great vocalist. When I first heard Show Me The Way on the radio, I thought Journey had gotten back together.

I saw Journey back in the early 2000's at the Illinois State Fair with Augeri. Oddly enough, Chalfant's band was playing a free concert before the Journey show in another part of the fair grounds. Kevin covered many Journey songs during his set. I enjoyed Kevin and his band better than the Journey show. His vocals were great and outshined Augeri that night (I love Augeri too). I'm not sure what the baggage is Herbie alluded to with Kevin but I think they should have plugged him in back in 96 and carried on. The dude was awesome that night.

I also saw The Storm back in the early 90's opening for Bryan Adams. They blew Adams off the stage, what a great show.

When Augeri was announced back in '98, I was in total shock. I just knew Kevin would be a shoe in for the gig. How wrong I was.

P.S. The new board forum software blows.

[Eric]

I've been listening to both Storm albums over the past few hours and all I'm hearing is a poor man's Survivor. What's the infatuation with this guy?

That's closer to my opinion.

[Navarro]

There were plenty of choices back in '98 that would have been better than Augeri, Chalfant definitely would have been an improvement. Augeri was never up to the job. They had the right guy in '07 in Jeremy, but screwed that up somehow too! No one was covering Journey better that Jeremy in '07, plus he brought the songwriting. The two songs he was involved on in Revelation are the most "journey" sounding to me.

[Gideon]

Arnel was a shrewd marketing ploy (count it, the one and only clever decision made by Neal and co. unaided) who happened to deliver the goods. His delivery on the 2008 tour was nothing less than phenomenal and he's ranged from great to serviceable ever since, with a number of fumbles.

Augeri and Soto are, in my book, good singers. Arnel's a great one. But Chalfant, with respect to the physical goods, is just sublime. His live renditions of Journey aren't always as impressive as his studio takes, but he's ~60 and few people are animals like Mickey Thomas (whose Journey cover was fairly weak, IMHO) or DDY.

Then again, I caught a 9 minute clip of Chalfant singing Faithfully and DSB with Ryan Whyte Maloney and he sounded superb.

For me, Chalfant was the best choice in '84 and '95. Possibly again in '98. '07? Not sure.

[yulog]

There were plenty of choices back in '98 that would have been better than Augeri, Chalfant definitely would have been an improvement. Augeri was never up to the job. They had the right guy in '07 in Jeremy, but screwed that up somehow too! No one was covering Journey better that Jeremy in '07, plus he brought the songwriting. The two songs he was involved on in Revelation are the most "journey" sounding to me.

This post is just loaded with holes its as if someone used buckshot on this

[The_Noble_Cause]

I've been listening to both Storm albums over the past few hours and all I'm hearing is a poor man's Survivor. What's the infatuation with this guy?

That's closer to my opinion.

Speaking of Survivor, here is a Chalfant collaboration with Jim Peterik (Survivor). Great very Journeyish tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDmG8l-NUuU

[Art Vandelay]

Personally, I thought that the decision to go with Augeri was part smoke and mirrors. TBF was somewhat of a success and diehards were waiting for them to hit the road. When they did hit the road, they chose a guy who looked like Perry with a perm, and his name even sounded similar. If a casual fan who knew that they were back in business saw the newspaper ads that ran for the Vacation's Over tour, they could have easily mistaken Augeri for Perry with a perm.

If you remember, there was no mention of a new singer on the advertisements, but rather a sign in the lobby of the show saying that Steve Perry and Steve Smith would not be appearing.

A friend of mine joked that their next singer would be named Steve Murry.

[hoagiepete]

Back when the Storm released their first album I thought Chalfant sounded ok, but was a cheap imitation of a Steve Perry. I didn't care for him much. My perspective would be completely different now, because back then there were no other "fill-ins" with whom to compare.

Do you think he wasn't asked because The Storm was kind of a Journey-lite and Schon and Cain may have not been too thrilled about it in the first place? Don't know, just asking.

[jrnyman28]

I always got the impression that Kevin and Gregg were offended when Neal and Jon decided to reunite with Perry instead of continuing to build on what was already in the works. Jon and Neal took the money. Plain and simple.

But when Perry was out after TBF maybe Kevin was still hurt. Or maybe he didn't want to do it without Gregg (and Gregg stated many times that Journey music was not where he is at). OR maybe Neal and Jon were embarassed by jettisoning Kevin and Gregg in favor of Perry and having it all fall apart, so they did not reapproach Kevin.

Basically, I think the opportunity was not really there in '98.

[Pelata]

I don't get the Chalfant dislikers (notice I did not say haters )...I think he sounds amazing. To me, he's like Augeri...similar tone to Perry, but not a clone or "poor man" version.

If anyone could be considered a "clone" or "poor mans" Perry, IMO it's Hugo. He's an impressionist.

But these days, anyone with a high register tone singing melodic rock is going to get the Perry comparisons. I get them from time to time, and I don't hear it at all other than A- I sing high and use vibrato and B- Line Of Fire songs have choruses.

[FamilyMan]

Let's all remember how we felt hearing Augeri in '98/'99. I saw him at the Beacon Theater, only a couple of shows into the "vacation's over" tour or whatever they called it. He had me at "Here we stand...."

Goose bumps.

Augeri was the right call at the time. It only looks bad in retrospect.

[Pelata]

Let's all remember how we felt hearing Augeri in '98/'99. I saw him at the Beacon Theater, only a couple of shows into the "vacation's over" tour or whatever they called it. He had me at "Here we stand...."

Hell yes...the entire theater in Greensoro, NC where I saw them in 1998 stopped breathing and went wide-eyed at that moment...like they were witnessing a resurrection. Augeri was AMAZING that night and again in '99 when I saw him/them. I know he had it rough later on, but damn if he wasn't freaking stellar when I saw him live.

I knew when I listened to "Remember Me" that it was going to be something special, and it was for me.

[Gideon]

I don't get the Chalfant dislikers (notice I did not say haters )...I think he sounds amazing.

+1

[Journey/Survivor]

They're morons?

It's all subjective, but I'm shocked as hell anyone could love Perry like you do and not get similar vibes from Chalfant.
I played "Show Me The Way" for my parents, both ardent Journey fans, and had them convinced that it was an obscure Perry track. He's got the range, the power, the phrasing, all the mannerisms with one distinct difference: Chalfant can tap into his inner Rob Halford (let the jokes commence) and go from a pristine high note to a convincing scream the next second.

My brother had been a Journey fan in the early 80's, but by the late 80's he had stopped listening to them anymore. I was in the car with my brother one day back when The Storm's "I've Got A lot To Learn about Love" was on the radio, and my brother thought that it must be a new Steve Perry solo song. I had already told him about the Storm, I had bought the CD the day that it came out, but he had forgotten about that.

At one of The Storm's concerts that I went to, I heard people insisting that it had to be Steve Perry that was up on stage singing in the band.

Chalfant does a great job of sounding like Steve Perry.

[Don]

Is Chalfant's Journey tribute album recorded half a step down?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR31vKqcU1I

[kgdjpubs]

I always got the impression that Kevin and Gregg were offended when Neal and Jon decided to reunite with Perry instead of continuing to build on what was already in the works. Jon and Neal took the money. Plain and simple.

But when Perry was out after TBF maybe Kevin was still hurt. Or maybe he didn't want to do it without Gregg (and Gregg stated many times that Journey music was not where he is at). OR maybe Neal and Jon were embarassed by jettisoning Kevin and Gregg in favor of Perry and having it all fall apart, so they did not reapproach Kevin.

Basically, I think the opportunity was not really there in '98.

Honestly, I think that could very likely be the reason. One thing to keep in mind is that Chalfant is a bit of a stronger personality than Augeri or Arnel, which might also factor in also. Considering at that point The Storm was dead (although album #2 wasn't released), and Journey was a functioning 6-piece with Chalfant and writing new material. If they bailed once for Perry, there's nothing to say it wouldn't happen again, and you can't blame the guy if he didn't want to go through that with the cloud looming overhead.

Either way, Chalfant had the range to cover Perry....where Augeri was almost always out of his comfort zone vocally. Could Augeri nail it on a good night? Absolutely, but there were plenty of nights where that upper range was not really strong, and it eventually got him into trouble. From a touring standpoint, Chalfant had the best voice available for covering those songs because he was singing in his natural range.

That said, Augeri was always going to be the better Perry "clone", if you will. Chalfant had the range, but always had his own sound because of his voice. It was more of a hybrid between Bryan Adams and Perry.

[kgdjpubs]

Is Chalfant's Journey tribute album recorded half a step down?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR31vKqcU1I

yes, I believe it is. That said, look at when it was recorded. 2007ish... Chalfant is about the same age as Perry. 10 years earlier, he easily had the range to do it in the original key.

[jrnyman28]

I also recall HH mention Kevin's personality. I think Kevin would've been more strong willed and vocal about his participation....something Neal probably didn't want (although probably needed) to deal with again.

[Pelata]

Is Chalfant's Journey tribute album recorded half a step down?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR31vKqcU1I

yes, I believe it is. That said, look at when it was recorded. 2007ish... Chalfant is about the same age as Perry. 10 years earlier, he easily had the range to do it in the original key.

He might have the range NOW to sing the songs on a random night...but nobody in their late 50s/early 60s are singing those songs in standard tuning night after night after night after night for 2 hours at a time. Pointing out Kevin not doing it really doesn't mean anything. People always talk about how awesome (for example) CJ from Firehouse still sounds live...but they never point out how Firehouse plays a WHOLE STEP down live.

It amazes me how some of us seem to love to point out "original key vs down tuned" when it comes to Journey like it's some sort of shameful thing. It's age...it's what happens to Rock singers.

[Eric]

One thing to keep in mind is that Chalfant is a bit of a stronger personality than Augeri or Arnel, which might also factor in also.

That something we haven't touched upon in this thread and should be considered greatly. Probably with JSS, too.