Steve Augeri Interview May 2013

[MCC620]

oh it's my strong suit.

No, it's def not. I never indicated that Herbie said anything but the single paraphrased quote I attributed to him. So either you're illiterate or a liar. Maybe both. Now that you mention it tho, Herbie would agree with my post 110%.

i was just clarifying for those that may visit here who are not as strong at punctuation.

You're right. Let's clarify a few things for our dear forum readers. Could you please clarify to forum newcomers how you spent the GDP of a small island nation on attending Augeri shows in 2005 and never once figured out that you were being conned? Despite it being the same identical vocal nightly and Augeri hiding his mouth with a mic cap fuzzier than Chaka Khan's pussy? If you had actually read the MR Herbie Interview, you'd find that Herbie only confirmed what Deano, Svente, and countless others said. Furthermore, in case your tiny squirrel turd brain hasn't pieced it all together yet, the only reason Andrew allowed the Tape rumors to flourish on his reputable website is because it was true and as a fan, he was pissed. So drop it already.

oh and it's your not you're.

I used the word "your" three times in the last post. So I messed up once. Big deal. At least I'm not wrong all the time. Go look in the mirror and apologize for being a crummy human being.

i only went to three shows in 2005 and those were not in all access seats. the three shows i was at, he was not perfect nor anywhere near perfect, sorry that i can't just believe like the rest of you. why don't all of you drop it already since it's 7 years later and apparently andrew has moved on enough to have him headline at MRF3. do you think it does andrew's promotion of MRF3 any good to have it keep coming up every time augeri's name is mentioned?

thanks for calling me a crummy human being.....i expect no less of you.

[The_Noble_Cause]

the three shows i was at, he was not perfect nor anywhere near perfect, sorry that i can't just believe like the rest of you.

I bet you think this is live?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcJhXnL6KZw

Or hey, what about this?
Note - as Deano meticulously documented, Augeri's mic is on to speak to the audience and then at the end of the song. From 0:40 - 4:40, this is pure lip city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eYK2lejTmo

Was Svente lying? Was Jeremey lying when he analyzed the tracks sound wave by sound wave? Why would Herbie partake in the big lie? Why would Andrew let his website become the epicenter for false allegations, especially when it jeopardized good relations with the band? Why did Journey fire Augeri? Get a clue - nobody was engaging in faith or blind belief. Deano got it verified from a source in the industry before he did anything. Stop pretending to know better. All you did, and continue to do is sit on your ass and make cheap pot shots.

Why don't all of you drop it already since it's 7 years later and apparently andrew has moved on enough to have him headline at MRF3. do you think it does andrew's promotion of MRF3 any good to have it keep coming up every time augeri's name is mentioned?

I didn't bring it up. But I'm not going to let people lie about it. Or worse, let vindictive bloated black-eyed maggots like you insinuate that I am a liar or falsifying information.

thanks for calling me a crummy human being.....i expect no less of you.

Fuck you. You aid and abet fraud and then you accuse me of making false quotes. That sound like the behavior of an upstanding individual to you? You're no girl scout.

[conversationpc]

I didn't want to admit the lipping was going on for the longest time until I finally started listening to boots of that tour and started hearing audio of vocals that were WAAAAAAAAAY too much the same from show to show. It happened. End of story. Period.

[jestor92]

The canned vocals during Augeri's era are the reason I will never go see Journey live ever again. I also won't go see Augeri in a solo setting. Not going to spend my hard earned money to see some shit ball make an easy dollar by lip syncing for 90 minutes. If I want to hear canned vocs I'll go listen to the cd or the live dvd. I purchase tickets to a live show I want a live performance.

At least the Augeri era has the distinction of being the 2nd worst concert I've ever been to on June 30, 2006 when Augeri couldn't even get through half the songs and needed Castronovo to bail his ass out because he couldn't sing them. They were beat as the worst concert only by Quiet Riot from 2007.

[ebake02]

I wonder what kind of legal repercussions there were to Steve Augeri just quitting Journey when he realized he couldn't sing anymore and Journey didn't want to give him the break he needed, rather than continuing to tour with pre-recorded lead vocals for the next several years?

Makes me wonder too what kind of legal repercussions there were to the rest of the band if they had to start backing out of touring commitments because Steve's voice was gone.

[Don]

I wonder what kind of legal repercussions there were to Steve Augeri just quitting Journey when he realized he couldn't sing anymore and Journey didn't want to give him the break he needed, rather than continuing to tour with pre-recorded lead vocals for the next several years?

Makes me wonder too what kind of legal repercussions there were to the rest of the band if they had to start backing out of touring commitments because Steve's voice was gone.

Legal repercussions for health issues?
I'm sure a doctor could verify that Augeri had vocal damage at that point. Bands cancel tours all the time for a variety of reasons with health being the most common.
Bands/Managers have insurance so promoters, venues and others who lost money from the tour get paid.
It would make their premium go up if they did it too often but that's life. When Journey cancelled gigs last year, Arnel said they lost a lot of money even with them rescheduling the shows. It's still the right thing to do though.
These guys are pros and with Irving as a manager, they have the best concert disaster coverage, I'm sure of it.
People need to stop trying to justify what they did.

[AR]

hiding his mouth with a mic cap fuzzier than Chaka Khan's pussy.

[yulog]

i see, you finished your own commentary, based on what was posted on this forum (the part in red), with Herbie's statement from the article as if he had said it all of it....

Punctuation and grammar is obviously not your strong suit. "As Herbie said" is the signal phrase. This 1) identifies a source and 2) sets-up a quote/paraphrase to follow. The preceding comments in red weren't attributed to Herbie or anyone AT ALL. My commentary didn't start with "As Herbie said" or "Herbie believes" so I really have no idea why you would even suggest that. Unless you're trying to stir up some shit. Given you're record of being a staunch Tapegate denier, even in the face of all logical evidence, I certainly wouldn't put it past you.

oh it's my strong suit. i was just clarifying for those that may visit here who are not as strong at punctuation. oh and it's your not you're.

ZING!

[verslibre]

hiding his mouth with a mic cap fuzzier than Chaka Khan's pussy.

I love those old blaxploitation movies.

[YoungJRNY]

I didn't want to admit the lipping was going on for the longest time until I finally started listening to boots of that tour and started hearing audio of vocals that were WAAAAAAAAAY too much the same from show to show. It happened. End of story. Period.

The vocals weren't "WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much the same." They WERE the same

Hell, the band insulted our intelligence (not Deano's or some other forum members) that in the beginning, they even said "fuck it" and played the Vegas '01 notes word by word. "Journey's on the roaaaaad....agggaaaain." Hilarious.

Another thing, not sure if I ever mentioned this. My uncle made it in the Nashville music business. Still going strong in the Tennessee market 'til this day and doing very well.

We JUST had a recent conversation about Tapegate over the holidays. It started off as simple talk. We talked about Journey, his favorite Journey songs and Arnel. He then went on to tell me a story on how when Journey was playing in Nashville some years back, he was invited through people of his party to take a tour of the venue and was present during one of Journey's sound-checks looking on.

He told me "..you know they were using 'Steve Perry' lipped tapes on their tours, right? I saw it and heard it first hand...."

I then indulged more into the conversation and told him everything about Tapegate since he didn't know all the technical details I've learned through these boards. Though they weren't Perry's vocals (obviously) he nailed it right on the head. Interesting convo we had.

Nonetheless, it's over and done with and both parties moved on and side-stepped an ugly situation. To believe in the fabrication of TG NOT happening is the most accurate definition of DELUSIONAL if there ever was one....

[Eric]

To be fair to MCC....the lipping wasn't 100% at every show.

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnVyaB9seQ

So its possible some people some shows that weren't following "the plan" I spose.

[The_Noble_Cause]

To be fair to MCC....the lipping wasn't 100% at every show.

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnVyaB9seQ

So its possible some people some shows that weren't following "the plan" I spose.

This was one of the first shows (maybe the very first?) of the 2005 tour before his voice blew out. Thanks for playing tho.

[yulog]

I saw them in phoenix that year, it wasn't the beginning of the tour, I believe it was the end of the summer, Augeri was struggling with the high notes, his voice was very raspy on the highs.I remember it was the worst show vocally that I had attended( not that it was atrocious) it sounded like he had a cold. If journey piped in those vocals from a pre- recorded source they would have to have been morons, there is just know way on that night they were using a pre recorded show.

[FamilyMan]

One thing's for certain.
Every Augeri-themed thread always brings us down the same dixie highway.
At least we're consistent.

[Eric]

To be fair to MCC....the lipping wasn't 100% at every show.

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnVyaB9seQ

So its possible some people some shows that weren't following "the plan" I spose.

This was one of the first shows (maybe the very first?) of the 2005 tour before his voice blew out. Thanks for playing tho.

I think his voice was blown out well before. I keep recall reading about a bad experience at a concert before/after a rodeo in 2003...

[Jeremey]

The backup tracks were a crutch. Initially they were used when Augeri would have a bad night or to cover a rough tune in the setlist. This was done at Elson's discretion (at front of house console). Eventually, of course, without rest, the band began to rely on them more and more frequently and it became obvious to people who had access to bootlegs of multiple dates.

The sad thing for Augeri was that the band made a business decision to continue touring regardless of the condition of his voice, and it became easy to have that "crutch" to fall back on during every show. Should Augeri have backed out of the band when he realized he wasn't going to be able to perform as expected? Who knows. No one but the band and their management knows the intimate details of his contracts and commitments.

Bottom line is, very few people outside of this message board ever knew (or would even care) about this situation. Concert goers had a good time and got their money's worth. I saw Journey on the Generations tour, and was completely aware during the entire show that there were vocal tracks being piped in. I still enjoyed the show far more than the Under The Radar show I saw a few years earlier where I cringed throughout most of the set as he ducked notes, changed melodies, and missed pitch throughout the show.

[The_Noble_Cause]

To be fair to MCC....the lipping wasn't 100% at every show.

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnVyaB9seQ

So its possible some people some shows that weren't following "the plan" I spose.

This was one of the first shows (maybe the very first?) of the 2005 tour before his voice blew out. Thanks for playing tho.

I think his voice was blown out well before. I keep recall reading about a bad experience at a concert before/after a rodeo in 2003...

The tapes were not used on a nightly basis until the Generations tour. Before then, it was a song here, a high note there - as most bands do. In 2005, the band crossed the line into full blown street mime performance art.

[The_Noble_Cause]

The backup tracks were a crutch. Initially they were used when Augeri would have a bad night or to cover a rough tune in the setlist. This was done at Shirley's discretion. Eventually, of course, without rest, the band began to rely on them more and more frequently and it became obvious to people who had access to bootlegs of multiple dates.

The sad thing for Augeri was that the band made a business decision to continue touring regardless of the condition of his voice, and it became easy to have that "crutch" to fall back on during every show. Should Augeri have backed out of the band when he realized he wasn't going to be able to perform as expected? Who knows. No one but the band and their management knows the intimate details of his contracts and commitments.

Bottom line is, very few people outside of this message board ever knew (or would even care) about this situation. Concert goers had a good time and got their money's worth. I saw Journey on the Generations tour, and was completely aware during the entire show that there were vocal tracks being piped in. I still enjoyed the show far more than the Under The Radar show I saw a few years earlier where I cringed throughout most of the set as he ducked notes, changed melodies, and missed pitch throughout the show.

I think you mean Elson, not Shirley. I thought the UTR tour rocked. Augeri had really refined his front man persona. Sure it was raw vocally. But who cares. The band was having fun. Every subsequent show, including Arnel ones, are just sad. Hey, didn't you call Ross a "bass playing mother fucker" at the Gens show?

[Jeremey]

I think you mean Elson, not Shirley.

Indeed, too many Kevins, LOL...

I thought the UTR tour rocked. Augeri had really refined his front man persona. Sure it was raw vocally. But who cares. The band was having fun. Every subsequent show, including Arnel ones, are just sad.

The UTR show I saw was WV State Fair - Musically it was the best I had seen the band. A great diverse setlist with a fantastic acoustic interlude ... really enjoyed that part of the show. My perspective on Augeri's voice at the time was probably colored by my part time job at the time. He was very, very rough by the end of the show ... I think they ended with "Be Good To Yourself" and he basically shouted the tune.

Hey, didn't you call Ross a "bass playing mother fucker" at the Gens show?

Ha, yes I did, it scared the hell out of him! He is indeed a bass playing motherfucker.

[The_Noble_Cause]

One thing's for certain.
Every Augeri-themed thread always brings us down the same dixie highway.
At least we're consistent.

Umm, didn't you just compare the blatant use of lead vocal tapes to Rush's sparing use of a prerecorded synth track? With your credibility completely gone, why, exactly, are you still chiming in? Personally, I'm glad you weren't around to cover the Milli Vanilli scandal. Time to get a new profession, bro. We already have enough journalism majors in the business of covering for those in positions of power and influence. You, sir, are a first order hack.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Ha, yes I did, it scared the hell out of him! He is indeed a bass playing motherfucker.

Lmao. You're the man, Jeremey.

[FamilyMan]

One thing's for certain.
Every Augeri-themed thread always brings us down the same dixie highway.
At least we're consistent.

Umm, didn't you just compare the blatant use of lead vocal tapes to Rush's sparing use of a prerecorded synth track? With your credibility completely gone, why, exactly, are you still chiming in? Personally, I'm glad you weren't around to cover the Milli Vanilli scandal. Time to get a new profession, bro. We already have enough journalism majors in the business of covering for those in positions of power and influence. You, sir, are a first order hack.

Still chiming in for the sole purpose of pissing you off!

[The_Noble_Cause]

One thing's for certain.
Every Augeri-themed thread always brings us down the same dixie highway.
At least we're consistent.

Umm, didn't you just compare the blatant use of lead vocal tapes to Rush's sparing use of a prerecorded synth track? With your credibility completely gone, why, exactly, are you still chiming in? Personally, I'm glad you weren't around to cover the Milli Vanilli scandal. Time to get a new profession, bro. We already have enough journalism majors in the business of covering for those in positions of power and influence. You, sir, are a first order hack.

Still chiming in for the sole purpose of pissing you off!

Kerplunk-sploosh! Yet another nutty corn-filled turd of a post. Boy howdy, the mighty have fallen. You're clearly not fit to iron Uncle Cronkite's searsucker jockstrap. With any luck, CBS security finds negatives of the long rumored Jackie Gleason and Art Carney porn stashed in your office and throws you to the curb - where you belong, right alongside Ashton "show killer" Kutcher. Fuck off, idiot.

[FamilyMan]

Still chiming in for the sole purpose of pissing you off! [/quote]
Kerplunk-sploosh! Yet another nutty corn-filled turd of a post. Boy howdy, the mighty have fallen. You're clearly not fit to iron Uncle Cronkite's searsucker jockstrap. With any luck, CBS security finds negatives of the long rumored Jackie Gleason and Art Carney porn stashed in your office and throws you to the curb - where you belong, right alongside Ashton "show killer" Kutcher. Fuck off, idiot.[/quote]

Allow me to try something as radical as engaging you in a somewhat more intelligent, elevated dialogue. I liken the tapegate controversy to that of another, more recent scandal: baseball & steroids. For years, baseball fans and owners alike buried their heads in the sand while home run hitters were juicing. As records were being broken and fans flocked back to ballparks in the aftermath of a crippling strike, no one seemed to mind that a phenomenon of physical prowess by artificial means was on display. Fans didn't care... they just wanted their fix. I simply submit that many in the Journey faithful felt the same way. A guy named Steve was center stage, the band was touring, and hands were in the air. Everyone looked the other way.

[YoungJRNY]

Allow me to try something as radical as engaging you in a somewhat more intelligent, elevated dialogue. I liken the tapegate controversy to that of another, more recent scandal: baseball & steroids. For years, baseball fans and owners alike buried their heads in the sand while home run hitters were juicing. As records were being broken and fans flocked back to ballparks in the aftermath of a crippling strike, no one seemed to mind that a phenomenon of physical prowess by artificial means was on display. Fans didn't care... they just wanted their fix. I simply submit that many in the Journey faithful felt the same way. A guy named Steve was center stage, the band was touring, and hands were in the air. Everyone looked the other way.

Meh, bad analogy my man. In the baseball argument, just taking juice doesn't guarantee a home-run chase. They weren't hitting home-runs on a nightly basis consistently, which gave in to the home-run chase even further as to when and who would it be to hit another dinger the upcoming night, if they ever did. Sosa and McGuire also had to go out into a live setting, with all of the pressures of going up against 100MPH fastballs and let their technique do the talking, regardless of a steroid scandal.

In Journey's case, they went out into a live setting, hit play on a nightly basis and duping the crowd that went home thinking they were seeing a singer using his tools in a live arena. Unlike the baseball analogy, hitting play guaranteed Journey perfect sounding vocals without any technique on a nightly basis while those athletes in baseball still had to perform within' their competition..

..but I see your point in different context.

[Eric]

Meh, bad analogy my man. In the baseball argument, just taking juice doesn't guarantee a home-run chase. They weren't hitting home-runs on a nightly basis consistently, which gave in to the home-run chase even further as to when and who would it be to hit another dinger the upcoming night, if they ever did. Sosa and McGuire also had to go out into a live setting, with all of the pressures of going up against 100MPH fastballs and let their technique do the talking, regardless of a steroid scandal.

In Journey's case, they went out into a live setting, hit play on a nightly basis and duping the crowd that went home thinking they were seeing a singer using his tools in a live arena. Unlike the baseball analogy, hitting play guaranteed Journey perfect sounding vocals without any technique on a nightly basis while those athletes in baseball still had to perform within' their competition..

..but I see your point in different context.

But, Neal was live, Cain was live, Valory was live, Deeno was not only live but singing up to 8 songs. And Augeri wasn't 100% miming every song every night. So...what the fans saw was still very much live. Not a good thing still, but still mostly live.

[slucero]

Allow me to try something as radical as engaging you in a somewhat more intelligent, elevated dialogue. I liken the tapegate controversy to that of another, more recent scandal: baseball & steroids. For years, baseball fans and owners alike buried their heads in the sand while home run hitters were juicing. As records were being broken and fans flocked back to ballparks in the aftermath of a crippling strike, no one seemed to mind that a phenomenon of physical prowess by artificial means was on display. Fans didn't care... they just wanted their fix. I simply submit that many in the Journey faithful felt the same way. A guy named Steve was center stage, the band was touring, and hands were in the air. Everyone looked the other way.

... and just like McGuire, Sosa and Bonds will never get in the HOF.. neither will Journey..

[FamilyMan]

Allow me to try something as radical as engaging you in a somewhat more intelligent, elevated dialogue. I liken the tapegate controversy to that of another, more recent scandal: baseball & steroids. For years, baseball fans and owners alike buried their heads in the sand while home run hitters were juicing. As records were being broken and fans flocked back to ballparks in the aftermath of a crippling strike, no one seemed to mind that a phenomenon of physical prowess by artificial means was on display. Fans didn't care... they just wanted their fix. I simply submit that many in the Journey faithful felt the same way. A guy named Steve was center stage, the band was touring, and hands were in the air. Everyone looked the other way.

... and just like McGuire, Sosa and Bonds will never get in the HOF.. neither will Journey..

This is true, but if anyone ever asked McGuire, Sosa or Bonds to choose between their multi-million-dollar pay days and the HOF, I bet you they would have taken the money. Journey's induction in the Rock and Roll HOF (which I agree will never happen) wouldn't have put any more butts in the seats.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Allow me to try something as radical as engaging you in a somewhat more intelligent, elevated dialogue. I liken the tapegate controversy to that of another, more recent scandal: baseball & steroids. For years, baseball fans and owners alike buried their heads in the sand while home run hitters were juicing. As records were being broken and fans flocked back to ballparks in the aftermath of a crippling strike, no one seemed to mind that a phenomenon of physical prowess by artificial means was on display. Fans didn't care... they just wanted their fix. I simply submit that many in the Journey faithful felt the same way. A guy named Steve was center stage, the band was touring, and hands were in the air. Everyone looked the other way.

As others have mentioned, this is a horrible and idiotic analogy. Really just shows that you plain don't get it. At all. Augeri already was taking vocal steroids to improve his performance, that's what led to the thrush that fucked his voice up. But singing to a tape isn't the same as taking illegal supplements.It's the equivalent of playing baseball with a robotic T-1000 arm. And even that is a shitty analogy. It's not an enhancement, it's outright wholesale fraud.

[The_Noble_Cause]

And Augeri wasn't 100% miming every song every night. So...what the fans saw was still very much live. Not a good thing still, but still mostly live.

The lead vocals were 95% fake. No, it was not very much live. Like Maria, you are another poster that has no clue - zero - of what went down. It remains an outrage.